1570 Edition | Book 11 | Page 1751 
MarginaliaAn. 1555. March.mably are vsed in the Latin church, and otherwyse not to be allowed.
Finally, beyng many tymes and oft called openly before my sayd Ordinary, and talked wythall touchyng all my sayd confessions and declarations, both by the sayd myne Ordinary and dyuers other learned men, aswell his chaplens as other, and counselled by all them to embrace the truth, and to recant myne errour in the premisses, which they tolde me was playne heresy and manifest error: do testify and declare hereby, MarginaliaTomkins constantly standeth to the truth of the Gospell.that I do & wyl continually stand to my said confessiō, declaratiō, and beliefe, in all the premisses and euery parte therof, and in no wyse recant or go from any part of the same. In witnes wherof I haue subscribed, and passed thys wrytyng the. xxvj. day of Septemb. the yeare aforesayd.
[Back to Top]By me Thomas Tomkins aforesayd.
The names of them that sat vpon Thomas Tomkins at this Session, were these: Edmūd Boner, Iohn Fecknam Deane of Paules, Iohn Harpsfield Archd. of Londō, Iohn Morwen Maister of Arte, Tho. Morton Parson of Fulham, Tristrā Swadell, Tho. More, Tho. Beckinsaw, Iames Clyne Clerkes.
CloseIn many cases the accounts Foxe prints of a martyr's examination are drawn from the martyr's account or from accounts by his or her supporters. Foxe could apparently find no such accounts for Tomkins, since this account, in its brevity, is clearly an official record which is now lost.
MarginaliaThe last appearaunce and condemnatiō of T. Tomkins, Martyr.The same day and place, at. ij. of the clocke in the after none, he was (the last tyme) brought forth before the byshops of London, Bath, and Saint Dauids, with others: where he was earnestly exhorted by the sayd Byshop of Bath, to reuoke and leaue of hys opinions. Vnto whom he aunswered: My Lord, I was borne and brought vp in ignoraunce vntill nowe of late yeares. And now I know the truth, wherein I will continue vnto the death.
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CloseThen Boner caused all his articles and confession to bee agayne openly read, and so in his accustomed maner perswaded with him to recant. To whom he finally sayd: My Lorde, I can not see but that you would haue me to forsake the truth, and to fall into errour and heresy. The Byshop seing hee would not recant, did procede in his lawe, MarginaliaSentence read agaynst Tomkins.and so gaue sentence of condemnation vpon hym. Then hee deliuered hym to the Shrieffe of London, who caryed hym straight vnto Newgate, where he remayned most ioyous and constant, vntill the. MarginaliaMarch. 16.xvj. day of March
CloseThis date is 15 March in 1563 and was corrected to 16 March in 1570.
Smithfield, and there sealed vp his faith in the flaming fyre, to the glory of Gods holy name, and confirmation of the weake.
CloseWilliam Hunter's case should have disturbed the authorities. He was one of the first of the lay people of humble background to be executed and, unlike some of the other early martyrs with similar backgrounds (e.g., Thomas Tomkins and John Warne), he had no previous history of religious dissidence. The narrative Foxe presents of his arrest and judicial ordeals presents a vivid picture of overzealous local authorities feeding the fires of persecution.
[Back to Top]Foxe's narrative is an excellent example of the importance of oral sources to his martyrology. The entire account of Hunter in the Rerum consists of praise of Hunter's parents for subordinating their natural love for their son to ther duty to God and their support for his refusal to submit (Rerum, pp. 427-8). This material was reprinted in the 1563 edition, with no significant change or addition. But in the second edition, Foxe added the detailed and vivid narrative of William Hunter's arrest, interrogations and martyrdom, which was clearly supplied by Hunter's brother Robert. The reader should keep this source in mind when reading the account: its strengths are its mastery of local detail and its access to the feelings of the martyr and those around him (e.g., his description of William Hunter's dreams). But partisanship may colour some of the 'facts' of the narrative: for example, did the sun shine brightly on Hunter after he prayed for the Son of God to shine upon him?
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CloseSeveral notes focus upon the unnaturalness of popery: Foxe exploits the request to Hunter's father to return his son to what he suspects, with justice, will be his death; the glosses concerned with this episode use metaphors of 'fruit', and comment on the naturalnes of the relations between Hunter and his father. In the gloss 'The fruite of the Popes doctrine to set the father agaynst the sonne', Foxe sets the generative metaphors of fruit and paternity against each other to emphasise the subversion of the natural order by papal doctrine and offers a contrast in a later gloss, 'The working of nature betwene the father & the sonne'. Another gloss emphasises the comforting of Hunter by the son of the sheriff ('The Shriffes sonne geueth comfortable wordes to W. Hunter'), which suggests that a son was set against his father. Two glosses make use of phrases established in Book X as anti-catholic commonplaces: the charge that papists cannot 'abide' scripture ('The Catholickes cannot abide the Bible') and the use of the phrase 'pelting chafe' to indicate the fury of a persecutor ('M. Browne in a pelting chafe'). Some glosses near to the account of Hunter's death ('His father and mother come to cōfort him'; 'His father & mother exhort him to be constant'; 'Maister Higbed maruelleth at the constancy of Williams mother') emphasise constancy and several relate the prophetic dream Hunter had shortly before his death and the occasions of 'verification' of it ('A notable thing concerning W. Hunters dreame'; 'W. Hunters dreame verefied'; 'Williams dreame verified'). The cruel treatment of Hunter is also stressed ('Boner commaundeth W. Hunter to the stockes. W. Hunter 2. dayes & 2. nightes in the stockes, with a crust of bread, & a cuppe of water'; 'W. Hnnter layd in the conuict prison with as many yrons as he could beare'). An erroneous date in the 1563 edition is corrected in later editions.
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CloseThe conquering of affection and love was an important part of the stoicism which was expected of the martyrs (see Collinson [1983]). Foxe describes martyrs such as John Rogers and Rawlins White refusing to allow the sight of their families to dissaude them from martyrdom. The Hunter family supplied Foxe with an opportunity to stress this domestic stoicism from another angle, that of the martyrs' families.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaWilliam Hunter prentise in Colman streete wyth Thomas Taylour.Williā Hunter being a prentise in London in the fyrst yeare of Queene Mary, was commaunded at the Easter next following, to receaue the communion at a Masse, by the Priest of the parish where hee dwelt, called Colman streete: which, because he refused to do, MarginaliaWilliam Hunter threatned for not receauing at a Masse.he was very much threatned that he should be therfore brought before the Byshop of Londō. Wherfore William Hunters Maister one Thomas Tailour, a Silke weauer, MarginaliaWilliam Hunter willed of hys Maister to depart.requyred William Hunter, to go and depart from him, lest that he shoulde come in daunger, because of hym, if hee continued in his house. For the which causes, William Hunter toke leaue of his said maister, & thence came to Burntwood where his father dwelt,MarginaliaWilliam Hunter commeth to hys father at Burntwood. with whom he remayned afterward, about the space of halfe a quarter of a yeare.
[Back to Top]After this it happened, within. v. or vj. weekes, that William going into the Chappell of Burntwood, and finding there a Bible lying on a Deske, dyd reade therein. In the meane time there came in one MarginaliaFather Atwell a Sumner or Promotor.father Atwell a Sumner,
CloseA summoner for the bishop: that is, an official responsible for collecting small sums of money owed to the bishop and with ensuring attendance at ecclesiastical courts.
To whom William aunswered and sayd: father Atwell, I take not vpon me to expound the scriptures, except I were dispensed
CloseI.e., licensed.
To the which wordes William aunswered saying: MarginaliaTalke betwene Atwell & William Hunter concerning the Bible.Father Atwell, say not so for Gods sake, for it is Gods booke, out of the which euery one that hath grace may learne to know what things both please God, and also what displeaseth him. Then sayd father Atwell: could we not tell before this tyme, as well as now, how God was serued? William aunswered: no father Atwell, nothing so wel, as we may now, if that we might haue hys blessed word, amongest vs still as we haue had. It is true sayd father Atwell, if it be as you say.
[Back to Top]Well sayd William Hunter, it liketh me very well, and I pray God that we may haue the blessed Bible amongest vs continually. To the which wordes father