thynges not in the worde expressed, vnto hym whiche sayeth in his word: Non est vestrum scire tempora & momenta temporum. &c. MarginaliaAct. 1.It is not for you to knowe the tymes, and seasons of times, which the father hath kept in his owne power. &c.
Secondly, in this matter of Prophecies, requisite it is (as is sayd) for euery Christen man to learne, howe to discerne and distincte the true Prophecies, whiche procede of God, and the false Prophecies, whiche come of Satan. The difference wherof, as it is not hard to bee discerned: so necessarie it is, that euery good mā do rightly vnderstand the same, to thentent that he knowyng and flying the daunger of the one, may be the more certaine and constant in adheryng to the other.
[Back to Top]Thirdlye, because it is not sufficiēt that the deceatfull Prophecies of the deuill bee knowen, but also that they be resisted. I haue also declared, by what meanes the operation of Satans workes and Prophecies are to be ouercome: that is, not with strength and policie of man, for that there is nothyng in man, able to counteruaile the power of that enemie. Vnder heauen there is nothyng els that can preuaile agaynst hys woorkes, but onely the name of the Lord Iesus the sonne of God, not outwardly pronounced onely with our lippes, or signed in our foreheades with the outward crosse, but inwardly apprehended and dwellyng in our hartes by a silent faith, firmely and earnestly trustyng vpon the promises of God, geuē and sealed vnto vs in his name: MarginaliaThe strength of a Christian mans fayth in Christ.For so it hath pleased his fatherly wisedome, to set hym vp, to be both our rightuousnes before him selfe, and also to bee our fortitude agaynst the enemie, acceptyng our faith in his sonne, in no lesse price, then hee accepteth the workes and worthynes of the same his sonne, in whom we do beleue. Such is the strēgth and effect of faith both in heauen, in earth, and also in hell: In heauē to iustifie, in earth to preserue, in hell to conquere. And therefore when any such Prophecie, or any other thyng is to vs obiected, whiche semeth to tend agaynst vs, let vs first consider whether it sauour of Satan, or not. If it doo, then let vs seke our succour, not in our selues, where it doth not dwell, neither let vs kill, nor slay, nor chaunge our vocation therefore, folowyng vnordinate wayes: MarginaliaOnely Christ able to withstand the power of Sathan.but let vs runne to our Castle of refuge, which is to the power of the Lorde Iesus, remembryng the true promise of the Psalme: Qui habitat in adiutorio altissimi, in protectione Dei cœli commorabitur. MarginaliaPsal. 90.That is, who so putteth his trust in the succour of the Lorde, shall haue the God of heauen to his protector. And then shall it afterward folow, which also foloweth in þe same Psalme, Ipse liberabit te a laqueo venantium, & a verbo aspero. That is, and he shall deliuer hym from the snare of the hunter, and from all euill wordes, and Prophecies, be they neuer so sharpe, or bitter agaynst him. &c. And thus much by the occasion of kyng Edward, of Prophecies.
[Back to Top]Now hauyng long taryed at home
Why did Foxe devote a section of an ecclesiastical history to the dynastic struggles on the Continent in the later fifteenth century? There were three reasons. In the first place, Foxe wished to trace the fate of Bohemia after the Hussite Wars. In the second, this is an early appearance of the Ottoman Turks in his history and it serves as an introduction to Foxe's later account of their history. And finally the continuing threat that they present underscores Foxe's urgings that the rulers of Europe abandon their destructive and petty wars and unite against their common foe. For Imperial and Bohemian history, which takes up about half of this section, Foxe drew on Aeneas Sylius Piccolomini's De Bohemorum origine (Salingraci, 1538), pp. 113-22, 125, 130-41, 144-50 and 156-61. (Piccolomini became Pope Pius II; he had been a papal legate to Bohemia). Hungarian history, the campaigns of Charles the Bold and the wars of Emperor Maximilian I, are all taken from Chronicon Carionis, ed. Phillip Melanchthon and Caspar Peucer (Wittenberg ['Wittenburg'], 1580), pp. 640-1, 672-678, 680-1, 686-7 and 700-1. The complaints made at the Council of Basel about papal exactions are all taken from Matthias Flacius, Catalogus Testium Veritatis (Strasbourg ['Strassburg'], 1562), p. 291 as is the material on the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges (Catalogus Testium Veritatis, pp. 291-304 and 474-5). The passages denouncng Pius II are based on Bartolomeo de Sanchi de Platina, Historia de vitis Pontificum Romanorum, ed. Onophrio Panvinio (Venice, 1562), fo. 244r. Foxe's quotation of Pius II's praise of George of Pod?brady is particularly interesting. Foxe took it, as he states, from the 'Descriptione Europae' in Pius II's Cosmographia (Cologne, 1522), p. 117. But Foxe sates that Pius said that George was 'magnus vir alioqui, et rebus bellicis clarus' [otherwise a great man and illustrious in military matters]. What Pius actually said was that George 'putetur magnus vir alioqui, et rebus bellicis clarus' [was considered to be otherwise a great man and illustrious in military matters]. This piece of selective quotation is a reminder of how subtly Foxe could make a source serve his purposes. Thomas S. Freeman
University of Sheffield
THis Sigismund left behynd him one onely daughter Elizabeth, who was maried to MarginaliaAlbertus duke of Austrich.
Emperour.
Kyng of Hungary.
K. of Boheme.
Albert, Duke of Austrich: by reason whereof he was aduaunced to the Empyre, & so was both Duke of Austriche, Emperour, kyng of Hungary, and kyng also of Boheme. MarginaliaAlbertus Emperour but two yeares.But this Albert (as is afore declared) beyng an enemy and a disquieter to the Bohemians, & especially to the good mē of Thabor, as he was preparyng and settyng forth against the Turkes, in the meane tyme dyed, in the second yeare of hys Empire. an. 1439. leauyng his wife great with childe. MarginaliaElizabeth daughter to Sigismund, wife to Albert Emp.Who lying then in Hungary, and thinking to be great with a daughter, called to her the princes & chieftanes of the realme, declaryng to thē that she was but a woman and vnsufficient to the gouernaunce of such a state: and moreouer howe she thought her selfe to bee but with a daughter, and therfore required them to prouide among them, such a prince and gouernour, (reseruing the right of the kingdome to her selfe) as were fitte and able vnder her, to haue the regiment of the land cōmitted. MarginaliaThe Turke beginneth to inuade Hungary.The Turke in the meane while beyng eleuated and encouraged with his prosperous victories agaynst Sigismundus aforesayd, began then more fiercely to inuade Hungarie & those parties of Christendome. Wherfore the Hungarians making the more hast, MarginaliaVladislaus brother to Casimirus K. of Polonie, made K. of Hungarie.consulted among them selues, to make Duke Vladislaus, brother to Casimirus kyng of Polonie, their kyng. But while this was in woorkyng betwene the Hungarians and Vladislaus the Duke, MarginaliaElizabeth Queene of Hungarie, brought to bedde of a mā childe.in the meane space Elizabeth brought foorth a sonne called Ladislaus, MarginaliaLadislaus prince of Hungarie borne.who beyng the lawfull heyre of the kyngdome, the Quene calleth backe agayn her former woorde, myndyng to reserue the kyngdome for her sonne, beyng the true heyre therof, and therefore refuseth mariage with þe sayd Vladislaus, whiche she had before pretended. MarginaliaDiuision & discorde in Hungarie.But Vladislaus ioynyng with a great part of the Hungarians, persisting still in the condition before graunted, would not geue ouer: by reason wherof, great contention and diuision kynlyng among the people of Hungary, MarginaliaThe Turke warreth agaynst Hungarie.Amurathes the great Turke, takyng his aduauntage of their discorde, and partly surpressed wt pride of his former successe agaynst Sigismund aforesayd, with his whole maine & force, inuaded the realme of Hungarye: MarginaliaHuniades Vaiuoda.Where Huniades surnamed Vaiuoda, prince of Transiluania, ioynyng with the new kyng Vladislaus, did both together set agaynst þe Turke, an. 1444. MarginaliaVladislaus K. of Hungarie, slaine in warre.and there Vladislaus the newe kyng of Hungary, the iiij. yeare of his kyngdome, was slayne. Elizabeth with her sonne, was fled in the meane while, to Fridericke þe Emperour. Of Huniades Vaiuoda the noble captaine, and of his Actes and also of Ladislaus (Christ willyng) more shalbe sayd hereafter, in his time and place.
MarginaliaFridericus 3. Emper.AFter the deceasse of Alberte, succeded in the Empire Fridericus 3. Duke of Austria, an. 1440. By whom it was procured (as we haue before signified) that pope Fœlix elected by þe coūcell of Basill, did resigne his popedome, to pope Nicolas. v. vpon this condition, þt the sayd Pope Nicolas should ratifie the Actes decreed in the said Coūcell of Basill. In the dayes of this Emperour, much warre and dissension raged almost through all Christen realmes, in Austria, Vngaria, Polonia, in Fraunce, in Burgoynie, and also here in England, betwene K. Henry. 6.
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