In the fifteenth century, the plague raged frequently in London, and, in consequence, several parliaments were held at Reading; at one of them, in 1439, a new order of nobility, that of "viscount," was constituted. In the reign of Henry VIII., when many changes stirred the heart of England, we find Wolsey building his memorial chapel at Windsor, of which he was so soon deprived; we see the King hunting in the Forest of Windsor, and being strangely troubled in mind and conscience with regard to the lawfulness of his first marriage with Catharine of Arragon, when he had seen and loved the fairer Ann. Later we see the unhappy divorced Queen taking refuge within our borders at Easthampstead, mourning over the fickleness of men. Then were the fiery times of trial and persecution. According to Fuller, Newbury was one of the first places to receive the doctrines of the Reformation, and there, in 1518, one Christopher the Shoemaker was burnt at the stake for heresy, and later, in 1566, Julius Palmer and two others suffered in a similar manner. In the meantime, a covetous king and greedy courtiers had set their eyes on the rich monasteries in England; and the noble Abbeys of Reading and Abingdon, and the lesser houses at Bisham, Donnington, Wallingford, and other places, soon met their doom. Hugh Farringdon, the last abbot of Reading, and two of his monks were hung. The last abbot of Abingdon, Rowland de Penthacost, fared better, and was allowed to retire on a pension to the manor-house of Cumnor. The effect of the dissolution of the religious houses was very disastrous. Agriculture languished; wheat became scarce and costly; the cloth trade declined; the poor suffered greatly from the loss of employment which the monasteries formerly afforded, and of the alms which the monks freely bestowed. No important historical events occurred in the annals of the royal county until the outbreak of the Civil War. The kings and queens of England often resided at Windsor, hunted in the great forest, made royal progresses through the chief towns, and sojourned at the Abbey of Reading, now used as a palace. Edward VI. was received with much state by the Mayor of Reading at Coley Cross in 1552. Queen Mary and her worthless husband were welcomed with much ceremony in 1554, when the mace was presented to her. Elizabeth came nine times to Reading, and had a royal seat appointed for her in the Church of St. Lawrence. The first of the Stuart kings honoured the town with a visit, and his queen stayed at Caversham House, where a mask was performed for her edification. In 1625, on account of the plague, Charles I. resided at Reading, where the Michaelmas term was kept, and the courts of chancery, king's bench, and common pleas were held in the abbey buildings.