yeare of the popedome of thys Iohn, MarginaliaPope Iohn wounded in adulterye.he being found w^tout the citie with an other mans wyfe, was so wounded of her husband, that within. viij. dayes after he dyed.

MarginaliaPope Benedictus v.After him, the Romanes elected pope Benedictus the fift, without the consent of the emperour. Whereupon the sayd Otho the emperour being not a little dyspleased for displacing of Leo, whom he had before promoted, and for the chusing also of Benedict: came wyth his armey, and layd siege to Rome, MarginaliaPope Leo. viii.and so set vp Pope Leo againe, the. viij. of that name. Which Leo to gratifie his benefactor agayne, crowned Otho for emperour and intituled him to be called Augustus. Also the power which Carolus Magnus had geuen before to þ^e Clergy & people of Rome: MarginaliaThe election of the byshop of Rome geuē to the Emperour.the Leo by a synodall decree graunted to the emperour and his successors: that is, touching the election of the bishop of Rome. MarginaliaThe donatiōs of Carolus Magnus, and Otho to Rome.The emperour again restored to the sea of Rome, all such donations and possessions, which eyther Constantinus (as they falsely pretende) or which Carolus Magnus tooke from the Lombardes, and gaue to them.

MarginaliaPope Iohn xiiii.After pope Leo had raygned a yeare &. iij. monthes, succeded pope Iohn the, xiiij. agaynst whom (for holding with themperour) Petrus the head captayn of the citie, with two Consuls. xij. Aldermen, & diuers other nobles: gathering their power together, layd handes vpon him, in the church of Laterene, MarginaliaPope Iohn cast in prison.and clapt the pope in pryson xj. monethes. Themperour hearing this, with all speede returned with his armye agayne to Rome, who after execution done vpon the authors and chiefe doers of that fact: among other he cōmitted the foresayd Petrus, to þ^e popes arbitrement. MarginaliaThe cruell reuenge of the Pope.Whom he caused fyrst to be strypt naked, then his beard being shauen, to be hanged by the heare a whole day together: after that to be set vpon an asse (his face turned backward, and hys handes bounde vnder the asses tayle) and so to be led through the citye, that all men might see him: that done, to be scourged w^t rods, and so banished the citie. Thus ye see, how the holy father followeth the iniunction of the gospell: Diligite inimicos vestros: loue your enemies. Luc. 6. &c. MarginaliaChristening of bells first beganne.Frō this pope proceded first the chistening of bels. an. 971.

MarginaliaPope Bendictus. vi.
Pope Benedict slaine in prisō.After hym followed pope Benedictus the sixt, who in like maner was apprehended by Cynthius a captayne of Rome, and cast in prison, where he was strangled, or as some say, famished to death.

MarginaliaPope Don⁹. ii.
Pope Bonifaci⁹ vii.Then came pope Donus the second. After whō Bonifacius the. vij. was pope: who likewise seing the Cityzens of Rome to cōspire agaynst him, was cōstrained to hyde hymself. And seing no place there for hym to tarye, tooke the treasure of S. Peters church, and so priuelye stale to Constantinople. MarginaliaTwo Popes together.
Pope Iohn. xv.In whose steede the Romanes set vp pope Iohn the. xv. Not longe after (Boniface returning agayne from Constantinople) by his money and treasure procured a garryson or companye to take hys part: By whose meanes the foresaid pope Iohn was taken, his eyes put out, and so throwne in prison, MarginaliaPope Iohn slayne.where he was as some say famished: some saye he was slayne by Ferrucius. Neyther did Boniface raygne manye dayes after, but sodaynly dyed: MarginaliaPope Boniface drawen through the streetes of Rome.whose carkase after his death was drawen by the feete through the streetes of Rome, after the most despiteful maner of the people shriking and exclaming against him. an. 976.

MarginaliaPope Benedictus vii.
Otho second, Emperour.Next Pope after him was Benedictus. vij, by the cōsent of themperour Otho the second, and raygned nyne yeares. In the time of this Pope: Hughe Cappet the French king, toke Charles (þ^e right heire to the crown) by the treasō of the bishop of Laon: and whē he had imprisoned him, he also cōmitted to prison Arnoldus Archbishop of Rayns, MarginaliaGilbertus a necromanser, made archbyshop.and placed in his roume Gilbertus a monke of Floriake (a Necromanser) who was scholemaister to Duke Robert the kings sonne. But this pope Benedictus, calling a coūcel at Remis, restored the sayd Arnoldus agayne, and displaced Gilbertus: which afterby the helpe of Otho was made Archbishop of Rauenna, and at length was Pope, as in processe hereafter (Christ graunting) shalbe declared.

MarginaliaPope Iohn the. xvi.After Benedictus succeded in the sea of Rome Pope Iohn the. xvi. and dyed the. viij. moneth of hys papacye. MarginaliaPope Iohn the xvii.
Pope Gregory the v.Next to whome came Iohn þ^e. xvij. And after him Gregory the. v. in the yeare of our Lord. 995. This Gregory (called before Bruno) was a Germane borne, & therefore the more malaced of the Clergy & people of Rome. Wherupō, Crescentius with the people and Clergy, cōuenting against the sayd Gregory: MarginaliaAnd Pope Iohn the xviii.set vp pope Iohn the xviij. Gregory vpon þ^e same, sped him self in al cōuenient hast to the emperour Otho the third in Germany. MarginaliaTwo Popes together in Rome.Who hearing the complaynt of Gregory, and vnderstanding hys wronges: set forward with hys army well appoynted, to Italy: gat the citie, & there toke both Crescentius the Consul, and Iohn the Pope. MarginaliaPope Iohn had hys eyes put out, and so put to death.Which Iohn first hauing hys eyes put out, was depriued after of hys lyfe. Crescentius the Consul was set vpon a vile horse, hauing his nose and eares cut of, and so was led throughe the citie, hys face being turned fo the horsetayle, and afterward hauing hys members cut of, was hanged vpon a gybbet.

MarginaliaPope Gregorye restored.Pope Gregory thus beyng restored to hys former state reigned iiij. yeares in his papacie (although Marianus Scotus and Martinus say, þ^t he sat but ij. yeres) &c. During þ^e which time he assembled a councel in Rome: where, he to stablish the Empyre in his owne countrey (by the consent and coūsail of Otho) ordeined vij. princes of Germany to be electors of the Emperour: which order, yet to this day remayneth. MarginaliaVii. electors of themperour ordained in Germanie, and who they be.What be the names of these vij. electours, and what is their office, thus I find in these verses expressed.

MarginaliaEx Chronico. Martini.Maguntinensis, Treuerensis, Coloniensis.
Quilibet Imperij sit cancellarius horum.
Et Palatinus Dapifer. Dux portitor ensis.
Marchio præpositus cameræ, Princerna Bohemus.

These vij. he ordeyned to be electors 3. bishops. 3. princes (to wyt) the Palatine, the duke of Saxonie, the marques of Brandenburgh. To whom was added also the kyng of Boheme, to geue the odde voyce, yf the euen voyces could not agre. This constitution beyng first begun anno. 997. was after established in Germanie by Otho the Emperour, the yeare of the Lord. 1002. And thus much by the waye or rather by digression, concernyng the rages & tumultes of the Romish church. Now to our matter agayne.

¶ King Egelred, or Elred.  

Commentary     Close

Foxe's account of Ethelred's life begins in a straightforward way with material taken from William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum (J. S. Brewer, and C. T. Martin, 'William of Malmesbury: Gesta Regum.' In Reigistrum Malmesburiense. The Registor of Malmesbury Abbey, ed. by J.S. Brewer and C.T. Martin [London: Rolls Series, 1869-1880], book 2, ch. 164). For the death of Dunstan and his successors, Foxe pieced together as best he could the differing accounts of John Brompton's Chronicle (J. Brompton, 'Chronicon Johannis Brompton Abbatis Jornalensis.' In Historiæ Anglicanæ Scriptores X. [....], ed. by Roger Twysden [London, 1652], col. 879), William of Malmesbury's Gesta Pontificium (book 1, ch. 26) and Polydore Vergil's Historia Anglia (Basel, 1534), p. 263. For the translation of St Cuthbert's relics from Chester to Durham, his source is Roger Howden (W. Stubbs, ed. Chronica magistri Rogeri de Houdene 4 vols, Rolls Series [London, 1868], 1, p. 68), confirmed by Ranulph Higden's Polychronicon (J. R. Lumby, ed. Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden monachi Cestrensis: together with the English translations of John Trevisa and of an unknown writer of the fifteenth century (London: Rolls Series, 1879), book 6, ch. 14). For the Danish incursions and their impact, Foxe took his account verbatim from Fabian's Chronicle (R. Fabyan, The Chronicle of Fabian (London, 1559), book 6, ch. 197-8 or Brompton (cols. 879; 885). For Ethelred's marriage to Richard Duke of Normandy, he followed Fabian, or possibly Henry Huntingdon (T. Arnold, ed. Henry of Huntingdon. Henrici Huntendunensis Historia Anglorum, the History of the English, by Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, from B. C. 55 to A. D. 1154 [London: Rolls Series, 1879], book 6, ch. 1). For the king's retreat, foundation of the abbey at Bury St Edmunds, and his eventual death, Foxe followed Ranulph Higden's Polychronicon (book 6, chs 16-17). The long Latin citation concerning judges and the dispensation of right justice was taken verbatim from Brompton's Chronicle (p. 903).

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MarginaliaK. Egelred
979.KYng Edward thus being murthered as is aforsaid: the crowne fell next to Egelrede his yonger brother, and sonne to kyng Edgar by the foresaid quene Alfrith, as we haue declared. This Egelred had a long reigne geuē of God, which dured the terme of xxxviij yeares: but very vnfortunat, and full of great miseries. And he hym selfe (by þ^e historyes) semeth to be a prince not of the greatest courage to gouerne a common wealth. Our Englishe stories wryting of him, thus reporte of his reigne: that in the beginnyng, it was vngracious: wretched in the midle: and hatefull in the latter ende. MarginaliaThe life of Egelred.Of this Egelrede it is read, whē Dunstane the archshop should christen hym: as he did hold hym ouer the fonte he fyeled therin. Wherpō, Dūstane sware by þ^e mother of Christ, that he would be a prince vntoward and courwardlike. In finde in William of Malmesbery, Lib. 2. de Regib. that this Egelred beyng of the age of x. yeares, when he hard his brother Edward to be slayne, made such sorowe and weapyng for hym: that his mother fallyng therewith in a rage, tooke waxe candels (hauyng nothyng els at hād) wherwith she scourged him so sore (well nere til he sownded) that after the same, he could neuer abyde any waxe candels to burne before him. Marginalia981.After this, about the yeare of our Lord 981 (the day of his coronation being appoin