document entitled _Reformatio legum ecclesiasticarum_, which never
received authority. Edward died in 1553. Apart from matters of faith,
the church had fared ill under a royal supremacy exercised by
self-seeking nobles in the name of the boy-king. Convocation lost all
authority and bishops were treated as state officials liable to
deprivation for disobedience to the council. Means of worship were
diminished, and the poor were shamefully wronged by the suppression of
chantries, gilds and holy days; even the few sheep of the poor brethren
of a gild were seized to swell a sum which from 1550 was largely
diverted from public purposes to private gain. Churches were despoiled
of their plate; the old bishops were forced, the new more easily
persuaded, to give up lands belonging to their sees, and rich men grew
richer by robbing God.

When Mary succeeded her brother, the deprived bishops were restored,
some reforming bishops were imprisoned, and Cranmer, who was implicated
in the plot on behalf of Lady Jane Grey, was attainted of treason. As
regards doctrine, religious practices and papal supremacy, Mary was set
on bringing back her realm to the position existing before her father's
quarrel with Rome. Her first parliament repealed the ecclesiastical
legislation of Edward's reign, and convocation formally accepted
transubstantiation. Seven bishops were deprived in 1554, four of them as
married, and about a fifth of the beneficed clergy, though some received
other benefices after putting away their wives. Apparently Mary at first
believed that her authority would be accepted in religious matters; but
she met with opposition, partly provocative, for Wyat's rebellion
consequent on her intended marriage to Philip of Spain was closely
connected with religion, and more largely passive in the noble
resolution of those who chose martyrdom rather than denial of their
faith. To the nation at large, though not averse from the old doctrines
and practices of the church, a return to the Roman obedience was
distasteful. Nevertheless, Cardinal Pole was received as legate, and the
title of Supreme Head of the Church having been dropped, a parliament
carefully packed, and the fears of the rich appeased by the assurance
that they would not have to surrender the monastic lands, he absolved
the nation in parliament and reunited it to the Church of Rome on
November 30, 1554, the clergy being absolved in convocation. Parliament
repealed all acts again