1709 [1670]
Quene Mary. The condemnation, disgrading, and Martyrdome of M. Saunders.
MarginaliaAn. 1555. February.all together to prison. Laurence Saunders standyng among þe Officers, seyng there a great multitude of people, opened his mouth, and spake freely, MarginaliaM. Saunders freely preacheth Christ.warnyng them well of that, which by their fallyng from Christ to Antichrist they did deserue, and therfore exhortyng them by repentance to rise againe, & to embrace Christ with stronger fayth, to confesse him to þe end, in þe defiance of Antichrist, sinne, death, and the deuil: so should they retaine the Lordes fauour and blessing.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe 2. examination here lacketh.The copyes of his other examinations and excommunication came to the hands of such as do keepe them still in secret.
Commentary
Foxe is prodding anyone who might have a copy of Saunders' other examination or any of his other writings to make them available to him.
But in them as he defēded Christes cause stoutly: so warned he the Pharisaical Bishops and Papistes, of their hypocrisie and tyranny freely, and cleared him selfe of their vniust quarellinges, truly. After hee was excommunicate and
MarginaliaM. Saunders deliuered to the secular power.deliuered to the secular power, he was brought by the Shriffe of London, to the prison called the Counter in hys owne Parish in Breadstreete: wherat he reioysed greatly, both because he found there a felow prisoner,
M. Cardmaker, with whom he had Christian and comfortable conference, and also because out of prison, as before out of a Pulpit, he might preach to his Parishners: as by his letter hereafter shall be declared.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaM. Saunders degraded by B. Boner.THe fourth day of February, the bishop of London did come to the prison where he was, to disgrade him: which when hee had done, Laurence Saunders sayd to hym: I thanke God I am none of your church. MarginaliaM. Saunders caryed to Couentrie.The day following in the morning, the Shiriffe of Lōdon deliuered hym to certaine of the Queenes Garde, which were appoynted to cary him to the Citye of Couentry, there to be burned. The first nyght they came to S. Albons, where M. Grimoald (a man who had more store of good giftes, then of great constancie) dyd speake with him. After M. Saunders had geuen hym a lesson meete for his lightnes, hee tooke a cup into hys
[Back to Top]hand, and asked him if hee would pledge him of that cup, of which he would begyn to hym.
Commentary
Saunders is referring to Christ's words in the garden of Gethsemane (see Matthew 26:39, Mark 14:36 and Luke 22:42).
by hys shrugging and shrinking, shewing what he was, sayd: of that cup which is in your hand, I wyll pledge you: but of that other which you meane, I wyl not promise you. Wel sayd
M. Saūders, my deare Lord Iesus Christ hath begon to me of a more bitter cup thē myne shal be, and shal I not pledge my most sweete Sauioure? yes I hope. After they were come to Couentry, the same night a poore shoomaker, which was wont to serue him of shooes, came to him after his maner and sayde:
MarginaliaA good Shoomaker of Couentrie.Oh my good Maister, God strengthen and comfort you. Gramercies good Shoomaker, quoth
M. Saunders, and I pray thee to pray for me: for I am the vnmeetest man for thys hygh office, that euer was appointed to it: but my gracious God and deare father is able to make me strong enough.
MarginaliaMaister Saunders put in the common gaile in Couentry.That same night he was put into the common Gayle among other prisoners, where he slept litle, but spent þ
e night in praier, & instructing of others.
[Back to Top]The next day, which was Marginalia
Febru. 8.
Maister Saunders brought to the place of execution.the. viij. of February hee was lead to the place of execution in the Parcke wythout the Citye, going in an olde gowne, and a shierte, barefooted, and ofttimes fell flat on the groūd & prayed.
Commentary
There is a considerable similarity to Hugh Latimer's costume at his execution. This suggests that Saunders's garb was part of a deliberate strategy of self-presentation, probably designed to evoke Christ's passion.
When he was come nigh to the place, the Officer appointed to see the execution done, said to
M. Saunders, that he was one of thē which had marred the Queenes Realme with false doctrine and heresie: wherfore thou hast deserued death (quoth he
MarginaliaAchab accuseth Elias for troublyng Israell.) but yet if thou wylt reuoke thy heresies, the Queene hath pardoned thee: if not, yonder fire is prepared for thee. To whom Maister
Saunders aunswered: it is not I, nor my fellowe Preachers of Gods truth, that haue hurt the Queenes Realme, but it is your selfe, and such as you are, which haue alwayes resisted Gods holy word: it is you which haue and do marre the Queenes realme. I doe hold no heresies, but the doctrine of God, the blessed Gospel of
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe Martyrdome of M. Saunders at Couentrie. An. 1555. February. 8.¶ The burning of Maister Laurence Saunders at Couentry.
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Commentary on the Woodcuts
Lawrence Saunders, burned in a park outside the city of Coventry, is depicted being chained to the stake which he had embraced and kissed as the cross of Christ. There are armed guards all round (their pikes punctuate the background), ready to restrain supportive onlookers like the man on the left. But the stony-faced man below Saunders on the right, given the ugly features of friars and persecutors in other illustrations, shows that not all present were of this cast. The victim's agony was increased (as John Hooper's was to be) by the green wood of the still unlit fire. Foxe could not resist the comparison with St Lawrence, who featured among the 'old martyrs of Christ's church', whose sufferings were portrayed in the large print of the ten first persecutions of the primitive church, first included in 1570. As in other cases the woodcut gives the martyr's last words even though showing him before the fire was kindled. In 1563, the banderole is blank, perhaps (as in the similar case of the seven Smithfield martyrs 1563, p. 1451) indicating doubts or lack of information on the blockmakers' part. This deficiency was made good in the copy now in Ohio State University Library, in which an early hand has inserted 'O lord resieve my soule'. The words added to the scroll in 1570, were 'Welcome life', in italic, thereafter recut in 1576, and 1583, respectively in roman and italic. The missing edge of the scroll is a tell-tale clue to these alterations.
Christ: that hold I, that beleue I, that haue I taught, & that wyll I neuer reuoke. With that this tormentour cryed, away with him, and away from hym went Maister Saunders wyth a mery courage towards the fire. He fell to the ground, and prayed: he rose vp againe, and
tooke the stake to which he should bee chayned, in hys armes, and kyssed it saying: Welcome the crosse of Christ, welcome euerlasting life: and being fastened to the stake, and fyre put to him, full sweetely hee slept in the Lord.
And
1570 Edition | Book 11 | Page 1709 