THE Blasphemous Charge Against her.
And ye shal be brought before Governors and Kings for my sake, against them and the Gentiles.
Printed in the Year 1649.
For King Charls Prisoner, these.
UPon a reference from you (1633.) to these your Commissioners, I being Sentenced by them, as upon Record appears, because took upon me to be a Prophetess; first was Fined, and then to make publique Submission at Pauls so many times; that Iericho for ever cursed, and farther a close prisoner to continue at your pleasure.
So be it known, you are hereby required to make a publique acknowledgement of such your capital Trespass and high Offence; and first to Ask me foregiveness, if so be you expect to finde Mercy in this world or the other.
At the Court of Whitehal, Octob. 8. 1633.
HIs Majesty doth expresly command the Lord Archbishop of Canterburies Grace, and His Highness Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical, That the Petitioner be forthwith called before them, to answer for presuming to Imprint the said Books, and for preferring this detestable Petition.
Concordat cum &c.
Registro Curiae Dominorum Regiorum Commissionariorum ad Causas Ecclesiasticas. Extract.
Tertia Sessio Termini Michaelis, 1633.
DIe Jovis vicesimo quarto viz. die mensis Octobris Anno Dom. millesimo sexcentesimo tricesimo tertio Coram Reverendissimo in Christo Patre & Domino, Domino Guilielmo providenc’ Diviná Cantuar’ Archiepiscopo totius Angliae Primate & Metropolitano, Richardo eâdem providenc’ Angliae Primate & Metropolitano Archiepiscopo Eboracensi, Honorandis & praenobilibus Comitibus Portland, Dorset, & Carlisle, Episcopis Elien’, & Roffen’ & Oxon’, Dominis Iohanne Lamb, & Nathanaele Brent militibus legum Doctoribus, Matthaeo VVren de Windsor, [Page 5] Montford, & VVorral Sacrae Theologiae professoribus Commissionariis Regiis ad Causas Ecclesiasticas apud Lambeth, Judiciarum seden’ presente Thomâ Mottershed Regnerarii Regii Deputato.
Con’ Ellenoram Audeley.
Dr. Worrall: She appeared, and the Articles and Answers were publiquely read; She was Fined in Three thousand pounds, Imprisonment till she enter Bond with sufficient Security to write no more.
- Mr. Dr. Wren, Dean of Windsor, he consenteth to that which is already said.
- Dr. Montford, Similitèr with Dr. Worrall.
- Sir Nathanael Brent, Similitèr [Page 6] with Dr. Worrall; and payment of Costs.
- Sir Iohn Lamb, and my Lord of Oxford, Agreeth with the highest, with the highest; and to acknowledge her Offence at Pauls Cross.
- My Lord of Rochester, with the highest; and if the Court will bear it, he would send her to Bedlam.
- My Lord of Ely, Three thousand pounds, Excommunication, condemned in Costs, and committed ut prius, till she give, &c.
- My Lord Portland, and my Lord of Carlisle, desired to be spared from their Sentence.
- My Lord of Dorset agreeth with the highest.
- My Lords Grace of York, Imprisonment, and not to have pen, ink [Page 7] and paper, and so with the highest.
- My Lord of Canterbury, Three thousand pounds, close Imprisonment, and to continue till His Majesties pleasure be further known.
She was committed to the Gatehouse.
Officium Dominorum con’ Elleanorum Tichet, alias Davyes, alias Douglas.
THe Councel for the offence insisteth on her Answers, she to appear this day and place by Bond, to hear and receive the final Order and Iudgment of the Court.
At which day and place the said Lady Eleanor Douglas being called for, appeared personally; In whose presence the Articles objected against her, and her Answers made thereunto [Page 8] were publiquely read, with certain printed Schedules & Exhibites thereunto annexed, which she acknowledged to be of her own penning and publishing in print; and the said Answers to be her true Answers, and to be Subscribed with her own hand: By all which it evidently appeared to the Court, by her own Confession, That she had lately compiled and written, and caused to be printed and published, the three several Schedules annexed to the said Articles, some containing Expositions of divers parts of the Chapters of the Prophet Daniel, some other scandalous matter, by way of Anagram or otherwife, against Ecclesiastical persons and Iudges of eminent place, and some others, both derogatory to His Majesty and the [Page 9] State. And first as touching those matters of high nature, which concerned his Majesty, the Court did not any ways proceed against her, as holding them of too high a nature for this Court to meddle withal. But forasmuch as she took upon her (which much unbeseemed her Sex) not only to interpret the Scriptures, and withal the most intricate and hard places of the Prophet Daniel, but also to be a Prophetess, falsly pretending to have received certain Revelations from God; and had compiled certain Books of such her fictions and false Prophesies or Revelations, which she had in person carried with her beyond the Seas, and had there procured them to be printed without License, and after brought them over here into England, and here [Page 10] without License, vented and dispersed them, or some of them, contrary to the Decree of Star-Chamber, made in the xxviii. year of Queen Eliz. of famous Memory, for the restraining of unlawful printing & publishing of books, and to the manifest contempt & breach thereof, and to the great scandal of our Church and State, and the reproach of the true Christian Religion here professed, and established within this Realm. And forasmuch as by vertue of the Statute of Primo Eliz. and by vertue of Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England, this Court hath full power and authority to punish as well all transgressors and offendors against the said Decree of Star-Chamber, touching the printing and publishing of unlicensed Books, [Page 11] as such bold attempts as those of hers, in taking upon her to interpret and expound the holy Scriptures, yea, and the most intricate and hard places therein, such as the gravest and most learned Divines would not slightly or easily undertake, without much study and deliberation. For these her said bold attempts and impostures, tending to the dishonor of God, and scandal of Religion, whereof she was found and adjudged guilty by the Court, she was thought well worthy to be severely punished; and was first Fined in the sum of 3000 l. to his Majesties use, ordered to make a publique Submission in conceptis verbis, at so many times, and in such places as this Court shall appoint, and as shall be delivered her under the Registers [Page 12] Hand of this Court; And she was further committed close Prisoner to the Gatehouse, and ordered there to remain during his Majesties pleasure, who had taken special notice of her and her Cause, and referred the Examination and Censuring thereof into this Court. And lastly she was condemned in Expences and Costs of Suit, which are to be paid before her enlargement: And the Keeper of the said prison was required and commanded not to suffer her to have any pen, ink or paper to write any thing, in respect that she hath so much abused her liberty in that kinde already.