1570 Edition | Book 11 | Page 1816 
Marginalia1555. Iune.he graunt vnto vs remißion of our sinnes and hys heauenly kingdome. The Priest therfore lyfteth vp the body of Christ vpō the altar: as though he sayd thus: behold him, whom the whole world is not able to comprehend: he is holdē here our captiue: wherfore let vs hold hym fast, and not let hym go, before we obteine of hym our requestes. &c.
[Back to Top]Is not here good catholike stuffe (christen readers) trow you? Cōferre I besech you, this doctrine with the doctrine of the Apostles,MarginaliaThe Church of Rome examined. which teach vs that we are fully complet in Christ, and I wil referre me to no better Iudge then to your owne conscience. And now therefore, if any man haue bene in doubt in times past of the doctrine and procedings of the church of Rome, whether it be rightly charged with blind errours, with blasphemy intolerable, & Idolatry abominable or not, here now may he be fully certefied and resolued. MarginaliaThe Church of Rome conuict of manifest idolatry.For where was euer idolatry or blasphemy to be found, if it be not here in this Mattens & Psalter of our Lady? If Idolatry be to make an Idol to be worshipped as God, which is no God, what doo we here but make an Idole of our Lady (as we cal her) to be worshipped wt no lesse dignity, glory, authority, reuerēce, & seruice, then is the Lord God himselfe.MarginaliaOur Lady made equall with God in the Church of Rome. As he is called our Lord: so she is called our Lady. And if he be King, yet she is þe Quene of heauen. And though he haue the name of God, yet she beareth so the title of the mother of God, that as mothers haue authority ouer their children, so she is willed to shew her selfe to be his mother, to cause him to graunt our peticions. Finally, if he be our patrō, yet is she our patronesse. MarginaliaThe doctrine of the Romish Church directly against the first commaundement of God.The Commaundement sayth: Thou shalt worship thy Lorde thy God, and hym onely thou shalt serue. And what worship or seruice can we geue to God, more then we doe ascribe vnto her? Or what benefite is to be asked at the handes of Christ our Sauiour, which is not equally asked of her? To saue our soules, to geue vs peace, to graunt grace, to comfort the desperate, to lose our captiuitie, to release our sins, to delyuer from the Feend, to bryng to heauen. &c. to her we pray, we cry, we creepe, we sigh, we grone, wee knocke and kneele, MarginaliaTo trust and beleue in our Lady.to her we trust, & if we beleue not also in our Lady, we be heretickes ipso facto.
[Back to Top]Furthermore, as Christ our onely Lord & Sauiour hath his Church & congregation which professeth his name, of whō we are called Christiās: MarginaliaOur Lady hath her Church as well as Christ.so neither is she likewise without her Chapels, her Cloisters, her chapters, fraternities, & brotherhodes, which professing her name in lyke sort are called our ladyes brethrē or white friers, besides an innumerable sort of other patrons of churches, of whō euery one hath his peculiar Church and Religion by hym selfe: yet all these together be included vnder the generall deuotion of our Lady theyr supreme patronesse and gouernesse.
[Back to Top]Now to procede further to the other part of the cōmaundement, which sayth: Hym onely thou shalt serue: what seruice hath the Lord in all the Church, but our Lady also ioyntly with him hath the lyke? Her Masse, her Mattens, her Euensong, her Houres and Complin, her Rosaries, her Anthemes, her Collectes, her Primer, her Psalter, her Holydayes lykewise, yea fiue to one. Finally, as þe lord hath his prayer called þe lords Prayer, so hath she her Aue Marys,
CloseI.e., Hail Marys.
CloseI.e., the Lord's Prayer.
CloseHymns in honour of the Virgin Mary.
If the Lorde our God had not expressed vnto vs his owne will by playne word, lymityng vnto vs by expresse Iniunction, what to beleue, what to folow, and how to worshyp and serue hym, and how to receaue frō him our saluation, but had left vs to the imaginatiō of our owne inuentions, euery mā to shift for him selfe after his own policie: then peraduēture this way taken by the Popes Church to make frendes & Mediatours betwene God & vs for reconciliation, remission, & sal-
[Back to Top]uation, might haue some rime or reasō: but now Gods worde doth bynd vs, doth prescribe & limite vs precisely in euery poynt touching saluation, what to beleue and what to do, shewing vs plainly that we can not be saued but by the bloud of his sonne onely, neither can be iustified but by fayth onely in the same Christ hys sonne. Wherfore not to beleue that which he hath promised, is MarginaliaInfidelitie.infidelitie, and to folow any other belief then he hath set vs, is plaine MarginaliaIdolatrie.idolatry. The which ij. speciall errours most cōmonly do folow the doctrine of the Romish Church,MarginaliaThe Church of Rome charged with infidelitie and Idolatry. as not onely in this Primer, and Psalter of our Lady aforesayd, but also in all their procedinges, teachings, & preachinges besides may well appeare. For where the Scripture perfectly doth promise and pronounce vs to bee iustified through our fayth in Christ, and willeth vs to seeke our saluation no where els but onely in the merites of Iesus: MarginaliaThe Church of Rome neither taketh that which God doth geue. Neither doth seeke for that which they would haue, by lawfull meanes.the institution of the Church of Rome neither will receaue that God hath freely giuē (wherin stādeth infidelitie) neither yet will seeke þe same there wheras they should, but in the merites and prayers of our Lady, of S. Iohn Baptiste, S. Peter, and Paul, S. Andrew, S. Nicholas, S. Thomas of Canterbury, and by the worthines of the materiall Crosse, and such other vnlawful meanes, wherin standeth playne Idolatrie. And yet such bookes as these can be suffered among the Catholickes to be current as good, wholsome, and lawful bookes, where as the other which lead vs the true way from infidelitie and blynd Idolatrie to true Christianitie, in no wise can be sufferable. But of this to complayne it is in vayne. Wherfore to passe from this Proclamation, let vs procede (God willyng) in the course of our history.
[Back to Top]
CloseThe Rerum merely mentions that Nicholas Chamberlain was burnt at Colchester on 11 June 1555 (he was actually burned on 14 June) and that on 12 June (actually 15 June) William Butler was burned at Harwich and Thomas Osmund at Manningtree, Essex (Rerum, p. 462).
All the factual information Foxe would print on these martyrs appeared in the 1563 edition. Unusually there is no material on these martyrs from their families, friends and sympathisers; all of the factual material on Osmund, Bamford and Chamberlain comes from Bonner's official records, probably a court book which is now lost. Foxe always preferred, whenever possible, to rely on the writings ofprotestants for his accounts of the martyrs and not on official documents. The reason was that official accounts were inevitably hostile to the martyrs. Foxe was acutely aware of this problem and, in the 1570 edition, he added a brief set of notes to the articles presented against Osmund, Bamford and Chamberlain warning readers of the bias in the official documents.
[Back to Top]
CloseAs is usual, the glosses in this section are mainly narrative pointers and references to articles and answers (with 1563 giving only numbers, while later editions provide fuller references). There is some confusion in this section about the names of the martyrs, and this is reflected in the glosses. There is also a reference back to an earlier mention of the martyrs which is not accurate ('Tho. Osmund, W. Bamford, Tho. Osborne, Martyrs. Read before. Page. 1766' [1570]; 'Thomas Osmund, William Bamford, Thomas Osburne, Martyrs. Read before pag. 1508' [1576; 1583]).
[Back to Top]
CloseThe fates of these six show the persecution spreading and taking a lethal turn. These figures were not targeted for persecution until they defied the authorities, and the willingness of people to risk their lives in such a defiance must have been a rude shock to the authorities. However, once the six were arrested, they were dealt with with relentless speed; they were arrested on 1 May and three of them were burned six weeks later. Compare this with the six months it took to bring John Bradford to the stake and eleven months it took to do this to John Philpot. Obviously the six were given a chance to recant, since three of them did so, but the elaborate pains taken with more prominent people with influential friends, whose conversion would have been propaganda coups for Mary's regime, were not taken with these obscure figures.
[Back to Top]
CloseThe letter from Oxford to Bonner, the articles objected against the martyrs and their answers were all taken from Bonner's official records, probably from a court book which is now missing.
AFter our harty cōmendatiōs vnto your good Lordshyp, this shalbe to aduertise the same, that the Constables of Coxehall within your Dioces, haue brought before vs this day vj. persons dwellyng in the towne of Coxehal aforesayd, whose names hereafter do folow, videlicet: MarginaliaSix prisoners sent by the Earle of Oxford to Boner.Nicolas Chamberlaine Weuer, Iohn Waller Fuller, Thomas Brody Weuer, Richard Webbe Weuer, William Bamford, alias Butler Weuer, and Thomas Osburne Fuller, for that they, at the feast of Easter now last, haue not obeyed to the order of the holy Catholicke Church in receauyng of the Sacramentes, but obstinatly refusing the same, besides the holdyng of diuers other opinions, contrary to the fayth of the sayd Church. Wherefore we haue thought it good to send the same persons vnto your good Lordshyp, further to be ordered, as in such case shall apparteine. Thus we cōmit your good Lordshyp to the kepyng of almighty God. From Hedynghā the first day of May. 1555.
[Back to Top]
Your Lordshyppes assuredly,
Oxeford. Phillip Paris.