Thematic Divisions in Book 11
1. The Martyrdom of Rogers 2. The Martyrdom of Saunders 3. Saunders' Letters 4. Hooper's Martyrdom 5. Hooper's Letters 6. Rowland Taylor's Martyrdom 7. Becket's Image and other events 8. Miles Coverdale and the Denmark Letters 9. Bonner and Reconciliation 10. Judge Hales 11. The Martyrdom of Thomas Tomkins 12. The Martyrdom of William Hunter 13. The Martyrdom of Higbed and Causton 14. The Martyrdom of Pigot, Knight and Laurence 15. Robert Farrar's Martyrdom 16. The Martyrdom of Rawlins/Rowland White17. The Restoration of Abbey Lands and other events in Spring 155518. The Providential Death of the Parson of Arundel 19. The Martyrdom of John Awcocke 20. The Martyrdom of George Marsh 21. The Letters of George Marsh 22. The Martyrdom of William Flower 23. The Martyrdom of Cardmaker and Warne 24. Letters of Warne and Cardmaker 25. The Martyrdom of Ardley and Simpson 26. John Tooly 27. The Examination of Robert Bromley [nb This is part of the Tooly affair]28. The Martyrdom of Thomas Haukes 29. Letters of Haukes 30. The Martyrdom of Thomas Watts 31. Censorship Proclamation 32. Our Lady' Psalter 33. Martyrdom of Osmund, Bamford, Osborne and Chamberlain34. The Martyrdom of John Bradford 35. Bradford's Letters 36. William Minge 37. James Trevisam 38. The Martyrdom of John Bland 39. The Martyrdom of Frankesh, Middleton and Sheterden 40. Sheterden's Letters 41. Examinations of Hall, Wade and Polley 42. Martyrdom of Christopher Wade 43. Nicholas Hall44. Margery Polley45. Martyrdom of Carver and Launder 46. Martyrdom of Thomas Iveson 47. John Aleworth 48. Martyrdom of James Abbes 49. Martyrdom of Denley, Newman and Pacingham 50. Richard Hooke 51. Martyrdom of William Coker, et al 52. Martyrdom of George Tankerfield, et al 53. Martyrdom and Letters of Robert Smith 54. Martyrdom of Harwood and Fust 55. Martyrdom of William Haile 56. George King, Thomas Leyes and John Wade 57. William Andrew 58. Martyrdom of Robert Samuel 59. Samuel's Letters 60. William Allen 61. Martyrdom of Roger Coo 62. Martyrdom of Thomas Cobb 63. Martyrdom of Catmer, Streater, Burwood, Brodbridge, Tutty 64. Martyrdom of Hayward and Goreway 65. Martyrdom and Letters of Robert Glover 66. Cornelius Bungey 67. John and William Glover 68. Martyrdom of Wolsey and Pigot 69. Life and Character of Nicholas Ridley 70. Ridley's Letters 71. Life of Hugh Latimer 72. Latimer's Letters 73. Ridley and Latimer Re-examined and Executed74. More Letters of Ridley 75. Life and Death of Stephen Gardiner 76. Martyrdom of Webb, Roper and Park 77. William Wiseman 78. James Gore 79. Examinations and Martyrdom of John Philpot 80. Philpot's Letters 81. Martyrdom of Thomas Whittle, Barlett Green, et al 82. Letters of Thomas Wittle 83. Life of Bartlett Green 84. Letters of Bartlett Green 85. Thomas Browne 86. John Tudson 87. John Went 88. Isobel Foster 89. Joan Lashford 90. Five Canterbury Martyrs 91. Life and Martyrdom of Cranmer 92. Letters of Cranmer 93. Martyrdom of Agnes Potten and Joan Trunchfield 94. Persecution in Salisbury Maundrell, Coberly and Spicer 95. William Tyms, et al 96. Letters of Tyms 97. The Norfolk Supplication 98. Martyrdom of John Harpole and Joan Beach 99. John Hullier 100. Hullier's Letters 101. Christopher Lister and five other martyrs 102. Hugh Lauerocke and John Apprice 103. Katherine Hut, Elizabeth Thacknell, et al 104. Thomas Drury and Thomas Croker 105. Thomas Spicer, John Deny and Edmund Poole 106. Persecution of Winson and Mendlesam 107. Gregory Crow 108. William Slech 109. Avington Read, et al 110. Wood and Miles 111. Adherall and Clement 112. A Merchant's Servant Executed at Leicester 113. Thirteen Burnt at Stratford-le-Bow114. Persecution in Lichfield 115. Hunt, Norrice, Parret 116. Martyrdom of Bernard, Lawson and Foster 117. Examinations of John Fortune118. John Careless 119. Letters of John Careless 120. Martyrdom of Julius Palmer 121. Agnes Wardall 122. Peter Moone and his wife 123. Guernsey Martyrdoms 124. Dungate, Foreman and Tree 125. Martyrdom of Thomas More126. Martyrdom of John Newman127. Examination of John Jackson128. Examination of John Newman 129. Martyrdom of Joan Waste 130. Martyrdom of Edward Sharpe 131. Four Burnt at Mayfield at Sussex 132. John Horne and a woman 133. William Dangerfield 134. Northampton Shoemaker 135. Prisoners Starved at Canterbury 136. More Persecution at Lichfield
Critical Apparatus for this Page
Latin/Greek TranslationsCommentary on the Text
Names and Places on this Page
Unavailable for this Edition
1581 [1555]

Q. Mary. Ghostly Letters of M. Iohn Bradford holy Martyr.

MarginaliaAnno. 1555. Iuly.very trueth it is not so but to their present sense, and therfore Dauid sayd:MarginaliaPsalme. lxx. Cxviii. xxxvii and. xxvi. MarginaliaPsalme. xxxi. Ego dixi in excessu meo, proiectus sum à facie tua. i.  

Latin/Greek Translations   *   Close
Letter of Bradford to Sir James Hales, quoting from Psalm 31 (30). 23.
Foxe text Latin

Ego dixi in excessu meo, proiectus sum a facie tua.

Foxe text translation

I said in my agony, I was cleane cast away from thy face. &c.

Actual text of Psalm 30. 23 (Vulgate, from the Greek)

ego autem dixi in excessu mentis meae proiectus sum a facie oculorum tuorum.

Actual text of Psalm 30. 23 (Vulgate, from the Hebrew)

ego autem dixi in stupore meo proiectus sum de conspectu oculorum eius.

[NB the Foxe text is rather different from both Vulgate versions and that of Beza]

I said in my agony, I was cleane cast away from thy face. &c. But was it so? Naye verely. Read his Psalme and you shall see. So writeth he also in other places very often, especiallye in the person of Christ, as when he saith: MarginaliaPsalme. xxii.Deus meus, Deus meus, vt quid dereliquisti me? i.  
Latin/Greek Translations   *   Close
Letter of Bradford to Sir James Hales, quoting from Psalm 31 (30). 23.
Foxe text Latin

Deus meus, Deus meus, vt quid dereliquisti me? ... vt quid derelinquis? ... derelinques? ... vt quid dereliquisti?

Foxe text translation

My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? ... Why doest thou forsake me? ... Why wilt thou forsake me? ... Why haste thou forsaken me?

Actual text of Psalm 22 (21). 2. (Vulgate, from the Greek)

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti

Actual text of Psalm 22 (21). 2. (Vulgate, from the Hebrew)

Deus Deus meus quare dereliquisti me

[The omission ofrespice mein the citation would suggest Foxe was looking at the Hebrew or a Latin translation of the Hebrew]

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? he sayth not, vt quid derelinquis? i.  
Latin/Greek Translations   *   Close
Letter of Bradford to Sir James Hales, quoting from Psalm 31 (30). 23.
Foxe text Latin

Deus meus, Deus meus, vt quid dereliquisti me? ... vt quid derelinquis? ... derelinques? ... vt quid dereliquisti?

Foxe text translation

My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? ... Why doest thou forsake me? ... Why wilt thou forsake me? ... Why haste thou forsaken me?

Actual text of Psalm 22 (21). 2. (Vulgate, from the Greek)

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti

Actual text of Psalm 22 (21). 2. (Vulgate, from the Hebrew)

Deus Deus meus quare dereliquisti me

[The omission ofrespice mein the citation would suggest Foxe was looking at the Hebrew or a Latin translation of the Hebrew]

Why doest thou forsake mee? or, derelinques? i.  
Latin/Greek Translations   *   Close
Letter of Bradford to Sir James Hales, quoting from Psalm 31 (30). 23.
Foxe text Latin

Deus meus, Deus meus, vt quid dereliquisti me? ... vt quid derelinquis? ... derelinques? ... vt quid dereliquisti?

Foxe text translation

My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? ... Why doest thou forsake me? ... Why wilt thou forsake me? ... Why haste thou forsaken me?

Actual text of Psalm 22 (21). 2. (Vulgate, from the Greek)

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti

Actual text of Psalm 22 (21). 2. (Vulgate, from the Hebrew)

Deus Deus meus quare dereliquisti me

[The omission ofrespice mein the citation would suggest Foxe was looking at the Hebrew or a Latin translation of the Hebrew]

Why wilt thou forsake me? but, vt quid dereliquisti? i.  
Latin/Greek Translations   *   Close
Letter of Bradford to Sir James Hales, quoting from Psalm 31 (30). 23.
Foxe text Latin

Deus meus, Deus meus, vt quid dereliquisti me? ... vt quid derelinquis? ... derelinques? ... vt quid dereliquisti?

Foxe text translation

My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? ... Why doest thou forsake me? ... Why wilt thou forsake me? ... Why haste thou forsaken me?

Actual text of Psalm 22 (21). 2. (Vulgate, from the Greek)

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti

Actual text of Psalm 22 (21). 2. (Vulgate, from the Hebrew)

Deus Deus meus quare dereliquisti me

[The omission ofrespice mein the citation would suggest Foxe was looking at the Hebrew or a Latin translation of the Hebrew]

Why haste thou forsaken me? Where in deede God had not left hym but that it was so to his sense, & that this Psalme telleth full well: whiche Psalme I pray you now and then reade, it is the. 22. and thereto ioyne the. 30. and the. 116. with diuers other. The same we reade in the Prophet Esay in his. 40. chapiter, where he reproueth Israell for saying, God had forgotten them. Nunquid nescis (saieth he?) i. MarginaliaEsay. xl.Knowest thou not? An non audiuisti? &c. i. Hast thou not heard? &c. Qui sperant in domino mutabunt fortitudinem. i.  
Latin/Greek Translations   *   Close
Letter of Bradford to Sir James Hales, quoting from Isaiah 40 31.
Foxe text Latin

Qui sperant in domino mutabunt fortitudinem.

Foxe text translation

They that trust in the Lorde, shall renue their strength.

Actual text of Isaiah, 40. 31 (Vulgate)

qui autem sperant in Domino mutabunt fortitudinem.

[Accurate citation]

They that trust in the Lorde, shall renue their strength. And in his. 54. chapiter: Noli timere. &c. Ad punctum enim, in modico dereliqui te, & in miserationibus magnis congregabo te. In momento indignationis abscondi faciem meam parumper a te, & in misericordia sempiterna misertus sum tui, dixit redemptor tuus dominus. Nam istud erit mihi sicut aquæ Noe. Vt enim iuraui ne porro aquæ Noe pertransirent terram, sic iuraui vt non irascar tibi & non increpem te. Montes enim comouebuntur & colles contremiscent, misericordia autem mea non recedet à te, & fœdus pacis meæ non mouebitur, dixit miserator tuus Dominus. i.  
Latin/Greek Translations   *   Close
Letter of Bradford to Sir James Hales, quoting from Isaiah 54. 4 and 7 - 10.
Foxe text Latin

Noli timere. &c. Ad punctum enim, in modico dereliqui te, & in miserationibus magnis congregabo te. In momento indignationis abscondi faciem meam parumper a te, & in misericordia sempiterna misertus sum tui, dixit redemptor tuus dominus. Nam istud erit mihi sicut aquae Noe. Vt enim iuraui ne porro aquae Noe pertransirent terram, sic iuraui vt non irascar tibi & non increpem te. Montes enim comouebuntur & colles contremiscent, misericordia autem mea non recedet a te, & foedus pacis meae non mouebitur, dixit miserator tuus Dominus.

[Back to Top]
Foxe text translation

Feare not. &c. For a litle while I haue forsaken thee, but with great compassion will I gather thee. For a moment in mine anger I hid my face from thee, for a litle season: but in euerlastyng mercy haue I had compassion on thee, saith the Lord thy redemer. For this is vnto me, as the waters of Noe. For as I haue sworn that the waters of Noe should no more goe ouer the earth, so haue I sworne that I would not bee angrye with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the Mountaines shall remoue, and the hilles shall fall downe, but my mercy shall not depart from thee, neither shall the couenaunt of my peace fall awaie, saith the Lorde, that hath compassion on thee.

[Back to Top]
Actual text of Isaiah, 54. 4 and 7 - 10 (Vulgate)

noli timere ... ad punctum in modico dereliqui te et in miserationibus magnis congregabo te in momento indignationis abscondi faciem meam parumper a te et in misericordia sempiterna misertus sum tui dixit redemptor tuus Dominus sicut in diebus Noe istud mihi est cui iuravi ne inducerem aquas Noe ultra super terram sic iuravi ut non irascar tibi et non increpem te montes enim commovebuntur et colles contremescent misericordia autem mea non recedet et foedus pacis meae non movebitur dixit miserator tuus Dominus.

[Back to Top]

[Some differences, especially from lines 7 - 10]

Feare not. &c. For a little while I haue forsaken thee, but with great compassion will I gather thee. For a moment in mine anger I hid my face from thee, for a litle season: but in euerlastyng mercy haue I had compassion on thee, saith the Lord thy redemer. For this is vnto me, as the waters of Noe. For as I haue sworn that the waters of Noe should no more goe ouer the earth, so haue I sworne that I would not bee angrye with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the Mountaines shall remoue, and the hilles shall fall downe, but my mercy shall not depart from thee, neither shall the couenaunt of my peace fall awaie, saith the Lorde, that hath compassion on thee.

[Back to Top]

But the scriptures are full of such sweete places to them that wil MarginaliaMath. vii.portare iram domini & expectare salutem & auxilium eius. i.  

Latin/Greek Translations   *   Close
Letter of Bradford to Sir James Hales, quoting from Micah 7. 7 and 9.
Foxe text Latin

portare iram domini & expectare salutem & auxilium eius.

Foxe text translation

Beare the wrath of the Lorde, and wayt for his health and helpe.

Actual text of Micah, 7. 9 (Vulgate)

expectabo Deum salvatorem meum ... iram Domini portabo ...

[While obviously referring to these two verses in Micah 7, Foxe has paraphrased and re-ordered the words. For an accurate citation, cf. Page 1830, Column 2, Line 31 below]

Beare the wrath of the Lorde, and wayt for his health and helpe. As of all temptations this is the greatest, that God hath forgotten, or will not help vs through the pikes, as they say: so of all seruices of God, this liketh he best, to hope assuredly on hym and for his helpe alwaies, which is adiutor in tribulationibus. i. An helper in tribulatiōs, and doth more gloriously shewe his power by suche as be weake, and feele thē selues so. For Marginaliai. Cor. xi.quo infirmiores sumus, eo sumus in illo robustiores. Sic oculi Domini. i. The weaker we are, the more strōg are we in him. Thus the eyes of the Lorde be on them that tremble and feare. MarginaliaPsalm. CxliiiiVoluntatem eorum faciet: i. he wyll accomplish their desire: he is with them in their trouble, he will deliuer them. Antequam clamauerint exaudit eos, i. before they crye, he heareth them, as all the scriptures teache vs. To the readyng wherof and harty prayer, I hartely commend you, besechyng almighty GOD, that of his eternall mercies he would make perfecte the good he hath begunne in you, and strengthen you to the ende, that you might haue no lesse hope, but much more, of his helpe to your comfort now against your enemies, then alreadye he hath geuen you against. N.  
Commentary   *   Close

Bull and Foxe replaced the name 'Northumberland' with the initial 'N' (cf. ECL 260, fo. 26r). Bradford was referring to Hales's defiance of the duke of Northumberland's attempt to proclaim Jane Grey queen. By 1564, Northumberland's sons, Ambrose and Robert, were very powerful and it was expedient to remove this derogatory reference to their father.

[Back to Top]
for not subscribyng the Kings will.

[Back to Top]

Be certaine, be certaine good M. Hales, that all the heares of your head your deare father hath numbred, so that one of them shall not perish: your name is written in the booke of life. Therefore vpon GOD cast all your care, whiche will comforte you with his eternall consolations, and make you able to go through the fire (if neede be) which is nothyng to bee compared to the fire where into our enemies shall fall and lie for euer: from the whiche the Lorde deliuer vs, though it bee through temporall fire, which must bee construed accordyng to the ende and profite that commeth after it: so shall it then not muche deare vs to suffer it for our maister Christes cause, the which the Lord graunt for his mercyes sake, Amen.  

Commentary   *   Close

The original letter continues for another 500 words which were not printed by Bull or Foxe. In these passages, Bradford urged Hales to be constant and assured him that he was called to Christ's company. Since the letter reached Hales after he had recanted and just before he had attempted suicide, Bull and Foxe thought that it would be wise to remove these passages.

[Back to Top]
From the Kings Bench.

[Back to Top]

Your humble Ihon Bradford.

¶ To my very friend in the Lord Doctor Hyll Phisition.  
Commentary   *   Close

This letter was first printed in Letters of the Martyrs, pp. 294-98. ECL 260, fos. 201r-203v is a copy of this letter. A note on the manuscript states that this letter was writtenin 1555.

MarginaliaA letter to D. Hill Phisition.THe God of mercy and father of all comfort, at this present and for euer engraffe in your hart the sense of his mercy in Christ, and the continuance of his consolatiō, which cannot but enable you to cary with ioy, whatsoeuer crosse he shall lay vpon you, Amen.

Hetherto I could haue no such libertie as to write vnto you, as I thinke you know: but now in that through Gods prouidence I haue no such restraint, I cannot but somthing write, aswell to purge me of the suspition of vnthankfulnes towardes you, as also to signify my carefulnes for you in these perilous dayes, lest you should waxe cold in Gods cause (which God forbid) or suffer the light of the Lord once kindled in your harte, to bee quenched, and so become as you were before, after the example of the world and of many others, which would haue bene accompted otherwise in our daies, and yet stil beguile thēselues, still would be so accompted, although by their outward life they declare the contrary, in that they thinke it inough to keepe the hart pure, notwithstāding that the outward man doth curry fauour.

[Back to Top]

In which doing, as they deny God to be ielous, and therefore requireth the whole man as wel body as soule, being both create, as to immortality and society with him, so redeemed by the bloud of Iesus Christ, and now sanctified by the holy spirite to be the temple of God, & member of his Sonne: as (I say) by their MarginaliaPartyng stakes betwen God and the worlde.parting stake to geue God the hart, and the world the body, they deny God to bee ielous (for els they would geue him both, as the wyfe will do to her husband whether hee bee Ielous or no, if she be honest) so they play the MarginaliaDissemblers with þe church.dissemblers with the Church of God by their facte, offending the Godly, whom eyther they prouoke to fall with them, or make more careles and conscienceles if they be fallen, and occasioning the wicked and obstinate to triumph agaynst God, and the more vehemētly to prosecute their malice agaynst suche as will not defyle themselues in body or soule with the Romish ragges nowe reuiued amongest vs. Because of this, I meane lest you my deare Mayster and brother in the Lord, should doe as many of our Gospellers, or rather MarginaliaGospelspillers.Gospelspillers doo for feare of man, whose breath is in his nostrels,MarginaliaEsay. ii. & hath power but of the body, not fearing the Lord which hath power both of soule and body, and that not onely temporally, but also eternally: I could not but write somthing vnto you, aswell because duty deserueth it (for many benefits I haue receiued of God by your hands, for the which he reward you, for I can not) as also because charity and loue compelleth me: not that I thinke you haue any neede (for as I may rather learne of you, so I doubt not but you haue hetherto kept your selfe vpright from halting) but that I might both quiet my conscience calling vpō me hereabout, and signify vnto you by some thyng my carefulnes for your soule, MarginaliaDoctor Hill M. Bradfords Phisition.as painfully and often you haue done for by body.

[Back to Top]

Therefore I pray you call to mynde that there be but MarginaliaTwo maistres. Two sortes of Subiectes. Two wayes. ii kyngdomes.two maisters, two kyndes of people, two wayes, and two mansion places. The masters bee Christ and Satan: the people be seruitures to eyther of these: the waies be strait and wide: the māsions be Heauen and Hell. Agayne: cōsider that this world is the place of tryal of Gods people and the deuils seruauntes, for as the one will folow his maister what soeuer commeth of it, so will the other. For a tyme it is hard to discerne who pertayneth to God and who to the deuill: as in the calme and peace, who is a good shipman and wariour, and who is not. MarginaliaAfflictiō trieth who goe with God, and who goe with the Deuill.But as when the storme aryseth, the expert mariner is knowne, and as in warre the good souldiour is seene, so in affliction and the crosse, easely Gods children are knowen from Sathās seruauntes: for then as the good seruant will follow his maister, so will the godly follow their Captaine, come what come will, where as the wicked and hypocrites will bid adew, and desyre lesse of Christes acquaintance. For which cause the crosse is called a probatiō and triall, because it tryeth who will go with God and who will forsake him. As now in England we see MarginaliaChristes part the smaller, and why?how small a company Christ hath in comparison of Sathans souldiours. Let no man deceiue himselfe, for he that gathereth not with Christe, scattereth abroad. No man can serue two maisters: the Lorde abhorreth double hartes: the luke warm, that is, such as are both hote and colde, he spitteth out of his mouth. None that halte on both knees doth God take for his seruauntes. The way of Christ is the strait way, and so strait, that as few fynd it and few

[Back to Top]
walke