MarginaliaAn. 1555. October.doctrine according to my audience. I had bene a very dolte to haue preached so at þ^e borders of your realme, as I preach before your grace.

And I thanke almighty God (which hath alwayes bene my remedy) that my sayinges were well accepted of the King, MarginaliaThe Kinges hart relented toward B. Latymer.for lyke a gracious Lord he turned into an other cōmunication. It is euen as the scripture saith: Cor Regi in manu Domini. i.  

Latin/Greek Translations     Close

Proverbs, 21. 1.

Foxe text Latin

Cor Regis in manu domini

Foxe text translation

The Lord directed the Kinges hart

Actual text of Proverbs, 21. 1. (Vulgate)

[sicut divisiones aquarum ita] cor regis in manu Domini.

[More of a paraphrase than a translation, but Foxe's text does seem to come from this verse in Proverbs.]

Besydes this, dyuers other conflictes and combattes this Godly Bishop sustained in his owne countrey and dyoces, in taking the cause of right and equity agaynst oppression and wrong. As, for an other example, there was at that tyme not far from the Dioces of Worceter a certayne Iustice of peace, whom here I will not name, being a good man afterward, and now deceased. This Iustice in purchasing of certayne land for hys brother, or for hym selfe, went about to wrong or damnify a poore man, who made hys complaynt to M. Latimer. MarginaliaB. Latymer taketh the poore mans part agaynst his oppressour.He first hearing, then tendryng hys rightfull cause, wrote hys letter to the Gentleman, exhortyng hym to remember him selfe, to consider the cause and to abstaine from iniury. The Iustyce of peace not content wythall (as the fashion of men is when they are tolde of their fault) sendeth word agayne, in great displeasure, that he would not so take it at hys hāds, with such threatning wordes. &c. M. Latimer hearing this, aunswered agayn by writing: the copy wherof among hys letters in þ^e other edition is to be seene, pag. 1359.

It were a large and a long processe to story out all the doynges, trauailes, & writynges of this Christian Byshop, neither yet haue we expressed all that came to our handes: but this I thought sufficient for this present. Thus he continued in this laborious function of a Byshop the space of certeine yeares, till the comming in of

the vj. Articles. Then beyng distressed through þ^e straitnes of tyme, so that either he must lose the quiet of a good conscience, or els must forsake his Byshopricke, MarginaliaBishop Latymer at the comming in of the sixe Articles resigned his Bishopricke.he dyd of his owne free accorde resigne hys Pastorshyp. At which tyme Shaxton then Byshop of Salisbury resigned likewyse with hym his Byshopricke.  

Commentary     Close

Hugh Latimer resigned as bishop of Worcester and Nicholas Shaxton resigned as bishop of Salisbury, both on 1 July 1539, in protest at the Act of Six Articles.

Commentary     Close

During an offensive against evangelicals in 1546, the final year of Henry VIII's reign, Anne Askew, John Lascelles and two others were burned at the stake, and other prominent evangelicals were arrested. Some, notably Nicholas Shaxton and Edward Crome, recanted. Latimer remained in prison until pardoned when Edward VI came to the throne.

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Foxe copied the remainder of his life of Latimer, from this passage through to the prayer that God assist Elizabeth, and her subjects, to build and keep up his temple, from Augustime Bernher's dedicatory epistle (to Katherine Brandon, the dowager duchess of Sufolk) to his 27 Sermons Preached by the ryght Reverende father in God and constaunt Martir of Iesus Christ Maister Hugh Latimer (London: 1562), STC 15276, sigs. A2r-C2r.

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Commentary on the Woodcuts     Close

The woodcut of Latimer preaching before Edward VI had been used in John Day's 1562 edition of 27 sermons preached by the ryght reverende ... maister Hugh Latimer. (STC 15276) as a foldout in pt 1, after sig. D6. It was a misfit for a quarto volume, and when reused in 1571 in Day's Frutefull sermons, (STC 15277), was uncomfortably set sideways on f.22v, with its heading truncated and the image disappearing into the gutter. Possibly the block, which was the same size as the other large woodcuts in Foxe's work, was designed with that series in mind. The illustration of the outdoor pulpit constructed late in Henry VIII's reign in the Privy Garden of Whitehall is important as giving a clear and seemingly fairly accurate picture of this innovatory preaching centre. This outdoor pulpit erected in the heart of court life in the capital, with a capacity to accommodate a standing congregation of thousands (infinitely larger than that of the chapel royal), also provided for court attendance in an upper gallery or terrace and (under cover) in the council chamber that ran along one side. Edward VI appears at the open window of this projecting casement (for which new glass was provided in 1549) with three courtiers (possibly the foremost bearded figure represents the Duke of Somerset) on his right. Latimer, leaning, book in hand, on the carpeted side of the pulpit which was constructed at the centre of the courtyard and ornamented in the most à la mode renaissance style, is speaking directly to the royal group. Only two women can be made out in this vast throng: the seated woman with book on the pulpit step (something of a symbolic figure) and another standing among the select group in the pulpit, behind the listener who rests on his elbow. The accepted importance of preaching was recognized in a new way in this royal Sermon Court, which, unlike the celebrated pulpit at St Paul's and other old outdoor pulpits across the land, had no association with consecrated ground and burial of the dead. As one of the few illustrations in the Book of Martyrs that was not devoted to martyrs and their sufferings, this woodcut tells us as much about the role of preaching as that of Henry VIII suppressing the pope does about the biblical word. The labels for 'K. Edward' and 'M. Latimer', in italic in 1563 and 1570, were redone (still in italic) in 1576 and again (now in roman, with 'Mayster Latimer') in 1583.

MarginaliaThe diligent traueling of M. Latymer in King Edwardes time.IN thys his paynfull trauayle hee occupyed him selfe all King Edwardes dayes, preachyng for the most part euery Sonday twyse, to no small shame of all o-

ther loyteryng and vnpreaching prelates, which occupy great romes and do lyttle good: and that so much more to their shame, because he being a sore brused mā