1570 Edition | Book 7 | Page 1063 
| Persecutors. | Martyrs. | The Causes. |
me to aunswere for my selfe in matters of such importaunce, then sende me to my prison agayne amonge my todes and frogges, whiche will not interrupt me, while I talke with my Lord my God. The boldenes of whose spirite and courage, as it made some to gnashe their teeth, so some it made to won- der, and ministred to some great confirmation. There was also one Bergiban the same time in prison, who had bene a foreward mā, and a great doer in the Gospell, be- fore the commyng downe of Brulius. Who beyng also sought for at the taking of Brulius, & beyng thē not foūd at home, either by chaunce not knowyng, or els because he conueyed him selfe out of the way for feare, conceaued therof such so- row in his minde, that afterward neither his wife nor chil- dren, nor any frende els, coulde staye hym, but hee would nedes offer him self to the Iudges, saying to the Ruler, beyng asked why he came: The Magistrates came to seeke me (said he) & nowe I am come to know, what they would. Wher vpon the ruler being sory of his cōming, yet notwithstandyng committed him to prison, where he remained constant a cer tein while. But after the Commißioners had threatned him with cruell tormentes and horror of death, hee began by litle and litle to wauer and shrinke from the truth. At the fayre wordes of the false Friers and Priestes, to haue his punishe- ment chaunged, and to be beheaded, he was fayne to graunt vnto their byddynges and requestes. Wherupon the aduersa ries taking their aduauntage came to Miocius, and told him of Bergibans retractation, willyng him to do the like. But he stoutly persistyng in the truth, endured to the fire, where hee hauyng pouder put to his brest, was so put to death, and dis- patched. The Friers hearyng the cracke of the pouder, vpon his brest, told the people, that the deuill came out of him and caryed away his soule. Ex Rabo. & alijs. |
MarginaliaThe Martyrdome of a good priest.A certein Prince in Germa- nie, about Hungary or the partes of Pannonia. | A Priest of Ger- manie. | Ioannes Gastius Conui- ual. Sermo. lib. 2. writeth of a certein prince, but doth not name him, whiche put out the eyes of a certein priest in Germanie, for no other cause, but for that he sayd the Masse to be no sacrifice, in that sense, as many priestes do take it. Neither did the cruell prince immediatly put him to death, but first kept him in pri- son a long time, afflicting him with diuers tormentes. Then he was brought foorth to be degra- ded, after a barbarous and tiran- nous maner. First they shaued the crowne of his head, then rub bed it hard with salt, that the bloud came running downe his shoulders. After that, they rased & pared the toppes of his fingers with cruel paine, that no sauour of the holy oyle might remaine. At last the pacient and godly martyr, iiij. daies after, yelded vp his lyfe and spirite. Ex Ioan. Gastio. lib. 2. |
MarginaliaThe cruell murthering of Iohn Diazius.Aphon- sus Dia- zius, a Spaniard Petr9 de Maluēda the popes prolocu- tor at Ra- tisbone, a Spani- ard. | Ioannes Diazius a Spani- ard, mar- tyr, killed of his own brother. At | Of this Iohn Diazius the full proces and history is set foorth in Latine, wherin the whole circū stance is debated at large, wher- of the brief Summe is this. Iohn Diazius a Spaniard borne, first beyng at Paris. 13. yeares, from thence remoued to Geneua: thē to Basill, and after to Straus- burgh: from whēce he was sent Ambassadour with Bucer and other, to the Councell of Ratis- bone: where he talking with Pe ter Maluenda his countreyman, |
| Persecutors. | Martyrs. | The Causes. |
MarginaliaThe Emperours confessours.The Em perours confessor a Blacke Frier a Spaniard Marquina. | Neoberge in Germa- nye. An. 1546. | the Popes factour, so declared his religion vnto him, that Maluen da wrote to the Frier, whiche was the Emperours confessour, touching the sayd Iohn Diazius: at the openyng and readyng of which letters, one Marquina an other Spaniard was presēt. Vpō this it folowed, whether by this confesor, or by Marquina, that Alphonsus Diazius, brother to |
Iohn Diazius, whiche was one of the Popes Lawyers in Rome, had knowledge geuen him, of his brother Iohn. When the communication of Ratisbone was dissolued and broken vp, Iohn Diazius, from Ratisbone went to the Citie of Neoberge, within the dominion of Otto Henry Pa- latine, about the expedition of Bucers booke there to be prin ted. As Iohn Diazius was there occupied, it was not long, MarginaliaAsphonsus Diazius come from Rome to kill hys brother.but Alphonsus his brother was come from Rome to Ratis- bone, where Maluenda was, bringing with him a pestilent cutthroate, a notorious ruffian or homicide belonging to the Citie of Rome. Maluenda and Alphonsus consulting toge- ther about the dispatch of their deuilish purpose, first labou- red to hunt out by the frendes of Diazius, where Diazius was. Whereof Alphonsus and the homicide hauyng know- ledge by certeine of his secret frendes, pretendyng great mat- ters of importance, came to Neoberge, where Diazius was printing of Bucers boke: Where after long debatyng of mat- ters of Religion betwene the ij. brethren, Alphonsus seing the hart of his brother Iohn to be so constātly planted on the sure rocke of Gods truth, that by no wise he could either be remo- ued from his opinion, or perswaded to ryde in his company (being otherwise counsailed by Bucer and his frendes) fained him selfe frendly to take his leaue of his brother and to de- parte: but shortly after, secretlye with his ruffenly murde- rer he returned agayne, and by the waye they bought a cer- tein hatchet of a carpenter. This done, Alphonsus sendeth his mā beyng disguised, with letters vnto his brother, he him self folowyng after. As Iohn Diazius in the mornyng was risenMarginaliaIohn Diazius slain by his own brother. out of his bedde, to read the letters, the wretched hangman, with the hatchet cloue his head vnto the braynes, leauyng the hatchet in his head, and so he with Alphonsus tooke thē to their horse, whiche stoode without the Citie gate, with as much speade as they might. They of Neoberge, hearyng of the horrible acte, sent out certeine horsemen, making great iourneys after them. Who comming to Augusta, and hearing the murderers to be past before, were out of hope to ouertakeMarginaliaGod will haue murther knowen. them, and so returned. One in the company more zealous thē the rest, would not returne, but pursued them still, and in the Citie of Oeniponte, caused them to bee stayed, and put in prison. Otto Palatine hearing of their taking, writeth to the Magistrates of Oeniponte for iudgemēt. Which Magistrates at first semed very willing therto: but in conclusion, through the practise of Papistes, and crafty lawyers, the sentence iu- diciall was so delayed from day to day, then from houre to houre, that the Emperours letters came in posthast requiring the matter to be stayed, and reserued to his hearyng. And thus the terrible murder of Cain and his felow, was bolstered out by the Papistes. The like wherof frō the memory of men MarginaliaCain still killeth Abell.was neuer heard of, since the first example of Cain, whiche for religion slue his owne brother Abell. But although true iudgement in this world be peruerted, yet such bloudy Cains with their wilfull murther, shall not escape the hādes of him, who shall iudge truly both the cōmitters, & the bolsterers al- so of all mischieuous wickednes. Ex Claudio Senarcleo. |
MarginaliaInterim.¶ An. 1546. 
CloseThe table interspersed some materials about the political history of Germany in the later 1540s, without intending to be a detailed history of it. So Foxe included a brief excursus on the failure of the Augsburg ('Augusta')'Interim', the forlorn attempt concluded on 15 May 1548 to negotiate a 'concord' between the major contending faiths in Germany. Foxe had clearly absorbed enough during his time in Basel to pour scorn on 'a new forme of Religion called Interim' with its attempts to 'make a hodgebotch of them both' (1583, p. 892). That became an increasingly common view, especially in Reformed circles, after the peace of Augsburg (1555), which formally excluded Reformed (Zwinglian/Calvinist) confessions from being incorporated within the peace. Foxe's source for the early failure of the Imperial siege of Constance, one of the few protestant successes of the Schmalkaldic War, was Sleidan (book 21), 3, 139-40. For the flight of various protestant ministers from southern Germany during the war, where Foxe singles out Martin Frecht ('Martinus Frechtus'), superintendant at Ulm, Wolfgang Musculus at Augsburg, Johannes Brenz ('Brentius') from Halle, Ambrose Blaurer ('Blaurerus') from Contance and Martin Bucer from Strasbourg, his source of information was also Sleidan (book 20), 3, pp. 139-140. His presentation of Johann Friedrich ('John Fridericke'), Elector of Saxony as among the 'godly and constant Sayntes of Christ' for his 'admirable constancy' in the aftermath of his defeat and capture by the emperor in 1547 also largely glosses the account given in Sleidan (book 19), 3, pp. 13-19 et seq. Foxe reinforced the case for an honourable mention of the protestant princes who had so disastrously engaged in the Schmalkaldic War by including Philip, Landgrave of Hesse as another 'godly and constant' saint, especially during his five-year captivity in Spain. Again, Foxe's source was Sleidan (book 19), 3, pp. 28-34. At the same time, Foxe could not resist a paragraph being devoted to the interesting reform-minded Archbishop of Cologne whose attempts to reform his own archdiocese were among several examples of those figures in the catholic authority who took an independent and conciliatory line towards protestant critique. Sleidan had reported on them briefly (Sleidan [book 15], 2, p. 309) but as the background to his summary removal from office in the different climate of 1548 and replacement by Adolf von Schauenburg (Sleidan [book 18], 2, p. 575). Foxe might well have liked to have dwelt longer, however, on the stubborn resistance to siege by imperial forces of the 'Christian city of Magdeburg' and the 'constancy of their doctrine reformed' in 1552. It marked a turning-point in German protestant fortunes in their conflict with the emperor. Once more, Foxe's source was Sleidan (book 23), 3, pp. 302-4. [Back to Top]cel at Augusta, after his victory gottē in Germanie. Where Iulius Pflug, Michael Sidonius, and Iohn Islebius goyng about to concorde together the Gospell of Christ, with the traditions of þe Pope, that is, to make a hodgepotch of them both, drewe and framed out a new forme of reli- gion called Interim. Whereupon began a new matter of persecution in Germanie. For the Emperour proceded straitly agaynst all them, whiche would not receaue hys Interim, intendyng therby to haue wrought some great mastry agaynst the Gospellers, but the Lorde disapoyn- |