were fought what triūphes and great feastes were holden, when kynges began their reigne, and when they ended &c. In such vulgare and populare affaires, the narration of the Chronicler serueth to good purpose, & may haue his credite, wherein the matter forceth not much, whether it be true or false, or where any listeth to beleue them. But where as a thyng is denyed, and in cases of iudgemēt, & in controuersies doubtfull, which are to be decided & boulted out by euidence of iust demonstratiō: I take thē neyther for Iudges of þ^e Bench, nor for arbiters of the cause, nor as witnesses of them selues sufficient necessarely to be sticked vnto. Albeit I deny not but hystories are taken many tymes, and so termed for witnesses of tymes, and glasses of antiquitie. &c. yet not such witnesses, as whose testimonie beareth alwayes a necessary truth, and bindeth beleefe.

The two witnesses whiche came agaynst Susanna, beyng seniours both of auncient yeres, bare a great coūtenaunce of a most euident testimonie, whereby they almost both deceaued the people, & oppressed the innocent: had not young Daniell by the holy spirite of God, haue take them aside, and seuerally examinyng them one frō the other, found thē to be false lyers both, MarginaliaHistoryes not rashely to be beleued.leauyng to vs therby a lesson of wholesome circumspection, not rashly to beleue euery one þ^t cōmeth: and also teachyng vs, how to try them out. Wherfore (master Cope) folowing here the like example of Daniell in trying these your records whom ye inferre agaynst these men, we will in lyke maner examine them, seuerally one from an other, and see how their testimonie agreeth: first beginnyng with your Robert Fabian. MarginaliaThe testimony of Fabian agaynst the L. Cobham examined.Whiche Robert Fabian, beyng neither in the same age, nor at þ^e dede doing, can of him self geue no credite herein, without due proufe, & euidence conueniēt. How then doth Robert Fabian proue this matter of treason true? what probation doth he bryng? what autoritie doth hee alledge? And doth Robert Fabian thinke, if hee were not disposed to conceaue of the L. Cobham, & those mē a better opinion but to be traytours, þ^t mē are bound to beleue hym onely at his worde, without any grounde or cause declared, why they should so doo, but onely because he so sayth, and pleased him so to write? And if ye thinke (maister Cope) the worde onely of this witnes sufficient to make autoritie, speakyng agaynst þ^e Lord Cobham, and prouyng nothyng, whiche folowed so many yeares after him: MarginaliaThe testimony of Rich. Belward for the L. Cobham.Why may not I as well and much rather take the word and testimonie of Richard Belward a Northfolke man, and of the towne of Erisam, who lyuing both in his tyme, and possible knowyng the party, and punished also for the lyke truth, is not reported, but recorded also in the registers of the church of Norwich, MarginaliaEx Regist. Episc. Noruic.to geue this testimony among other hys articles, for the foresayd Lord Cobham, that is, that sir Iohn Oldcastel was a true catholike man, and falsely condemned, and put to death without reasonable cause. &c. Ex Regist. Noruic. Agaynst this man if you take exception, & say, that one hereticke wyl hold with an other: why may not I with the lyke exception reply to you agayne, and say as well, one Papist will holde wyth an other, and both coniure together, to make and say the woorst agaynst a true Protestant.

Further, yet to examine this foresayd Fabian, witnes agaynst syr Iohn Oldcastell, as Daniell examined the witnesses agaynst Susanna, I wil not here aske vnder what tree these adherents of sir Iohn Oldcastle conspired agaynst the kyng, and subuersion of the lād, but in what tyme, in what yeare and moneth this conspiracie was wrought? MarginaliaWitnesses agaynst the L. Cobham agree not together.Fabian witnesseth that it was in the moneth of Ianuary. Contrary, Edward Halle, and other our Abrigmenters following him, do affirme that they were condemned in the Guild haull the. xij. of December, and that their execution vpon the same was in Ianuary following, so that by their sentence the fact was done eyther in the moneth of December, or els before, &so Fabianus mentitus est in caput suum, vt cum Daniele dicam: or if it wer in the moneth of Ianuary, as Fabian sayth, then is Halle and hys followers deceaued, testifieng the fact to be done in the moneth of December.

MarginaliaFabian conuict of a manifest vntruth in his storye of the Lord Cobham.And yet to obiect moreouer agaynst the sayd Fabian, forsomuch as he is suche a rashe wytnes agaynst these burned persons, whom he calleth traytors: it woulde be demaunded further of hym, or in hys absence of Mayster Cope, in what yeare thys treason was conspired? If it were in the same yeare (as he confesseth hymselfe) in whych yeare Iohn Claydon the skynner, and Rycharde Turmine Baker were burned, then was it neyther in the moneth of Ianuary, nor in the first yeare of king Henry the fyft. MarginaliaFabian. part. 7. in vita. Henr. 5. pag. 390.For in the Register of Canterbury it appeareth playne, that Iohn Claydon was condemned neither in the time of Tho. Arundell Archb. nor yet in þ^e first nor second yere of K. Henry. 5. but was cōdemned in the second yeare of the translation of Henry Chichesley, Archbishop of Canterbury, the. xvij. day of August, which was the yeare of our lord. 1415. MarginaliaEx Regist. Archiep. Cant.So that if thys conspiracie was in the same yeare (after the witnes of Fabian) in which yeare Iohn Claydon was burned, then doth the testimonye of Fabian neyther accorde with other wytnesses, nor with hym selfe, nor yet wyth truth. And thus concerning the wytnes of Rob. Fabian.

MarginaliaThe testimony of Polydore examined.Let vs next procede to Polydore Virgil, whose partiall and vntrue handling of our historie in other places of his bookes, doth offer vnto vs sufficient exception, not to admit his credite in this. And yet because we wyll rather examine him, then exclude hym, let vs heare a little what he sayth, and how he fayleth, and in howe manye pointes, numbring þ^e same vpon my v. fingers. MarginaliaV. vntruthes of Polydore noted in one storye.
1. vntruth.First ending with the life of king Henry. 4. he saith, that he raigned. xiiij. yeares and sixe monethes and. ij. dayes. Angl. hist lib. 21. which is an vntruth, worthy to bee punished with a whole yeares banishment (to speake after the maner of Apuleius) when as truth is he raygned by the testimony of the storye of S. Albanes, of Fabian, of Hall, of our old English Chronicle, and of Scala mundi, but. xiij. and. vi. monethes, lacking as some saye. v. dayes, Halle sayth he raygned but. xij. yeares.

Marginalia2. vntruth.The second vntruth of Polydore is thys, where as he speaking of this sedition of sir Iohn Oldcastell and his adherentes, affirmeth the same to be done after the burning of Iohn Hus, and of Hierome of Prage, which was saith he, an. 1415. in which yeare (sayth he) Thomas Arundell dyed. Hys wordes be these: In eodem consilio damnata est I. VVicliffi hæresis, ac Ioā. Hus, et Hieronimus Pragensis in ea vrbe combusti sunt Quod vbi reliquis consociis, qui etiam tunc in Anglia erant, patefit, tanquā furiis agitati primum coniurationes in omnes sacerdotes, deinde in regem. &c. In whych wordes he not onelye erreth, falsely assigning the cause and occasion of this sedition to the death of Iohn Hus, and of Hierome, but also misseth as much in the order and computation of the yeares. For neyther was sir Roger Acton with his foresayd fellowes alyue at þ^e time of þ^e councell, neither doth he agree therin with any of our English writers, except only with Hall, who also erreth therin as wyde as he.

Marginalia3. 4. vntruth.For the third & fourth vntruth I note this, where he addeth & sayth, that after this rebelliō raised against the king, the sayd syr Iohn Oldcastell beyng there present hymselfe, was taken & prisoned in the tower, and afterward escaped out of the sayd tower by night, wherin is contayned a double vntruth. For neither was syr Iohn Oldcastell there present him selfe, if we beleue Fabian & Cope, Dial. 6. pag 833 lin. 11. MarginaliaCopus pag. 833. lin. 11.neyther yet dyd hee euer escape out of the tower after that conspiracie, if euer any such conspiracie was.

Marginalia5. vntruth.His v. but not the last vntruth in Polydore is this, that he sayth, Tho. Arundell to haue dyed in the same yeare, notyng the yeare to be an. 1415. where as by the true re-