Opposition to the church in Parliament and the City was growing in volume, but these early rumblings of a Reformation had been silenced by the then unmovable power of Wolsey. Now, that Wolsey was dead,   everything was different and the Reformation was able to start. In order for it to begin, the House of Commons first got together lawyers who were Members of the Lawyers in the House. The lawyers, surprisingly, got together the papers in record time. When the Probate Bill was shown to the lords, the Archbishop of Canterbury ‘in particular’ and the other bishops in general frowned at the bill. For example, Fischer, the Bishop of Rochester, warned the lords about the coming of the social revolution.  He pointed to the National Czech Revolt led by John Huss, saying: “You can see the bills that come daily from the commons house; do you see what it did to the Czech Republic, how it plummeted after it got rid of the church?  Is that what you want to happen to England? I think it is lacking in faith!”

When the House of Commons heard what had been said, they put together a group of Members and made sure that there was a representative among them. They then sent the group to the king with a complaint. King Henry then summoned Fischer and asked him to explain what he had meant; Fischer simply shuffled his feet and then said that he had meant that the Czechs were lacking in faith not the Commons. This lame excuse, however, was not enough to make the House of Commons content. The death in August of the old Archbishop Warham, principal opponent to Henry’s divorce, opened further possibilities and problems.  For one, could Henry depend on the French neutrality?  He decided to discuss these matters in person with the King of France. So he went to Boulogne with a few friends, including Anne Boleyn, for a personal discussion with Francis I. He returned reassured that he could depend on the French neutrality.

Sir Richard

We have now reached what is called the Sixth Century it is the years that start with the number 15.
It is inevitable in English, but confusing. Right about the start of the Sixth Century Martin Luther
was living, but was still unknown. In a few years, however, he became very popular because of his ideas
that he had written down about Christianity.
He wanted to have a church which was free from the Pope and the Pope’s rule. His enemies were against it
but could not find a single solid reason to be. Luther called the Pope ‘pig-faced’ and many other names
too, most of which were even more insulting to the Pope!

The Mongols were, at this time harassing Eastern Europe compelling the inhabitants there to be in constant
terror of them. However, the Great Khan died and all the noblemen hurried back to the capitol in order to
elect his successor. The Turks, in the meantime, had taken over the Byzantine Empire. Columbus, a Genoan
sailor, married the daughter of a Portuguese sailor who served with The Navigator. He then studied the maps
of his father-in-law, and decided to find a sea route to the Spice Islands. He sent his brother to try to
get help from the King of England, but he got caught by pirates on the sea. When he got released and got
the attention of the new king, Henry Tudor, it was too late; the Portuguese King had already consented to
sponsor Columbus. Columbus then got  his three ships: The Nina, The Pinta and one other ship which was to be his flag ship. This ship's name Columbus changed to Santa Maria meaning 'Saint Mary', in this ship and with the other two Columbus sailed to what we call Cuba and back to Portugal. Columbus, however, was not the only one to go to this 'new world', Cabot, a famous English sailor, journeyed from England to Newfoundland, then to Virginia, then back to England. Vasco de Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and down the coast of Africa, crossed the Indian Ocean to Calicut, then followed his route back to Spain. Magellan started out from Portugal with three ships, being Portuguese himself. He went down to the coast of Brazil and followed it down to the tip of Chile. He sailed across the Pacific Ocean to the East Indies. He then left there and kept on sailing toward the Cape of Good Hope he reached it and arrived in Portugal. Only then did become known that not only had Magellan lost two of his ships, he had lost his life.

Sir Richard

On Monday, 25th of April 1588, before the sun came up, a seven companies of soldiers, armed with arquesbus and muskets lined Lisbon’s squares. The companies were made up of the strongest and smartest, they had been taken from the ships on boats the night before. But they had been standing around for most of the night. Unless they differed from the other soldiers they were grumbling and stamping their boots on the pavement and asking each other why they were there.

Before six o’ clock they were called to attention, the palace gates opened and a noble procession emerged. At the head of the procession was, on horseback, the Cardinal Archduke, Viceroy in Portugal of King Philip of Spain. On his right hand rode the Duke of Medina Sedonia, Captain of the High Seas and commander-in-chief of the fleet. Behind them were commanders whose names that year, not only in Spanish history but in English history too: Juan Martinez de Recalde, a veteran of many fights at sea; Don Pedro and Don Diego de Valdes, both cousins, but bitter enemies. Don Miguel de Oquendo, another revered sea fighter; Don Alonzo de Leyva, a cavalry soldier of Milan, appointed by the king to take command if any misfortune befell the duke.

Once upon a time a man came to Odin and the deities
and said that he would build a defensive wall if, as
a reward he would get Freya for his bride, plus, he
would do it at the length of winter, if he was even
one day late, he would have to give up his reward. The
gods agreed to this, and the man got started on his job.
It was three days ‘til winter was over and the man had only one
part left when the gods realized that the man was going
to get it done on time and they did not want to give up
Freya. So they turned on Loki and commanded him to do
something about it. The next day, when the man was going
to the rock quarries to get more rock, a horse appeared
at the edge of the forest. The man’s horse broke loose
when it saw the other horse dash away into the forest
after a series of neighing, the man ran after it and
finally caught it but he was not able to finish the wall in
time and when he tried to get his reward anyway, and
the gods refused, the man grew, and grew very quickly
until his size depicted him as a Mountain Giant, the
gods, forgetting their agreement, quickly sent for Thor,
who came faster then the message had been sent.

Thor immediately threw his hammer
which killed the Mountain Giant and he never moved again.

We will now speak of the religion of the Persians;
how Zoroaster changed their most ancient religion.
This is how it happened: when Zoroaster appeared
it was a pretty different religion than when he died,
you see the first religion came with duplicate gods
and Zoroaster made the religion with only one god
and with duplicate signs Ormuzd, the heart of all
light and purity, whose signs are the sun, the
light, and fire. When Alexander the Great came
through they let go of it but when the Arabs
came through they were forced to give it up
and those who didn’t ran away and now live
around the North-Western part of India.
They have a song that goes something like this:

Yes! I am of that impious race,
Those slaves of Fire, that morn and even
Hail their creator’s dwelling-place
Among the living lights of heaven

Yes! I am of that outcast crew
To Iran and vengeance true,
Who curse the hour your Arabs came
To desecrate our shrines of fire,
And swear before God’s burning eye,
To break our country’s chains or die.