In whiche doyng ye shall returne to the truth, from whiche ye haue erred: do your duetie to your soueraigne Lorde, from whom ye haue declined, and please thereby almightie God, whose lawes ye haue transgressed, and in not so doyng, ye shal remaine in error, offending both almightye God, and your naturall soueraigne Lord, whom chiefly ye ought to seeke to please. Whiche thyng, for the good mynde that we heretofore haue borne you, we pray almighty God of his infinite mercy, that you do not. Amen.

[Back to Top]

Marginalia1535. When all other the kinges subiectes, and the learned of the Realme had taken and accepted the othe of the kinges supremacie, onely Fisher bishop of Rochester  

and Syr Thomas More refused (as is aforesaid) to be sworne: who therfore fallyng in daunger of the law, were committed into the Tower, and executed for the same. an. 1535. This Iohn Fisher aforesaide, had written before againste Oecolampadius, whose booke yet is extant   , and afterward against Luther.   MarginaliaIohn Fysher Byshop of Rochester enemye to Christes Gospell. Also amongest other his actes he had bene a great enemie   and persecutor of Iohn Frith, the godly learned martyr of Iesus Christ, whom he and Syr Thomas Moore caused to be burned a yeare and halfe before, and shortly after the said fisher, to his confusion, was charged with Elizabeth Barton (called the holy mayd of Kent) and founde gyltie by act of Parlament, as is aboue recorded. For his learnyng and other vertues of life this Bishop was well reputed and reported of many, and also muche lamented of some. But what soeuer his learnyng was, pitie it was, that he beyng indued with that knowledge, shoulde be so farre drowned in such superstition: more pitie that he was so obstinate in his ignoraunce: but most pitie of all, that he so abused the learnyng he had, to such crueltie as he dyd. But thus commonly we see come to passe, as the Lorde saith: That who so striketh  

Commentary     Close

A paraphrase of Matthew 26.52.

with the sworde, shall perishe with the sword,MarginaliaBloud reuenged with bloud. & they that staine their hands with bloud, seldome do bring their bodyes drye to the graue: as cōmonly appeareth by the ende of bloudy tyrantes, and especially such as be persecutors of Christes poore members.MarginaliaByshop Fysher and Syr Tho. More, persecutours. In the number of whom was this Bishop and sir Thom. More, by whom good Iohn Frith   , Teukesbery   , Thomas Hytten,   Bayfild,   with diuers other good Saints of God, wer brought to their death. It was sayde, that the Pope, to recompense Bishop Fisher for his faiyhfull seruice, had elected him Cardinall   , and sent hym a Cardinals hat as farre as Calyce, but the head it should stand vpon, was as hie as London bridge, ere euer the Popes Hat could come to him.MarginaliaByshop Fysher and Syr Tho. More beheaded. Thus Bishop Fisher and Syr Thomas More, whiche a litle before had put Iohn Frith to death for heresie agaynst the Pope, were themselues executed and beheaded for treason against the king the one the. xxij. of Iune, the other the vi. of Iuly, ann. 1535.

[Back to Top]

Of sir Tho. More some thing hath bene touched before, who was also recompted a man both witty and learned, but what soeuer he was beside, a bytter persecuter he was of good men, and a wretched enemie against the truth of the Gospell,MarginaliaThe lying bookes of Syr Tho. More as by his bookes leaft behynde him maye appeare, wherin most slaunderously and contumeliously he writeth against  

Luther Zuinglius, Tindal, Frith, Barnes, Bayfild, Baynham, Teukesbery, falsely belying their articles & doctrine, as (God grauntyng me life) I haue sufficient matter to proue against hym.

[Back to Top]

MarginaliaM. More a persecutour. Briefly, as he was a sore persecuter of them that stood in defence of the Gospel: so againe on the other side, such a blynd deuotion he bare to the Popeholy See of Rome, and so wilfully stoode in the Popes quarell againste his owne prince, that he woulde not geue ouer tyll he had brought the Scaffolde  

of the Tower hyll with the axe and all vpon hys owne necke.

[Back to Top]

Edwarde Hall in hys Chronicle  

writing of the death and maners of this Syr Thomas Moore, seemeth to stande in doubt, whether to call hym a foolishe wise man, or a wise foolishe man. For as by nature he was indued with a great wytte, so the same agayne was so mingled (sayth he) with tauntyng and mockyng, that it seemed to them that best knewe hym, that he thought nothyng to be wel spoken, except he had ministred some mocke in the communication: in so much as at his commyng to the Tower, one of the officers demaundyng his vpper garment for his fee, meanyng his gowne, he aunswered that he shoulde haue it, and tooke hym his cappe, saying it was the vppermoste garment that he had.MarginaliaM. More scoffer vnto hys death. Likewise, euen goyng to his death, at the Tower gate a poore woman called vnto hym, & besought hym to declare that he had certayn euidences of hers in the tyme that he was in office (which after he was apprehended, shee coulde not come by) and that he would intreat that shee might haue them againe, or els shee was vndone. He answeared, Good woman, haue pacience a litle while, for the kyng is good vnto me, that euen within this halfe houre he wyl discharge me of al businesses, and helpe thee hym selfe. Also when he went vppe the stayre on the Scaffolde, he desired one of the Shiriffes officers to geue hym his hande to helpe hym vp, and sayde, when I come downe againe, let me shyfte for my selfe so well as I can. Also the hangman kneeled downe to hym, askyng hym forgeuenes of his death, as the manner is. To whom he said, I forgeue thee, but I promise thee, that thou shalt neuer haue honestie of þ^e striking of my head, my necke is so short. Also, euē whē he should lay downe his head on þ^e blocke, he hauyng a great gray beard, striked out his beard, & sayd to the hangman, I pray you let me lay my beard ouer þ^e block least you shoulde cut it. Thus with a mocke he ended his lyfe.

[Back to Top]

There is no doubt  

but that the Popes holynes hath halowed & dignified these two persons long since, for Catholike martyrs. Neither is it to be doubted, but after an hundred yeares expired, they shal also be shrined & portissed, dying as they dyd in that quarel of the church of Rome, that is, in takyng the bishop of Romes part against their owne ordinary & natural prince. Wherunto (because þ^e matter asketh a long discourse, and a peculiar tractation) I haue not in this place, much to contend with Cope my frend. This briefly for a memorandum may suffice, that if the causes of true martyrdome ought to be pondered, & not to be nūbred, & if the end of martyrs is to be weyed by iudgement, & not by affection: then the cause and quarrel of these men standing as it doth, & beyng tried by Gods word, perhaps in the Popes kingdome they may go for martyrs, in whose cause they dyed: but certes in Christes kingdome their cause wil not stand, howe soeuer they stand them selues.

[Back to Top]

MarginaliaRochester, More, Exmew, Myddlemore, Nudigate, executed for treason. The like also is to be said of the three monkes  

of Charterhouse, Exmew, Middlemore, and Nudigate, who the same yeare in the moneth of Iune, were likewise attached and arrained at Westminster, for speaking certaine traiterous words against the kinges crowne and dignitie: for the whiche they were hanged, drawen, and quartered at Tiborne, Who also, because Cope my good frēd doth repute & accept in the number of holy Catholique Martyrs, here would be asked of hym a question: What martyrs be they, which standing before the Iudge, denye their owne words and sayinges, and pleade not giltie, so as these Carthusians dyd? Whereby it appeareth, that they would neither haue stand nor haue dyed in that cause, as they dyd, if they might otherwise haue escaped by denying. Wherefore if my frende Cope had bene so well aduised in setting out his martyrs   , as God might haue made hym, he woulde first haue seene the true recordes, & bene sure of þ^e ground of such matters wherupon he so confidently pronounceth, and so censoriously controlleth others.

[Back to Top]

MarginaliaEx actis intermino Paschæ Anno. 27. Reg. Hen. 8. In the same cause & quarell of treason also, the same yeare, a litle before these aforesaide in the moneth of Maye, were executed with the like punishemēt, Iohn Houghton, Priour of the Charterhouse in London, Robert Laurence Prior of the Chartherhouse of Beluaile, Austen Webster Prior of the Chaterhouse of Exham.

[Back to Top]

Beside and with these three Priors, suffered likewise the same tyme two. other Priestes, one called Reginold, brother of Syon, the other named Iohn Haile vicar of Thistleworth.

Marginalia9. Carthusians dyed in prison refusing the kinges supremacie. Diuers other Charterhouse monkes also of Londō were then put in prison, to the number of nine or tenne, and in the same prison dyed, for whom we wyll (the Lorde wyllyng) reserue an other place hereafter to intreate of more at large.

MarginaliaM. Copes ix. worthyes. In þ^e meane tyme, for so much as þ^e foresaide Cope in his doughtie Dialogues, speaking of these nyne worthyes, doth commende them so highly, and especially the three priors aboue recited, here by the way I woulde desire maister Cope, simply and directly to answeare me to a thing or two that I would put to hym, and first, of this Iohn Houghtō that angelical Prior of the Charterhouse, his olde companion & aquaintance, of whō thus he writeth:  

MarginaliaCopus in Dialog. 6. pag. 995. Atqui cū Ioannē illum Houghtonium cogito, non tam hominem quàm angelum in humana forma intueri mihi videor, cuius eminentes virtutes, diuinas dotes, & heroicam animi magnitudinem, nemo vnquam poterit satis pro dignitate explicare. &c. By these his owne wordes it must needes be confessed, that the author of these Dialogues, who so euer he was, had well seene and considered the forme & personable stature, proportion and shape of his excellent bodye, with suche admiration of his personage, that (as he sayth) so oft as he calleth the said Iohn Houghton to mynd, it semeth to hym, euen as though he sawe an angell in the shape and forme of a man. Whose eminent vertues moreouer, whose diuine gyftes, and heroical celsitude of mind, no man (saith he) may sufficiently expresse. &c. And how old was this M. Cope

[Back to Top]