In 1536, he issued a proclamation
that "any rioters or those in an unlawful assembly shall return to
their houses" or "we will proceed against them with all our royal
force and destroy them and their wives and children." In 1538, he
proclaimed that anyone hurting or maiming an officer while trying
to make an arrest "shall lose and forfeit all their lands, goods,
and chattel" and shall suffer perpetual imprisonment. Moreover, if
one murdered such an officer, he would suffer death without
privilege of sanctuary or of clergy. In 1540, he proclaimed that
there would be no shooting by handgun except on a shooting range.
Henry had Parliament pass bills of attainder against many people.
For the first time, harsh treatment of prisoners in the Tower,
such as placement in dungeons with little food, no bed, and no
change of clothes, became almost a matter of policy. Through his
host of spies, Cromwell heard what men said to their closest
friends. Words idly spoken were distorted into treasonable
utterances. Fear spread through the people. Silence was a person's
only possibility of safety.
Cromwell developed a technique for the management of the House of
Commons which lasted for generations. He promulgated books in
defense of royal spiritual authority, which argued that canon law
was not divine but merely human and that clerical authority had no
foundation in the Bible. A reformed English Bible was put in all
parish churches.
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