nce; among the English
nobility it formed the main ground of its submission. But in May 1555
Pope Paul IV ascended the Papal throne, in whom dislike of the
Austro-Spanish house was almost a passion, and who wished to base his
ecclesiastical reputation on the recovery of the alienated church
property. His third Bull orders its restoration, including the
possessions of monastic foundations, and the revenues hitherto
received from them. The English ambassadors who had been sent to Rome
under wholly different conditions, to announce the restoration of
obedience, found this Pope there on their arrival. When they mentioned
the confirmation of the alienation of the monastic property, he
answered them in plain terms: for himself he would be ready to
consent, but it lay beyond his power; the property of the church was
sacred and inviolable, all that belonged to it must be restored to the
uttermost farthing. And so ecclesiastically minded was Queen Mary that
she in her heart agreed with the Pope. The monasteries in particular
she held to be an indispensable part of the church-system, and wished
for their restoration. Already the fugitive monks were seen returning:
a number of Benedictines who had remained in the country resumed the
dress of their Order; the Queen made no secret of her wish to restore
the monastery of Westminster in particular. Another side of church
life was affected by the fact that, owing to the suppression of the
great abbeys, a number of benefices, which were dependent on them, had
lost their incomes and had fallen into decay. That Henry VIII should
have appropriated to the crown the tenths and first-fruits, which
belonged to the church, seemed to Queen Mary unjustifiable; she felt
herself straitened in her conscience by retaining these revenues, and
was prepared to give them back, whatever might be the loss to the
crown. But she could not by herself repeal what had been done under
authority of Parliament: in November 1555 she attempted to gain over
that assembly to her view. A number of influential members were
summoned to the palace, where first Cardinal Pole explained to them
that the receipt of the first-fruits was connected with the State's
claim of supremacy over the church, but that, after obedience was
restored, it had no longer any real justification. He put forward some
further reasons, and then the Queen herself took up the word. She
laid the greatest stress on her personal wish. She asked the
Parl