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PrefaceBook 1Book 2Book 3Book 4Book 5Book 6Book 7Book 8Book 9Book 10Book 11Book 12
Thematic Divisions in Book 6
1. Introduction2. Persecution of Lollards in Norwich diocese3. Paul Craw and Thomas of Rennes4. Council of Basel [I]5. Council of Basel [II]6. Richard Whiche7. Eleanor Cobham8. Humphrey of Gloucester and Cardinal Beaufort9. Invention of Printing10. Fall of Constantinople11. Reginald Peacock12. Eugenius IV to Sixtus IV13. Richard of York14. Wars of Roses15. John Goose and George of Clarence16. Holy Roman Emperors and Hussite Wars17. John de Wesalia and Sixtus IV18. Edward V and Richard III19. Maximilian I and Julius II20. History of the Turks to Sulieman I21. Sulieman I22. Turkish captives23. Ottoman dominions24. Biblical prophecy and the Turks25. Persecution of Lollards26. Ecclesiastical laws27. Proud primacy of the Popes
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918 [918]

K. Henry. 7. The historye and tyrannye of the Turkes.

bylon shall fall and be made an habitation of deuils, and a denne of vncleane spirites, and a cage of filthy and vncleane byrdes:  

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Rev. 18:2.

the fall whereof shall be lyke a milstone in the sea, that is, whiche shall not ryse agayne. And this to come before the day of iudgement, the text of the sayd chapter doth apertly declare: where þe wordes do folow, shewyng that the kynges of the earth, and the marchants whiche had to do with the whorysh Citie, stādyng a farre of for feare of the heate, and beholdyng the smoke of the sayd Citie flamyng and burnyng with fire, shall bewayle & rue her destruction and desolation. &c. What Citie this is, called great Babylon, which lyke a mylstone shall fall, and burne,and be made an habitation of vncleane spirites, and beastes, let the reader cōstrue. This is certein and playne by these her kynges and marchaūtes stādyng a farre of for feare, and beholdyng her burnyng, MarginaliaThe prophesie of the. xviii. chap. of the Apocalips expoūded.that the destruction of this Citie (what Citie so euer it be) shal be sene here in earth before the cōmyng of þe Lordes iudgemēt, as may easely bee gathered by these iij. circūstances, that is, by the standyng, the beholdyng, and bewaylyng of her marchauntes. By the whiche marchauntes & kynges of the earth, peraduēture may be signified, the Pope, the rich Cardinals, the great Prelates and fat doctours, and other obedienciares of the Romishe sea: who at the commyng of the Turkes, will not aduenture their lyues for their Church, but will flye the Citie (no doubt) and stand a farre of frō daunger: and when they shall see with theyr eyes, & heare with their eares the Citie of Rome to bee set on fire & consumed by the cruel Turkes, the sight therof shal seme to them piteous and lamētable, to behold the great and fayre citie of Rome, the talle castle of S. Angel, the Popes mighty sea (where they were wōt to fishe out such riches, dignities, treasures, & pleasures) so to burne before their eyes, and to come to such vtter desolation, whiche shall neuer be reedified agayne, but shall be made an habitation of deuils and vncleane spirites, that is, of Turkes, and Heathē Sultans, and barbarous Saracens &c. This (I say) peraduenture may be the meanyng of that propheticall place of the Apoc: not that I haue here any thyng to pronounce, but onely geue my geasse, what may probably be coniectured. But the end at length will make this and all other thynges more playne and manifest: For mysticall prophesies lyghtly are neuer so well vnderstand, as when the euente of them is past and accomplished.

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MarginaliaThe thyrde cause.
Ex Paulo Iouio.An other cause concurryng with the causes aforesayd, may be collected out of Paulus Iouius,  

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This anecedote is taken from Paolo Giovio's commentary on theTurks as excerpted in Paolo Giovio, Machumetis Saracenorum princips…Alcoran (Basel, 1550), III, p. 132.

who writyng of þe subuersiō of Rhodes, which was as ye heard. an. 1522. vpon Christmas day: sayth that it chaūced sodenly þe same day in Rome, that as Pope Hadrian the sixt was entring into the Church to his seruice, sodenly ouer his head the vpper frontier or toppe of þe chapell doore, whiche was of marble, immediatly as þe Pope was entryng, fell downe and slue certein of his garde watyng vpon him. Wherby peraduenture may be ment, that the ruine of Rome was not long after to folow the losse of Rhodes.

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MarginaliaThe fourth cause.
Ex Ioan. Auentino Annal. lib. 3. fol. 30.The iiij. cause I borowe out of Ioannes Auentinus, who in hys thirde booke alledgyng the names, but not the words of Hildegardis, Brigitte, & other prophetical mē, hath these woordes: Si vera sint carmina & vaticinia D. Hildegardæ, & Brigittæ, Sybillarum Germaniæ, & Bardorum fatidicorum, qui ea quæ nostro æuo completa vidimus, lōgo ante tempore nobis cecinerunt: Agrippinensis Colonia, nolimus, velimus, Turcarum caput erit. &c. MarginaliaA prophesie.That is, if the sayinges and prophesies of Hildegarde, of Brigitte, and of other propheticall persons be true, which being foretolde long before, we haue sene now in these our dayes accomplished: the towne of Colene will wee, nill we, must nedes be the head Citie of the Turkes. &c.

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And this I write not as one pronouncing agaynst the Citie of Rome, what will happen, but as one fearyng what may fall. Whiche if it come to passe (as I pray God it do not) then shall the Pope well vnderstand, whether his wrong vnderstādyng of the Scriptures, and his false flatteryng glosers vpon the same, haue brought hym.

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MarginaliaA Caueat to the Byshop of Rome, if he be wise.Wherfore my counsaile is to the Pope, and all his Popish mainteyners and vpholders, to humble them selues, and to agree with their brethren by tyme, lettyng all contention fall: lest that while þe Byshop of Rome shall striue to be the hyghest of all other Byshops, it so fall out shortly, that the Bishop of Rome shalbe found the lowest of all other Bishops, or peraduenture no Bishop at all.

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Wherunto also an other cause may be added takē out of Hieronimus Sauonarola, who prophecieth  

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Foxe drew Savanorala's alleged prophecy from Matthias Flacius,Catalogus Testium Veritatis (Basel, 15620, p. 585.

that one shall come ouer the Alpes lyke vnto Cyrus, and destroye Italie. Wherof see more, pag. 867.

MarginaliaEx Paulo Iouio.This Solymannus, if he be yet a liue,  

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Süleyman I died on 6 September 1566.

hath nowe reigned. 46. yeares, who begā þe same yeare, in the whiche þe Emperour Charles the v. was crowned, which was. an. 1520. and so hath continued by Gods permission, for a scourge to the Christians, vnto this yeare now present. 1566. This Solyman by one of hys concubines, had his eldest sonne called Mustapha. By an other cōcubine called Rosa, he had iiij. sonnes, Mahumet, Baiazetes, Selymus, and Gianger. Of the which sonnes, Mustapha & Gianger were slayne (as ye heard before) by the meanes of their owne father.

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And thus much concernyng the wretched tyranny of the Turkes out of the authors here vnder writen.

¶ The Authors of the Turkes storyes.

MarginaliaAuthors of the Turkes stories

Laonicus Chalcondila.Isiodorus Rutherus.
Nicolaus Euboicus E-Marinus Barletus.
pisc. Saguntinus.Henricus Penia
Ioan. Ramus.De bello Rhodio.
Andræas a Lacuna.Melchior Soiterus.
VVolfgāgus Drechslerus.Paulus Iouius.
Ioan. Crispus.Ioan. Martinus Stella.
Ioan. Faber.Gaspar Peucerus. &c.
Ludouicus Viues.Nicolaus a Moffen
Bernardus de Breyden-Burgundus.
bach.Sebast. Munsterus.
Mityleneus Archiepis.Baptista Egnatius.
Sabellicus.Barthol. Peregrinus.

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¶ A notice touchyng the miserable persecution, slaughter and captiuitie of the Christians vnder the Turkes.  
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Turkish captives

This section of Foxe's account of the Turks consists of two parts: onedescribing Ottoman massacres and rapine during their wars and the other describingtheir harsh treatments of captives. This section may seem disgressive, but it links thethe history of the Turks which preceded it, and the exegesis of Biblical and extra-Biblical prophecies that follow it. The depiction of the Turks as persecutors is, asas Foxe's comments will reveal, absolutely central to his identification of the Ottoman Empire as Antichrist. This emphasis is also part of Foxe'smessage that even with the accession of Elizabeth to the throne, God's true churchwas being persecuted, as indeed it would be (in Foxe's view) until the imminent second coming of Christ.

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Apart from his quotation of an oration printed in Ortwin Gratius's com-pendium, Fasciculus rerum expetendarum ac fugiendarum (Cologne, 1535) and,of course, his own opinions, Foxe drew the material in this section from twobasic sources. The first was the collection of historical works printed in LaonicusChalkokondylas, De origine et rebus gestis Turcorum (Basel, 1556). The varietyof authors Foxe drew on from this work - including some such as the history ofChalkokondylas himself and the narrative of the German pilgrim Bernard ofBreydenbach, which he had previously used sparingly, or not at all - stronglysuggests that Foxe combed this compendium for particularly graphic stories ofTurkish cruelty. Foxe also relied heavily on the narrative of Batholomaeus Georgevits. He was a native of Transylvania, who had been captured by a Turkish raiding party. After eight attempts to escape, he finally succeeded in 1458. Some time thereafter, he entered the Dominican order, and, in his old age, wrote his memoirs, which also contained an account of Ottoman society and culture. This work, was published in numerous editions and translated into most major European languages. (Foxe probably originally came to know of Georgevits's work through theextensive excerpts of it printed in Theodore Bibliander's edition of the Koran). Foxewas quite selective in his use of Georgevits's accont. He repeated the Transylvanian'sstories of Ottoman abuse of their prisoners, but largely ignored Georgevits's accountsof Ottoman social and religious life.

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Thomas S. Freeman
University of Sheffield

MarginaliaPersecution vnder the TurkesHEtherto thou hast heard (Christian reader)  

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The beginning of this section, depicting the Turks, along with the Roman emperors and the papacy, as the great persecutors of the True Church isFoxe's own opinion.

the lamentable persecutions of these latter dayes, wrought by the Turkes agaynst the people and seruauntes of Christ. In þe readyng wherof, such as sitte quietly at home, and be farre from ieoperdy, may see what misery there is abroade, the knowledge and readyng wherof, shall not be vnprofitable for all Christians earnestly to wey and cōsider, for that many there be, whiche falsely deceauyng them selues, imagine that Christianitie is a quiet and a restfull state of lyfe, full of pleasure & solace in this present world, when in dede it is nothyng lesse, testified by the mouth of our Sauiour him selfe, who rightly defining his kyngdome, teacheth vs that his kyngdome is not of this world, premonishyng vs also before, that in this worlde we must looke for affliction, but in hym wee shall haue peace. Examples hereof in all partes of this historie throughe all ages are plentuous and euident to be sene, MarginaliaComparison betwene the persecutions of the primitiue Churche, And of the later Churche.whether we turne our eyes to the first. x. persecutions in the primitiue Churche duryng the first iij. hundreth yeares after Christe: or whether we consider the latter iij. hundreth yeares in this last age of the Churche, wherin the poore flocke of Christ hath bene so afflicted, oppressed, and deuoured, that it is hard to say whether haue bene more cruell agaynst the Christians, the infidell Emperours of Rome in the primitiue age of the Churche, or els these barbarous Turkes in these our latter tymes of the Churche nowe present.

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MarginaliaThree speciall enemyes of Christes churchThus from tyme to tyme the Churche of Christ almost hath had litle or no rest in this earth, what for the heathen Emperours on the one side, what for the proude Pope on the other side, and on the third side what for the barbarous Turke: for these are and haue bene from the begynnyng, the three principall and capitall enemyes of the Churche of Christe, signified in the Apocalyps by the beast, the false Lambe, and the false Prophet, from whom went out three foule spirites lyke frogges, to gather together all the kynges of the earth to the battaile of the daye of the Lorde God almighty, Apocal. 16.  

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Rev. 16:13.

MarginaliaThe cruelitie of the furious Turkes described.The crueltie and malice of these iij. enemyes against Christes people hath bene such, that to iudge whiche of them did most excede in crueltie of persecu

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tion,
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