1576 Edition | Book 11 | Page 1648 
MarginaliaAn. 1555. October.Then Christopherson called for penne and inke and wrote these wordes followyng: MarginaliaM. Christoperson writeth what he would haue Pigot confesse of the Sacrament.I Robert Pygot do beleue that after the wordes of consecration spoken by the Priest, there remayneth no more bread and wyne, but the very body and bloud of Christ really, substauntially, the selfe same that was borne of the Virgine Mary: & readyng it to the Painter, he sayd thus: doest thou beleue all this accordyng as it is written?
[Back to Top]MarginaliaPigot refuseth to subscribe to Christophersons fayth.Pygot. No Syr, sayd the Paynter: that is your fayth and not myne.
CloseThe trial register records Pygot as making this very denial, but it does not mention Christopherson (Ely Diocesan Register G 1/8, fo. 83r).
Christopher. Loe Maister Doc. Fuller you would haue lettē this felow go: he is as much an hereticke as the other.
And so immediately iudgemēt was giuen vpon them to dye. Which done, after the sētēce read, they were sent againe to the prison, where they did lye till the day of their death.
MarginaliaM. Peacoke appoynted to preach at the burning of Wolsey and Pigot.At which day one Peacoke Bachelour of diuinitie beyng appointed to preach,
CloseThomas Peacock had visited both Wolsey and Pygot in prison to try to induce them to recant (Ely Diocesan Register G 1/8, fo. 81r-v and 83r-v).
CloseEither Foxe or his sources probably edited Peacock's comments. The judges accused Wolsey of being an Anabaptist at his trial (Ely Diocesan Register G 1/8, fo. 82r) and Peacock's 'malicious reporting' probably included similar remarks. In fact, Wolsey's statements at his trial may well have been edited by Foxe or his informants; Wolsey declared that the word 'trinity' could not be found in scripture and denied that baptism affected salvation (Ely Diocesan Register G 1/8, fo. 81v). Foxe would have regarded both statements as heretical.
[Back to Top]So his Sermon beyng ended, the forenamed Pygot and Wolsey beyng brought to the place of execution and so bounde to the stake with a chayne, thether commeth one sir Richard Collinson a Priest, at that tyme desolate of any bidyng place or stay of benefice, who sayd vnto Wolsey: brother Wolsey the preacher hath openly reported in his Sermon this day that you are quyte out of the Catholicke fayth, and deny Baptisme, and that you do erre in the holy Scripture: Wherfore I beseech you for the certifying of my consciēce with others here present: that you declare in what place of the Scripture you do erre or find fault.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaW. Wolsey cleareth him selfe to be sound in all poyntes of the scripture belonging to his saluation.Wolsey. I take the eternall and euerlastyng God to witnesse that I do erre in no part or poynt of Gods booke the holy Bible, but hold and beleue in the same to be most firme and sounde doctrine in all pointes most woorthy for my saluation and for all other Christians to the ende of the world. What soeuer myne aduersaries report by me, God forgeue them therfore. With that cōmeth one to the fire with a great sheete knit full of bookes to burne, like as they had ben new Testamētes.MarginaliaBookes burned with Wolsey and Pigot.O sayd Wolsey, geue me one of them, & Pygot desired an other, both of them clappyng them close to their brestes saying the 106. Psalme, desiryng all the people to say Amen, and so receiued the fire most thankefully.
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Witnesses and informers hereof.
Robert Scortred, Robert Crane, Edward
Story, Robert Kendall, Richard Best. &c.
CloseThese were Foxe's sources for much, if not all, of the account of Wolsey and Pygot up to this point.
Concernyng the story of William Wolsey I receaued moreouer from the Vniuersitie of Cambridge by a credible person and my faythfull frend William Fulke, this relation which I thought in this place not vnmeete to be notified vnto the Reader in order and forme as followeth:
CloseFulke must have gone out and got Hodilo's testimony and sent it on to Foxe. This is an excellent example of Foxe's friends acting as unpaid research assistants for him. This is one reason why Foxe obtained such extensive information from personal sources.
There were burned at Ely two Godly Martyrs, the one called Wolsey, the other Pygot. MarginaliaThe natures of Wolsey, and Pigot described.In these two appeared diuers opinions of one spirite. Pygot was myld, humble, and modest, promising that he would bee conformable to his persecutours, if they could perswade hym by the Scripture. MarginaliaThe zelous spirite of W. Wolsey.The other Wolsey, was stout strong and vehement, as one hauing πληροφορίαν of the spirite, and detested all their doynges, as of whom he was sure to receyue nothing but crueltie and tyranny. He was wonderfull ielous ouer his companion, fearyng lest his gentle nature would haue bene ouercome by the flatteryng inticementes of the worlde,
CloseWolsey was worried that Pygot might be persuaded to recant.
This Wolsey being in prison at Ely was visited by MarginaliaThomas Hodilo Beerebruer of Cābridge, witnes of this story.Thomas Hodilo Beerebruer in Ely. To him he deliuered certaine money to be distributed (as hee appointed) part to his wife, and part to his kinsfolkes and frendes, and especially. vj. shillynges. viij. pence to bee deliuered to one Richard Denton Smith dwellyng at Welle in Cambridgeshyre within the iurisdiction of the Ile of Ely, with this commendation, MarginaliaRichard Denton first conuerter of Wolsey.that he maruayled that he taryed so long behynde him, seyng he was the first that did deliuer him the booke of Scripture into his hand, and told him that it was the truth, desiring him to make hast after as fast as he could.MarginaliaMoney sent by Wolsey to Denton. Wolsey exhorting Richard Denton to persist in the truth.
[Back to Top]This Thomas Hodilo, both to auoyde daunger of the tyme, and to haue a witnes of his doynges herein delyuered the sayd summe of money, to one M. Laurence preacher in Essex (whiche then resorted often to his house) to be distributed as Wolsey had appointed: whiche thyng they performed, ryding from place to place. And when this. vj. shillyng. viij. d. was deliuered to Richard Dēton with the commendation aforesayd, his aunswere was this: I confesse it is true, but alas I can not burne.MarginaliaDenton afrayd of burning.This was almost one whole yeare after Wolsey was burned. But he that could not burne in the cause of Christ, MarginaliaRichard Denton burned in his owne house, which before would not burne for Christ. Anno. 1564. Aprill. 18.was afterward burned agaynst his will whē Chrits had geuen peace to his Church. For in the yeare of our Lord. 1564. On Tuesday beyng the. 18. day of Aprill, his house was set on fire, and while he went in, to saue his goodes he lost his life, with two other that were in the same house.
CloseFoxe would later include Denton's death by fire among a collection of cases of providential retribution printed at the end of the Acts and Monuments. (See 1570, p. 2303; 1576, p. 1994 and 1583, p. 2103).
Witnessed by Thomas Hodilo, and
William Fulke.
Not much vnlyke to thys, was also þe example of M. West Chapleine to Byshop Ridley, who refusing to dye in Christes cause with his Maister, sayd Masse agaynst his conscience, and soone after dyed.
ClosePerhaps rather surprisingly there is no account of Nicholas Ridley's life in theRerum. This can be explained by the pressure Foxe was under to complete the Rerum in time for the Frankfurt book fair in September 1559. Those martyrs executed after the summer of 1555 received, with one or two exceptions, little notice in the Rerum because Foxe was running close to his September deadline. Foxe made up for this neglect in the first edition of the Acts and Monuments. Most of the account of Ridley's life and behaviour first appeared in the 1563 edition and was clearly based on the testimony of those who knew the bishop. (It is worth remembering that Ridley ordained Foxeas a deacon in 1550 and that Edmund Grindal was one of those closest to the martyredbishop). Additions were made to this account in the 1570 edition which were clearly derived from the testimony of Ridley's brother-in-law George Shipside. No changes were made to this material in the 1576 and 1583 editions.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaDoct. Nicolas Ridley, Martyr.THe same yeare, moneth, and day in which the foresayd ij. Martyrs William Wolsey, and Thomas Pygot suffered at Eley, the which was. an. 1555. October 16. followed also at Oxford the slaughter of two other speciall and singular Captaines, and principall pillars of Christes Church, Maister Ridley Byshop of London and Maister Hugh Latimer, Byshop sometymes of Worcester: of whose famous doynges and memorable learnyng, & incōparable ornamentes and giftes of grace, ioyned with no lesse cōmendable sinceritie of life, as all the Realme can witnesse sufficiently: so it nedeth not greatly that we should stand exactly at this tyme in setting forth a full description of the same, but onely to comprehend briefly a few woordes touchyng the order of their lyues, so much as necessarily serueth to the due instruction of the Reader, and maketh to the vse of this present history, in declaryng first their begynnyng and bringyng vp, then their studyes and actes in the Vniuersitie, their preferrementes also by their studyes to hygher dignitie, at last their trouble and trauaile in settyng forth Religion, and in mainteinyng the same to the sheddyng of their bloud. And first to begyn with the life of Maister Ridley, whose story here ensueth.
[Back to Top]AMong many other worthy and sondry histories and notable Actes of such as of late dayes haue bene tormoyled, murdered, and martyred for the true Gospell of Christ