york00orns

238 YORK.
be inserted as a qualification. Tliis took place
March 22ncl, 1531.
The York convocation hesitated still longer before
they consented to recognize the title claimed by the
king. The month of May arrived before they came
to any conclusion. The see of York had not yet been
filled up, and Tunstall, the Bishop of Durham, appears
to have taken a leading part in their deliberations, to
which his learning, ability, and high position well
entitled him. Tunstall considered that the qualification
quantum per Christi legem licet, was not free from
ambiguity, that it might relate cither to spirituals or
temporals, or both ; and he was desirous that the
acknowledgment of the king's supremacy should be so
expressed as to leave no doubt as to its being
absolutely limited to civil and secular jurisdiction.
On this ground he entered his protest against the
demand. But the Northern convocation ultimately
submitted to the requirement of the king, as
their brethren of the South had already done.
This was the first stroke of the axe which eventually
severed the connection of the Church of
England with the Apostolic Sec. It was done at the
suggestion of one of the boldest, most astute, and
most unscrupulous ministers who have ever directed
a nation's policy. ^Volsey's fall was the occasion of
Cromwell's rise. The earlier life of Thomas Cromwell
had been a chequered one. His origin was
obscure. His youth was partly spent as a soldier in
the wars of Italy, partly in commercial pursuits in the
Low Countries ;
and, on his return to England, he
was emjiloyed by Wolscy in the management of the