MarginaliaAn. 1556. Aprill. May.9. To the. ix. they all generally agreed, that that which they had sayd in the premisses was true, and that they were of the dioces of London.
These aunsweres thus made, the Bishop did dismisse them for that present, vntill the after noone. At which tyme hauing first their articles and aunsweres red vnto them agayne, and they standing most firmely vnto their christian profession, they were by diuers wayes and meanes assayed and tryed if they would reuoke the same their professed fayth, and returne to the vnity of Antichristes church. Which thing when they refused, MarginaliaSentence geuen agaynst them by B. Boner.the Bishop stoutly pronounced the sentence of condemnation agaynst them, committing them vnto the temporall power. Who vpon the receit of the king and Quenes wryt,
I.e., the writ authorizing the execution of the heretics. It was illegal for an execution for heresy to proceed without such a writ.
the. xxviij. day of Aprill, most chearefully they ended their lyues, to the glory of Gods holy name, and the great incouragement of others.
With the exception of a brief description of the burning of Laverock and Apprice which was added in the 1570 edition, the account of these martyrs first appeared in the 1563 edition and it remained unchanged. It was based entirely on official records, probably a court book of Bishop Bonner's which is now lost - except for the description of the burning of Laverock and Apprice, which probably came from an eyewitness.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaMay. 15.
Two burned together at one stake, Hugh Lauerocke an old lame man, and Ioh. Apprice, a blind man.IN the discourse of this parcell or part of History, I know not, whether more to maruayle at the great and vnsearchable mercies of God (wyth whom there is no respect in degrees of persons, but he chooseth as well the poore, lame, and blynde, as the rich, mighty, and healthfull, to set forth his glory) or els to note the vnreasonable or rather vnnaturall doinges of these vnmercifull catholickes
Note that in the 1570 edition, this passage was toned down considerably; in the 1563 edition, Foxe denounced Bonner and his clerics as 'most cruel papists' and 'horseleeches'.
Hugh Lauerocke, of the parish of Barking
Paynter, of the age of. 68. a lame creple.
Iohn Apprice, a blynd man.
These two poore and simple creatures being, belike, accused by some promoting neighbour of theirs, vnto the Byshop and other of the king and Queenes Commissioners, were sent for by their officer: and so being brought and deliuered into the handes of the sayd Byshop, were the first day of May examined before hym in his Palace at London: Where he first propounded and obiected agaynst them those. ix. articles, whereof often mencion is made before, ministred as well vn-
[Back to Top]to Bartlet Grene, as also vnto many others. To the which they answered in effect, as Christopher Lister, Iohn Mace, and other before mencioned had done. Whereupon they were agayne sent to prison, and beside other tymes, the. ix. day of the same moneth, in the consistory at Poules were againe openly producted and there after the old order, trauayled withall to recant their opinions agaynst þe Sacrament of the altar.
[Back to Top]Wherunto Hugh Lauerocke first sayd: MarginaliaThe wordes of Iohn Lauerocke to Boner.I will stand to myne aunswers, and to that that I haue confessed: and I cannot find in the scriptures, that the Priestes should lyft vp ouer their head a cake of bread.
The Byshop then turned hym vnto Iohn Apprice and asked what he would say. To whom he answered: MarginaliaThe wordes of Iohn Apprice to the Bishop.Your doctrine (sayd he) that ye set forth and teach, is so agreable wyth the world, and imbraced of the same, that it cannot be agreable wyth the scripture of God. And ye are not of the Catholicke church: for yee make lawes to kill men, & make the Queene your hangmā.
[Back to Top]At which wordes the bishop, belike, somewhat tickled, and therefore very loth to delay their condemnation any longer (such was now his hot burning charity) commaunded that they should be brought after him vnto Fulham, whether he before dynner did go, and there in the after noone after his solemne maner, MarginaliaSentence of condemnation geuen against Hugh Lauerocke, and Iohn Apprice.in the open church he pronounced the definitiue sentence of condemnation against them, and so deliuering them into the handes of the temporall officer, thought to dispatch his hādes of them, but could not so dispatch hys conscience before the iudgement of God, from the giltines of innocent bloud.
[Back to Top]The poore men being now in the temporall officers handes, might not there be suffered long to remayne, and therefore the. xv. day of May, very early in the morning they were caryed frō Newgate in a cart to Stratford the Bow,
This was the first, but not the last, time that Stratford-le-Bow would be used as a site for the execution of the Marian martyrs. The fact that the authorities went to the trouble of transporting the condemned protestants so far out of the city is an indication of the unrest the executions were causing in London.
[Back to Top]At their death, Hugh Lauerocke, after he was cheined, casting away his crooch,
The catholic polemicist Miles Hogarde presented a different account of the execution, in which Laverock clutched his crutch as he was burning (Miles Hogarde, The Displaying of the Protestantes [London: 1556], STC 13557, p. 125).