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1437 [1413]

Q. Mary. Thynges done the 2. yeare of Queene Mary.

Marginalia1554. Ianuary.was because the Christians sayd certaine Psalmes before day, vnto one called Christ, whom they worshipped for God. When Traiane the Emperour vnderstoode it was for nothing but for conscience and religion, he caused by his commaundementes euery where, that no man should be persecuted for seruyng of God. Loe, a Gentile and Heathen man would not haue such as were of a contrary Religion, punished for seruyng of God. MarginaliaThe Pope worse then Traianus the Heathen Emperour.But the Pope & his Church hath cast you into prison, beyng taken euen doing the woorke of God, and one of the excellentes workes that is required of Christian men: that is to wyt, whiles ye were in prayer, & not in such wicked & superstitious prayers as the papistes vse, but in the same prayer that Christ hath taught you to pray. And in his name only ye gaue God thankes for that ye haue receyued, and for his sake ye asked for such thinges as ye want. O glad may ye be that euer ye were borne, to be apprehended whilest ye were so vertuously occupied. Blessed be they that suffer for righteousnes sake. For if God had suffred them that tooke your bodyes, then to haue taken your lyfe also: now had ye bene folowing the Lambe in perpetuall ioyes, away from the company and assemblie of wicked men. But the Lord would not haue you sodainlye so to depart, but reserueth you, gloriously to speake and mainteyne his truth to the world.

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Be ye not careful what ye shal say: for God wyl go out & in with you, and wyll be present in your hartes & in your mouthes, to speake his wisedome, although it seemeth foolishnes to the world. He that hath begun this good worke in you, continue you in the same vnto the end: and pray vnto him, that ye may feare hym only, that hath power to kyll both body & soule, and to cast them into hel fire. Be of good comfort. MarginaliaMath. 10. Luke 12.All the heares of your head are numbred, and there is not one of them can perishe, except your heauenly father suffer it to perish. Now ye be in the field, & placed in þe forefront of Christes battel. Doubtles, it is a singular fauor of God, & a speciall loue of hym towardes you, to geue you this foreward and preeminence, MarginaliaThe first onset of this persecution geuen in Bow Church yarde.and a signe that he trusteth you before others of his people. Wherefore (deare brethren and sisters) continually fight this fight of the Lorde. Your cause is most iust and godly: ye stand for the true Christ (who is after the fleshe in heauen) & for his true religion and honour, which is amply, fully, sufficiently, and abundantly conteined in the holy Testament, sealed with Christes own bloud. How much be ye bound to God, to put you in trust with so holy and iust a cause

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Remember what lookers vpon you haue, to see & behold you in your fight: God & al his Angels, who be redy alway to take you vp into heauen, if ye be slaine in this fight. Also you haue standyng at your backes all the multitude of the faythfull, who shal take courage, strength, & desire to folowe such noble and valiant Christians as you be. Bee not afrayd of your aduersaries: Marginalia1. Iohn. 4.for he that is in you, is stronger then he that is in them. Shrinke not although it be payne to you. Your paynes be not nowe so great, as hereafter your ioyes shall be. MarginaliaComfort taken out of Scriptures.Reade the cōfortable chapters to the Romanes. 8. 10. 15. Hebr. 11. 12. And vpon your knees thanke God, that euer ye were accompted worthy to suffer any thing for his names sake. Reade the second chap. of S. Lukes Gospell, & there you shall see how the sheepheards that watched vpō their shepe all night, as soone as they hearde that Christ was borne at Bethlē, by & by they went to see hym. MarginaliaTrue obedience putteth no doubtes.They dyd not reason nor debate with thē selues, who should kepe the wolfe frō the sheepe in the meane tyme, but dyd as they were cōmaunded, & cōmitted their sheepe vnto him, whose pleasure they obeyed. So let vs doe now we bee called, cōmit all other thyngs to hym that calleth vs. He wyll take heede that al thinges shal be wel. He wyl helpe the husbande, he wyl cōfort the wyfe, he wil guide the seruants, he wyl kepe the house, he wyl preserue the goods: yea, rather thē it should be vndone, he wyl wash the dishes. & rocke the cradle. MarginaliaAll carefulnes to be cast vpon the Lorde.Cast therefore all your care vpon God, for he careth for you.

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Besides this, you may perceyue by your imprisonment, that your aduersaries weapons agaynste you, be nothing but fleshe, bloud, and tyrannie. MarginaliaAll the strength of the Popes religion standeth in outward force.For if they were able, they would mainteyne their wicked religion by Gods woorde: but for lacke of that, they would violently compell suche as they can not by holy Scripture perswade, because the holy woord of God, and all Christes doynges be contrarye vnto them. I pray you pray for me, and I wil pray for you. And although we be asunder after the world, yet in Christe (I trust) for euer ioynyng in the spirite, and so shall mete in the pallace of the heauenly ioyes, after this short and transitorie lyfe is ended. Gods peace be wyth you. Amen. The. 14. of Ianuary. 1554.  

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The date of the letter is given as 4 January 1555 in all manuscript versions and every printed version up to and including 1570. In 1576, p. 1412, it is changed to 14 January 1555 and the mistake is reprinted in 1583, p. 1482. Once again, we can see the pattern of careless typography in the 1576 edition going uncorrected in the 1583 edition.

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To the End of Book X

The frequent description of the martyrs-to-be as 'Preachers' or 'persecuted Preachers' points up the perversity of their destruction, given the essential importance of their defining function. The book ends with two procedural objections and a (perhaps symbolic) reference to Acts. An example of a mistake in 1570 being corrected occursin later editions

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MarginaliaIanuary. 18.Vppon the Fryday after this folowing,  
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Block 38: To the end of Book 10

Foxe returns to lost chronicle source(s) for material on the release of prisoners implicated in Wyatt's rebellion in January 1555 which he added in 1570.

being the. 18 of Ianuary, al the Counsayle went vnto the Tower, and there the same day discharged and set at libertie all the pri-

soners of the Tower or the most part of them, MarginaliaGentlemen deliuered out of the Tower by the Queenes pardon.namely the late Duke of Northumberlandes sonnes, Ambrose, Robert, & Henry. sir Andrew Dudley, sir Iames Croftes, sir Nicholas Throgmortō, sir Nicholas Arnall, sir George Harper, sir Edward Warner, sir W. Sentlow, Sir Gawē Carew, Maister Gybbes, Cutbert Vaghan, with many other.

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MarginaliaIanuary. 22.Vppon the Tuesday following, being the. xxij. of Ianuary, MarginaliaThe preachers called before the B. of Winchester at S. Mary Oueryes.all the Preachers that were in prison were called before the Byshop of Winchester Lorde Chauncellour and certayne other, at the Byshops house at Saint Mary Oueries. From whence (after communication, beyng asked whether they would conuert and enioy the Queenes pardon, or els stand to that they had taught: they al aunswered that they would stand to that they had taught) they were committed to straiter prison then before they were, with charge that none should speake with them.

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Amongest the which number of prisoners, one  

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In every edition, Foxe recorded the death in prison, on 7 January 1555, of one James 'Gorge' (in 1563, p. 1022 and 1570, p. 1655) or James 'George' (in 1576, p. 1412 and 1583, p. 1482). This is almost certainly a confusion with James Gore, a Protestant who died in Colchester Castle around 7 December 1555 and whose death will be described in Book 11. None of the other contemporary lists of Marian martyrs - i.e., those of Brice, Crowley and Knox - list either a James Gorge or a James George dying at this time.

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MarginaliaIames George dyed in prison, and was buryed in the fieldes. Iames George the same tyme dyed in prison, beyng there in bandes for religiō and righteousnes sake: who therfore was exempted to be buryed in the Popishe Churchyard, and was buryed in the field.

MarginaliaIanuar. 23.Vpon the Wedensday folowing beyng the xxiij. of Ianuary,  

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Foxe returns to his chronicle source(s) for an account of Pole's exhortation to convocation on 23 January 1555.

all the Byshops with all the rest of the Conuocatiō house were before the Cardinal at Lambeth, where he willed thē to repayre euery man where his Cure and charge lay, exhortyng them to intreate the people and their flocke with all gentlenes, and to endeuour them selues to wynne the people rather by gentlenes then by extremitye and rigour, and so let them depart.

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MarginaliaIanuary. 25.Vpon the Friday folowing beyng the xxv. of Ianuary,  

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Foxe, in 1570, corrects the date of the procession through London (wrongly given as 24 January 1555 in the first edition) celebrating England's reconciliation with Rome.

and the day of þe Conuersion of S. Paul, MarginaliaGenerall procession for ioy of the Realmes conuersion.there was generall and solemne procession through London to geue God thankes for their conuersion to þe Catholick church: Wherin (to set out their glorious pompe) there were fourescore & ten Crosses, eyghtscore priestes and Clerkes, who had euery one of them Copes vppon their backes, singing very lustely, There folowed also, for the better estimation of the sight, eyght Byshops, and last of all came Boner the Byshop of Londō, carying the Popish Pixe vnder a Canapy.

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In the 1570 edition, Foxe added more detail to his account of the festivities; probably this was taken from another chronicle source.

Besides, there was also present the Maior, Aldermen, and all the Liuery of euery occupation. Moreouer the king also him selfe, and the Cardinall came to Paules Churche the same day. From whence after Masse they returned to Westminster agayne. As the kyng was entred the Church at the steppes goyng vp to the Quiere, all the Gentlemen that of late were set at libertie out of the Tower, kneled before the kyng and offred vnto hym them selues and theyr seruices.

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After the procession, there was also commaundement giuen to make Bonefiers at night. Whereuppon did rise among the people a doubtfull talke, why all thys was done. Some sayd it was that the Queene. beyng then (as they sayd) with childe, might haue a safe deliuery. Others thought that it was for ioy that the Realme was ioyned agayn to the Sea of Rome, whiche opinion of both, seemed most true.

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MarginaliaIanuary. 28.Vppon the Monday folowyng beyng the xxviij. of Ianuary, the Byshop of Winchester and the other Byshops had MarginaliaCommission from the Cardinall to sit vpon the persecuted preachers for religion.Commission from the Cardinall to sit vpon and order accordyng to the lawes, all such Preachers and heretickes (as they termed them) as were in prison, and accordyng to this Commission the same day the Byshop of Winchester and the other Byshops with certayn of the Counsell, satte in S. Mary Oueries Churche & called before them these iij.M. Hoper, M. Rogers, & M. Cardmaker, who were brought thether by þe Shriues Frō whence after cōmunication, they were cōmitted to prison till the next day, but Cardmaker this day submitted him selfe vnto them.

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MarginaliaIanuary. 29.Vppon the Tuesday beyng the xxix, of Ianuary,  

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In the 1570 edition, Foxe added brief accounts of the examinations of John Hooper, John Rogers, Rowland Taylor, John Bradford, Edward Crome, Laurence Saunders and Robert Ferrar, by Stephen Gardiner at the end of January 1555. This is clearly based on the original court book. The book itself no longer survives, but copies of the relevant pages are still extant in Foxe's papers as Harley MS 421, fols. 36r-51v. Foxe printed the gist of these records quite accurately and omitted nothing important. But Foxe did make one statement that goes beyond what is in these records. He declared that the commission to try these protestants came from Cardinal Pole (1570, p. 1635; 1576, p. 1412; 1583, p. 1483). The records of Hooper's examination by Gardiner state, however, that the trial was held under Gardiner's authority (Harley 421, fol. 36r). This does not necessarily mean that Pole did not issue such a commission; Gardiner may well have been trying to exert his own authority. Nevertheless, there is no evidence to support Foxe's claim of Pole's culpability.

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Hoper, Rogers, Doctor Taylor, and Bradford were brought before them, where MarginaliaM. Hooper and M. Rogers condēned.sentence of excommunication and iudgement ecclesiastical was pronounced vpon M. Hooper, and M. Rogers, by the B. of Winchester, who sate as Iudge in Caiphas seate: who droue them out of the church according to their law and order. Doctor Taylor and Bradford were committed to prison tyl the next day.

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MarginaliaIanuary. 30.Vpon the Wednesday being the xxx. of Ianuary, Doctor Taylor, Doctor Crome, M. Bradford, M. Saunders, and Doct. Farrar sometime Bishop of S. Dauids, were before the said bishops, where. iij. of them, that is to say, MarginaliaD. Ferrar, D. Taylor, and M. Saunders condemned.Doct. Taylor, M. Saunders, and M. Bradford were likewise excōmunicated & sentēce pronoūced vpō them, & so committed to the Sheriffes. Doct. Crome desired two monethes respite, & it was granted hym, and M. Farrar was againe committed to prison till an other time. Al these men shewed thē selues to be learned (as in dede they wer no les)

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