1576 Edition | Book 8 | Page 1197 
went they together to the place of execution, and tooke their death patiently.
MarginaliaThree Papistes executed, Powell, Fetherstone, and Abell. 1540.
1541.
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The names of whom although it were not necessary to expresse, yet beyng compelled for the setting forth of þe truth of the story, we haue thought good here to annexe, as the certeintie thereof came to our handes.
| Protestantes. | MarginaliaThe counsaile diuided in religion. Canterbury. Suffolke. Vicount Beaw- cham. Vicount Lisle. Russell Treasurer. Pagyt. Sadler. Audeley. | Papistes. | Wynchester. Duresme. Norfolke. Southampton. Anthony Browne. William Paulet. Iohn Baker. Rich. Chaunc. of the augmentation. Wingfield Vic. Chaūc. |
This diuision and separation of the Councell amongest themselues, caused both these partes aboue mentioned, the one for one religion, the other for an other, to suffer together. For as the one part of the Councell called vpon the execution of Barnes, Garret, & Hierome, so the other part likewise called vpon the execution of the law vpon Powell, Fetherstone, & Abell. MarginaliaTwo together layde vpon the hyrdle: the one a Papiste the other a Protestant. Which sixe beyng cōdemned & drawen to the place of execution, two vpon an hyrdle, one beyng a Papist, the other a Protestant, thus after a straunge maner were brought into Smithfield, where all the sayde sixe together for contrary doctrine suffered death, three by the fire for the Gospell, the other three by hanging, drawing, and quartering for Popery.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaAlane Cope. Allen Cope
CloseNicholas Harpsfield, in his Dialogi Sex contra ... Pseudomartyres (Antwerp, 1566). This section was first introduced in 1570 and remained unchanged thereafter.
| Marginalia24. neyther good martyrs to God, nor good subiectes to the kyng. Iohn Houghton. Robert Laurence. Aug. Webster. Reynald of Syon. Iohn Haile. Iohn Rochester. Iac. Wannere. | Iohn Stone. Iohn Trauerse. William Horne. Powell. Fertherstone. Abell. |
Beside these were other ix. Cartusian Monkes which dyed in the prison at Newgate. To the which number if ye adde M. More. and the Byshop of Rochester, the summa totalis commeth to 24. whom the sayd Cope vniustly crowneth for martyrs. But of these more shall be sayd (the Lord willyng) hereafter.
Thus hauyng discoursed the order of the sixe Articles, with other matter likewise folowing in þe next Parliamēt, concerning the condemnation of the L. Cromwell, of Doct. Barnes, and his felowes. &c. Let vs now (proceeding farther in this history) consider what great disturbaunce and vexation ensued after the setting forth of the sayd Articles
CloseFoxe's account of the persecution under the Act of Six Articles is immensely valuable, preserving material known through no other source, but it is also vitiated with problems. In 1563, his material on this subject was scattered, scrappy and full of errors. Its main feature is a long and miscellaneous list of names, at 1563, pp. 418-20, which draw from across Henry VIII's reign. Of four more specific cases about which he gives a little more detail (at 1563 pp. 613, 621), one is badly misplaced chronologically, and another confuses the identity of one of the victims.This limited material was entirely rewritten and greatly extended in 1570, and thereafter remained unchanged. Access to the bishop of London's register, to other London diocesan records which no longer survive, and, apparently, to the testimony of jurors involved in trying particular cases, gave Foxe materials for a much more detailed account of persecution in the late 1530s and early 1540s. The main problem with this material, as so often with Foxe, is chronology: dates are confused, separate events are shoehorned together, and (in some cases) errors in 1563 are compounded in an attempt to resolve them.The centrepiece of this account is a list of 196 Londoners arrested for heresy (1570, pp 1376-80; 1576, pp. 1174-7; 1583, pp. 1202-6). On the problems of sourcing and dating this list, see C237/20.Alec Ryrie
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CloseIt is possible that Foxe's records did provide evidence of Six Articles commissions beyond London diocese, and no doubt such commissions were issued, but no direct evidence of them survives down to the present, and it is plausible that Foxe's vague and sweeping wording here conceals the fact that he had no direct evidence either.
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CloseTaken from the register of Edmund Bonner, bishop of London: Guildhall Library, London, MS 9531/12 fo. 18v.
MarginaliaCommission directed to Edm. Boner Byshop of London from the kyng. H Enry the eight by the grace of God, kyng of England & of Fraunce, defender of the fayth, Lord of Ireland, & in earth supreme head of the Churche of England, vnto the Reuerend father in Christ Edm. Boner Byshop of London, and to his welbeloued the Byshops Chauncellour, health. Know ye that we haue geue you ioyntly and seuerally power and authoritie to receaue the othes of William Roche Maior of Lōdon, Iohn Allen Knight, Raffe Warren knight, Rich. Gresham Knight, Roger Chomely knight, sergeant at law, Iohn Greshā, Michael Dormer Archdeacon of Lōdon, the byshops Commissary and Officiall, Robert Chidley, Gwy Crayford, Edward Hall, Robert Broke, & Iohn Morgan, and euery of them our Commissioners for heresies and other offences done within our Citie of London, and Dioces of the same, according to the tenour of a certaine schedule hereunto annexed. And therefore we commaunde you, that you receiue the othes aforesayd, and when you haue receiued them, to certifie vs into our Chauncery vnder your Seales, returning this our writte. T. meipso. at Westminster the 29. of Ianuary in the 32.
That is, 29 January 1541. This appears to be the basis for Foxe's misdating of most of the material that follows to 1541.
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What the oth was of these Commissioners, whereunto they were bounde,MarginaliaRead before pag. 1110. read before, pag. 1110. col. 2.
CloseFoxe's source for this detailed account of Mekins' abortive trial is unclear. The broad outline of events is widely attested, in, for example, Bale, The Epistle exhortatorye, fo. 8v. This circumstantial account, however, appears to come from someone involved in the legal process. One or both of the two jurors who are mentioned by name - W. Robins and Rafe Foxley - may have been Foxe's informants. Robins is likely the same William Robins, mercer, who in 1537 witnessed the will of Humphrey Monmouth, Tyndale's patron. John Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, relating chiefly to Religion and the Reformation of it (Oxford, 1822), vol. I/ii p. 374.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe story of Rich. Mekyns condemned by Boner. Vpon this commisson geuen vnto Edmund Boner, he comming to the Guilde hall with other commissioners, to sit vpon the statute of the vi. articles, began eftsoones to put in execution his authoritie after a rigorous sort, as ye shall heare. And first he charged certaine Iuries, to take their oth vpon the statute aforesayd: who being sworne had a day appointed to geue their verdicte. At the which day they indited sundry persons, which shortly after were apprehended and brought to warde, who after a while remayning there, were by the kyng and his Counsaile discharged at the starre chamber, without any further punishment.
[Back to Top]Not long after this, Sir W. Roche being Maior, Boner with other Commissioners, sat at the Guilde halle aforesayd, before whom there were a certaine number of Citizens warned to appeare, and after the Commission read, the sayd parties were called to the booke, and when v. or vi. were sworne, one of the sayd persons being called to the booke, Boner seemed to mislike, and sayd: Stay a whyle, my Maisters (quoth he) I would you should consider thys matter well that we haue in hand, which concerneth the glory of God, the honour of the kyng, and the wealth of the realme, and if there be any here among you, that doth not consider the same, it were better that he were hence then here. Then commoned the Commissioners with Boner about that man, so that at length he was called to the booke and sworne, not all together with his good will.
[Back to Top]When the. ij. Iuries were sworne, Boner taketh vpō him to geue þe charge vnto the Iuries, and beganne with a tale of Anacarsis, by whiche example, he admonished the Iuries to spare no persons, of what degree soeuer they