MarginaliaAnno. 1555. Nouember.hym, as ouertooke hym, not so much burdened him, as made him burdenous to the whole realme. He was of a proude stomake  

and high minded, in his owne opinion and conceite flatteryng hym selfe to much, in wit craftie and subtile, toward his superiour flattering and fraire spoken, to his inferiours fierce, against his equal stout   and enuious, namely if in iudgement and sentence hee any thyng withstode him: as appered betwene the good Lord Cromwell and hym in the reigne of king Henry, beyng of like hautines of stomacke, as the poetes writ of Pelides, Cedere nescius.  

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Horace

Foxe text Latin

Pelides, Cedere nescius

Foxe text translation

Not translated.

Translation (Wade 2003)

not knowing how to yield

Actual text of Horace, Odes I. 6.

Nos, Agrippa, neque haec dicere nec gravem
Pelidae stomachum cedere nescii

[Horace’s genitivenesciiis changed to a nominative nescius to fit into Foxe's sentence grammatically. Also a Latin alphabet Greek first declension nominative endingPelidesis used in place of the original genitivePelidae]

Who although woulde geue no place to men, yet notwithstandyng I wishe he would haue geuē place to truth, accordyng as he semed not altogether ignorant of the truth. What his knowledge was therin, it is euident partly to vnderstand as well by his booke De vera obedientia,   as also by his Sermon before King Edward: also by hys aunsweres to the Councell the same time:   & moreouer by hys owne wordes maye be gathered in sundrye places, as more plainly may appeare by that which hereafter foloweth.  

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Vpon his estimatiō & fame he stode to to much, more then was meete for a man of his coate & callyng, whose profession was to be crucified vnto the worlde: whiche thing made hym so stiffe  

in maintainyng þ^t hee had once begon to take vpon hym. I wil not here speake of that whiche hath bene constantly reported to mee, touchyng the monstrous makyng & mishaped fashion of his feete and toes, the nailes whereof were said not to be like to other mens, but to crooke douneward, and to be sharp like the clawes of rauening beasts.   What his learning was in the Ciuill and Canon lawe, I haue not to say. What it was in other liberal sciences and arts this I suppose, þ^t neither his cōtinuāce in study, nor diligēce of readyng was such (by reason of his to much intermedlyng in Princes matters) as coulde truely well merite vnto him the title of a depe learned manne.MarginaliaWinchester not worthy the title of a lerned man.But what learnyng or cunnyng soeuer it was hee had, so it fared in hym, as it doth in Butchers, whiche vse to blowe vp their fleshe:   euen so he with boldnes and stoutnes, and specially with aucthoritie made those giftes that he had to appeare much greater then they were in very deede. Wherunto vse peraduenture also & experience abroad brought no litle helpes, rather then either quickenes of witte, or happines of education.

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And as touching Diuinitie, he was so variable, waueryng with tyme, that no constant censure can be geuen what to make of hym. If his doyngs, & writynges were accordyng to his conscience, no man can rightlye say whether he was a right protestant or Papist. If he wrote otherwise then he thought, for feare, or to beare w^t time, then was he a double depe dissembler before God and man, to say & vnsay, to write & vnwrite, to sweare and forsweare so as he did.MarginaliaThe mutabilitie of Steuen Gardiner in religion. For firste in the beginnyng of Quene Annes time,  

who was so forward or so busy in the matter of the kings diuorce as Ste. Gardiner? who was first sent to Rome and then to the Emperour with Edward Foxe, as chief agēt in the behalfe of Lady Anne.   By whō also he was preferred to the Bishopricke of Wint. as Edm. Boner was by þ^e Lord Cromwel to the Bishopricke of London. Againe, at the abolishing of the Pope, who so ready to sweare, or so vehemēt to write against the Pope as he, as not only by his Sermons, but also by his boke De obedientia may appeare. In which booke De obedientia, leste any should thinke him drawen therunto otherwise thā by his own consent, he plainly declareth how not rashly nor vppon a sodeine, but vppon long deliberation and aduisement in hym selfe about the matter, he at length vttered hys iudgemēt: Wherof read before, pa. 1030. And moreouer, he so vttered his iudgement in writyng againste the vsurped supremacie of the Pope, that commyng to Louane,MarginaliaTouching the doinges of Winchester at Louane, read the letter of Driander to Crispine pag 1687. afterwarde he was there accompted for a person excommunicate, and a schismaticke, in so muche that he was not permitted in their Churche to say Masse, and moreouer in their publicke sermōs they opēly cried out against hym. Wherof read hereafter folowing pa. 1687.

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And thus long continued he firme & forward, so that who but Winchester duryng al the tyme and reigne of Qeeene Anne. After her decease that tyme by litle and litle caried hym awaye, till at length MarginaliaThe first turnyng of Winchester from the Gospell, and why?the emulation  

of Cromwels estate, and especially (as it seemeth) for his so much fauoring of Boner (whom Winchester at that tyme in no case could abide)   made hym an vtter enemy both against hym: and also his Religion: till againe in King Edwardes daies he began a little to rebate from certeine pointes of Popery, and somewhat to smell of

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the Gospell, as both by hys Sermon before kyng Edward, and also by his subscribyng to certaine Articles may appeare: MarginaliaAn other halfe turne of Winchester from Popery to the Gospell.and this was an halfe turne of Stephen Gardiner from Popery againe to the Gospell, and (no doubt) he would haue further turned, had not the vnlucky decaye of the Duke of Somerset cleane tourned him away from true Diuinitie to plain Popery:MarginaliaWinchester turned to a full Papist. wherin he continued a cruell persecutour to his diyng daye.

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And thus much concernyng the trade & profession of Ste. Gardiners Popish diuinity. In which his popish trade, whether he folowed more true iudgement, or els tyme, or rather the spirite of ambition and vaine glory, it is doubtfull to say, MarginaliaWinchester neuer constant in him selfe, nor agreing with other Papistes.and so muche the more doubtful, because in his doynges and writinges a man may see hym not onely contrarye to hym selfe, but also in some points contrary to other Papistes. And furthermore, where he agreeth with them, hee semeth therein not so muche to folowe his owne sense, as the mind and meanyng of Pereseus:  

MarginaliaA great part of Winchesters diuinitie is to be found in Pereseus.out of whose booke the greatest parte of Wynchesters Diuinitie seemeth to be borowed.

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And therfore, as in the true knowledge of gods holy word and scripture he appeareth no body:  

so in his pen & stile of writings MarginaliaWinchesters stile vnpleasaunt.no lesse farre he is frō cōmendation, then he is from all plaines and perspicuitie, In whose obscure and perplexe kind of writyng although peraduenture some sense may be found with some searching, yet shall no reader finde anye swetenes in his readyng,

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What moued him to be so sturdy against M. Cheke, & Sir T. Smith for þ^e Greke pronunciation, other may thinke what they please: I speake but what I thinke, that he so did, for that he sawe it a thing rather newly begun, then truely impugned.  

Such was the disposition of that mā (as it semeth) that of purpose he euer affected to seme to be a patrone of al old customes, though they were neuer so rotten with age. This one thing I cannot but smyle at in my mynde, when I see MarginaliaThe vayne bragging of Ste. Gardiner noted.howe hee braggeth and vaunteth himselfe in al his letters to the Lord Protector and other of the Counsel, of the hie fauour of his noble King of famous memory, the Kings father that dead is. &c. when nothyng was lesse true, neither did the king lesse fauour any English man then him, as by the depositiōs both of the erle of Warwicke and of the Lorde Paget maie appeare in the pages of the firste booke. 824. 816.MarginaliaRead in þ^e firste booke of Actes & Monumētes pag. 824. 816. But into this false and fooles paradise he was brought through the sayd Lorde Paget, who, as he reporteth himselfe in his messages from the king to the said Winchester, deluded hym, tellyng hym much otherwise then the king had spoken, whiche thing puffed vp this vain glorious Thraso not a little, thinking the Moone was made of grene cheese. &c.

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But whatsoeuer he was, seeyng he is now gone, I referre hym to his Iudge, to whō he shall stand or fall. As concernyng his death and maner thereof, I would they whiche were present thereat, woulde testifie to vs what they saw. This wee haue all to thinke, that his death happened so oportunely, þ^t Englād hath a mighty cause to geue thanks to the Lord therfore: not so much for the great hurt he had done in time past in peruertyng his Princes, in bringyng in the. vi. Articles, in murderyng Gods Saintes, in defasing Christes sincere Religion. &c. MarginaliaSte. Gardiner especially hunteth for the life of Lady Elizabeth.as also especiallye for that hee had thought to haue brought to passe in murdrying also our Noble Queene that now is. For what soeuer daunger it was of death þ^t she was in, it did (no doubt) procede frō that bloudy Bishop, who was the cause therof.  

MarginaliaQ. Elizabeth preserued.And if it be certaine which we haue heard, that her highnes beyng in the Tower, a wrytte came doune from certayne of the Councell for her Execution, it is out of controuersie, that wily Winchester was the onely Dedalus   and framer of that ingine.   Who (no doubt) in that one daye had brought this whole realme into wofull ruine, had not the Lorde most gratious councell, through M. BridgesMarginaliaM Bridges Liuetenant, the Lordes organe in sauing the Lady Elizabethes life.then the Lieutenaunt, cōming in hast to the Queene, certified her of the matter, and preuented Achitophels bloudy deuises. For the whiche, thankes be to the same our Lord and Sauiour, in the congregacion of all English Churches, Amen.

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Of thinges vncertaine, I muste speake vncertainly, for lacke of fuller information, or els peraduenture they be in þ^e Realme that can say more thē here I haue expressed. For as Boner, Story, Thornton, Harpsfield, Dunning, with other, were occnpied in puttyng þ^e poore braunches of gods Saintes to death: so this Bishop for his part bent all his deuises & had spent al his pouder  

in assailyng the roote, and in casting such a platforme (as he himselfe in wordes at his death is sayd to

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