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885 [885]

K. Richard. 3. The battaile at Bosworth. K. Richard slayne.

couplyng together, kyng Richard vnderstãdyng by his esspials where þe Earle of Richmond was, & how he was but slenderly accõpanied, & seyng him to approch more nere vnto him, he rather caried with courage, then ruled with reason, set spurres to the horse & raungyng out of the compasse of his ranckes, pressed toward þe Earle, setting vpon him so sharply, MarginaliaW. Brandon.that first he kylled sir William Brandon, the Earles stãdart berer, MarginaliaCharles Brandon.father to lord Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolke, then after ouerthrew Syr Iohn Cheny, thinkyng likewise to oppresse the Earle. But as the Lord by his secrete prouidence disposeth the euent of all thynges, as the Earle with his men about him beyng ouermatched, began to dispeare of victory, sodeinly and oportunely came Syr William Stanley with. iij. thousand well appoynted able men, MarginaliaThe death of K. Richard.whereby kyng Richardes men were driuen backe, and he him self cruelly fighting in the thicke of his enemies, was there slayne, & brought to his confusion and death, whiche he worthely deserued. In the meane tyme the Earle of Oxford, who had the guidyng of the forward, discomfited the forefront of kyng Richardes hoast, and put them to flight, MarginaliaDuke of Northfolke slayne.in which chase many were slayne, of noble men especially aboue other, Iohn duke of Northfolke, Lord Ferrers, Syr Rich. Radcliffe, and Robert Brakenbury lieutenaunt of þe tower. &c. MarginaliaL. Tho Haward Earle of Surrey, aduaunced by K. Henry. vii.Lord Thomas Haward Earle of Surrey, there submitted him selfe, and although he was not receaued at first to grace, but long remained in the tower, yet at length for his fidelitie, was deliuered and aduaunced to hys recouered honour and dignitie agayne.

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MarginaliaK. Richards sonne punished for the wickednes of his father.This kyng Richard had but one sonne, who shortly after the cruell murder of king Edwardes sonnes, was takē with sickenes and dyed. The wife of the sayd kyng Richard (whether by poyson or by sickenes) dyed also a litle before the field of Bosworth: MarginaliaK. Richard purposed to Mary Elysabeth his brothers daughter.After whose deceasse, the story of Polidore and of Syr Thomas More affirmeth, that he intended hym selfe to mary the Lady Elizabeth his owne brothers daughter, and so to preuēt the Earle of Richemond.MarginaliaL. Stanley husband to Kyng Henryes mother forsoke K. Rychard.Moreouer as touchyng the Lord Stanley, thus reporteth the story, that kyng Richard being in Bosworth field, sent for the said Lord Stanley by a purseuaunt, to auaunce forward with his companie, and come to hys presence: otherwise he sware by Christes Passion, that hee would strike of his sonnes head before dyner. The Lord Stanley sent worde agayne, that if he did, he had more sonnes alyue. Whereupon the kyng immediatly cõmaunded the Lord Straunge to be beheaded: which was the very tyme when both the armyes were within sight, and were ready to ioyne together. MarginaliaThe Lord Strange meruelously preserued.Wherefore the kynges counsaillours ponderyng the time and the case, persuaded the kyng, that it was tyme now to fight, and not to do execution, aduisyng hym to delay the matter till the battaile were ended. And so (as God would) king Richard breakyng his othe, or rather kepyng hys othe, for hee hym selfe was slayne before dyner, the Lorde Straunge was committed to be kept prisoner within the kyngs tente: who then after the victorie gotten, was sought out and brought to his ioyfull father. And thus haue ye the tragicall lyfe and ende, of thys wretched kyng Richard.

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Henry the Earle of Richemond, after harty thãkes geuen to almighty God, for his glorious victorie obteyned, proceded to the towne of Leicester, where was brought to him by the Lord Straunge, the crowne, and put on the Earles head. MarginaliaThe shamfull tossing of K. Richards dead corpes.
1485.
In the meane tyme the dead corps of kyng Richarde was shamefully caryed to the towne of Leicester, beyng naked and despoyled to the skynne, and so beyng trussed behynd a purseuant of armes, was caryed lyke a hogge or a dogge, hauyng hys head & armes hangyng on the one side of the horse, and the legges on þe other side, all spryncled with myre andbloud. And thus ended the vsurped reigne of kyng Richard, who reigned two yeares, and ij. monethes. Ex Polyd. et Tho. Moro.

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¶ King Henry vij.

MarginaliaK. Henrye. vii.WHen kyng Henry, by the prouidence of God had obteined this triumphant victorie, and Diademe of the realme, first sendyng for Edward Platagenet Earle of Warwyke, sonne to George Duke of Clarence, and committyng hym to safe custody within the tower, from Leicester remoued to London, MarginaliaK. Henry maryeth with Elizabeth.and not longe after, according to his othe and promise made before, espoused to hym the young Lady Elizabeth, heyre of the house of Yorke: MarginaliaThe two houses of Yorke and Lancaster ioyned together.wherby both þe houses of Yorke and Lancaster were conioyned together, to the no litle reioysing of all Englishe hartes, and no lesse quiet vnto the realme, whiche was an. 1485. This kyng reigned. xxiij. yeares & viij. monethes, & beyng a prince of great policie, iustice, and tēperaunce, kept his realme in good tolerable rule and order. And here interruptyng a litle the course of our Englishe matters, we will nowe (the Lord willyng) enter the story aboue promised, of Maximilian the Emperour, and matters of the Empire, especially such as pertayneth to the church.  

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Maximilian I and Julius II

Foxe's starting point for a great deal of the material in this section layin the work of John Bale. Joan Boughton and Philip Norris were both discussed in Bale's notes in Bodley Library MS e Musaeo 86, fo 63v; Foxe repeated these accounts in his Commentari, fos. 174v-175r and 176r-v. Foxe also printed a brief account of Savanorala in the Commentari, which was also drawn from Bale (see Commentari, fo 177r-v). However, while Foxe may have drawn on Bale for his accounts of these people in the Commentari, for the A&M, he was able to draw on other sources. Theaccount of Savanorola in the 1563 edition, was taken on Matthis Flacius's Catalogus testium veritatis, as was the account of Wesel Gansfort which also appeared in the 1563 edition. These accounts were reprinted without alteration in all subsequent unabridged editions of the A&M. Foxe also reprinted two letters of Maximilian I, also from Flacius's Catalogus, in his first editions. In the 1570 edition, edition Foxe added all of the other material in this section. The material on Maximian I was drawn from Casper Peucer's continuation of Carion's chronicle. Foxe took his account of thr persecution of Lollards around the year 1500 from the manuscript of what is now known as the Great Chronicle of London. And the accounts of Alexander VI and Julius II were drawn almost entirely from John Bale's Catalogus. Although there is no unifying theme for this section and it covers events inEngland, Italy and the Holy Roman Empire, it does make a number of pointsimportant to Foxe. It recounts the existence of proto-Protestants before Luther,including Lollards as well as Wesel Gansfort and Savanorola. (As a corollary ofthis, Foxe also associates Protestantism with both the invention of printing andhumanism). Foxe was also able to demonstrate the financial corruption of the Papacy, through the letters of Maximilian (complaining of ecclesiastical abuses) and its moral corruption, through the careers of Alexander VI and Julius II.

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Thomas S. Freeman
University of Sheffield

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¶ Maximilian Emperour.

Marginalia1486.
Maximilianus, Emperour.
JN the yeare of our Lorde. 1486. Fridericus waxyng aged,  

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The following account of Emperor Maximilian I is drawn fromCaspar Peucer's continuation of Carion's chronicle. (See Chronicon Carionis [Wittenburg, 1580], pp. 688-90). Foxe concentrates on the praise of Maximilian'svirtues and gives little of the political and military history in Peucer's account, particularly ignoring Peucer's fairly detailed account of Maximilan's Italian wars.

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and partlye also mistrustyng the heartes of the Germaines, who had complained before of their greuãces, and could not be heard, and therfore misdoutyng þt his house after his decease, should haue the lesse fauour among them, for that cause in his life time did associate his sonne Maximlliã to be ioyned Emperour with him: with whom hee reigned the space of. vij. yeares till the death of the sayd Fridericke his father, who departed an. 1494. after hee had reigned ouer the Empire. 53. yeares, lacking onely but. iij. yeres of þe reigne of Augustus Cæsar, vnder whom was the byrth of our Lord and Sauiour Christ.MarginaliaThe reigne and death of Fridericus Emp.
1494.

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This Maximilian, as he was a valiaunt Emperour, prudent and singularly learned: so was his reigne intangled in many vnquyet and difficile warres: first in the lower countreys of Flaunders & Brabant, where the sayd Maximilianus was taken captiue, but shortly after, reschued and delyuered agayne by his father an. 1487. MarginaliaMaximiliã marieth the Duches of Burgoyne.It was signified before howe this Maximiliã by the aduise of the Burgundians, had to wife Mary MarginaliaThis Mary was nyce to K. Edward. 4.the onely daughter of Charles Duke of Burgundie afore mencioned, by whom hee had. ij. children, Philippe and Margarete. an. 1477. Whiche Mary not long after, about þe yeare of our Lord. 1481,  

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Actually Mary of Burgundy died in 1482.

by a fall from her horse, fell into an agew, and departed. Other warres many moe, þe same Maximilian also achiued, both in Fraunce, in Italy, in Vngarie and diuers besides.

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MarginaliaThe learnyng of Maximiliã cõmended.So happye was the education of this Emperour in good letters: so experte he was in tounges and sciences, but especiallye suche was hys dexteritie and promptnes in the Latine stile, MarginaliaMaximilian writer of his own storyes.that he imitatyng the example of Iulius Cæsar, did write and comprehend in Latine hystories, his owne actes and feates done, and that in suche sorte, that when he had geuen a certeine tast of his hystory, to one Pyrcamerus a learned mã, askyng his iudgemēt how his warlyke stile of Latine did lyke him, the sayd Pyrcamerus did affirme and reporte of him, to Iohn Carion (the witnes and writer of this story) MarginaliaEx Ioan. Carione.þt he neuer did see nor read in any Germane story, a thing more exactely (and þt in such hast) done as this was of Maximiliã. Moreouer, as he was learned hym self, MarginaliaMaximilian first ordayner of the vniuersitie of witenberg.so was he a singular patrone & aduauncer of learned studentes, as may well appeare by þe erectyng & settyng vp þe Vniuersitie of Wittenberge. By this Emperour many in those dayes were excited to the embrasing as well

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of