Marginalia1555. December.Phil. I haue mainteyned no heresies.

Cooke. No haue? Did ye not openly speake againste the sacrament of the altar in the Conuocation house? Cal you that no heresie? Wilt thou recant that, or not?

Phil. It was the Queenes maiesties pleasure that we should reason thereof, not by my seeking, but by other mens procuring, in the hearing of the Counsaile.

Cooke. Did the Queene geue you leaue to be an heretike? You may be sure her grace wyl not so do. Wel, we wyll not dispute the matter with you, my lord of Lōdon shal procede by inquisition vppon thee, and if thou wylt not recant, thou shalt be burned.

Phil. My Lorde of London is not myne Ordinarye in this behalf, and I haue already answered vnto myne Ordinary in this matter: and therfore (as I haue said before) you shal doo me great wrong, to vexe me twise for one matter, since I haue susteined this long imprisonment, besides the losse of my liuing.

Roper. You were a very vnmeete man to be an Archedeacon.

Phil. I knowe I was as meete a man, as he that hath it nowe.

Cooke. A meete man, quoth he? He troubled M. Roper and the whole countrey.

Phil. There was neuer poore Archdeacon so handled at your hands as I am, and that without any iust cause ye be able to lay vnto me.

Cooke. Thou art no Archdeacon.

Phil. I am Archdeacō styl, although an other be in possession of my liuyng: MarginaliaIohn Philpot depriued from his Archdeaconry without any law.for I was neuer depriued by any law.

Cooke. No sir, that needeth not: for a notorious heretike shoulde haue no Ordinarye proceedyng about his depriuation: but the Bishop may vpon knowledge thereof procede to depriuation.

Phil. Maister Doctor, you know that the common lawe is otherwise: and besides this, the statutes of this Realme be otherwise, whiche geueth this benefite to euerye person, though he be an heretike, to enioy his liuing vntyl he be put to death for the same.MarginaliaWhether an hereticke suspected may without ordinary processe be depriued of his lyuing by hys ordinary before his death, and by what law.

Cholm. No, there thou art deceiued.

Phil. Vpon the liuyng I passe not. But the vniust dealing greeueth me, that I shoulde be thus troubled for my

conscience, contrary to all law.

Cholm. Why? wyl you not agree, that the Queenes Maiestie may cause you to be examined of your faith?

Phil. Aske you Maister Doctor Cooke, and he will tell you that the temporal magistrates haue nothing to do with matters of faith for determination thereof. And saint Ambrose saith: Diuina Imperatoriæ maiestati non sunt subiecta,  

Latin/Greek Translations     Close

St. Ambrose, Epistolarum classis I

Foxe text Latin

Diuina imperatoriae maiestati non sunt subiecta,

Foxe text translation

that the thinges of God are not subiect to the power and authoritie of Princes.

Actual text of St. Ambrose, Epistolarum classis I, Migne, P.L., vol. 016, col. 0996

verum ea quae sunt divina, imperatoriae potestati non esse subjecta.

[Accurate citation]

Cooke. No? may not the temporal power commit you to be examined of your faith, to the bishop?

Phil. Yea, sir, I deny not that: but you wyl not grant that the same may examine any of their owne authoritie.

Cooke. Let hym be had away.

Phil. Your maistership promised me the last tyme I was before you, MarginaliaIohn Philpot agayne requireth to see their commission, and yet it could not be seene: and that also agaynst the law.I should see your Commission, by what authoritie you do cal me, and whether I by the same be bound to answere to so much as you demaund.

Roper. Let hym see the Commission.

The Scribe. Then he exhibited it to M. Roper, and was about to open the same.

Cooke. No, what wyl you do? he shal not see it.

Phil. Then do you me wrong, to cal me and vexe me, not shewing your authoritie in this behalfe.

Cooke. If we doo you wrong, complaine on vs: and in the meane while thou shalt lye in the Lollardes tower.

Phil. Sir, I am a poore Gentleman: therefore I trust of your gentlenes you wyll not commit me to so vile & strait a place, being found no haynous trespasser.

Cooke. Thou art no Gentleman.

Phil. Yes that I am.

Cooke. An heretike is no Gentleman: for he is a Gentleman that hath gentle conditions.

Phil. The offense can not take away the state of a Gentleman as long as he liueth, although he were a traytour: but I meane not to boast of my gentlemanship, but wyl put it vnder my foot, since you do no more esteeme it.

Story. What wil you suffer this heretike to prate with you al this day?

Cooke. He saith he is a Gentleman.

Story. A Gentlemā, quoth he? he is a vile heretike knaue: for an heretike is no Gentleman. Let the Keeper of Lol-

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Commentary on the Woodcuts     Close

John Philpot (whose importance earned him two illustrations in Foxe's work), is here shown imprisoned in the most degrading of places. When told by Dr Story, Bonner's chancellor (for whom a heretic could have no claim to gentle status) that he was to be sent to the Lollards' Tower or the bishop of London's coalhouse, he protested that this would be vile even for a dog. The remark is echoed in the woodcut which shows a cur of a dog, accompanying Master William Roper, one of the prisoner's examiners, at work on the cell floor with a bone. But Philpot chose not to intermit his suffering by accepting the offer of a bed for one night in the gaol-keeper's house in Paternoster Row. He was taken to 'a little blind house' adjoining the ill-famed coalhouse, which, he recorded, was furnished with stocks for both hands and feet (as shown) and (not mentioned but illustrated) great chains attached to the walls. Thomas Whittle (the Essex minister whose full story follows later) whom Philpot found there with a poor man is shown in the stocks, though the text does not say as much. This seems to be an extrapolation from Philpot's statement that 'some before us had tried them [the stocks]'. One of his letters was 'written in a coal-house of darkness out of a pair of stocks'. The term 'blind house' implies a windowless building, and Philpot called it 'a dark comfortless place'. Darkness prevails in the woodcut, despite the single embrasure which casts shafts of light on those in the small cell.