Foxe's narrative of the earliest Christian Saxon kingdoms only appeared in the 1570 edition for the first time. He attempted to weave together the evidence for God's providential inspiration towards those rulers and their kingdoms under whom Christianity was advanced. Edwin, king of Northumbria, is the cornerstone of his demonstration. Foxe could not ignore the contemporary parallel of his queen, already converted to Christianity, who 'ceased not to styrre and perswade the kyng to Chrisian faith'. In a lengthy aside, Foxe pointed out how she served as a godly goad, reminding Edwin of the connection between the afflictions of his kingdom and his failure to convert: 'for by affliction God vseth commonly to call them whom he wyl saue, or by whom he wil worke saluation vnto other'. Misfortune was an essential component of God's providence - and Foxe included the real dangers which had confronted Queen Elizabeth before her accession: 'How hardely escaped this our Quene now being, [...] by whom yet notwithstanding it hath ploeased God to restore this his Gospel now preached amongest vs?' Foxe's point in these remarks was probably to redirect the reader to a proper consideration of the relationship between God and human affairs, and away from the 'miracles' which so frequently accompanied the conversiaon stories of the early Saxon rulers. His problem was that his sources seemed often so unanimous about them - defying the renaissance techniques of source collation, comparison and analysis through which he was trying to rewrite the history of the coming of Christianity to the British Isles. Of Oswald's miraculous hand, preserved from putrifaction by the benediction of St Aidan, all Foxe's sources were in accord. His comment was one of measured scepticism: 'What the stories say more concernyng this hand of Oswald, I entend not to medle farther then simple, trye and dew probabilitie, will beare me out'. Of the 'miracle' accompanying the conversion of the king of the West Saxons, which recounted Birinus, walking back to France from midway across the Channel in order to recover his stole ('pallula'), Foxe mused: 'if it be a fable, as no doubt it is, I cannot by maruell that so many autors so constantly agree in reporting & affirming the same'. For the miracles of St Oswald, 'what it pleased the people of that tyme to reporte of him, I haue not here to affirme', Foxe preferring to emphasise 'the goodnes and charitie of Oswald toward the people' and prominently citing his sources for that. Throughout the section, Foxe balanced sceptical accounts of the 'miracles' accounted to the early Saxon kings with the more concrete evidence for their foundations in bricks and mortar at York, Westminster, and elsewhere.

Foxe pursued his energetic comparison and collation of the sources that he used for the construction of his narrative elsewhere in book 2. For the brief evocation of Pope Sabinianus and Boniface III, his source was Bale's Catalogus (pp. 63; 69). For King Ethelbert of Kent, Foxe probably started with Fabian's Chronicle (R. Fabyan, The Chronicle of Fabian [London, 1559], book 5, ch. 120), which alerted him to the fact that there were different opinions on the matter. He seems to have pursued them independently in William of Malmesbury's Gesta Pontificium, Henry of Huntingdon's Chronicle, and possibly Bede's Ecclesiastical History. For King Ethelfride of Northumbria and Edwin's conflict with Ethelbert of Kent and subsequent flight to King Redwald, we should not be too impressed by his glosses referring to Geoffrey of Monmouth and Gerald of Wales. He almost certainly copied this material directly from Fabian. For the reign of Edwin of Northumbria, including the letter sent from Pope Boniface V, Foxe's principal source was once more Fabian's Chronicle (book 5, ch. 130) although he perhaps sought confirmation from Henry of Huntingdon's Chronicle (T. Arnold, ed. Henry of Huntingdon. Henrici Huntendunensis Historia Anglorum, the History of the English, by Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, from B. C. 55 to A. D. 1154 [London: Rolls Series, 1879], book 3, chs. 34-8). For the activities of Archbishop Paulinus after Edwin's death, we have a good example of how we should not take Foxe's glosses on his sources at face value. He mentions Henry of Huntingdon and Matthew Paris' Flores Historiarum. Yet, when we pursue the source for Foxe's confident assertion that Paulinus remained at Rochester for 19 years, it transpires that this comes from neither source, but is to be found only in Ranulph Higden's Polychronicon (J. R. Lumby, ed. Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden monachi Cestrensis: together with the English translations of John Trevisa and of an unknown writer of the fifteenth century [London: Rolls Series, 1879], book 5, ch. 12). For Foxe's narrative of Oswald as King of Northumbria, Foxe's main source was once more Fabian's Chronicle (book 5, ch. 130), which provided him with the references to Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Polychronicon. Foxe also consulted John Brompton's Chronicle (J. Brompton, 'Chronicon Johannis Brompton Abbatis Jornalensis.' In Historiæ Anglicanæ Scriptores X. [....], ed. by Roger Twysden [London, 1652], cols 784-8) and William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum for this section (J. S. Brewer, and C. T. Martin, 'William of Malmesbury: Gesta Regum.' In Reigistrum Malmesburiense. The Registor of Malmesbury Abbey, ed. by J.S. Brewer and C.T. Martin [London: Rolls Series, 1869-1880], book 1, ch. 49). Foxe cites some Latin directly from Brompton's Chronicle in his description of Berinus in England. On the death of Oswald, Foxe directly copied some of the material from Fabian's Chronicle (book 5, ch. 134); and for the character of Oswine and his murder, Foxe turned to Henry Huntingdon's Chronicle (book 9, chs. 14-17). For the final brief references in this section to Oswy, King of Northumbria and Bede, once again, Foxe turned mainly to Fabian's Chronicle (book 5, ch, 134) though it is possible that he had directly consulted Bede's Ecclesiastical History (book 4, ch. 18).

Matthew Phillpott and Mark Greengrass
University of Sheffield