Rode Bacheler of diuinitie, Williā Smith, Richard Griuel, Tho. Wimple, and Richard Gill.
MarginaliaThe last appearance of Iames Bainham. The. xxvi. day of Aprill in the yeare aforesaid, before M. Io. Foxford vicar general of the bish. of London, in þe presence of Mathew Greftō Regester, and Nicolas Wilson, & Will. Philley professors of diuinitie, Iohn Oliuer, Williā Midleton, and Hugh Aprice, doctors of the Lawe, M. Richard Gresham Sheriffe of London, & a great cōpanye of others, Iames Bainham was brought forth by þe Lieutenant of the Tower, in whose presence the vicar generall rehearsed the merites of the cause of inquisition of heresie against hym, & proceded to the reading of þe abiuratiō. And whē the Iudge read this article folowing contained in the abiuration:MarginaliaSoules departed Itē, that I haue said that I wil not determin whether any souls departed be yet in heauen or no, but I beleue that they be there as it pleaseth God to haue them, that is to say in þe faith of Abrahā: and I wote not whether the soules of the apostles or any other be in heauen or no. To this Iames answeared, that I dyd abiure, and if that had not bene, I would not haue abiured at al.
[Back to Top]After al the articles were read contained in the abiuration, & certaine talke had as touching the sacrament of baptisme, the said Iames Bainham spake these words:MarginaliaThe sacrament of baptisme If a Turke, a Iewe, or Sarasen do trust in God and kepe his law, he is a good Christian man. Then the officyal shewed vnto hym the letters whiche he sente vnto his brother, written with his owne hand, and asked him what he thought,as touching this clause folowing: Yet coulde they not see and know hym for God, whē in deede he was both God & man, yea he was three persons in one, the father, the sonne, and the holy ghost. Wherunto Bainham said, that it was nought, & that he did it by ignorance, & did not ouersee his letters. Thē M. Nicolas Wilson amongst other talke as touching the sacrament of the altar, declared vnto hym that the churche did beleue the very body of Christ to be in the Sacrament of the altar. Bainham answeared:MarginaliaThe sacrament of the aultare. The bread is not Iesus Christ, for Christes body is not chawed with teeth, therefore it is but bread. Being further demaunded whether in the sacrament of the altar, is the very body of Christ God and man in fleshe and bloud: after diuers doubtful answeares, Bainham answeared thus: He is there very God and man in forme of bread.
[Back to Top]This done, the official declared vnto him the depositiōs of the witnesses whiche were come in against hym, & obiected vnto him, þt a litle before Easter he had abiured all heresies, as wel particularly as generally. Then the said vicar general, after he had takē deliberation & aduise with the learned his assistantes,MarginaliaSentence read agaynst Baynham. dyd procede to the reading of the definitiue sentence against him, & also publshed the same in writing: wherby amongst other thinges besides his abiuratiō, he pronoōced & condemned hym as a relapsed heretike, damnably fallen into sundry heresies, & so to be leaft vnto þe secular power, that is to say, to one of þe Sheriffes being there present. After the pronouncing of which sentence, M. Nicolas Wilson counselled & admonished the said Iames, that he would conforme hym selfe vnto the Churche. To whō he answeared, that he trusted that he is the very child of God, whiche ye blynd asses (sayde he) do not perceiue. And last of al, departyng from his iudgemēt, he spake these wordes:MarginaliaThe wordes of Iames Baynham to M. Wilson. M. Wilson nor you my Lord Chauncelour, shall not proue by scripture, that there is any Purgatorie. Thē the sentence of condemnation was geuen agyinst hym, the which here to repeate worde for worde, is not necessary, for so much as the tenor therof is all one with that which passed before in the story of Bayfeld, aliâs Somersam. Here also should ensue the letter of the Bishop of London, directed vnto the Mayor and Sheriffes of the same Citie, for the receiuyng of him into their power, & þe puttyng of hym to death, the tenour wherof is also of like effect to that before written in the storye of Bayfeld. After this sentence geuen, Iames Baynham was deliuered into the handes of Syr Richard Gresham Sheriffe, then beyng present, who caused hym by his officers to be carryed vnto Newegate, & the said Iames Baynham was burned in Smithfielde the last day of April, in the yeare aforesaid, at three a clocke at afternoone.
[Back to Top]Marginalia[illegible text] This maister Baynham during
This account of Bainham's further mistreatment probably came from his wife Joan (the account of More's treatment of Bainham ends with a description of her imprisonment. For Joan Bainham as a source for other accounts in Foxe see Thomas S. Freeman, 'The importance of dying earnestly: the metamorphosis of the account of James Bainham in "Foxe's Book of Martyrs" in The Church Retrospective, ed. R. N. Swanson, Studies in Church History 33 (Woodbridge, 1997), pp. 272-3.) Whether Bainham was physically tortured is doubtful, but the account of his movements is interesting. The trip to Chelsea and then Fulham indicates that both More and Stokesley made further efforts to induce Bainham not to relapse.
[Back to Top]At whose burnyng here is notoriously to be obserued,
This account of Bainham's execution and last words was added to an appendix in the 1563 edition, which means that it reached Foxe after the account of Bainham was printed. It also means that the account did not come from Joan Banham. For a discussion of the reasons why this version of Bainham's death is fictitious see Thomas S. Freeman, 'The importance of dying earnestly: the metamorphosis of the account of James Bainham in "Foxe's Book of Martyrs"' in The Church Retrospective, ed. R. N. Swanson, Sudies in Church History 33 (Woodbridge, 1997), pp. 278-81.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaIoh. Bent, Martyr. AT the writyng
Information about Benet and Trapnel must have been sent to Foxe by an informant between 1563 and 1570. There is no other existing record of these two martyrs.