Persecuters.

Martyrs.

The causes.

asked whether he beleued that in the bread after the consecration there remayned any other substāce, then the substaunce of Christes naturall body borne of the virgin Mary. To this Tho. Harding answered: the articles MarginaliaThe fayth & confession of Tho. Hardyng. of our belefe do teach vs, that our Sauiour Christ was borne of the virgin Mary, & that he suffred death vnder Pilate, and rose frō death the third day: that he then ascended into heauen, and sitteth on the right hand of God, in the glory of his father.

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Then was he brought into a mans house in the towne, where he remayned all night in prayer, and godly meditations. So the next morning came the foresaid Rouland againe, about x. of the clocke, with a company of bils and staues, to lead this godly father to his burning. Whom a great number both of men and women did follow. Of whom many bewailed his death: and contrary the wicked reioysed therat. He was brought forth, hauing thrust in his hands a little crosse of wood, but no idoll vpon MarginaliaThe pacient death and Martyrdom of Tho. Harding. it. Then he was cheyned to the stake, desiring the people to pray for him, and forgyuyng all his enemyes and persecuters, he commended his spirite to God, and tooke his death most paciently & quietly, liftyng vp his handes to heauen, saying: Iesus receaue my spirite.

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When they had set fyre on him, there was one þ^t threw a byllet at hym, and dashed out hys braynes. Of what purpose he so dyd, it is not knowē, but as it was supposed, þ^t he myght haue xl. dayes of pardō, as the proclamatiō was made at the burning of William Tilseworth aboue mentioned pag. 749. wheras proclamation MarginaliaXl. dayes of pardon for bringing fagots to burne good men. was made the same tyme, that whosoeuer did bryng a fagot or a stake to the burnyng of an hereticke, should haue xl. dayes of pardon. Wherby many ignorant people caused their childrē to bear byllets and Fagottes to their burnyng.

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In fine, when the sacrifice and burnt offeryng of this godly Martyr was finished, and hee brent to ashes, in the Dell, goyng to Botley, at the North end of the towne of Chesham, Rouland thee Ruler of the rost, commaundyng silence & thinkyng to send the people away, with an Ite missa est, with a loude voyce sayd to the people these wordes, not aduising belyke what his tongue did speake: Good people, when ye come home, do not say that you haue bene at the burnyng of an hereticke, but of a good true Christian man, and so they departed to dyner, Rouland with the rable of other Priestes much reioysing at þ^e burnyng of this good man. After dyner they went to Church to euensong, because it was Corpus Christi euen  

,where they fell to singyng and chauntyng, w^t ryngyng,and pypyng of the Organes. Well was hee that coulde reache the hyest note: So much dyd they reioyse at this good mans burnyng. He should haue bene burned on the Ascension euen, but thee matter was referred vnto the euen of Corpus Christi, because they would honour their bready Messias with a bloudy sacrifice. Thus Thomas Hardyng was consumed to ashes, he beyng of the age of lx. yeares & aboue. Ex testimonio scripto ciuium Amershamensium.

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¶ I finde in the recordes of Lyncolne  

, about the same time, and in the same countrey of Buckynghamshyre, in the which the foresayd Thomas Hardyng did suffer, that diuers other for the lyke doctrine, were molested and troubled, whose names w^t their causes, here vnder folow.

MarginaliaAlyce Doly, accused. Elizabeth Wighthil.

Mistres A- lice Doly.   Commentary     Close Alice Doyly had married three times; first to a John Wilmot, the second time to William Cottesmere, a member of an important gentry family and the third time to Thomas Doyly, the head of one of Oxfordshire's most ancient gentry families. By the time of her third marriage her moveable goods alone were estimated at £1000 (Andrew Hope, 'Lollardy: The Stone the Builders Rejected?' in Protestantism and the National Church in Sixteenth Century England, ed., Peter Lake and Maria Dowling [Beckenham, 1987], pp. 8-10). Alice would be investigated again for heresy (whether as a result of this testimony or on later charges is unknown) but there is no record of her being convicted [Back to Top]

Elizabeth Withthil beyng brought before Doctor London, in þe personage at Staun- ton Harcourt, & there put to her othe, depo- sed against Mastres Alice Doly, her mai- stres,that þe said M. Doly speaking of I. Hacker of Colman- street   Commentary     Close John Hacker was an extraordinarily influential Lollard with a long career; see J. A. F. Thomson, The Later Lollards, 1414-1520 for details. Hacker would be arrested in London in 1527 and in 1528, he would abjure and give the names of over 40 other Lollards to the authorities (1563, p. 418 and BL, Harley 421, fos. 11r-14r). [Back to Top] in Lōdon Wa- terbearer, said that he was very expert in þe Gospels, and all other things belõging to di- uine seruice, & coulde expres & declare it, & þe Pater noster in englishe as well as any priest & it would do one good

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Persecutors.	Martyrs.	The causes.
Doctour London.
to heare him: saying moreouer, þt she would in no case, that this were known for hur- ting the poore mā, com maundyng moreouer the said Elizabeth that she should tell no man hereof, affirming at þe same tyme, that the foresaid Hacker could tell of diuers prophe- sies, what should hap- pen in the realm. Ouer and besides, the fore- named Elisabeth de- posed, that þe said M. Doly her Maistresse shewed vnto her, that she had a boke, which held against pilgremages:

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and after that, she caused sir Iohn Boothe person of Britwell, to read vpon a booke, which she called Legenda aurea, and one Saintes MarginaliaAgaynst pilgrimage. lyfe he reade, which did speake against pilgrimages, and after that was read, her maistresse said vnto her: loe daughter now ye may heare as I told you, þ^t this booke speaketh against pilgremages.

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Furthermore, it was deposed agaynst Maistres Doly by the sayd Elizabeth, that she beyng at Syr William Barentens place, and seyng there in the closet, MarginaliaAgaynst Images. Images new gilded, sayd to the sayd Elizabeth, looke here be my Lady Barentens Gods. To whom the sayde Elizabeth aunswered agayne, that they were set for remembraunce of good Saintes. Then sayd she, if I were in an house where no Images were I could remēber tpray vnto Saintes as well as if I dyd see the Images. Nay sayde the other, Images do prouoke deuotion. Then sayd her Mastres, ye should not worshyp that thyng þ^t hath eares, and can not heare, and hath eyes and can not see, and hath mouth and can not speake, and hath handes, and can not feele.

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Item, the sayd M. Doly was reported by þ^e said partie, to haue a booke conteinyng the xij. Articles of the Crede, couered with bordes, & a red coueryng also an other blacke booke, whiche she set most price by, whiche booke she kept euer in her chamber or in her coffer, with other diuers bookes. And this was about þ^e yeare of our Lord 1520. Ex Registro Lincol.

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¶ Note here, good reader, in this tyme, which was aboue 46. yeares a go, what good matter here was to accuse and moleste good wemen for.  

MarginaliaRoger Hachman, accused. William Smith of Northstoke in Oxford shyre. Tho. Ferrar. MarginaliaRobert West accused. Doctour Wharton Chauncel- our to Ton- stall, bishop of London.

Rog. Hach- man. At North- stoke in Ox. fordshire. An. 1525. Rob. West priest of S. Andrew vndershaft. At London. An. 1529.

Agaynst this Ro- ger Hachman   Commentary     Close There is no corroboration for Foxe's list of the charges against Hachman. it was layd by depositions brought in, that hee sittyng at thee church Ale, at Northstoke, said these wordes: I will neuer looke to be saued, for no good dede that euer I did, neither for any that euer I will do, without I may haue my saluati- on by petition, as an outlaw shall haue his pardon of the kyng, & sayd, that if he might not haue his saluatiõ so, he thought he shold be lost. Ex Regist. Lin. Agaynst this Ro- bert West Prieste   Commentary     Close Foxe's source for this account is almost certainly a now lost court-book of Bishop Cuthbert Tunstal of London. Robert West was also - according to a record not consulted by Foxe - charged with eating meat on Friday and having committed adultery (London Metropolitan Archive, DL/C/330, fo. 175v). it was obiected, that he had commended Mar tin Luther, & thought that he had done wel in many thynges, as in hauyng wife & chil- dren. &c. Item, for saying þt where as the doctors of the church haue cō- maunded priestes to say Mattens & Euen

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