This happy event was celebrated by a procession through the streets of
London in which the clergymen, aldermen, and citizens took part.
Parliament petitioned that the old jurisdiction of the clergy should
be restored, that the liberty granted to the Church by the Magna
Charta should be confirmed, and that the English religious service-
books of the previous reign should be delivered to the flames. Once it
was made clear that the owners of ecclesiastical property should not
be disturbed there was no difficulty in procuring a complete reversal
of all the laws that had been passed against the apostolic See of Rome
since the twentieth year of Henry VIII. (3rd January 1555).[2]

The close connexion of the leaders of the Reformers with the late
rebellion, the ugly pamphlets that made their way into England from
Frankfurt and Geneva, the fact that prayers were offered in secret for
the speedy death of the queen, that a shot had been fired at one of
the royal preachers while he was in the pulpit, and that a violent
commotion was being stirred up, that led later on to a priest being
struck down at the altar by one who is designated by Foxe as "a
faithful servant of God,"[3] made it necessary for the safety of the
crown and the advancement of religion to deal harshly with those who
themselves had relied on persecution for the promotion of their
designs. Mary herself, Philip, and Cardinal Pole did not favour a
recourse to violent measures, but they were overruled by the judgment
of those who should have known best the character of the opponents
with whom they had to deal. An Act was passed renewing the legislation
that had been made in the reigns of Richard II., Henry IV., and Henry
V. for the suppression of the Lollard heresy.

Parliament was dissolved in January 1555, and several of the political
prisoners were released from the Tower. The heretical leaders, who