MarginaliaAn. 1555. February.behalfe, we therfore (I say) albeit following the example of Christ, VVhich would not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should conuert and liue, we haue gone about oftentimes to correct thee, and by all lawful meanes that we could, and all wholsome admonitions that we dyd know, to reduce thee againe vnto the true fayth and vnity of the vniuersall catholique church, notwythstanding haue found thee obstinate and stiffe necked, wyllingly continuing in thy damnable opinions & heresies, and refusyng to returne againe vnto the true fayth and vnitie of the holy mother Church, and as the child of wyckednes and darknes so to haue hardened thy hart, that thou wylt not vnderstād the voyce of thy hart, that thou wylt not vnderstād the voyce of thy shepheard, which wyth a fatherly affection doth seeke after thee, nor wylt not bee allured wyth hys fatherly and godly admonitions: we therefore Steuen the B. aforesayd, not wylling that thou whych art wicked, shouldest now become more wycked and infect the Lords flocke with thine heresie (which we are greatly affeard of) MarginaliaThese murderers pretend a sorow of hart, and yet they will not cease from murdering.with sorrowe of mynde and bitternes of hart doe iudge thee, and diffinitiuely condemne thee the sayd Iohn Rogers, otherwise called Mathew, thy demerites & defaultes being aggrauate through thy damnable obstinacy, as gilty of most detestable heresies, and as an obstinate impenitent synner, refusyng penitently to returne to the lap and vnity of the holy mother church, and that thou hast bene and art by law excommunicate, and doe pronounce and declare thee to be an excommunicate person: Also we pronounce and declare thee beyng an hereticke, to be cast out frō the church, & left vnto the iudgement of the Secular power, & now presently so do leaue thee as an obstinate hereticke, and a person wrapped in the sentence of the great curse, to bee disgraded worthely for thy demerites [MarginaliaThys clause is not expressed in thys Sentence of Winchester, but in the other Sentences of B. Boner commonly it is expressed.requiring them notwithstanding in the bowels of our Lord Iesus Christ, that this executiō and punishment worthely to be done vpon thee, may so be moderated that the rigour thereof be not to extreme, nor yet the gentlenes to much mitigated, but that it may be to the saluation of thy soule, to þ^e extirpation, terror, & conuersion of the heretikes, to the vnity of the catholique fayth] by thys our sentence diffinitiue which wee here lay vpon and agaynst thee, and do wyth sorrow of hart promulgate in this forme aforesayd.

MarginaliaM. Rogers & M. Hooper sent to Newgate.After this sentence beyng read, he sent vs (M. Hoper I meane, and me) to the Clinke, there to remayne till night: and when it was darke, they caryed vs, M. Hoper goyng before with the one Shriffe, & I cōmyng after with the other, with billes and weapons enowe,

out of the Clinke, and lead vs thorough the Byshops house, and so thorow S. Marie Oueryes Churchyard, and so into Southwarke, and ouer the Bridge on procession to Newgate thorow the Citie. But I must shew you this also, that when he had read the condemnation, he declared that I was in the great curse, and what a MarginaliaA vengeable thing to be in the Popes Church.vengeable daungerous matter it were to eate and drinke with vs that were accursed, or to geue vs any thyng: for all that so dyd should be partakers of the same great curse.

MarginaliaM. Rogers wordes to the B. of Winchest.Well my Lord (quoth I) here I stand before God and you, and all this honorable audience, and take him to witnes, that I neuer wittingly or willyngly taught any false doctrine: and therfore haue I a good consciēce before God and all good men. I am sure that you and I shal come before a Iudge that is righteous, before whō I shalbe as good a man as you: and I nothyng doubt but that I shalbe foūd there a true member of the true Catholicke Church of Christ and euerlastyngly saued. And as for your false Church, ye neede not to excōmunicate me forth of it. I haue not ben in it these xx. yeres, þ^e lord be thāked therfore. But now ye haue done what ye cā, my Lord, I pray you yet graunt me one thyng.

What is that, quoth he?

MarginaliaM. Rogers request to haue hys wife come to hym while he liued, could not be graunted.That my poore wife beyng a straunger, may come and speake with me so long as I lyue. For she hath ten children that are hers and myne, & somewhat I would counsell her what were best for her to do.

No (quoth he) she is not thy wife.

Yes my Lord (quoth I) & hath ben these 18. yeares.

Should I graunt her to be thy wife, quoth he?

Choose you, quoth I, whether ye wil or not: she shall be so neuertheles.

She shall not come at thee, quoth hee.

Then I haue tried out all your charity, sayd I. MarginaliaThe Pope a destroyer of mariage and maintainer of whoredome.You make your selfe highly displeased with the Matrimony of Priestes, but you maintaine open whoredome: as in Wales (quoth I) where euery Priest hath hys whore openly dwelling with him & lying by him: euen as your holy father suffereth all the Priestes in Dutchland and in Fraunce to do the like. Therto he aunswered not, but looked, as it were, asquinte at it: and thus I departed, and saw hym last.

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Commentary on the Woodcuts     Close

The woodcut of the burning of John Rogers at Smithfield gives the impression of an agitated scene, attended by a large crowd, some watching from nearby windows, as they were shown doing in other burnings in urban settings (e.g. William Flower at Westminster, the following year). The moment is the climax at which the dying man washed his hands in the flames 'as he was in burning', and around him men and women gesture and throw up their hands in what can only be read as gestures of acclamation. This was the first burning of Mary's reign, and apart from the horseman (apparently Sir Richard Southwell) armed men are singularly absent. The awkward placing of this print on the page in 1563, spilling over the columns of text, is indicative of the problems of layout faced in Foxe's first English edition with the introduction of large narrative woodcuts. The satisfactory solution reached in 1570, and; 1583, was abandoned in the cheaper 1576, edition in which this and the other large woodcuts extend into both margins. Rogers' last words were reset in each of the early editions; roman type 1563, to italic 1570, to roman again in 1576,and 1583, with minor spelling differences.