1570 Edition | Book 11 | Page 1748 
Marginalia1555. February.ted vnto the Bishops, by their fraudulent assaultes and perswasions, namely of D. Day Byshop of Chichester, and of Iudge Portman (as it is thought) ouercome at last, I haue not to say.
This is certaine that shortly after calling himself better to remembraunce, he was brought to great repentaunce and terrour of conscience. MarginaliaM. Hales about to kill himselfe in prison.In so much that for very anguish of hart he was ready wyth his penneknife to kyll him self there in the prison, and had (no doubt) so done, had not the mercifull prouidence of the Lord rescued him miraculously, as ye shall heare.
[Back to Top]It happened when supper tyme came that he should be called downe. M. Hales hauyng litle mynd either to eate or drinke, gatte hym straight way to bed, where he lay all the night sobbyng and gronyng, and tooke (God knoweth) litle rest or slepe. At length when mornyng came, about sixe of the clocke he sent his seruaunt for a cup of beere vnder pretense as though he were thyrsty and desirous to drinke. Whether the cause was true or fained, it is vnknowen: but this folowed, that his man was yet scarse out of the chamber, when he with hys penknife had woūded him selfe in diuers places of his body, & was purposed (no doubt) to haue distroyed him selfe, had not the goodnes of the Lord giuen present helpe in tyme of oportunitie. Wherby it is euident for all men to vnderstand, how Gods fauour was not absent from the man, although he thought hym selfe vtterly forsaken for his denyall: as by the sequele may well appeare.
[Back to Top]For as soone as he had sent his man out of his chamber (MarginaliaGods mercifull prouidence in rescuing M. Hales.see what God would haue done) euen afore the chamber doore eftsoones the Butler mette him: who beyng desired to fill the drinke, and takyng the cuppe, the other returned agayne vnto his Maister at the same very tyme when he was workyng his owne destruction: Whereby M. Hales at that tyme was stopt of his purpose and preserued, not without Gods manifest good will and prouidence. MarginaliaWinchest. might rather haue sayd how theyr cruell dealyng worketh desperatiō.When Winchester had knowledge of it, straight way he taketh occasiō therby to blaspheme the doctrine of the Gospell, which he openly in the starre chamber called the doctrine of desperation. Maister Hales beyng within a while after recouered of those woūdes & deliuered out of prison, getteth him selfe home vnto his house: where he, either for þe greatnes of his sorow, or for lacke of good counsel, or for that he would auoyd the necessitie of hearing Masse, hauing all thinges set in an order a good while before that perteined to his Testament, MarginaliaIudge Hales drowned himselfe.castyng him selfe into a shallow riuer, was drowned therin: which was about the begynnyng of this moneth of February, or in the moneth of Ianuary before. An. 1555.
CloseActually Hales drowned himself on 4 August 1554 (DNB).
The vnhappy chaunce of this so worthy a iudge was surely the cause of great sorow and grief vnto all good mē: MarginaliaThe case of Iudge Hales drowning considered.and it gaue occasion besides vnto certain Diuines to stand something in doubt with them selues whether he were reprobate, or saued, or no: about which matter it is not for me to determine, either this way or that: for he that is our iudge, the same shalbe his iudge: and he it is that will lay all thinges open when the tyme commeth. This in the meane tyme is certain and sure, that the deede of the man in my mynde ought in no wise to be allowed: which if hee did it wittingly, then do I discommend the mās reason. But if he did it in phrenesie and as beyng out of his witte, then do I greatly pitie his case.
[Back to Top]Yet notwithstandyng, seyng Gods iudgementes be secrete, and we be likewise in doubt vpon what entent he did thus punish him selfe, neither agayne is any mā certain, whether he did repent or no before þe last breth went out of his body, me semeth their opinion is more indifferent herein, which doe rather disallow the example of the dead, then dispaire of his saluation.
[Back to Top]Otherwise if we will adiudge all those to hell, that haue departed the world after this sort, how many exāples haue we in the first persecutions of the Church, of
those men & wemē who beyng registred in the workes of worthy writers, haue notwithstandyng their prayse and commendation.
MarginaliaExamples in the tyme of the first persecution.For what shall I thinke of those young men, who beyng sought for to do sacrifice to heathen Idols, dyd cast downe them selues headlong and brake their own neckes to auoyd such horrible pollution of thē selues? What shall I say of those virgins of Antioch, who to the ende they myght not defyle them selues with vncleannes and with idolatrie through the perswasion of their mother, casting themselues headlong into a riuer together with their mother, did fordoe them selues, although not in the same water, yet after the same maner of drowning, as this M. Hales did? What shal I say of other two sisters, MarginaliaEuseb. Hist. Eccle. Lib. 8.which for the selfe same quarell did violently throw them selues headlong into the sea, as Eusebius doth record? In whom though perchaunce there was lesse cōfidence to beare out the paynes which should be ministred of the wicked vnto thē: yet that their good desyre to kepe their fayth and religion vnspotted, was commended and praised.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaNicephor. lib. 7. Cap. 13.An other lyke example of death is mentioned by Nicephorus, and that in an other virgin likewise, whose name is expressed in Hierome to bee MarginaliaBrassila Dyrrachina.Brassila Dyrrachina, who to kepe her virginity fayned her self to be a Witch, and so conuenting with the yong man which went about to deflowre her, pretended that she would geue him an herbe, which should preserue him from all kynde of weapons: and so to proue it in her self, layde the herbe vpon her owne throte, byddyng hym smite: whereby she was slayn, and so with the losse of her life, her virginity was saued.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaOf thys Sophronia, read before pag. 119.Hereunto may be ioyned the lyke death of Sophronia a Matron of Rome, who when shee was required of Maxentius the tirant to be defiled, and saw her husband more slacke then he ought to haue bene in sauing her honesty, bidding them that were sent for her to tary a while till she made her ready, went into her chamber, & with a weapon thrust her selfe through the brest and dyed. Now who is hee that would reprehend the worthy act of Achetes, which biting of his own toung, did spit it out into the Harlots face?
[Back to Top]These exāples I do not here inferre, as going about eyther to excuse or to maintaine the hainous fact of M. Hales, which I would wish rather by silence might be drowned in obliuion:
CloseThis passage was added in the 1570 edition, probably in response to Nicholas Harpsfield's criticism of Foxe's account of Hales. In 1566, Nicholas Harpsfield, Foxe's most important contemporary critic, attacked Foxe's account. Harpsfield criticized Foxe for praising Hales as a martyr. In particular, Harpsfield criticized Foxe for maintaining that Hales might not be damned and for comparing Hales with early Christian martyrs who killed themselves rather than be forced to surrender their chastity and worship idols (DS, pp. 748-49).
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CloseA version of this poem, probably written by Foxe himself (in the Rerum it is signed 'J. F.') first appeared in the Rerum (p. 265). In the 1563 edition, two lines were added to the poem, expressing the hope that Hales's soul might be cleansed andblessed through divine mercy. The last four lines of the poem were rewritten in the second edition, with a more pessimistic conclusion praying that, on the Day of Judgement, Hales's sins would not weigh too heavily against him.
[Back to Top]Si tua quanta fuit grauitas, prudentia, norma,
Iunctaq̀ sincera cum pietate fides:
Tam caro firma tibi fortisq̀ Halise fuisset,
Sanctorum prima classe ferendus eras.
Instituit sedenim sua quis sic tempora vitæ
Sanctorum, vt nullis sint maculata malis.
Quum nihil ergo vides propria quin labe laboret,
Tu tua fac cures, cœtera mitte Deo.
CloseTomkins may be said to have had greatness, as well as a lit candle, thrust upon him. He is virtually unique among the Marian martyrs in being more famous for what happened before his execution than for the execution itself. Descriptions of the burning of his hand circulated rapidly and widely among the protestants in exile. John Bale referred to it in a tract denouncing Bonner, written in 1554, although not published until Elizabeth's reign (Bale, A declaration of Edmonde Bonner's articles [London, 1561, STC 1289, fo. 108v), and Anna Hooper had heard about in Frankfurt by November 1554 (OL, I, p. 113).
[Back to Top]It is thus hardly surprising that the incident was written up in the Rerum (pp. 425-26) with only the briefest mention being made of Tomkins' actual execution. The account in the Rerum is based on an account, or accounts, almost certainly sent to Grindal.How accurate their information was is uncertain; in any case, the account, emphasizing Bonner's 'prodigious cruelty' and Tomkins' heroism along with a detailed comparison of Tomkins to the Roman hero Caius Mucius Scaevola, is long on rhetoric and short on verifiable detail.
[Back to Top]Nevertheless, this account was reprinted in the first edition of the Acts and Monuments. Foxe was able to add to this documents taken from Bonner's register: official accounts of Tomkins' examinations, the articles charged against him with the martyr's replies and two confessions of faith Tomkins made. In the course of printing the 1563 edition, Foxe also obtained a description, based on oral sources, of Bonner setting Tomkins to work on his estate at Fulham and of the bishop having Tomkins' beard forcibly shaved off, which was printed in an appendix to this edition.
[Back to Top]In the second edition, Foxe completely rewote the account of Tomkins' hand being burned which had been printed in the Rerum and in 1563. The new account was much more detailed. Foxe moved the account ofTomkins' forced labour for Bonner from the appendix. He also added another account of a compulsory beard-shaving and testimony of Tomkins' good character, all of which was obtained from fellow residents of Shoreditch.
[Back to Top]The account of Tomkins was unchanged in the second and third editions of the Acts and Monuments.
CloseTomkins' constancy is emphasised ('The notable constācie in a true Christian Souldiour'; 'Tomkins constāt in his fayth'; 'Tomkins constantly standeth to the truth of the Gospel'), and this point can be taken to apply to his robust adherence to true doctrine, and also his calm in the face of the occasionally violent caprices of Bonner, as when he was forced to make hay ('Tomkins maketh the Bishops hay'), when Bonner sought to remove his beard ('B. Boner wysheth Tomkins beard to be shauen, because he had pluckt of a peece of his beard before'), and the burning of his hand. Foxe also uses the glosses to draw a classical comparison with the treatment of Tomkins by Bonner, which perhaps carries connotations of tyranny and pagan practices which fits well with the lustful, bloodthirsty image of Bonner already established. ('B. Boner playeth K. Porsenna burning the hand of Scæuola'; 'Boner more cruell then Porsenna the Hetruscan'). An incorrect date (March 15) in 1563 is corrected to March 16 in 1570 and 1583
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