Marginalia1555. Iuly.your gentle letters. And to satisfie your minde, as concerning the troubles whereof ye haue hearde, these shall both declare vnto you all my vexations that haue chaunced me since ye were with me, and also since I receiued your last letters. God keepe you euer.

Your sonne, Iohn Bland.

MarginaliaDeclaration of the troubles of M. Bland how and by whom he was apprehended and brought to his condemnation.FIrst, the thyrd day of Sept. beyng Sonday, after seruice ended, ere I had put of my Surplice, MarginaliaIohn Austen persecutour.Iohn Austen came to the table (commonly called the Lordes table)  

and layde both his handes vpon it, saying: Who set this here againe? Now they say they tooke the table down, the sonday before, which I knewe not, neyther doo I know who set it vp agayne.   The Clerke   answered, that he knewe not. Then MarginaliaIohn Austen offended with the communion table.Austen saide, He is a knaue that set it here. I was then going downe the Church, marueilyng what he meant, and said: Good man Austen, the queenes highnes hath set forth a proclamation, that ye may moue no sedition. And ere I could speake any more, he said: thou art a knaue. And I said: wel, goodman Austen, that I haue said, I haue said. By Gods soule, quoth he, thou art a very knaue. Then my clerk spake to hym: but what, I am not sure. But he said ye are both hereticke knaues, & haue deceiued vs with this fashiō too long, and if he say any seruice here againe, I wyl lay the table on his face:MarginaliaNote the vncharitable spirit of this Papist: and so commonly of them all. and in that rage he with other tooke vp the table, and laid it on a chest in the Chauncel, and set the trestles by it.   Wherfore I rode by and by to master Isaac, & shewed hym the cause, both how seditiously he had spoken, and performed it with a like deede. MarginaliaM. Isaac a good Iustice.M. Isaac directed a warrant to the Constable or Bosholder,   whiche was incontinently serued, so that he was brought before hym the same night, and was bound by Recognisance, with sureties, to appeare if he were called. But we agreed so well then, that it was neuer called for, MarginaliaThe communion table set vp agayne.the table was brought downe, and I was permitted as before.  

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The xxvi. day of Nouember, beyng sonday, Richarde Austen and his brother Thomas came to the foresaid table after the Cōmunion was done, & as I was goyng by thē Richard sayd vnto me: Master parson, we haue to speake to you. And I said, what is your wyl? And he sayd, you know that you tooke downe the tabernacle or seeling wherin the Roode did hang, & such other things: we would know what recompence you wil make vs. For the Queenes procedinges are (as you know) that such must vp againe.  

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Quoth I, I know no such proceedynges, as yet: and as for all that I dyd, I dyd it by commaundement.

No, said Thomas Austen, ye wyl not know þ^e Queenes proceedynges.

Yes, said I, I refuse not to know them.  

Then said Richard, MarginaliaThomas Austen and Richard Austen picke matter agaynst M. Bland.ye are against the Queenes procedings: for you say that there are abominable vses and deuilishnes in the Masse.

Goodman Austen, said I, if I so said, I wyll say it againe, and God wyllyng, stand to the proofe of it.

Masters all, quoth Richard Austen, beare recorde of these wordes, and went his way.

Quoth Thomas Austen, thou wylt as soone eate this booke, as stand to thē. No, quoth I, not so soone. MarginaliaM. Bland charged for speaking agaynst the Masse.Tel vs, quoth he, what that deuilishnes is, that is in the masse.

I haue often preached it vnto you, said I, and ye haue not beleeued it, nor borne it away, nor wyll nowe neyther, though I should tel you.

Thou quoth he, hast told vs alwayes lyke an heretike, as thou art. Now ye lye, goodman Austen, quoth I, by your leaue. Mary, quoth he, thou lyest. And I said, and you lye: for I haue taught you Christ and his truth.

Quoth he, thou art an heretike, and hast taught vs nothyng but heresy: for thou canst say nothing that is true.

Yes goodmā Austen, I can say that God is in heauē, & ye wil say (I trow)  

þ^t it is true, & so haue I taught you truly.

MarginaliaFalse accusation.Quoth he, thou hast taught vs like an heretike, & hast sayd that there is no deuyl in hel.

Wel said I, lye on: me thinke ye can say litle truth. Many other tauntes he gaue, too long to write. And at the last he said, Ye pulled downe the aultar: wyl ye build it againe? No (quoth I) except I be commaunded: for I was commaunded to do that I dyd.

Wel, if you wyll not, said he, then wyll I. For I am Churchwarden.

I charge you, said I, that you do not, except you haue authoritie. I wyl, said he, not let for your charge. For we wil haue a masse here on sonday, & a preacher that shal proue thee an heretike, if thou dare abide his commyng.

Yes quoth I, God wylling, I wyl abide, & heare him: for sure I am that he cannot disproue any doctrine that I haue preached.

Yes, quoth he, and that thou shalt heare, if thou run not away ere then.

No good man Austen, I wyl not run away.

Mary, quoth he, I cannot tel: thou art as like, yea, as nay: wyth many other wordes, we came out of the Church doore, and so departed.

Whē the sonday came, I looked for our preacher,  

and at the tyme of mornyng prayer I said to the clerke: Why do ye not ring? ye forget that we shal haue a sermō to day. No, quoth he, M. Milles seruaunt hath bene here this mornyng, & said, his maister hath letters frō my L. Chancelor, that he must go to Londō, & can not come. That day I dyd preach to thē a sermō in his steed. MarginaliaFalse slaunder agaynst M. Bland.Now haue they sclaūdered me that I had prepared a company frō diuers places to haue troubled hym: but they agreed not in their lye. For some said, I had thē at Adesham, & that Richard Austen had knowledge, & sent for the kings Constable to see the peace kept, which is found a lye. Other said, I had them lying in waite for hym betwene Canterbury and Adesham: other said, I had them in both places, that if the one mist, the other should not. God forgeue them al. Now vpon these two matters they crake,   that they sent two byls of cōplaint to the Counsaile. Wherfore by the counsell of frendes, I made this testimonie, and sent it vp by maister Wiseman.

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MarginaliaM. Bland parson of Adesham cleareth himselfe of the false slaunder.WHere as vpon certain communication had betwene the said parson & Rich. Austen, & Tho. Austen, in the presence of al þ^e parish of Adeshā, the sonday before s. Andrews day last,  

the said Austē then declared, that the sayd parson had taught ther in tymes past great heresies, which to cōfound they would prepare a preacher agaynst the next sonday folowing, if so be the said parson would abide, & not run away. Vpon which rumor, diuers & sundry persons resorted out of the coūtrey vnto the said parishe church, at the said same day appoynted, there to heare the preacher: and at the tyme in which the sermō ought to be made, no mā appeared there to preach. But it was reported vnto the parsō, that þ^e preacher appointed, had vrgent busines, and could not come. So that the multitude being now come together, the same parson perceiuyng that þ^e peoples expectation was defrauded, said: For as much as you are come willyngly to heare some good aduertisment of the preacher, which nowe can not be present, I thinke it not conuenient to permit you to departe w^thout some exhortatiō for your edifying. And so further declaring that he had no licence to preach, said, that he woulde not medle w^t any matter in cōtrouersie. And then hee began the Epistle of the day, MarginaliaM. Bland exhorting the people to loue and quietnes.desiring his audience to marke three or foure places in the same Epistle, which touched quietnes & loue one to an other: & there briefly readyng the Epistle, he noted the same places, & so making an ende therof, desired al men to depart quietly and in peace, as they did, without any maner of disturbance, or token of euyl.

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Witnesses the vnder named, with diuers others.

Edmond Mores.   Commentary     Close Morres and Forstall had been among the radical protestants examined by the privy council about the Freewillers in Kent (BL, Harley 419, fos. 133r-134v, printed in Champlin Burrage, ed., The Early English Dissenters (2 vols., Cambridge, 1912), pp. 1-6). Bland's parish clerk, Laurence Ramsey, was also one of these Kentish radicals. [Back to Top] Richard Randall. Iohn Hyls.

William Forstall. Thomas Gooding.

MarginaliaThe third matter against M. Bland.VPpon the Innocents day,  

being the xxviij. day of Decēb. they had procured the Priest of Stodmarshe to say them masse: he had nye made an end of mattins ere I came: and when he had made an end of mattens, he said to me: maister Parson, your neighbours haue desired me to say mattens, and masse: I trust ye wyl not be against the Quenes proceedings. No, quoth I, I wyl offend none of the Queenes maiesties lawes, God willyng. What say ye, quoth he, and made as he had not heard? And I spake the same wordes to hym againe, with an hyer voyce: but he woulde not heare, when al in the Chauncel heard: So I cryed the thyrd time (that all in the Church heard) that I would not offend the Queenes lawes: and then hee went to masse: and when he was reading the Epistle, I called the clerke vnto me, with the becking of my finger, and said vnto hym: I pray you desire the priest, whē the Gospel is done, to tary a little: I haue somethyng to say to the people: and the Clerke dyd so.

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And the priest came downe into the stal, where he sat: and I stood vp in the Chancel doore, MarginaliaM. Bland agayne exhorteth the people in his parish Church.& spake to the people of the great goodnes of God, alwaies shewed vnto his people, vnto the tyme of Christes cōmyng: and in hym & his commyng, what benefite they past, we present, & our successors haue: and among other benefits, I spake of the great and comfortable sacrament of his bodye and bloud. And after I had declared briefly the institution, the promise of life to

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