In 1534 the king, Henry VIII., caused sermons to be preached against his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and also against Papal supremacy. In the same year, Elizabeth Burton and six of her most prominent supporters (all of them ultimately hanged at Tyburn) were brought to Paul's Cross for public exposure and degradation there, for the crime of having dared to express disapproval of the king's liaison with Anne Boleyn. On 24th February 1538, the Rood of Grace, from Boxley Abbey, in Kent, an image which was alleged, by means of wires and other devices, to simulate various gestures and changes of countenance, was exhibited at Paul's Cross by Bishop Hilsey, of Rochester, and, at his incitement, broken and plucked to pieces amid the jeers of the mob. "The like was done by the blood of Hayles, which in like manner, by Crumwell, was brought to Paul's Cross, and there proved to be the blood of a duck," according to the veracious Foxe. From this time onward Paul's Cross witnessed the delivery of a succession of controversial sermons, first on one side and then on the other. When Edward VI. ascended the throne, Bishop Latimer, of Worcester, became a frequent preacher at Paul's Cross. Thus in the month of January 1548 he preached no less than four times. In 1549 the Privy Council delivered to Bishop Bonner a set of articles, which he was required to advocate in a series of quarterly sermons at Paul's Cross. But the Bishop in preaching there having neglected to comply, was cited, on information laid against him by Latimer and Hooper, to appear for examination before the King's commissioners on 10th September 1549. On 1st November 1552, at Paul's Cross, Bishop Ridley, of London, preached at great length in favour of the latest version of the Book of Common Prayer. On 13th August 1553 Gilbert Bourne, a chaplain of Queen Mary, and Canon of St Paul's, preaching at the cross, narrowly escaped being murdered. One of the audience aimed a dagger at the preacher. The weapon, missing its mark, the point became embedded in one of the wooden posts of the pulpit. On the following Sunday Thomas Watson, preaching at the same place, was protected by a guard of 200 soldiers with halberds. At the same time an order was issued forbidding apprentices to attend the sermon, armed with knives or daggers. On 2nd December 1554, in the presence of Cardinal Pole, the Lord-Chancellor preached at Paul's Cross commending the reconciliation of the kingdom, and its restoration to communion with the Holy See. [Illustration: 145. WINCHESTER BUTTER CROSS] Abbot Feckenham preached at the cross on 18th June 1555, and Dr Hugh Glasier, Queen Mary's chaplain, on 25th August of the same year. On 27th October 1584 Samuel Harsnett, subsequently Archbishop of York, delivered at Paul's Cross a sermon, which caused no little stir, on Predestination. On 20th August 1588 Dean Newell made, at the cross, the first public announcement of the defeat of the Spanish Armada.