anger; the gentleness and humility of the oldest prelate in the realm had not shielded him from Henry’s wrath and the swift, passionless blow of his all-powerful agent. Terror had mastered the country, and men wondered what the end would be[252]. But though Cromwell’s truculent measures had gained the day in England, they excited the anger and horror of continental Europe. Sentence of excommunication had been passed on Henry in the summer of 1534; public opinion would not have permitted the Pope longer to postpone the final blow, even if he had wished to do so. It now became more than ever necessary to defend the position of the King, and Cromwell was busily occupied in filling the pulpit at Paul’s Cross with preachers who were willing and able to expound the word of God to Henry’s profit and advantage[253]. In this he was greatly helped by Bishop Rowland Lee of Coventry and Lichfield, who later played such an important part in connexion with the subjugation of Wales. In seeking means to defend the Royal Supremacy Cromwell’s knowledge of the law stood him in good stead. In a letter written in the year 1538, Sir Thomas Denys tells how Cromwell three years earlier had advised him to ‘rede in a boke called Bratton[254] nott vnwrittyn this cccc yer_es_ where he doth call the King_es_ Grace _Vicarius Christi_, ... wherfor,’ he continues, ‘I do rekyn a papiste and a traito_ur_ to be one thing[255].’ But the most drastic of the measures which Cromwell adopted to strengthen the power of the Crown was the famous Act about Proclamations, which he was able to force the Lords and Commons to pass in 1539. By this statute, all Proclamations made by the King and Council were given the force of Acts passed in Parliament, save when they touched the subject’s lives, lands, goods, or liberties, or infringed the established laws; and these exceptions were expressly declared inapplicable to those who should disobey proclamations concerning heresy. Cromwell had planned for the passage of this statute from a period at least as early as 1535. A letter[256] which he wrote to Norfolk in July of that year affords us interesting information concerning the origin of the measure. In a controversy about the best means of preventing the export of coin from the realm, the Chief Justice had delivered the opinion that ‘For the avoyding of any suche daungers ... proclamacyons and polyces so deuysyd by the King & his cownsayll for any such purpose sholde be of as good effect as Any law made by parlyament or otherwyse[257].’ The Chief Justice probably came to this decision at a hint from Cromwell; in any case the latter saw that the good work which had been already begun could not be considered complete until the opinion expressed had been given legal form. From this time onward there occur in his ‘remembrances’ frequent mentions of an Act to be passed in Parliament to this effect, but the measure proposed was so radical, that with all his