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The famous scene of Cranmer sacrificing as first oblation to the flames the right hand that had betrayed his heart became one of the best known passages in Foxe's book. The place where 'the holy bishops' Latimer and Ridley had burned is shown much as it was in the woodcut of that earlier event (1583, pp. 1769-70), with the tower over the north gate of Oxford's city wall, from which Cranmer had looked down. His 'long and thick' beard which gave his face 'marvellous gravity' is intact, as is his raised left hand, crumpling in the flames on his stiff horizontal arm. Everything is focused on this guilty index finger, exactly centred in the mid-point of the block - the gesture crudely paralleled by the outstretched left arm of the ugly Spanish friar John, still testing Cranmer's steadfast purpose. Cranmer's burning was one of the four woodcuts of English martyrs illustrated in Foxe's 1559 Latin book, but very differently. There the archbishop, bearded and erect, is still untouched by the roaring fire (tended, as in the Acts and Monuments by a solitary attendant) in which he holds his hand. In 1559 the assembled viewers are in the background, mainly officials. There is no crush of awed spectators filling the space as in the English book, and no banderole for the final words, 'Lord receive my spirit'. As in other cases, the chief persecutor is drawn to the viewer's attention by a label (in roman letters in both 1563 and 1570 - redone - and then in italic in 1576 and 1583. The archbishop's last words were naturally treated with care, the roman lettering of 1563 changing to italic in 1570 and then altered again respectively to roman and italic in 1576 and 1583

And thus haue you the full story concerning the life and death of this reuerend Archbishop and Martyr of God Thomas Cranmer, and also of diuers other the learned sort of CHRISTES Martyrs burned in Quene Maries tyme, of whom this Archbishop was the last, MarginaliaArchb. Cranmer the middle Martyr of all the Martyrs burnt in Queene Maryes tyme.being burnt about the very middle tyme of the raygne of that Queene, and almost the very middle man of al the Martyrs which were burned in al her raygne besides.

Now, after the life and story of this foresaid Archbishop discoursed, let vs adioyne withall hys letters, beginning first wyth hys famous letter writtē to Quene Mary,which he wrote vnto her incontinent after hee was cited vp to Rome by bishop Brokes and hys fellowes, the tenour whereof here followeth.

¶ Letters of D. Tho. Cranmer Archb.  

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Cranmer's Letters

Given Cranmer's status and pre-eminence among Marian protestants, the amount of epistolary communication he had with his co-religionists was surprisingly small. Apart from his letters to his friend and supporter Joan Wilkinson and to his former protègè Rowland Taylor, his surviving letters dealt with his own legal situation. This was probably partly due to the vigilance with which Cranmer was guarded and probably partly due to the internal struggles Cranmer underwentafter the Oxford disputations in April 1554.

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None of Cranmer's letters are printed in the Rerum. His letters to Mary and to Thomas Martin and John Story were first printed in the 1563 edition as was his letter to a lawyer, written in Latin, about his appeal to a general council. In the 1570 edition, his letter to his lawyer was replaced with a translation of it. Cranmer's letters to Joan Wilkinson and Rowland Taylor were reprinted from the Letters of the Martyrs, where they first appeared, in the 1570 edition. No changes were made to the letters in subsequent editions.

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¶ The Archbishop of Canterburies letter to the Queenes hyghnes.  

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This letter was first printed during Mary's reign in The copy of certain letterssent to the quene (Emden: 1556?), STC 5999. This letter was reprinted in every edition of the Acts and Monuments and in Letters of the Martyrs, pp. 3-15. BL, Lansdowne 389, fos. 213v-222r; BL, Harley 417, fos. 69r-78v and ECL 260, fos.261r-265r are copies of this letter.

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MarginaliaA writing or letter of the Archb. sent to Q. Mary.IT may please your Maiesty to pardon my presumption, that I dare be so bold to wryte to your highnes. But very necessity constrayneth me, that your Maiestye may know my mynde rather by myne own writing, thē by other mens reportes. So it is that vpon Wedensday being the. 12. day of this moneth, I was cited to appeare at Rome, the. lxxx. day after, there to make aunswer to such matters as should be obiected against me, vpon the behalfe of the kyng, and your most excellent Maiestye: which matters the Thursday following were obiected against me by Doctor Martyn, and Doct.Story your maiesties Proctours, before the bishop of Glocester, sittyng in iudgement by commission from Rome. But (alas) it can not but greeue the hart of a naturall subiect, to be accused of the kyng and Queene of hys own realme: and specially before an outward Iudge, or by authority comming from any person out of thys Realme: MarginaliaThe King & Queene make thēselues no better then subiectes complayning of their owne subiect vnto the Pope.Where the kyng and Queene, as they were subiectes within theyr own Realme, shall complayne, and require iustice at a straungers hands against their own subiect, being already condemned to death by their own lawes: As though the kyng and Queene could not do or haue iustice within their own realmes, agaynst their own subiectes, but they must seeke it at a straungers handes in a straunge land: the like whereof (I thinke) was neuer seene.

I would haue wished to haue had some meaner aduersaries: and I thinke that death shall not greue me much more, then to haue my most dread and most gracious soueraygne Lord and Ladye, to whom vnder God I doe owe all obedience, to bee myne accusers in iudgement, within their own Realme, before any straunger and outwarde power. MarginaliaThe first cause why the Archb. would not make answere to the Popes delegate, is to auoyde periury.But for as much as in the tyme of the Prince of most famous memory king Henry. VIII. your Graces father, I was sworne neuer to consent, that the bishop of Rome should haue or exercise any authority or iurisdiction in this realme of England, therefore lest I should allow hys authoritie contrary to myne oth, I refused to make aunswer to the bishop of Glocester sitting here in iudgement by the Popes authority, lest I should runne into periury.

MarginaliaThe 2. cause is, that the Popes lawes are contrary to the crowne and lawes of England.An other cause why I refused the Popes authority is this, that hys authority, as he claymeth it, repugneth to the crowne imperiall of this Realme, and to the lawes of the same: which euery true subiect is bound to defend. First, so that the Pope sayth, that all maner of power, as well temporall as spiritual, is geuen first to him of God, and that the tēporall power he geueth vnto Emperours and kings to vse it vnder hym, but so as it be alwaies at hys commaundement and becke.

But contrary to this clayme, the Emperiall crowne and iurisdiction temporal of this realme is taken immediatly from God, to be vsed vnder hym onely, and is subiect vnto none, but to God alone.

MarginaliaThe oth of the king & Iustices, and the duty of subiectes.Moreouer, to the Emperiall lawes and customes of thys realme, the King in hys Coronation, and all Iustices when they receaue their offices, be sworne, and al the whole realme is bound to defend and mayntayne. But contrary hereunto the Pope by his authoritye maketh voyde, and commaundeth to blot out of our bookes, all lawes and customes being repugnant to hys lawes, and declareth accursed all Rulers and Gouernours, all the makers, writers & executors of such lawes or customes: as it appeareth by many of the Popes lawes, whereof one or two I shall rehearse. In the decrees MarginaliaDist. 10. Constitutiones.Distinct. 10. is written thus: Constitutiones contra Canones & decreta præsulum Romanorum vel bonos mores, nullius sunt momenti.  

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Decreti pars 1. dist. 10. § 4.

Foxe text Latin

Constitutiones contra Canones & decreta praesulum Romanorum vel bonos mores, nullius sunt momenti.

Foxe text translation

The constitutions or statutes enacted against the Canons and decrees of the bishops of Rome or their good customes, are of none effect.

Actual text of Decreti pars 1. dist. 10. § 4. Constitutiones

Extra, de sententia excommunicationis, nouerit: Excommunicamus omnes hæreticos vtriusque sexus, quocunq; nomine censean-  

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Gregory ix

Foxe text Latin

Extra, de sententia excommunicationis, nouerit: Excommunicamus omnes haereticos vtriusque sexus, quocunque nomine censeantur, & fautores, & receptores, et defensores eorum: nec non & qui de caetero seruari fecerint statuta edita & consuetudines, contra Ecclesiae libertatem, nisi ea de capitularibus suis intra duos menses, post huiusmodi publicationem sententiae fecerint amoueri. Item excommunicamus statutarios, & scriptores statutorum ipsorum, nec non potestates, consules, rectores, & consiliarios locorum, vbi de caetero huiusmodi statuta & consuetudines editae fuerint vel seruatae: nec non & illos qui secundum ea praesumpserint iudicare, vel in publicam formam scribere iudicata.

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[As in1563except forreceptoresforreceptatoresin line 5]

Foxe text translation

We excommunicate all heretickes of both sexes, what name soeuer they be called by, and their fautors & receptors and defendors: and also them that shall hereafter cause to be obserued the statutes & customes made agaynst the liberty of the church, except they cause the same to be put out of their recordes and chapters within two moneths after the publication hereof. Also we excommunicate the statute makers and wryters of those statutes, and all the potestates, consuls, gouernours and counsellours of places, where such statutes and customes shall be made or kept: and also those that shall presume to geue iudgement according to them, or shall notify in publicke forme the matters so iudged.

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[As in1563,except for minor revisions of wording in lines 8 and 17]

Actual text of Decreta Gregorii ix. lib. 5, tit. 39. cap. 49. p. 276