MarginaliaAnno. 1552. MarginaliaThe beheading of the Earle of Surrey. Furthermore as touchyng the death & decay of the Lord HenryEarle of Surrey, who suffred also at the Tower next before the Lord Admirall the Lord Protectours brother, because the castyng of him was so neare to the death of kyng Henry: as I know not vpon whom, or what cause the same did proceede, so I passe it ouer and leaue it to the Lorde.
Foxe's patron, the fourth duke of Norfolk, was the earl of Surrey's son, so Foxe's circumspection in discussing the case is understandable.
MarginaliaSyr Rafe Vane,
Fane, Sir Ralph Fane's widow, was a 'sustainer' and correspondent of numerous Marian martyrs, particularly John Philpot.
In the disputations on the Sacrament of the Eucharist held at the two universities under the auspices of the Edwardian Privy Council, the problem of biblical and patristic proof-texting arises again and again. Both traditionalist or Catholic and evangelical or protestant - the last term did not come into common usage until the reign of Mary I (1553-1558) - claimed that Scripture and the writings of the Fathers of the Church (the theologians of the approximately the first 500 years of Christianity) upheld their disputed doctrinal stances, and quoted them liberally to demonstrate their claims to the antiquity of those stances. These theologians and indeed Foxe himself falls into the trap of not looking at their sources more critically; such critical study was to been at the heart of the humanist endeavor among scholars, but this seems to have become more and more of an ideal rather than a reality among controversial theologians in the Reformation period. Often the biblical and patristic sources they employed had not been written over a thousand years previously as tools for controversy; but often as sermons or treatises that were more concerned with persuading Christians to a more devout life through rhetoric, rather than through precision of thought.
[Back to Top]William Wizeman, SJCorpus Christi ChurchNew York CityUSA
Edward Seymour was executed for treason in October 1551.
Edward VI died on 6 July 1553.
Foxe concludes his discussion of Edward VI's reign and the religious reforms that came with it by reflecting on the state of the Edwardian Church and the Protestant religion its leaders attempted to establish in England.
According to Foxe the English nobility were conforming to Protestant changes in religion, once Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, and Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London, the leaders of traditional or Catholic faith in England, had been imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Richard Smyth, William Chedsey, John Standish, John Young, Owen Oglethorpe were among the leaders of Catholic or traditional belief in England who seemingly conformed to the Edwardian Church. Smyth had been the Henrician Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, and fled into exile after recanting. Chedsey was a canon of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. John Standish had published a book on traditional religion under Henry, but became Archdeacon of Colchester under Edward. John Young assisted in the foundation of Trinity College, Cambridge in Henry's reign. Owen Oglethorpe was President of Magdalen College, Oxford. They all became leading members of the Catholic Church hierarchy under Mary I. Only Standish conformed to the Elizabethan Settlement in 1559, the rest undergoing exile or imprisonment.
[Back to Top]Bonner acceded to the Royal Supremacy in religious matters under both Henry VIII and Edward VI, and initially administered the Edwardian royal injunctions regarding religion in his Diocese of London. In a short time he refused to conform to the religious changes, however, and was tried, convicted, deprived of his diocese and imprisoned in the Tower.
[Back to Top]The same also did Steuen Gardiner, subscribyng with his owne hand to the first booke of the kynges procedynges, and no doubt had done no lesse to the second booke also set forth by the kyng
The second edition of the Book of Common Prayer appeared in 1552 with significant changes, which made more explicit the Protestant doctrines contained in the 1549 edition. Contrary to Foxe, there is no evidence that Gardiner intended to subscribe to the second Prayer Book. He was already imprisoned partly for his Catholic interpretation of the first, which incurred the wrath of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and encouraged him to bring forth the second edition.
[Back to Top]The Edwardian regime was careful to imprison Bonner and Gardiner and to apply pressure to Mary to conform to religious changes; but they were careful not to make martyrs of them.
MarginaliaPeter Martyr,
Martyn Bucer, and Paulus Phagius, placed in the Vniuersities. I shewed before how in these peaceable dayes of kyng Edward, Peter Martyr, Martin Bucer, Paulus Phagius with other learned men moe, were enterteined, placed and prouided for in the two Vniuersities of this Realme Oxford and Cambridge
Peter Martyr, Martin Bucer and Paul Fagius were important theologians of the Reformation on the Continent, and fled to England from the Holy Roman Empire after Charles V's victories over the Protestant nobility. They were given important professorships in theology at England's two universities: Martyr at Oxford and the others at Cambridge.
[Back to Top]First Peter Martyr beyng called by the kyng to the publicke readyng of the Diuinitie Lecture in Oxford, amōgest his other learned exercises did set vp in the publicke scholes iij. conclusions of Diuinitie to be disputed and tryed by Argument.MarginaliaThe kinges Visitors at the disputation in Oxford At whiche disputations
Disputations were held at both universities on the subject of the Eucharist, one of the most divisive issues of the Reformation. These debates were set pieces to convince fellows, students and local aristocracy of Edwardian religious positions.
Transubstantiation is the Roman Catholic doctrine that maintains that in the mass the bread and wine are completely transformed into the real, substantial body and blood of the Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified and risen from the dead.
Impanation (Luther's view that Christ's body and blood are present together with the bread and wine, often called consubstantiation) and Transubstantiation, in which only the outward signs of bread and wine remain), are denied.
Another denial of impanation is presented.
They which were the chiefe disputers agaynst him on the contrary side were Doct. Tresham, D. Chadsey, and Morgan
William Tresham, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford until the beginning of Edward's reign, William Chedsey, Canon of St George's Windsor, and Henry Morgan, who became Marian bishop of St David's in Wales, upheld the traditional views on the Eucharist.
MarginaliaThe first argument of Peter Martyr agaynst transubstantiation. The Scriptures most playnely do name and acknowledge bread and wyne. In the Euangelistes were read that the Lord Iesus tooke bread, blessed it, brake it, and gaue it to hys Disciples. S. Paul lykewise doth oftimes make mention of bread.
Ergo, we also with the scriptures ought not to exclude bread from the nature of the Sacrament.
De caena Domini was a medieval sermon falsely ascribed to St Cyprian by both Catholics and Protestants at this time.
MarginaliaCyprian. in sermon. De cœna Domini. As in the person of Christ, his humanitie was seene outwardly, and his Diuinitie was secret within: so in the visible Sacrament the diuinitie inserteth it selfe in such sort as can not be vttered, that our deuotion about the Sacramentes might be the more religious.
[Back to Top]Ergo, as in the person of Christ: so in the Sacrament both the natures ought still to remayne.
MarginaliaGelasius contra Eutychen. The Sacramentes which we receaue of the bodye and bloud of Christ, are a Diuine matter: by reason wherof, we are made partakers by the same, of his Diuine nature, and yet it ceaseth not still to be the substaunce of bread & wine. And certes the representation and similitude of the bodye and bloud of Christ, be celebrated in the action of the mysteries. &c.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaAugust. De consecrat. dist. 2 ex Sententijs Prosperi. As the person of Christ consisteth of God and mā, whē as he is true God, and true mā. For euery thing conteineth in it selfe the nature and veritie of those thinges whereof it is made. Now the Sacrament of the Church is made of two thynges, that is, of the Sacrament that signifieth, and of the matter of the Sacrament that is signified. &c.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaTheodoretus Dial. 1. contra Eutichen. These visible mysteries which are seene, he hath honored wyth the name of his body and bloud, not chaungyng the nature, but adding grace vnto nature. &c. And the same Theodoretus agayne sayth:MarginaliaTheodoretus Dial. 2. contra Eutichen.
Those mysticall sacramentes after sanctification do not passe out of their owne proper nature, but remayne still in their former substance, figure, and shape. &c.
Ergo, lyke as the body of Christ remayned in hym, and was not chaunged into his diuinitie: so in the sacrament the bread is not chaunged into the body, but both the substaunces remayne whole.
MarginaliaOrigen. in Matth. cap. 15. If what soeuer entreth into the mouth, goeth downe into the belly, and so passeth through a mā: euen that meate also which is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer, as touching that parte which it hath materiall with in it, passeth into the belly, and so voideth through a man. But thorough prayer which is adioyned to it, according to the measure of faith, it is profitable and effectuall. &c. And he addeth moreouer: For it is not the outwarde matter of the bread, but the word that is spoken vpon it, that profiteth hym which eateth him worthely. &c.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaIrenæus Lib. [illegible text]
[illegible text]. Iesus taking bread of the same conditon which is after vs (that is, taking bread of the same nature & kinde as we vse commonly to eate) did confesse it to be his body. And taking likewise the cup which is of the same creature which is after vs (that is, which we commonly vse to drinke) confessed it to be his bloud. &c.
MarginaliaIrenæus Lib. [illegible text] Item, lib.4. Like was bread which is of the earth, receauing the word and callyng of God, is now not commō bread, but the Eucharist, cōsisting of two things, the one earthly, the other heauenly: so our bodies receauing the sacrate Eucharist, be now not corruptible, hauing hope of resurrectiō. &c.
[Back to Top]Ba- | The bread in the Sacrament is so chaunged into the body, as our bodies are chaunged whē they are made vncorruptible by hope. |
ro- | But our bodies are not made incorruptible by chaun- ging their substaunce: |
co. | Ergo, no more is the bread chaunged into the substance of the body. |