Then Filmer declared vnto the Bishop, the fourme of hys talke he had with the Priest, and the ende thereof: and howe the matter being renued againe by Symons, forced hym and his companye to trouble his Lordship therewith. Wel said the Bishop, ye haue done like honest men. Come to me soone againe, and ye shal know more, and so they departed from the Bishop to their Inne.MarginaliaSymons and the Vicar come to Salisbury. And while they were there reposing them selues, Symons with his company came to the towne, and (not knowing the other to be come) gat them vp to the Bishop in al post hast, taking the priest with them.
[Back to Top]The bishop hearing of moe Windsore men, demaunded what they were, & being informed how it was the vicar of the towne with other moe, he caused þe vicar to be brought in. To whom he said: Are you the vicar of Windsore? Yea forsooth my Lord, quoth he.MarginaliaThe Vicar of Windsore rebuked of the Byshop. Howe chaunceth it, quoth the bish. that you are cōplained on? for here hath ben with me certaine honest men of your town, which haue deliuered vp a byl of erroneous doctrine against you. If it be so, I must needes punish you, and opening the bil, he read it vnto him. How say you, quoth the bish. is this true or no? The vicar could not deny it, but humbly submitted him selfe to the bishoppes correction. Then was his company called in, and when the Bishop saw Symons, he knew hym wel, & said: Wherfore come you M. Symons?MarginaliaThe wordes of Symons to the Byshop. Pleaseth it your Lordship (quoth he) we are come to speake in our vicars cause, which is a man of good conuersation & honestie, and doth his duetie so well in euery poynt, that no man can finde fault wt him, except a lewd felowe we haue in our towne called Filmer, which is so corrupt with heresie, that he is able to poison a whole countrey: And truely my lord (quoth Symōs) there is no man that can preache or teache any thing that is good & godly, but he is ready to controll it, and to say it is starke nought. Wherfore we shal beseech your Lordship, he maye be punished, to the ensample of other, that our vicar may do his duetie quietly, as he hath done before this busie felow troubled him. And that your Lordship shal the better credite my sayinges, I haue brought with me these honest men of the towne, and beside al that, a testimonial from the maior and his brethren to confirme the same, and so he held out the writing in his hand.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaB. Capons answer to Symons. Then said the Bishop: So God helpe me maister Symons, ye are greatly to blame, and most worthy to be punished of all men, that wyll so impudently go about to mainteine your Priest in his errour, which hath preached heresie, & hath cōfessed it: wherfore I may not, nor wil not see it vnpunished. And as for þt honest mā Filmer, on whō ye haue cōplained, I tell you plainely he hath in this poynt shewed him selfe a great deale more honester man then you. But in hope you wyll no more beare out your vicar in his euyll doinges, I will remit al thinges at this tyme:MarginaliaFryer Milster caused to recant his Sermon. sauing that he shall the next Sonday recant his Sermon openly before al his parishioners in Windsore Church: and so the Bish. called in Filmer and his cōpany which waited without, & deliuered the Priestes recantation vnto them, with a great charge to see it truely obserued in al poynts.MarginaliaThe grudge of Simons agaynst Filmer. Then Symōs tooke his leaue of the bishop, & departed with a flea in his eare, disappointed of his purpose, & sore ashamed of the foile. For this cause Symons coulde neuer brooke Filmer, but when he met him at any time after, would holde vp his finger (as his maner was where he ought displeasure) and say: I wyl be euen with you one day, trust me.
[Back to Top]THere was a certaine Priest named Anthony Person, which frequented muche to Wyndsore, aboutMarginaliaThe trouble of Anth Person Priest. the yeare of our Lord. 1540
Anthony Pearson (or Parson, Parsons or Peerson) was vicar of All Hallows, Canterbury and his radical activities there had stirred up controversy (L&P 18 (2), pp. 310 and 318).
John London had been a protégé of Thomas Cromwell and played an important role in the suppression of the monasteries. After Cromwell's fall, he had shifted his loyalties to Stephen Gardiner. His posts of prebend at Windsor, warden of New College and (in 1542) dean of Oxford, were all in institutions with very strong ties to Gardiner.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaTestwoode aunswereth for the Clerkes. Then spake Testwood: By my trouth sir (quoth he) I think that was spokē but of malice, for praier (as your mastership knoweth better then I) is one of the first lessons that Christ taught vs.MarginaliaGospellers falsely sclaundered of the Papistes Yea mary sir, quoth he, but the heretikes will haue no inuocatiō to saintes, which al the olde fathers do allow. What the old fathers do allow, quoth Testwood, I cannot tel, but Christ doth appoint vs to go to his father, & to aske our petitiōs of him in Christes name. Thē ye wil haue no meane betwene you & God, quoth D. Lōdō. Yes sir, quoth Testwood, our meane is Christ, as S. Paul saith: There is one Mediatour betwene God and man, euē Iesus Christ.
1 Tim. 2: 5.
MarginaliaD. London a malicious persecuter. When D. Londō had ben in Windsore a while among his catholike brethrē, & learned what Testwood was, and also of Symons, who shewed i our Ladyes nose, as he called it)
That is, the nose of the statue of the Virgin Mary, in St George's Chapel, that Testwood had chopped off.
Simon Haynes, a zealous evangelical reformer, had been championing reform among the Windsor canons and was a staunch opponent of London's. As Foxe makes clear below, canons of Exeter cathedral had also joined in denouncing their uncomfortably radical dean.
Then had they priuie spies to walke vp and down the Church, to harken and heare what men said, and to marke who dyd not reuerence the Sacramente at the leuation tyme, and to bring his name to Doctour London. And of these spies some were Chauntrie Priestes:MarginaliaW. Bowes Priest. Doct. Londons spye. among the whiche there was one notable spie, whose name was called Syr William Bowes, such a fleeryng Priest as would be in euery corner of the Church pattering to hym selfe, with his Portuous
I.e., his breviary.
This is an important indication that Marbeck himself was the source of this narrative.
MarginaliaWinchester and Wrisley complayne to the king of the Gospellers. Now Bishop Gardiner, whiche had conceiued a further fetche in his brayne then Doctour London had, made Wrisley and other of the Counsaile on his side, and spying a tyme conuenient, went to the king, complaynyng what a sort of heretiques his grace had in his Realme, and howe they were not onely crept into euerye corner of his Court, but euen into his priuie Chamber, beseeching therefore his maiesty, that his lawes might be prosecuted: þe king geuing credit to þe Coūsailes words, was cōtēt his lawes should be executed on such as were offenders.MarginaliaWinchester procureth a priuye search in Windsore. Thē had þe bish. that he desired, & forthwith procured a cōmmissiō for a priuy serch to be had in Windsore for bokes & letters that Anth. Person should send abroad, whiche cōmmission the kyng graunted to take place in the towne of Windsore, but not in the Castle.
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