1570 Edition | Book 11 | Page 1812 
Marginalia1555. Iune.dioces, where such bookes, woorkes, or writynges be or remayne: or to hys Chauncellour or Commissaries, wythout fraude, coulour, or deceyte, at the sayd Ordinaries wyll and disposition, to be burnt, or otherwyse to be vsed or ordered by the sayde Ordinaries, as by the Canons and spirituall lawes it is in that case limitted and aypoynted, vpon payne that euery offender contrarye to thys Proclamation, shal incurre the daunger and penalties contayned in the sayd Statute, and as they wyll auoyde their maiesties high indignacion and displeasure, and further aunswer at theyr vttermost peryls.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe power of thys world set agaynst Christ.And theyr Maiesties by thys Proclamation geue full power and authority to all Bishops and Ordinaryes, & all Iustices of peace, Maiors, Shiriffes, Bailiffes of Cities and Townes corporate, & other head Officers with in thys Realme and the dominions thereof, and expressly commaundeth and wylleth the same and euery of thē, that they and euery of them wythin their seueral limites and iurisdictions, shall in the default and negligence of the sayd Subiectes, after the sayde fiftene dayes expired, enquyre and search out the sayd bookes, writynges, and works, and for this purpose enter into the house or houses, closets, and secrete places of euery person, of what so euer degree, beyng negligent in thys behalfe, and suspected to keepe any such booke, writing, or workes, contrary to thys Proclamation: And that the sayd Iustices, Maiors, Sheriffes, Bailiffes, and other head Officers a boue specified, and euery of them wythin their sayd limites and iurisdictions, finding any of the sayd subiects negligent and faulty in thys behalfe, shall commit euery such offender to Warde, there to remayne wythout bayle or maynprise, till the same offender or offenders haue receyued such punishment, as the sayde statute doth limite and appoynt in thys behalfe. Geuen vnder our Signes Manuell, at our Honor of Hampton court, the. xiij. daye of Iune, the fyrst and second yeares of our raignts.
[Back to Top]¶ Imprinted by Iohn Cawod. Anno. 1555.
CloseFoxe almost certainly printed these articles from a copy in Bonner's records. The inquiries were duly made among the London companies and copies of banned books were found among members of the draper's company. (See Brigden, p. 595).
MarginaliaArticles to be Inquired vppon.1 VVHether they haue sene any of the foresaid bokes.
2 Whether they haue heard of any of the foresaid bokoes.
3 Where they were, & in what place they haue sene thē.
4 Whom they know to haue lately come frō beyond the sea, especially from Zurike, Strausbrough, Frankforde, Wezel, Emden, and Disburge.
5 Whom they know, or vehemently suspect to be common cariers of letters or money thether from hence.
6 That they bring to my Lord Maior all such seditious bookes as they haue, or shall haue found hereafter.
CloseThis section may be compared with the reproduction of the 'Rubric of the Mass' in Book X: as on the earlier occasion, the glosses constitute a running attack based on interlinked themes against the content of catholic devotion. In contrast to the glosses next to the rubric of the mass, the tone here is less varied: there is nothing like the mocking of the arbitrariness of the mass found in book X. The reason for this difference is that the subject is not so much a pointless if insulting ritual, but the place of Mary in the Christian scheme, and so the glosses seek, firmly but without mockery, to put her in a more modest position than that accorded to her by the catholic texts criticised. The organising principle of the critique is the divine hierarchy, and many of the glosses point out that the primer and psalter contain ideas which displace God and (especially) Christ from their places in that hierarchy ('One mediatour betwene God and men, the man Iesus Christ'; 'Wrong mediation'; 'The office of Christ geuen to our Lady'; 'If Maryes merites might helpe vs, then Christ dyed in vayne'; 'Treason agaynst Christes person and dignitye'; 'All iudgement is geuē to Christ alone, and before him the virgin also her self shalbe iudged'; 'If our Lady be all in all then God belyke sitteth idle in heauen';' O impious blasphemye'; 'If Mary forgeue sinnes, then is our fayth in Christ in vayne'; 'The Deuill and the Pope sayth so and not God'; 'Mary made a commaunder of Christ'; 'Christ made a captiue and a prisoner in the Popes Church'; 'Our Lady made equall with God in the Church Rome'). One consequence of the misdirection of devotion is that it does the misdirector no spiritual good, and various glosses point out the vain or false nature of the devotional formulations they lie next to ('False merite'; 'Vayne trust'; 'Wrong inuocation'; 'False trust'). As with the critique of the mass in Book X, such a misdirection of effort is not merely useless, it is also dangerous because it constitutes an insult to God, or blasphemy ('Horrible blasphemye and derogation to Christes bloud'; 'Derogation of the Crosse of Christ'; 'Derogation of Christes passion'; 'Horrible blasphemy agaynst the Lord'), and furthermore it invests objects and subjects with a spiritual significance they do not deserve, which is idolatry ('Idolatrye to the material Crosse'; 'Blasphemous Idolatrye'; 'Manifest Idolatrye'; 'Idolatrye of the cloysterers'; 'These wordes stincke of blasphemous Idolatrye'; 'The Church of Rome conuict of manifest idolatry'). Thus, Foxe's critique works through a few intertwined points which he makes again and again.
[Back to Top]
CloseThe entire section on the passages on the Virgin Mary in the Sarum missal and the Psalter of Our Lady first appears in the 1570 edition. It takes as its logical starting point the previous section on the Marian government's attempts to ban seditious and heretical literature. Here Foxe is contrasting the literature which the Marian church championed with the literature it banned. This section is less of anattack on the cult of the Virgin Mary per se, than an attack on the popular Wayland primers which contained the versions of the Sarum primer quoted by Foxe. The Wayland primers were sponsored by the Marian government and were a popular and effective means of disseminating a Christocentric catholic piety to lay people (see Duffy, pp. 526-27, 538-39 and 542-43). Foxe sought to undermine the Wayland primers, partly through misquotation and partly through linking them to the Psalter of Our Lady, a thirteenth-century work which was attributed to St Bonaventure. The theology of the Psalter of Our Lady was sufficiently distinct from that of the catholic reformation to cause embarrassment. And Foxe was ready to alter the passages he was quoting to achieve the desired result. (For Foxe's polemical objectives in printing this section see Freeman [2004]).
[Back to Top]This section is a very revealing example of how clever and ruthless a propagandist Foxe could be.
MarginaliaThe Primer set forth in Q. Maries time, printed by Ioh. Wayland.
CloseFoxe is quoting from one of the primer (book for the instruction of children) printed by John Wayland. These works were sponsored by Mary's government (see Duffy, pp. 526-27 and 538-39). It should be cautioned that Foxe's quotations from the primer are not always accurate (for details see Freeman [2004]).
[Back to Top]Holy Mary, mother most pure of virgines all: Mother and daughter of the king celestiall: So comfort vs in our desolation: That by thy prayer and speciall meditation, we enioy the reward of the heauenly reigne. &c.
Cōferre this with the Scriptures, good reader, and iudge vprightly whether this doctrine be tolerable in the Church or not.
It foloweth more in the second Lesson.
Holy Mary of all godly the godlyest,
Pray for vs of all holy the holyest,
That he our prayers accept may in good wise,
Which of thee was borne and reigneth aboue skies. &c.
In the thyrd Lesson.
Thy sonne besech with humble interceßion,
To purge vs cleane of our transgreßion,
That so beyng redemed we may the place ascende
Where thou dwellest with hym world without end.
The Versicle.
MarginaliaOne mediator betwene God and men, the man Iesus Christ.Pray for the people, entreat for the Clergie, make interceßion for the deuout womankind: let all feele thy helpe, that worthely solemnise thy memoriall. &c.
An other Versicle.
MarginaliaFalse merite.Holy mother of God make thy petition: that we may deserue Christes promißion. &c.
And in the Antheme after Benedictus, thus it foloweth.
We besech thee of thy pitie to haue vs in remembraunce, and to make meanes for vs vnto Christ, that we beyng supported by thy helpe, may deserue to attayne the kingdome of heauē.
Furthermore in the Collect after it foloweth.
And graunt that through the gracious interceßion of the virgine thy mother,MarginaliaWrong mediation. we may be deliuered from this present heuynes, and haue the fruition of eternall gladnes.
It foloweth moreouer in the sayd Primer thus, concernyng the materiall Crosse.
O God which haste ascended thy most holy Crosse and hast giuen lyght to the darkenes of the world, vouchsafe by the vertue of thy MarginaliaIdolatrie to the materiall crosse.Crosse, to illumine, visite, and comfort both our hartes and bodyes. &c.
Moreouer, in the name of S. Iohn Baptist thus it prayeth.
O Lord defend vs alway through the continuall succours of S. Iohn Baptist.MarginaliaLet no man glory in any man, for all thynges are yours. &c. 1. Cor. 3.For the more frayle we be, the more nede we haue to be relieued with necessary praiers. &c.
In which wordes note (good Reader) not onely the absurditie of doctrine, but also the stoliditie of the reason. For where their doctrine pretendeth that S. Iohn Baptist should pray for vs, here we pray to God for S. Iohn Baptist, that he wyll heare hys prayer praying for vs. It followeth furthermore in the name of Peter and Paule.MarginaliaWhat is Paul, what is Apollo, but the seruauntes of hym on whō you beleue? 1. Cor. 3.
[Back to Top]Heare vs mercyfully, and graunt that through the merites of them both we may obtayne the glory euerlasting. &c
And of S. Andrew.
So let hym (O Lord) be a continuall peticioner for vs to thee. &c.
Of S. Laurence thus.
S. Laurence the Deacon did worke a good worke. For by the vertue
CloseFor a detailed comparison of these passages see Freeman [2004]. But this example is too egregious a misquotation to pass over in silence. The passage reads 'by the signe of the holy Crosse' not 'by the virtue of the holy cross' (cf. The primer in Latin and English (after the use of Sarum)[London, 1555], STC 16064, sig. F1v). In other words, the primer was not mentioning the physical cross at all, rendering Foxe's objection that the True Cross had not been found in St Laurence's time meaningless.
[Back to Top]And how can thys be true, when the holy crosse was not yet found in the tyme of S. Laurence. For Helene
CloseThis is St Helena, the mother of Constantine; she was traditionally credited with discovering the True Cross.
To Tho. Becket Archbishop of Canterbury.
MarginaliaHorrible blasphemy and derogation to Christes bloud.By the bloud of Thomas, which he for thee did spend,
Make vs Christ to clime whether Thomas did ascend.
Of S. Nicholas.
O God which hast glorified blessed Nicholas thy holy bishop with innumerable miracles, graunt we beseche thee, that by his MarginaliaFalse merites.merites and prayers we may bee deliuered from the fier of hell.
Of Mary Magdalen.
Graunt wee besech thee, through thy mercy, to let her purchase for vs the blisse euerlasting. &c.