1576 Edition | Book 11 | Page 1497 
Marginalia1555. March.port hym agaynst such as hunted after his Bishoprike) at length after þe decease of K. Edward, MarginaliaThe second trouble of Byshop Farrar in the tyme of Q. Mary.by the commyng in of Queene Mary the state of religion began to be changed and altered. Whereby a newe trouble rose vpon hym, being now accused and examined, not for any matter of Premunire, but for hys fayth and doctrine. Whereupon he was called before the Bishop of Winchester with M. Hooper, M. Rogers, M. Bradford, M. Saunders, and others aforesaid, the fourth day of February. On the which day he should also with them haue bene condemned: but because leysure or lyst dyd not so wel then serue the bishop, his condemnation was deferred, and he sent to prison again, where he continued tyl the. xiiij. day of the said moneth of February. What his examinations and answeres were before the sayd B. of Winchester, so much as remayned & came to our handes, I haue here annexed, in maner as foloweth.
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CloseThis is not an official record but the account of an eyewitness. Judging from this account, this examination was unusually ad hominem, focusing not as much on doctrinal matters as on efforts to rattle Ferrar by alleging past misbehaviour to him.
MarginaliaThe talke of B. Farrar before the B of Winchester and other Commissioners.AT his first comming & kneeling before the Lord Chancelour, the B. of Duresme, and the B. of Worcester, who sate at the table, and master Rochester, master Southwell, master Bourne and other standing at the tables ende, the Lord Chancelor said vnto hym on this sort.
[Back to Top]Winch. Nowe sir, you haue heard how the worlde goeth here.
Farrar. If it like your honour, I know not.
Winch. What say you? Do not you know things abrod, notwithstanding you are a prisoner?
Farrar. No, my Lord, I know not.
Winch. Loe, what a froward felow is this?
Farrar. If it please your Lordship, how should I knowe any thing abroad, being a prisoner?
Winch. Haue ye not heard of the comming in of the Lord Cardinal?
Farrar. I know not my Lord Cardinal, but I heard that a Cardinal was come in, but I did not beleue it, and I beleue it not yet.
Worcest. I pray your Lordship (said the bishop of Worcester) tel hym your selfe, that he may knowe what is done.
Winch. The Queenes maiestie and the parlament hath restored Religion into the same state it was in at the beginnyng of the raigne of king Henry the eight. MarginaliaB. Farrar charged with the Queenes debt.Ye are in the Queenes debt, & her maiestie wyll be good vnto you , if you wyl returne to the Catholike church.
[Back to Top]Farrar. In what state I am concernyng my debtes to the Quenes Maiestie in the Courte of Excheker, my Lorde Treasurer knoweth: and the last tyme that I was before your honour, and þe first time also, I shewed you that I had made an othe neuer to consent nor agree, that the bishop of Rome shoulde haue any power or iurisdiction within this realme:MarginaliaB. Farrer refuseth the Pope. and further, I neede not to rehearse to your lordship, you know it wel enough.
CloseFerrar is referring here to Stephen Gardiner's De vera obedientia, a treatisewritten in 1535 (STC 11584), arguing for royal, rather than papal supremacy over the English church. The protestants frequently reminded Gardiner of this work in Mary's reign; numerous editions of it were even printed by illicit Protestant presses (STC 1185-7).
[Back to Top]MarginaliaM. Bourne layeth to B. Farrar falsly to haue abiured at Oxford.Bourn. You were once abiured for heresie (sayd Maister Bourne) in Oxford.
CloseFerrar had been implicated in a crackdown on heresy which Wolsey had conducted in Oxford in 1528. Ferrar was eventually released, but it is unclear whether or not he actually abjured (Brown, pp. 17-19).
Farrar. That was I not.
Bourn. You were.
Farrar. I was neuer: it is not true.
Bourn. You went from saint Dauids to Scotland.
CloseBourne is referring to Ferrar's having been on an embassy to Scotland, led by William Barlow, in 1535. (Bourne was wrong in thinking Ferrar had been bishop of St David's at the time). A. J. Brown argues that Bourne was trying to implicate Ferrar in treason with a foreign power (Brown, p. 236). It is more likely that he was trying to establish that Ferrar had neglected his diocese.
[Back to Top]Farrar. That did I not.
Bourn You did.
Farrar. That did I neuer, but I wente from Yorke into Scotland.
Bourn. Ah so said I: you went with Barlow.
Farrar. That is true, but neuer from s. Dauids.
Bourn. You caried bookes out of Oxforde to the Archb. of Yorke L. Lee.
CloseFerrar had been prior of St Oswald's Priory at Nostell, Yorkshire. When the house was dissolved, Ferrar sent its books to Edward Lee, the archbishop of York (Brown, p. 76). Bourne, intentionally or not, garbled the details of the incident and was implying that Ferrar stole books from Oxford.
Farrar. That did I not.
Bourn. You did.
Farrar. I did not, but I caried old bookes from S. Oswaldes, to the Bishop of Yorke.
MarginaliaB. Farrar falsly charged to haue supplanted his Maister, whom in deede he defended from daunger.Bourn. You supplanted your maister.
CloseBourne was referring to a baseless claim that Ferrar had forced his predecessor as prior of St Oswald's from office (Brown, pp. 46-47).
Farrar. That did I neuer in my life.
Bourn. By my faith you did.
Farrar. Forsooth I did not, neuer in my life, but I dyd shyelde and saue my maister from daunger, and that I obteined of king Henry the viij. for my true seruice I thank God therfore.
Bourn. My Lord (said M. Bourne to my Lord Chancelor) he hath an yl name in Wales, as euer had any.
Farrar. That is not so. Whosoeuer saith so, they shall neuer be able to proue it.
Bourn. He hath deceiued the Queene in diuers summes of money.
CloseFerrar was charged with owing the Crown money from taxes imposed on him as bishop of St David's; Bourne interpreted this as being due to fraud.
Farrar. That is vtterly vntrue. I neuer deceyued king nor Queene of one penny in my life, and you shall neuer be able to proue that you say.
Winch. Thou art a false knaue.
Farrar. Then Farrar stoode vp vnbidden (for all that whyle he kneled) and saide: no my Lorde, I am a true man, I thanke God for it. I was borne vnder Kynge Henry the seuēth, MarginaliaB. Farrar stoutly standeth vpon his truth.I serued Kynge Henrye the eight, and King Edward the sixt truely, and haue serued the queenes maiestie that now is, truely with my poore hart and word: more I could not do, and I was neuer false, nor shal be by the grace of God.
[Back to Top]Winch. How sayest thou? wylt thou be reformable?
MarginaliaB. Farrar standeth to his oth made to the K. against the Pope.Farrar. My Lord, if it like your honor, I haue made an othe to God and to king Henry the eight, and also to kynge Edward, and in that to the Queenes maiestie, the whiche I can neuer breake while I liue, to die for it.
Duresme. You haue made an other othe before.
Farrar. No, my Lorde, I made none other othe before.
Duresme. You made a vowe.
Farrar. That did I not.
Winch. You made a profession to liue without a wife.
Farrar. No my Lord, if it like your honour, that dyd I neuer. MarginaliaVow of chastitye, is not to lyue without wyfe.I made a profession to liue chaste, not without a wife.
Worcest. You were sworne to him that was maister of your house.
Farrar. That was I neuer.
Winch. Well, you are a frowarde knaue: we wyl haue no more to doo with you: seing that you wyll not come, we wyl be short with you, and that you shal know within this seuenthnight.
Farrar. I am as it pleaseth your honour to call me, but I can not breake my oth which MarginaliaWinchesters periury touched.your Lordship your self made before me, and gaue in example: the which confirmed my conscience. Then I can neuer breake that othe whilest I liue, to die for it.
Duresme. Well, saith he, he standeth vpon hys othe: call an other.
My Lord Chancelor then did ring a litle bel, and M. Farrar sayd: I pray God saue the king and queenes maiesties long to continue in honor to Gods glory & their comfortes, and the comfort of the whole Realme, and I praye God saue al your honors, and so he departed.
After these examinations thus ended, Bishop Farrar so remayned in prison vncondemned, tyll the. xiiij. day (as is aforesaid) of Februarye, and then was sent downe into Wales, there to receiue sentence of cōdemnation. Who then vpon the. xxvi. day of February in the Church of Carmarthen being brought by Griffith Leyson Esquire, Sheriffe of the Countie of Carmarthen, was there personally presented before MarginaliaB. Farrar brought before D. Morgan pretensed B. of S. Dauies.Henry B. of saint Dauids, and Constantine the publike Notarie:
CloseThis is George Constantine, Ferrar's nemesis, who had accused Ferrar of lacking zeal in carrying out Edward VI's religious reforms. Constantine was diocesan registrar and he was acting in that capacity, rather than as a mere notary.
CloseThe accounts of Ferrar's examinations in Carmarthen and the copies of his condemnation and degradation were taken from official records which are now lost. They may well have been sent to Foxe by the person or persons who sent him the records of Ferrar's troubles in Edward VI's reign.
MarginaliaArticles obiected agaynst Byshop Farrar.1 FIrst, whether he beleueth the mariage of priests to be lawful by the lawes of God and holy church, or no?
2 Item, whether he beleueth, that in the blessed sacramēt of the altar, after the wordes of consecration duly pronoūced by the priest, the very body and bloud of Christ is really and substantially conteined, without the substaunce of bread and wine.
Vnto the which articles the said Bishop required the said M. Farrar to answeare vpon his allegeance.
To which he said, MarginaliaThe answere of B. Farrar.he would answeare when he sawe a lawful commission, and would make no further answere at that time. Whereupon the said Bishop, taking no aduauntage vppon the same answeare, committed him to the saide keeper, to be kept in prison vntyll a newe monition, and in the meane tyme to deliberate with him selfe for his further answeare to the premisses.
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CloseThe accounts of Ferrar's examinations in Carmarthen and the copies of his condemnation and degradation were taken from official records which are now lost. They may well have been sent to Foxe by the person or persons who sent him the records of Ferrar's troubles in Edward VI's reign.