could be relied upon were returned by the sheriffs. Neither from the
lay members in the House of Lords, many of whom had been enriched by
the plunder of the monasteries, nor from the spiritual peers lately
appointed, could any effective resistance be expected, while the
bishops who were still strongly Catholic in tone were deprived of a
capable leader by the imprisonment of Gardiner. It was significant
that in the Mass celebrated at the opening of Parliament the /Gloria/,
Creed, and /Agnus Dei/ were sung in English. The bishops had been
taught a lesson already by being forced to take out new commissions
like other officers of the crown, by having their jurisdiction
suspended during the progress of the royal visitation, and by being
prohibited from preaching outside their own cathedrals. But, lest they
might have any lingering doubts about the source or extent of their
jurisdiction, Parliament enacted that for the future bishops should be
appointed not by election but by royal letters patent, and that all
their official documents should be issued in the king's name and under
his seal or some other seal authorised by him.[48] All the Acts
against heresy that had been passed since the days of Richard II.,
including the Statute of Six Articles, were repealed; most of the new
treason-felonies created during the previous reign were abolished;
and, though denial of royal supremacy was accounted still as treason,
it was enacted that by merely speaking against it one did not merit
the punishment of death unless for the third offence.

The question of the Blessed Eucharist had come to the front rapidly
owing to the violent and abusive sermons of some of the new preachers,
and the irreverent and sacrilegious conduct of those who accepted
their teaching. The bishops of the old school demanded that measures
should be taken to prevent such attacks on the very centre point of
Christian worship, while Cranmer and his supporters were determined to