MarginaliaAnno. 1556. Ianuary.must bee corrected for their sinnes in this worlde: theyr fayth must be tried, that after triall and pacient suffering the faithfull may receaue the crowne of glory. MarginaliaTo be stronge against Sathā and not to feare persecution.Feare not therfore my welbeloued, but proceede in the knowledge and feare of God, and he will keepe you from all euyll. Call vpon hys holy name, and hee will strengthen you and assist you in all your wayes: and if it please hym to lay his crosse vpon you for his Gospels sake, refuse it not, neither shake it of by vnlawfull meanes, lest you should (as God forbid) finde a more greuous crosse, and torment of conscience if you should dissemble and denye the knowen verity, then is any persecution or death of body. MarginaliaGood counsell not to forsake the Lorde for persecution.Oh how happy are they that suffer persecution for righteousnes sake? their rewarde is greate in heauen. The momentane afflictions of this life are not worthy of the glory that shall bee shewed vppon vs. Oh remember the godly women of the old testamēt and new, which lyued in Gods seruice and feare, & therefore are now in blysse and commended for euer: as namely Iudith, Hester, Abigael, the Mother of the vij. sonnes, Mary, Elizabeth, Susanna, Lidia, and Phebe, and others. Set their examples before your eyes, & feare nothing: for Sathan is cōquered by our Sauiour Christ: sinne is put to flight, and the gate of immortality and eternall life is set wide open: God graunt we may enter therein through the doore Iesus Christ, Amen.

Thomas Wittell.

¶ The story of M. Bartlet Greene, Gentleman and Lawyer, Martyr.  

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The Life and Martyrdom of Bartlett Green

Green's martyrdom was merely listed in Rerum, p. 634. All of Foxe's account of Green first appeared in the 1563 edition. Some of the material came from oral sources, some of it from writings preserved by Green's friends and much of it came from Bishop Bonner's records. In the 1570 edition, the opening of Green's letter to Philpot was deleted; apart from this, there were no changes made to the 1563 account of Green in later editions.

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MarginaliaThe storie of master Bartlet Grene gentleman & martyr.MarginaliaIanuary. 27.AFter the martirdome of Thomas Whittell, next followeth in order to speake of Bartlet Grene, who the nexte daie after the foresaid Whittell, was likewise cōdemned. This Grene was of a good house, and hauyng suche parentes, as bothe fauoured learnyng, & were also willyng to bring vp this their childe in the same. Who after some enteraunce in other inferiour Schooles, MarginaliaBartlet Grene, studente at Oxford.was by them sent vnto the vniuersitie of Oxford: where through exercise and diligente studie, he so profited, that within shorte tyme he attained aswell vnto the knowledge of sunderie prophane sciences, as also now in his laste yeares, vnto the godlie vnderstandyng of Diuinitie. Whereunto through ignorance (in whiche he was trained vp from his youth) he was at the first an vtter enemie, MarginaliaMaster Grene cōuerted by the Lecture of Peter Martyr.vntill suche tyme as God of his mercie had opened his eyes, by his often repairyng vnto the common Lectures of Peter Martyr, reader of the Diuinitie Lecture in the same vniuersitie: so that thereby (as by Gods instrument) he sawe the true light of Christes Gospell.

Whereof when he had once tasted, it became vnto hym as the fountaine of liuely water, that our Sauior Christ spake of vnto the woman of Samaria,MarginaliaIohn. iiii. so as he neuer thirsted any more, but had a well springyng vnto euerlastyng life. In so muche as when he was called by his frendes from the Vniuersitie, MarginaliaM. Grene student in the Tēple at London.and was placed in the Tēple at London, there to attain the knowledge of the common lawes of the Realme, he yet continued still in his former studie, and earnest profession of the Gospell: wherein also he did not a little profite. Howbeit (suche is the frailtie of our corrupte nature, without the speciall assistaunce of Gods holy spirite) through the continuall accompaniyng, and fellowship of suche worldly (I will not saie to muche youthfull) yong gentlemen, as are commonly in that and the like houses, he became by little and little, a compartener of their fōde follies, and youthfull vanities, aswell in his apparell, as also in bankettynges, and other superfluous excesses, whiche he afterward (beyng againe called by Gods mercifull correction) did sore lament and bewaile: as appeareth by his owne testimonie, notified and lefte in a booke of a certaine frende of his, a little before his death, written with his owne hande, in maner as followeth.

MarginaliaA good note or lesson for yong Lawyers to marke and followe.TWo thynges haue verie muche troubled me whilest I was in the Temple, Pride and Glottonie, whiche vnder the coulour of glorie and good fellowship, drewe me almoste from GOD. Againste bothe there is one remedie, by praier earnest, and without ceasyng. And for as muche as vaine glorie is so sub-

tile an aduersarie, that almoste it woundeth deadly, ere euer a man cā perceiue himself to be smitten, therfore we ought so muche the rather by continuall praier, to labor for humblenesse of minde. Truely Glottonie beginneth vnder a charitable pretence, of mutuall loue and societie,MarginaliaWhat leaude company doth.and hath in it most vncharitablenesse. When we seke to refreshe our bodies, that they maie be the more apt to serue God, & performe our dueties towardes our neighbours, then stealeth it in as a priuie theefe, and murdereth bothe bodie and soule, that now it is not apt to praie, or serue God, nor apt to study, or labour for our neighbors. Let vs therefore watche and be sober: For our aduersarie the deuil walketh about like a roaryng Lion, sekyng whō he maie deuoure. And remember what Salomon saieth: Melior est patiens viro forti, & qui dominatur animo, expugnatore vrbium. i.  

Latin/Greek Translations     Close

Bartlet Greene in a letter, quoting from Proverbs, 16. 32.

Foxe text Latin

Melior est patiens viro forti, & qui dominatur animo, expugnatore vrbium.

Foxe text translation

A pacient manne is better then a stronge warriour, and he that conquereth his owne stomacke, is better then he that conquereth tounes and cities.

Actual text of Proverbs, 16. 32. (Vulgate)

melior est patiens viro forte et qui dominatur animo suo expugnatore urbium

[Accurate citation, except that the Foxe text has a more classically correct ablative singular of the adjectivefortito agree withviroin an ablative of comparison phrase.]

Bartlet Grene.

Marginaliai. Agremente of mindes ioining in vnitie of faith, & growyng in charitie, is true & stedfast amitie. Fare well (my Bartrame) and remember me, þ^t euer we maie be like together. Fare well. At Newgate. Ianua. xx. Anno. 1556.Animorum in fide vnio, per charitatem acta, firma est amicitia. Vale (mi Bartrame) & mei memineris, vt semper simillimi efficiamur. Vale. Apud nouam Portam. 20. Ianuarij. 1556.  

Latin/Greek Translations     Close

Bartlet Green

Foxe text Latin

nimorum in fide vnio, per charitatem acta, firma est amicitia. Vale (mi Bartrame) & mei memineris, vt semper simillimi efficiamur. Vale. Apud nouam Portam. 20. Ianuarii. 1556.

[As in1570,except foractaforauctain line 2, presumably in error, as the translation remains'growing']

Foxe text translation

Agremente of mindes ioining in vnitie of faith, & growyng in charitie, is true & stedfast amitie. Fare well (my Bartrame) and remember me, that euer we maie be like together. Fare well. At Newgate. Ianua. xx, Anno. 1556.

Set sober loue against hastie wrathe.
Bartlet Grene.

Thus wee see the fatherly kindnesse of our moste gracious and mercifull God, who neuer suffereth his electe children so to fall, that they lye styll in securitie of sinne, but often tymes quickeneth thē vp by some suche meanes, as perhaps they thinke least of, as he did here this his straied sheepe. And now therefore to retourne to our historie: for the better maintenaunce of hym self in these his studies, and other his affaires he had a large exhibition of his grandfather maister D. Bartlet, MarginaliaLarge giftes offered to M. Grene by doctor Bartlet, to retourne to the Churche of Rome.who duryng the tyme of Grenes imprisonmente made vnto hym large offers of greate liuynges, if he would recante, and (forsake the truthe, and Gospell of Christe) come home againe to the churche and Sinagoge of Rome. But these his perswasions (the Lorde be therefore praised) tooke small effect in this faithfull hart, as the sequell did declare. He was a man beloued of all men, (except of the Papistes, who loue none that loue the truthe) and so he well deserued: for he was of a meeke, humble, discrete, and moste gentle behauiour to all. Iniurious he was to none, beneficiall to many, especially to those that were of the housholde of faithe: as appeared (amongest other) by his frendly dealyng with Maister Christopher Goodman,MarginaliaFrendship betwene Christopher Goodmā, and M. Grene. beeyng at that present a poore exile beyonde the seas. With whō this Bartlet Grene (aswell for his toward learnyng, as also for his sober and godlie behauiour) had often societie in Oxforde, in the daies of good Kyng Edward: whiche now, notwithstandyng his frendes miserie and banishement, he did not lightly forget, and that turned as it chaunced (not without the prouidence of almightie God) to the greate grief of bothe, the one of harte for the losse of his frende, and the other of body in sufferyng the cruell and murtheryng rage of Papistes.

The cause hereof was a Letter whiche Grene did write vnto the said Goodman, cōtainyng aswel the report of certaine demaundes or questions, whiche were cast abroad in London (as appereth hereafter in a letter of his owne pennyng, whiche he ment to haue sente vnto M. Philpot, wherein he declareth his full vsage before the Bishop of London and others) as also an aunswere to a question made by the saied Christopher Goodman, in a letter written vnto hym, in which he required to haue the certaintie of the report, whiche was spread amongest them on the other side of the Seas, that the Quene was dead. Whereunto master Grene aunswered simply, and as the truthe then was, that she was not deade.  

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Green's activities were not as innocuous as Foxe makes them appear. He was apparently involved in circulating a broadside, smuggled into London from Danzig, which denounced Philip and Mary and which advocated Elizabeth's claim to the throne. Information about Green's role in smuggling and disseminating seditious literature, as well as his incautious remark about Mary, are what led to his arrest for treason (P. M. Took, 'The Government and the Printing Trade, 1540-1560,'unpublished PhD thesis, University of London, 1978, pp. 279-81).

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MarginaliaOccasion of apprehendyng of master Grene, came by letters intercepted.These letters with many other, written to diuers of the godlie exiles, by their frendes here in England, beeyng deliuered to a messenger to cary ouer, came by the apprehension of the said bearer, vnto the handes of the Kyng and Queenes Councell. Who at their conuenient leasure (whiche in those daies by some of them was quickly found out for suche matters) perused the whole number of the saied letters, and amongest them espied this letter of maister Grenes, written vnto his frende Christopher Goodman, in the contentes wherof (amongest other newes and priuate matters) they founde these woordes: The Queene is not yet deade. Whiche woordes were onely written as an aunswere,