MarginaliaThe death of Steuen Gardiner, enemie to Gods word. Nouember.THe next moneth, after the burnyng of Doct. Ridley and M. Latymer, which was the moneth of Nouember, Stephen Gardiner Bishop and Chaūcellour, a man hated of God and all good men, ended his wretched lyfe. Concernyng the qualities, nature, and disposition of which man, for somuch as somewhat hath bene declared before in the story of kyng Edwardes reigne, I shall nede therfore the lesse now to stād greatly vpon the same. First, this vipers byrd crept out of the town of Bery in Suffolke, brought vp most part of his youth in Cambridge, his witte, capacitie, memory, and other indumentes of nature not to be complayned of, if he had well vsed and ryghtly applyed the same: wherein there was no great want of Gods part in hym, if he had not rather hym selfe wanted to the goodnes of his giftes. Through this promptnes,  

actiuitie, and towardnes   of hys, hee profited not a little in such studies as hee gaue his head vnto, as first in the law ciuill, then in lāguages and other such lyke, especially in those artes and faculties, which had any prospect to dignitie and preferment to be hoped for. Besides other ornamentes or helpes of nature, memory chiefly semed in hym very beneficiall, rather then diligence of study.

[Back to Top]

MarginaliaThe vices of Winchest. describedTo these giftes and qualities were ioyned agayne as great or greater vices, which not so much followed hym, as ouertooke hym, not so much burdened hym, as made him burdenous to the whole realme. He was of a proude stomacke  

& hygh mynded, in his own opinion & conceite flatteryng hym selfe to much, in wytte crafty and subtile, toward his superiour flatteryng and fayre spokē, to hys inferiours fierce, agaynst his equall stout   and enuious, namely if in iudgement and sentence hee any thyng withstode hym: as appeared betwen the good Lord Cromwell and him in the reigne of king Henry, beyng of lyke hautines of stomacke, as the Poetes writ of Pelides, Cedere nescius.  

Latin/Greek Translations     Close

Horace

Foxe text Latin

Pelides, Cedere nescius

Foxe text translation

Not translated.

Translation (Wade 2003)

not knowing how to yield

Actual text of Horace, Odes I. 6.

Nos, Agrippa, neque haec dicere nec gravem
Pelidae stomachum cedere nescii

[Horace's genitivenesciiis changed to a nominativenesciusto fit into Foxe's sentence grammatically. Also a Latin alphabet Greek first declension nominative endingPelidesis used in place of the original genitivePelidae]

Who although woulde geue no place to men, yet notwithstandyng I wish he would haue giuen place to truth, according as he semed not altogether ignoraūt of the truth. What his knowledge was therin, it is euident partly to vnderstand as well by his booke De vera obedientia,   as also by hys Sermon before king Edward: also by hys aūsweres to the Counsell the same time:   & moreouer by hys owne words may be gathered in sūdry places, as more plainly may appeare by that which hereafter foloweth.  

[Back to Top]

Vpō his estimation & fame he stode to to much, more thē was mete for a mā of hys coate & calling, whose profession was to be crucified vnto the world: which thyng made hym so stiffe  

in maintayning that he had once begon to take vpō him. I wil not here speake of that which hath bene constātly reported to me, touchyng the monstrous makyng and mishaped fashion of his feete and toes, the nailes wherof were said not to be like to other mens, but to crooke downeward, & to be sharpe like the clawes of rauening beasts.   What his learnyng was in þ^e Ciuil & Canō law, I haue not to say.MarginaliaWinchest. not worthy the title of a learned man. What it was in other liberall sciences & artes, this I suppose, þ^t neither his continuance in study, nor diligence of readyng was such (by reason of hys to much intermedlyng in Princes matters) as could truly wel merite vnto him þ^e title of a deepe learned man. But what learning or cunning soeuer it was he had, so it fared in hym, as it doth in butchers, which vse to blow vp their flesh:   euen so he with boldnes & stoutnes, and specially with authoritie made those giftes that he had to appeare much greater then they were in very dede. Wherunto vse peraduenture also & experiēce abroad brought no litle helpes, rather thē either quicknes of wytte, or happines of education.

[Back to Top]

And as touchyng Diuinitie, he was so variable, waueryng with tyme, that no constant censure can be ge-

uen what to make of hym. If hys doynges & writynges were accordyng to hys conscience, no man can rightly say whether he was a right protestant or Papist. If he wrote otherwise thē he thought, for feare, or to beare w^t tyme, then was he a double depe dissembler before God and man, to say & vnsay, to write & vnwrite, to sweare and forsweare so as he dyd.MarginaliaThe mutabilitie of Ste. Gardiner in religion. For first in the begynnyng of Queene Annes time,  

who was so forward or so busie in þ^e matter of þ^e kinges diuorce as Ste. Gardiner? who was first sent to Rome & thē to þ^e Emperour with Edward Foxe, as chief Agēt in the behalfe of Lady Anne.   By whom also he was preferred to the Bishoprike of Wynt. as Edm. Boner was by the Lord Cromwell to the Byshopricke of London. Agayne, at the abolishing of the Pope, who so ready to sweare, or so vehement to write agaynst the Pope as he, as not onely by his Sermōs, but also by hys booke De obediētia may appeare. In which booke De obedientia, lest any should thinke hym drawen therunto otherwise then by hys own consent, hee playnly declareth how not rashly nor vppon a sodeine, but vppon long deliberation and aduisement in him selfe about the matter, he at length vttered hys iudgement: Wherof read before, pag. 1204. And moreouer, hee so vttered his Iudgement in writyng agaynst the vsurped supremacie of the Pope, that cōmyng to Louane,MarginaliaTouching the doinges of Winchester at Louane, read the letter of Driander to Crispine pag 1959. afterward he was there accompted for a person excōmunicate, & a schismaticke, in somuch þ^t he was not permitted in their church to say Masse, & moreouer in their publicke sermōs they opēly cryed out agaynst him. Wherof read hereafter folowing pag. 1959.

[Back to Top]

And thus long cōtinued he firme & forward, so that who but Winchester duryng all the time and reigne of Queene Anne. After her decease þ^e tyme by litle & litle caryed hym away, till at lēgth MarginaliaThe first turnyng of Winchester from the Gospell, and why?the emulation  

of Cromwels estate, and especially (as it semeth) for his so much fauoring of Boner (whom Wynchester at that tyme in no case could abyde)   made hym an vtter enemy both agaynst hym, and also hys Religion: till agayne in king Edwardes dayes he begā a litle to rebate from certeine poyntes of Popery, and somewhat to smell of the Gospell, as both by hys Sermon before kyng Edward, and also by his subscribing to certein Articles may appeare: MarginaliaAn other halfe turne of Winchester from Popery to the Gospell.and this was an halfe turne of Ste. Gardiner frō Popery agayn to the Gospel, & (no doubt) he would haue further turned, had not the vnlucky decay of the Duke of Somerset cleane turned hym away from true Diuinitie to playne Popery:MarginaliaWinchester turned to a full Papist. wherin he cōtinued a cruell persecutour to hys dying day.

[Back to Top]

And thus much concerning the trade & profession of Ste. Gardiners Popish Diuinitie. In which his popish trade, whether he folowed more true iudgement, or els tyme, or rather the spirite of ambition and vaine glory, it is doubtfull to say, MarginaliaWinchester neuer constant in him selfe, nor agreing with other Papistes.and so much the more doubtfull because in his doynges and writyngs a man may see hym not onely contrary to hym selfe, but also in some points contrary to other Papistes. And furthermore, where he agreeth with them, he semeth therein not so much to folow hys owne sense, as the mynde and meanyng of Pereseus:  

MarginaliaA great part of Winchesters diuinitie is to be found in Pereseus.out of whose booke the greatest part of Wynchesters Diuinitie seemeth to be borowed.

[Back to Top]

And therfore, as in the true knowledge of Gods holy word & Scripture he appeareth no body:  

so in his pen & stile of writinges MarginaliaWinchesters stile vnpleasaunt.no lesse farre he is frō cōmendation, then he is frō all playnesse & perspicuitie, In whose obscure and perplexe kynd of writyng although peraduēture some sense may be foūde with some searchyng, yet shall no reader finde any sweetnes in his readyng.

[Back to Top]

What moued him to be so sturdy against M. Cheke, & Sir T. Smith for the Greke pronūciation, other may thinke what they please: I speake but what I thynke, that he so did, for that he saw it a thing rather newly begun, then truely impugned.  

Such was the disposition of that man (as it seemeth) that of purpose hee euer

[Back to Top]