cie yet more fully and amply repressed in refutyng a certaine place in my Latine story, concernyng the kynges statute made at Leycester, whiche place & words by him alledged, bee these, pag. 107. Quocirca Rex indicto Lecestriæ cōcilio (quòd fortassis Londini ob Cobhami fautores non erat tutum) proposito edicto immanē denunciat pœ nam his, quicumq; deinceps hoc doctrinæ genus sectarentur, vsq; adeo in eos seuerus, vt nō modo hæreticos, sed perduelliones etiam haberi, ac proinde gemino eos supplicio, suspendio simul & incendio afficiendos statuerit. &c. Et mox, Adeo ille vires, rationesq; intendebat omnes auersus VVicleuianos. VVicleuiani id tēporis dicebantur, quicūq; Scripturas Dei sua lingua lectitarent. &c.  

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The king's statute at Leicester

Foxe text Latin

Quocirca rex indicto ... lingua lectitarent, etc.

Translation

J. Barrie Hall

Wherefore the king, appointing a council at Leicester (perhaps because London was not safe on account of Cobham's supporters), proposed an edict threatening those persons whosoever thereafter followed this kind of doctrine with savage punishment, being so severe against them as to decree that they should be accounted not just heretics but rebels also, and accordingly were to suffer a double punishment, by being both hanged and burnt, etc.; and then: To such an extent did he strain all his strength and his thoughts against the Wycliffians. At that time all persons who read God's scriptures in their own tongue were called Wycliffians, etc.

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Vpon these wordes out of my foresayd Latin booke alledged, maister Cope perswadeth himselfe, to haue great aduauntage agaynst me, to proue me a notorious lyar, in three sundry poyntes. Fyrst in that, where as I say, that þ^e king did holde his Parliament at Leycester, adding this by way of parenthesis (quod fortassis Londini ob Cobhami fautores non erat tutum. &c.) here he cōcludeth therby simpliciter & precisely, that the L. Cobham and syr Roger Acton with his fellowes, were traytours. &c. Wherby a man may soone shape a cauiller, by the shadowe of maister Cope. MarginaliaCope cauilleth without cause.For where as my Dialysis out of the text speaketh doubtfully and vncertainlye by this worde (fortusis) meaning in deede, the king to be in feare of the Gospellers, that he durst not holde his Parliament at London, but went to Leycester: MarginaliaStat. an. 2. Henr. 5. ca. 7.he argueth precisely therefore, that the Lord Cobham, sir Roger Acton, and his fellowes went about to kill the king. Secondly, where I affirme, that the king in þ^e Parliament made a greuous law against all such as did holde þ^e doctrine of Wicklieffe, þ^t they should be takē hereafter, not onely for heretiques, but also for felons, or rebells, or traytours, and therfore should sustaine a double punishment, both to be hanged, and also to be burned. &c. Here cōmeth in maister Momus, with hys Cope on his backe, and prouing me to be a lyar, denieth plainly that þ^e king made any suche statute, vid. pag. 835. lin. 6. where his wordes be these: MarginaliaCopus pag. 835 lin. 6.
Obiection.Atqui quod hæretici pro perduellionibus deinceps & geminatas pœnas suspendij & incendij lueirent, vt nugatur Foxus, nullo modo illic traditur. &c.

MarginaliaThe secte of Wicklieffe made heresie and treason by K. Henry. 5.First here would be asked of maister Cope, what he calleth patriæ hostes, et proditores? if hee call these traytours, then let vs see whether, they that folowed the secte of Wicleffe, were made traytours and heretiques by the kynges law, or not. And first let vs heare what sayth Polidore Vergil, hys owne witnes, in this behalfe, whose wordes in his xxij. booke, pag. 441. be these: MarginaliaPolyd. Virgil. Lib. 22.Quare publice edixit, vt si vspiam deinceps reperirētur, qui eam sequerentur sectam, patriæ, hostes haberentur, quo sine omni lenitate seuerius ac ocyus de illis supplicium sumeretur. &c. That is, wherfore it was by publique statute decreed, þ^t who soeuer were founde hereafter to folowe the secte of Wicleffe, should be accounted for traytours, whereby without all leuity, they should be punished more seuerly and quickly. &c.

Thus haue you (maister Cope) the playne testimonie of Polydore with me. And because ye shall further see your selfe more impudent in carpyng, then I am in deprauing of histories, you shall vnderstand moreouer and heare, what Thomas Walden one of your owne catholique brotherhode, and who was also him selfe a liue, and a doer in þ^e same Parlament, beyng the prouinciall of þ^e Carmelites, sayth in this matter writyng to pope Martine, whose very woordes in Latine here folow, written in his Prologue to the sayd Martine, in this wise: MarginaliaTho. Walden in tomo primo. Doctrinali, ad Mart. papam in prologo.Nec mora lōga processit, quin statutū publicum per omne regni concilium in publico emanauit edicto, quod oēs VVicleuiste sicut dei proditores essent, sic proditores regis, proscriptis bonis censerentur et regni, duplici pœnæ dandi, incendio propter deum, suspendio propter regem. &c. That is.And it was not lōg after but a publicke law and statute came out, by the common assent of the generall Parlament of the whole realme, that all Wicleuistes, as they were traytours to God, so also should bee counted traytours to the king and to the realme, hauyng their goods lost and confiscate vnto the king. And therfore should suffer double punishement, as to be burnte for God, and to be hanged for the kyng. &c. And thus haue you (maister Cope) not onely my sentence, but also the very wordes of my story confirmed by this author: because ye shall not thinke me to speake so lightly or impudētly without my booke. And moreouer to confirme the sayd sentence of Thomas Walden, it foloweth also in an other place of the foresayd author, Tomo. 1. lib. 2. De doctrinali fidei Ecclesie Cathol. Cap. 46. where he writeth in these woordes. MarginaliaWalden tomo. 1. De doctrinali ecclesiæ cap. 46. lib. 2.Et tamen iam cum regnare cœpisset Illustris rex Henricus. 5. qui adhuc agit in sceptris, et de eorum perfidia per catholicos bene doctos, legem statui fecit, vt vbiq; per regnum VVicleuista probatus, vt reus puniretur de crimine lesæ maiestatis. et. cet. That is. And yet, when the noble kyng Hēry v. who as yet doth lyue & reigne, began first to reigne, beganne to set forth a lawe, by his learned Catholiques which were about him, agaynst the falsenes of these mē, so þ^t who so euer was proued to be a Wicleuist, through the whole realme, should be punished for a traytour. &c. What wordes can you haue maister Cope, more playne then these? or what authoritie cā you require of more credite, whiche lyued in the same time, and both did see and heare of the same things done? who also writing to pope Martine, was by the sayd pope Martine alowed, approued, and solemnely commended, as appeareth by the Popes Epistle to hym, wherein the pope declareth, how he caused his bookes, per solennes viros videri, et examinari. That is, by solemne personnes to be sene and examined. &c. MarginaliaEyther Walden wryteth true, or ells the pope erreth.So that you must nedes graunt, either this to be true, that Walden writeth: or els that the pope (tanquam papa) in alowynge hys writynges maye erre and bee deceaued. Chuse ye (maister Cope) of these two options whether you will take.

And if ye thinke this my assertion yet not sufficiently rescued w^t these authorities aboue sayd, I will also hereunto adioyne the testimonie of an other writer named Roger VValle, who writing De gestis Henrici. 5. and speakyng of the sayd statute of this Parlament some thyng more playnly then the rest, hath these wordes: MarginaliaReg. Wallus lib. de gestis Henr. 5. fol. 10.In hoc etiā Parliamento nobilitas regia hostes Christi sibi reputās proditores, volens dare intelligere vniuersis, quod ipse absq; cuiuscunq; fluctuationis dubio, q̃diu auras hauriret vitales, verus et perfectus Christianæ fidei æmulator existeret: statuit et decreuit, vt quotquot ipsius sectæ, quæ dicitur Lollardorum, inuenirentur æmuli et fautores, eo facto rei proditorij criminis in maiestatem regiam haberentur. &c. In Engl- Also in this Parlament, þ^e noble king reputyng Christes enemies, to be traytours to him selfe, to the entent that all mē should know without all doubt, that so lōg as hee lyued, he would be a true and a perfect folower of Christen fayth: did enacte and decree, that who soeuer should be found folowers and mainteyners of this secte, whiche is called the Lollardes secte, Ipso facto, should be counted and reputed giltie of treason agaynst the kynges maiestie. &c. By these hetherto alledged if maister Cope, will not be satisfied, yet let the reader indifferent iudge: Vtrū in hac remagis nugatur Foxus, an Copus calūniatur. And yet moreouer to make the matter more certaine, marke the clamation of the said Roger Walle, added to the end of those wordes aboue recited, whereby we haue to vnderstand more clerely, both what wer the procedings of the kyng in the sayd Parlament, and also what was the blinde affection of Monkes and Priestes at that time toward their king and prince MarginaliaK. Henry the v. called princeps saterdotū.(whych was then called princeps sacerdotum) in condemning and destroying the poore Lollardes. The wordes of thys Moonke be these: