1576 Edition | Book 10 | Page 1373 
Marginalia1553.Duke in great distresse committed hymselfe to the keepyng of a seruaunt of his named Vnderwood
CloseWhile Foxe reprinted the account of Suffolk's capture directly from Crowley, in the 1570 edition, he added one detail not in Crowley's account: that the name of the servant who betrayed the duke was Underwood.
In the meane while Syr Peter Carewe hearyng of that was done, fled into Fraunce, but the other were taken: and Wyat came towardes London in the begynnyng of February. MarginaliaQ. Mary commeth into the Guild hall. February 1.The Queene hearyng of Wyates commyng, came into the Citie to the Guild Hall, where she make a vehement Oration agaynst Wyate: the contentes, at least the effect wherof here foloweth, as neare as out of her own mouth could be penned.
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CloseThe version of Mary's speech in the London Guildhall on 1 February 1554, which is printed in the 1563 edition (see textual transposition 23), is different from the version printed in subsequent editions. The substance is generally similar but the version in the later editions is much smoother. The 1563 version appears to have been based on a spectator's notes; Foxe may have worked this up into a more polished version or he may have obtained a better version. (It is more likely to be the latter, and this is partially confirmed by Foxe's adding of anecdotes in the 1570 edition, together with his account of the speech, describing what happened when the speech was given [see textual variant 17]). In any case, the initial appearance of this oration in the concluding pages of the 1563 edition suggests that Foxe obtained this version of the speech only as the Actes and Monuments was going to press. Earlier, in the 1563 edition, Foxe was able only to summarise the speech (see textual variant 16).
[Back to Top]MarginaliaQ. Maryes Oration to the Londoners. I Am come vnto you in myne owne person, to tell you that which already you see and know, that is, how trayterously and rebelliously a number of Kentish men haue assembled themselues agaynst both vs and you. Their pretence (as they sayd at the first) was for a Mariage determined for vs: to the whiche, and to all the Articles thereof ye haue bene made priuy. But sithence we haue caused certaine of our priuy Counsaile to goe agayne vnto them, and to demaunde the cause of this their rebellion: and it appeared thē vnto our sayd Coūsaile, that the matter of the mariage seemed to be but as a Spanish cloke to couer their pretēsed purpose agaynst our religiō: MarginaliaDemaundes pretended to be sent from M. Wyat and hys company to Q. Mary. So that they arrogantly and trayterously demaūded to haue the gouernaūce of our person, the keepyng of the Tower, and the placing of our Counsailers.
[Back to Top]Now louyng subiectes, what I am ye right well know. I am your Queene, to whom at my Coronation when I was wedded to the Realme and lawes of the same (the spousall Ryng whereof I haue on my finger, which neuer hetherto was, nor hereafter shall be left of) you promised your allegeaunce and obediēce vnto me. And that I am the right and true inheritour of the crowne of this Realme of England, I take all Chrstendome to witnes. My father, as ye all know, possessed the same regall state, which now rightly is descended vnto me: and to him alwayes ye shewed your selues most faythfull and louyng subiectes, and therfore I doubt not, but ye wil shew your selues likewise to me, and that ye will not suffer a vile Traytor to haue the order and gouernaunce of our person, and to occupy our estate, especially beyng so vile a traytour as Wiat is. Who most certainely as he hath abused mine ignoraunt subiectes, which be on his side, so doth he entend and purpose the destruction of you, and spoyle of your goods. MarginaliaHow he entended the spoyle of their goodes, it appeareth in that he comming to Southwarke, did hurt neither man, woman, nor childe, neyther in body nor in a penny of their goodes. And this I say to you in the word of a Prince: I can not tell how naturally the mother loueth the child, for I was neuer the mother of any, but certainely, if a Prince and gouernour may as naturally and earnestly loue her Subiectes as the Mother doth the Child, then assure your selues, that I beyng your Lady and Maistres, do as earnestly and as tenderly loue and fauour you. And I thus louyng you, can not but thinke that ye as hartly and faythfully loue me: and then I doubt not, but we shal geue these rebels a short and speedy ouerthrow.
[Back to Top]As concernyng the Mariage, ye shall vnderstand that I enterprised not the doyng therof without aduise, & that by the aduise of all our priuy Counsaile: who so considered and weyed the great commodities that might ensue therof, that they not onely thought it very honourable, but also expedient, both for the wealth of our Realme, and also of all you our Subiectes. MarginaliaQuene Mary excuseth her Mariage. And as touchyng my selfe, I assure you, I am not so bent to my will, neither so precise nor affectionate, that either for myne owne pleasure I would chuse where I lust, or that I am so desirous as needes I would haue one. For God I thanke hym, to whom be the prayse therefore, I haue hetherto lyued a Virgine, and doubt nothyng, but with Gods grace am able so to lyue still. But if, as my Progenitours haue done before, it might please God that I might leaue some fruite of my body behynde me to be your Gouernour, I trust ye would not onely reioyce therat, but also I know it would be to your great comfort. And certainely, if I either did thinke or know that this Mariage were to the hurt of any of you my Commons, or to the empechement of any part or parcell of the royall state of this Realme of England: I should neuer consent thereunto, neither would I euer marry whyle I lyued. And in the word of a Queene I promise you, MarginaliaThe promise of Queene Mary touching her Mariage. that if it shall not probably appeare to all the Nobilitie and Commons in the high Court of Parliament, that this Mariage shalbe for the high benefite and commoditie of all the whole Realme, then I will abstaine from Mariage while I lyue.
[Back to Top]And now good Subiectes, plucke vp your hartes, and lyke true men, stand fast agaynst these rebels, both our enemyes and yours, and feare them not: for I assure you, I feare
them nothyng at all, and I will leaue with you my Lord Haward and my Lord Treasourer, who shalbe asistentes with the Maior for your defence.
¶ Here is to be noted, that at the commyng of Queene Mary to the Guild Hall, beyng bruted before that she was comming with harnessed men: such a feare came among thē, that a number of the Londiners fearyng lest they should be there entrapped and put to death, made out of the gate before her entryng in. Furthermore, note that when she had ended her Oration (which she seemed to haue perfectly conned without booke) Winchester standyng by her, when the Oration was done, with great admiration cryed to the people: O how happy are we, to whom God hath geuen such a wise and learned Prince? &c.
[Back to Top]Two dayes after, which was MarginaliaFebruary 3.the iij. of February, the Lord Cobham was committed to the Tower, & M. Wyat entred into Southwarke.MarginaliaM. Wyat in Southwarke. Who, for somuch as he could not enter that way into London, returnyng an other way by Kyngstone with his army, came vp through the streetes to Ludgate,MarginaliaM. Wyat came to Ludgate. and returnyng thence, he was resisted at Temple barre, and there yelded hym selfe to Syr Clement Parson,MarginaliaM. Wyat apprehended at Tēple barre. and so was brought by hym to the Court, and with him the residue of his armye (for before, Syr George Harpar and almost halfe of his men ranne away from hym at Kyngstone bridge) were also taken, and about an hundreth killed, and they that were takē were had to prison, and a great many of them were hanged: and he hym selfe afterward executed at the Tower hill, and then quartered.MarginaliaM. Wyat executed. Whose head after beyng set vp vppon Hayhill, was there stollen away, and great search made for the same. Of which story ye shall heare more (the Lord willyng) hereafter.
CloseAlthough Foxe promises an account of the theft of Wyatt's head (1563, p. 917; 1570, p. 1580; 1576, p. 1348; 1583, p. 1419), such an account does not appear in the Actes and Monuments. This is because the passage is taken, word for word, from Crowley (cf. Crowley, Epitome, sig. Ffff4r), who did not give this account himself.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaFebruary. 12The xij. day of February was beheaded the Lady Iane
CloseTo paraphrase Voltaire, if Jane Grey had not existed, Foxe would have invented her. Her constancy and articulate championing of her evangelical convictions did a great deal to counteract the recantation of her father-in-law and some of his closest adherents. And, unlike her father and Wyatt, who also died 'good deaths', she was regarded as being innocent of treason. Yet at the same time, Foxe's account of her is more than merely the narrative of a martyrdom. Jane Grey's conference with Feckenham and her letter to Harding also form an important part of the arguments against the mass and the eucharist which are the overriding themes of Book 10. Moreover, her connections with the Marian exiles (particularly James Haddon and John Aylmer, who had been her tutor), and continental reformers with whom she had corresponded (notably Bullinger), ensured that Foxe had ample information about her even when he was in exile.
[Back to Top]In fact, most of the material Foxe printed regarding Jane Grey had already been printed in the Rerum and this material was largely unchanged in the Actes and Monuments. The items in the Rerum include the dialogue with Feckenham (pp. 234-36), Jane's letter to Catherine Grey (pp. 236-38) and Jane's speech at her execution (pp. 237-38). Jane's prayer 'in time of trouble' and her letter to Harding are not in the Rerum, but appear in the 1563 and all subsequent editions. These items were rearranged in the 1570 edition (see textual transpositions 1 to 4 inclusive), apparently to bring them into chronological order. (Jane's letter to Catherine Grey was reprinted from the 1563 edition in Bull's LM, pp. 662-63). Also reprinted from the Rerum are Latin verses by Foxe, Laurence Humphrey and John Parkhurst, praising Jane Grey for her learning, emphasising the pathos of her death and acclaiming her as a martyr.
[Back to Top]There are, however, some passages about Jane Grey in the Rerum which were never reprinted in the Actes and Monuments. One set of passages states that Jane Grey was no more than seventeen when she died but that she was very gifted, especially in her mastery of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and that she died through no fault of her own, but for the sins of her parents and of the family into which she had married (Rerum, p. 238). The last comments explain why this passage was not reprinted. Not only did it attack the very powerful Dudley family, but it also attacked the Duke of Suffolk, whom Foxe would portray as very nearly a martyr in the Actes and Monuments.
[Back to Top]Another set of passages which only appeared in the Rerum described 'D. Ioanne Brugius' (i.e., Sir John Brydges, the Lieutenant of the Tower), asking Jane Grey to write some verses in a book of his. These verses are printed in the Rerum and form a conventionally pious exhortation which ends with a rather lugubrious but apt quote from Ecclesiastes: 'Tempus est nascendi, tempus moriendi: meliorque est dies mortis dies nativitatis' (Rerum, p. 238.) (A prayer book, now BL Harley MS 2342, is traditionally supposed to have been the book Jane Grey gave to Brydges, [J. G. Nichols, (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane and of two years of Queen Mary, Camden Society Original Series 48, (London, 1850) pp. 57-58]. The verses printed in the Rerum match the verses printed in Harley 2342).
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CloseThe glosses here help to fashion Jane as a martyr or pseudo-martyr. As a sufferer for the truth and a letter-writer, her efforts are characterised in ways which ally them with those of later martyrs; thus ('Lady Iane comfortably taketh her trouble'), and feels bold enough to offer reproof to a priest who has fallen from the faith ('A sharpe letter or exhortation of the Lady Iane to M. Harding') as well as spiritual encouragement to her father and sister ('This Parenthesis includeth with a praier, a priuy admonition to her father that he fall not from his religion' and 'So liue to dye, that by death you may liue'). The glosses also support her spirited defence of faith against Fecknam, mainly by simply pointing to the matters affirmed ('Faith onely iustifieth', 'Good workes necessary in a christian, yet do they not profite to saluation', etc.), but on one occasion Foxe does offer a more logically focussed summary of what she says than is directly warranted by the content ('Christ had power to turne the bread into his body, is no argumēt to proue that he did so'). Also relevant is a gloss which points to her steady and devout conduct in the face of death ('The wordes and behauiour of the Lady Iane vppon the Scaffold'). The gloss 'A wonderfull example vpon Morgan the Iudge who gaue sentence agaynst the Lady Iane' adds to the implicit sense of injustice by highlighting the providential visitation of a judge who convicted Jane.
[Back to Top]Iane. You are wellcome vnto me Syr, if your commyng be to geue Christian exhortation. MarginaliaLady Iane comfortably taketh her trouble.And as for my heauy case (I thanke God) I do so litle lament it, that rather I accompt the same for a more manifest declaration of Gods fauour toward me, then euer he shewed me at any tyme before: And therefore there is no cause why either you, or other whiche beare me good will, should lament or be greeued with this my case beyng a thyng so profitable for my soule health.
[Back to Top]Feck. I am here come to you at this present sent from the Queene and her Counsayle, to instruct you in the true doctrine of the right fayth: although I haue so great conifdēce in you, that I shall haue (I trust) little neede to trauayle with you much therein.
Iane. Forsooth I hartely thanke the Queenes hyghnesse, which is not vnmyndeful of her humble subiect: and I hope lykewise that you no lesse will do your duetie therein both truly and faythfully accordyng to that you were sent for.
Feck. What is then required of a Christian?
Iane. That he should beleue in God, the father, the sonne, and the holy Ghost, three persons and one God.
Feck. What? is there nothyng els to be required or looked for in a Christian, but to beleue to hym?
Iane. Yes, we must also loue hym with all our hart, with all our soule, and with all our mynde, and our neighbour as our selfe.
Feck. Why? then fayth iustifieth not, nor saueth not.
Iane. Yes verely, fayth (as Paule sayth) onely iustifieth.MarginaliaFayth onely iustifieth.
Feck. Why? S. Paule sayth: If I haue all fayth without loue, it is nothyng.
Iane. True it is: for how cā I loue him, whō I trust not? or how can I trust him whom I loue not? Fayth and loue goeth both together, and yet loue is comprehended in fayth.
Feck. How shall we loue our neighbour?
Iane. To loue our neighbour, is to feede the hūgry, to cloath the naked, and geue drinke to the thyrsty, and to do to hym, as we would do to our selues.
Feck. Why? then it is necessary vnto saluation to do good workes also, and it is not sufficient onely to beleue.
Iane. I denye that, and I affirme that fayth onely saueth: MarginaliaGood workes necessary in a Christian, yet doe they not profite to saluation.but it is meete for a Christian, in token that hee followeth his Maister Christ, to do good workes: yet may we not say that they profite to saluation. For when we haue done all, yet we bee vnprofitable seruauntes, and fayth onely in
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