1570 Edition | Book 8 | Page 1223 
the latter day we may with hym enioy the blesse & ioye prouided and prepared for the electe children of God.
MarginaliaThe Martyrdome of Tho. Benet.
This Benet was burned in a Ierkyne of neates leather,
CloseI.e. a jerkin of the highest quality leather.
CloseThis is largely an account of evangelicals, who were forced to abjuretheir beliefs and do pennance during a crackdown on heresy conducted jointly by Bishop John Stokesley and Thomas More, during his tenure as Lord Chancellor.There are two two notable insertions into this material. The first is an account ofWilliam Tracy, whose outspokenly evangelical will led to his posthumous convict-ion of heresy and the exhumation of his body. Foxe reprinted his copy of Tracy's will from the version in Hall's Chronicle (See Edward Hall, The union of the two noble and illustre famelies of Lancastre and York [London, 1548], STC 12721, fo. 211r-v) Foxe's account of Tracy, including a translation of his will into Latin, first appeared in the Rerum (pp. 125-6). The second is an account of Richard Bayfield's apprehension which Foxe found in the London court books.
[Back to Top]In fact, most of the material in this section was taken from London court books from the episcopates of Cuthbert Tunstall and John Stokesley. The fact that this was not joined to the main narrative of Bayfield's martyrdom (the material on Bayfield's background comes from a knowledgeable informant, probably based in London. However, the articles charged against Bayfield, his answers to them, the sentence of degradation imposed on him and the letter to the mayor and sheriffs of London, are taken from a now lost court book of Bishop John Stokesley.) is an indication that Foxe's search through the diocese of London archives was being made while this section of the first edition was being printed. Another indication of this is the list of names of the people who were forced to do penance in London - a list of names that includes the people described in this section - which appeared in the first edition. The list, without any of the details which appear in this section, indicate that Foxe only had time to scan this material in 1563. Most of these London court books are, now lost, but much of the detail in this section can be confirmed in other sources. (Pages from one register, relating to a visitation of the diocese in 1527 survive in Foxe's papers as part of BL, Harley MS 421; the visitation was by Geoffrey Wharton, the vicar-general of Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall of London and he uncovered a network of heretics in Colchester and its environs, particularly the villages of Boxted, Witham and Steeple Bumpstead. Much of this visitation was recorded in a register whosepages - apparently torn out by Foxe or his associates - form a significant portionof BL, Harley MS 421. Some pages of this register that now longer survive, were transcribed by John Strype, when he had custody of Foxe's papers and printed inhis Ecclesiaiastical Memorials.). One item also comes from the register of Bishop Tunstall (Guildhall MS 9531/10, fos. 136v-137r) and another comes from petition sent to Anne Boleyn (Anne Boleyn was marchioness of Pembroke from 1 September 1532 until her recognition as queen in March 1533. The accurate citation of Anne's title of marchioness helps to confirm that Foxe was drawing his information from a petition). Interestingly, Foxe only obtained this petition between 1576 and 1583. Some of Foxe's narratives are confirmed by contemporary chronicles (Thomas More, The Apology, ed. J. B. Trapp, CWTM 9 [New Haven, CT, 1979], p. 121 and 'Two London Chronicles', ed. C. L. Kingsford in Camden Society Miscellany XII, third series, 18 [London, 1910], p. 5).
[Back to Top]Foxe's unwillingness to describe the abjurations of Henrician evangelicals(and, earlier in his work, the Lollards) contrasts starkly with his desire to conceal such submissions in the case of the Marian martyrs. This an indication of the extent to which an earlier tolerance of recantations had eroded among Protestants, and alsoof Foxe's conviction that those born before the full onset of the Reformation had bothlesser spiritual knowledge and lesser obligations to God.
[Back to Top]Thomas S. Freeman
CloseSee 1570, pp. 1959-60; 1576, pp. 991-2 and 1583, pp. 1019-20.
CloseNotice that Foxe shifts the blame for persecution from Henry VIII to his bishops.
| Persons abiured, | with their Articles. |
MarginaliaMen abiured.Greffray Lome. 1528.
CloseThese articles are taken from Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall's register (Guildhall MS 9531/10, fos. 136v-137r). | HIs articles were these: For hauing and dispersyng certeyne bookes of Luther. Item, for translatyng certeyne Chapters of hys booke De bonis operibus. For holdyng, that fayth without woorkes, is sufficient to bryng vs to heauen. That Christen men ought to worship God only & no Saincts. That Christen men should not offer to I- mages in Churches, ne set any lyght before them. That pardons graunted by Pope or Byshop do not profite man. |
Sygar Ni- colson, Sta tioner of Cambridge. 1528. | His Articles were lyke: and moreouer for hauyng in hys house certeyne bookes of Luther and other prohibited, and not pre- senting them to the Ordinarye. The handlyng of this man was too too cruell, if the report be true, that he should be hanged vp by thoses partes, which nature wel suffreth not to be named
CloseThomas More, defending himself from charges of torturing accused heretics, admitted that Nicholson had been detained in his house for four or five days. More also admitted that there were reports that Nicholson was whipped and otherwise tortured while he detained him. More indignantly denied these reports and declared that Nicholson was physically unharmed during the entire time thathe was More's involuntary guest (Thomas More, The Apology, ed. J. B. Trapp,CWTM 9 [New Haven, CT, 1979], p. 121). Foxe is probably refering here to wilder versions of these stories, although he must have known of More's denialof these stories. As a result, Foxe is being disingenous here by repeating the charges, but not endorsing them and not naming More. [Back to Top] |
| Persons abiured, | with their Articles. |
Iohn Ray- mund, a Dutchman.
CloseJohn Raimund (or more correctly, Hans von Ruremond) was aFlemish printer who had already been convicted in 1525 for printing hereticalworks in 1525. Ae appears to have moved permanently to London and wasstill active there in 1535 under the alias of John Holibusch (see Fines). 1528. | For causyng fyftene hundreth of Tyndals new Testamētes to be printed at Antwerpe, and for bryngyng fyue hundreth into En- gland. |
Paule Lu- ther Gray Frier, and vvarden of the house at vvare. 1529. | Hys Articles: For preaching and saying that it is pytye, þt there be so many Images suffred in so many places, where as vndis- cret and vnlearned people bee: for they make theyr prayer and oblations so intire- ly and hartely before the Image, þt they be- leue it to be the very self Sainct in heauen. Item, that if he knewe hys father and mo- ther were in heauen, he would count them as good as Saint Peter or Paule, but for the payne they suffred for Christes sake. Item, that there is no nede to go on pilgri- mage. Item, that if a man were at the poynt of drownyng or any other daunger, he should call onely vppon God, and no Sainct: for Sainctes in heauē can not helpe vs, neither knowe no more what men doe here in this worlde, then a man in the North coūtrey knoweth what is done in the South countrey. |
Roger Whaplod, Marchaunt Taylor.
CloseRoger Whaplod was the son-in-law of Richard Hunne and like Hunne, he was markedly anti-clerical in his sympathies. A few years after the incident described below, he was in even more serious trouble with the authorities, as one of the ringleaders of a riot that occurred at St. Paul's cathedral in 1531. Whaplod was one of five men arrested and he was imprisoned for an unknown length of time. In 1538, his wife appealed to Thomas Cromwell for her husband's release. Whether or not the appeal was successful is unknown and Whaplod's subsequent fate is unclear. He was dead by August 1560 (W. R. Cooper, 'RichardHunne', Reformation 1 [1996], pp. 234-5). Roger's son Dunstan would supply Foxe with records of the Hunne affair. [Back to Top]1529. | Roger Whaplod sent by one Tho. Northfolke MarginaliaA bill read by the preacher at the Spittell.vnto Doct. Goderyge
CloseFoxe's syntax makes this passage unclear. Whaplod sent Norfolk to Goderidge, not the other way round. bee read at hys Sermon in the Spittel
CloseRoger Whaplod, who was Richard Hunne's son-in-law and he had successfully petitioned to have Hunne's property restored to his family and tohave compensation paid to them for his death. Whaplod, moreover,continued to twist the knife. The bill Goderidge read was hardly hertetical, but,by announcing that money used from Hunne's estate would be used to pay for repairs to the Fleet conduit, it was a reminder of Hunne's former standing as a leading andphilanthropic citizen. The request to pray for Hunne's soul was particularly provocative, since he had been convicted of heresy. The choice of the venue forthis announcement was also calculated and inflamatory: St Mary Spital had been the parish church of Charles Joseph, the gaoler who was believed to have murdered Hunne. [Back to Top]If there by any well disposed person wil- lyng to do any cost vpō the reparatiō of the cundette in Fletstreete, let hym or thē resort vnto the administrators of the goods & cat- tel of one Rich. Hunne, late Marchaūt Tay- lor of London, whiche dyed intestate, or els to me, and they shall haue toward the same vj. li. xiij. s. iiij. d. and a better penny, of the goodes of the sayd Richard Hunne: vppon whose soule and all Christen soules Iesu haue mercy. For the which Byll both Whaplod and Northfolke were brought & troubled before MarginaliaIt was the maner of this tyme to take money for readyng of billes at Sermons.the Byshop
CloseBishop Cuthbert Tunstall, not Bishop John Stokesley. toke a groate for readyng the Byll, was su- spended for a time, frō saying Masse, & also was forced to reuoke the same at Paules Crosse, readyng this Byll as foloweth. |
MarginaliaEx Regist. Lond.
Doctour Goodrige reuoketh hys praying for the soule of Richard Hunne.MAisters, so it is that where in my late sermō at S. Marie Spitell, the Tewsday in Easter weeke last past, I did pray specially for the soule of Richard Hunne, late of London marchaunt Taylor, an hereticke by the lawes of holy Churche iustly condempned, by reason whereof I greatly offended God and his Churche and the lawes of the same, for the which I haue submitted me to my Ordinary and done penaunce therfore: for asmuch as peraduenture the audiēce that was there offended by my sayd wordes, might take any occasion thereby to thinke that I did fauour the sayd hereticke or any other, I desire you at the instance of almighty God to forgeue me, and not so to thinke of me, for I did it vnaduisedly. Therfore here before God and you, I declare my selfe that I haue not fauored hym or any other hereticke, nor hereafter intend to do, but at all tymes shall defend the Catholicke fayth of holy Churche, accordyng to my profession, to the best of my power.
Robert West, Priest.
CloseFoxe's source for the account of Robert West is almost certainly a now lost court- book of Bishop Cuthbert Tunstal of London. Robert West was also - according to a record not consulted by Foxe - charged with eating meat on Friday and having committed adultery (London Metropolitan Archive, DL/C/330, fo. 175v) [Back to Top] | Abiured for bookes and opinions con- trarye to the proclamation. |
Micolas Whyte of Rye.
CloseIn 1536, a Nicholas White of Winchelsea was charged with opposing veneration of the Virgin Mary, pilgrimages, offerings to saints, prayers for the dead, and he was also charged with denying the existence of Purgatory (L&P XI, p. 569). On 19 January 1557, a Nicholas White (whose age and place of residence are not given by Foxe) was burned at Canterbury (1563, p. 1571; 1570, p. 2107; 1576,p. 1872; 1583, p. 1930). The two Nicholas Whites may be the same person or they may be relatives. [Back to Top]1529. | Hys Articles: For speakyng agaynst the Priestes saying of Mattens. For speakyng agaynst praying for them that be dead: A- gaynst praying to God for small trifles, as for the cow caluyng, the henne hatching. &c. For speakyng agaynst the relicke of S. Pe- ters finger: Agaynst oblations to Images: Agaynst vowing of Pilgremage: Agaynste Priesthode: Agaynst holy bread and holy water. &c. |