This is largely an account of evangelicals, who were forced to abjuretheir beliefs and do pennance during a crackdown on heresy conducted jointly by Bishop John Stokesley and Thomas More, during his tenure as Lord Chancellor.There are two two notable insertions into this material. The first is an account ofWilliam Tracy, whose outspokenly evangelical will led to his posthumous convict-ion of heresy and the exhumation of his body. Foxe reprinted his copy of Tracy's will from the version in Hall's Chronicle (See Edward Hall, The union of the two noble and illustre famelies of Lancastre and York [London, 1548], STC 12721, fo. 211r-v) Foxe's account of Tracy, including a translation of his will into Latin, first appeared in the Rerum (pp. 125-6). The second is an account of Richard Bayfield's apprehension which Foxe found in the London court books.

In fact, most of the material in this section was taken from London court books from the episcopates of Cuthbert Tunstall and John Stokesley. The fact that this was not joined to the main narrative of Bayfield's martyrdom (the material on Bayfield's background comes from a knowledgeable informant, probably based in London. However, the articles charged against Bayfield, his answers to them, the sentence of degradation imposed on him and the letter to the mayor and sheriffs of London, are taken from a now lost court book of Bishop John Stokesley.) is an indication that Foxe's search through the diocese of London archives was being made while this section of the first edition was being printed. Another indication of this is the list of names of the people who were forced to do penance in London - a list of names that includes the people described in this section - which appeared in the first edition. The list, without any of the details which appear in this section, indicate that Foxe only had time to scan this material in 1563. Most of these London court books are, now lost, but much of the detail in this section can be confirmed in other sources. (Pages from one register, relating to a visitation of the diocese in 1527 survive in Foxe's papers as part of BL, Harley MS 421; the visitation was by Geoffrey Wharton, the vicar-general of Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall of London and he uncovered a network of heretics in Colchester and its environs, particularly the villages of Boxted, Witham and Steeple Bumpstead. Much of this visitation was recorded in a register whosepages - apparently torn out by Foxe or his associates - form a significant portionof BL, Harley MS 421. Some pages of this register that now longer survive, were transcribed by John Strype, when he had custody of Foxe's papers and printed inhis Ecclesiaiastical Memorials.). One item also comes from the register of Bishop Tunstall (Guildhall MS 9531/10, fos. 136v-137r) and another comes from petition sent to Anne Boleyn (Anne Boleyn was marchioness of Pembroke from 1 September 1532 until her recognition as queen in March 1533. The accurate citation of Anne's title of marchioness helps to confirm that Foxe was drawing his information from a petition). Interestingly, Foxe only obtained this petition between 1576 and 1583. Some of Foxe's narratives are confirmed by contemporary chronicles (Thomas More, The Apology, ed. J. B. Trapp, CWTM 9 [New Haven, CT, 1979], p. 121 and 'Two London Chronicles', ed. C. L. Kingsford in Camden Society Miscellany XII, third series, 18 [London, 1910], p. 5).

Foxe's unwillingness to describe the abjurations of Henrician evangelicals(and, earlier in his work, the Lollards) contrasts starkly with his desire to conceal such submissions in the case of the Marian martyrs. This an indication of the extent to which an earlier tolerance of recantations had eroded among Protestants, and alsoof Foxe's conviction that those born before the full onset of the Reformation had bothlesser spiritual knowledge and lesser obligations to God.

Thomas S. Freeman

See 1570, pp. 1959-60; 1576, pp. 991-2 and 1583, pp. 1019-20.

Notice that Foxe shifts the blame for persecution from Henry VIII to his bishops.