MarginaliaAnno. 1556. March.Queenes determination at that time was, that Cranmer should only haue bene depriued of his Archbishopricke, and haue had a sufficient liuyng assigned hym, vppon his exhibiting of a true Inuentory, with commaundement to keepe his house without medling in matters of religiō. But how that was true, I haue not to say.
Interestingly, in the 1563 edition, Foxe was more insistent that the treason charges were merely a pretext.
What this disputation was, and how it was handled, what were the questions, & reasons on both sides, and also touchyng his condemnation by the Vniuersitie and the Prolocutor, because sufficiently it hath bene declared pag. 1358. we mind now therfore to procede to his finall iudgement & order of condemnation, which was the xij. daye of September an. 1556. and seuen dayes before the condemnation of Bishop Ridley and M. Latymer, as is aboue foretouched. pag. 1649. col. 1. The story wherof here followeth, faythfully collected by the report and narratiō (comming by chaunce to our handes) of one who being both present therat, and also a deuout fauorer of the Sea and faction of Rome can lacke no credit (I trowe) with such, which seke what they can to discredit what soeuer maketh not with their phantasied religion of Rome.
Foxe probably obtained one of the official records of the Oxford disputations in April 1554 in the 1570 edition, when this passage was first written.
After the disputations done & finished in Oxford betwene þe Doctors of both Vniuersities & the thre worthy Bishops D. Crāmer, Ridley, & Latimer, ye heard then how sentence cōdemnatoryMarginaliaOf this cōdemnation, read before pag. 1632. colome. 1. immediatly vpon the same was ministred against thē by D. Weston & other of the vniuersitie: wherby they were iudged to be heretickes, and so committed to the Maior and Sheriffes of Oxford. But forasmuch as the sentēce geuen them, was voyd in law (for at that time the authority of the Pope was not yet receiued into the land) therefore was a new Cōmissiō sent fromRome, and a new processe framed for the conuiction of these reuerende and godly learned men aforesaid. MarginaliaDoct. Brokes, Doct. Martyn, Doctor Storie, commissioners againste the Archbishop.In which commission first was Doct. Iames Brookes Bishop of Glocester the Popes Subdelegate, with Doct. Martin, and Doct. Story Cōmissioners in þe King & Quenes behalfe, for execution of the same. Of the which 3.
Four commissioners in the 1570 edition; this was corrected to three commissioners in the 1576 edition.
Thomas Martin, A treatise declaryng and plainly provyng that the pretensed marriage of priests is no marriage (London: 1554), STC 17517.
In primis here is to be vnderstand, that the comming downe of the foresayd Cōmissioners, which was vpon Thursday, the xij. of September, an. 1555. in the church of S. Mary,MarginaliaThe order of setting and placyng the Commissisoners. & in the East end of the said church at the high aultar, was erected a solemne Scaffold for Byshop Brookes aforesayd, representing the Popes person, ten foote hye. The seate was made that he myght sit vnder the Sacrament of the aultar. And on the
[Back to Top]ryght hand of the Popes Delegate beneath hym sat Doctor Martin, and on the left hand sat Doct. Story the kynges and Queenes Commissioners, which were both Doctours of the Ciuill lawe, and vnderneath them other Doctours, Scribes and Phariseis also, with the Popes Collector and a rablement of such other lyke.
[Back to Top]And thus these Bishops being placed in their Pōtificalibus,
Passages deleted in the 1570 edition explain why the bishops were so formally attired: Brooks was acting as a papal legate (Cranmer could only be tried under papal authority) and the other bishops were dressed as if in the presence of the pope.
Vpon this hee beyng brought more neare vnto the scaffold, where the foresayd Bishops sat, he first well viewed the place of iudgement, and spiyng where the King & Quenes maiesties Proctors were, puttyng of his cap, he first humbly bowing his knee to the groūd, made reuerence to the one, and after to the other. MarginaliaThe Archbi. giueth reuerēce to the Quenes Cōmissioners.
[Back to Top]That done, beholding the Bishop in the face, he put on his bonet agayne, making no maner of token of obedience towards him at all. MarginaliaDoct. Cranmer sheweth no reuerence to the popes delegate.Whereat the Bishop being offended, sayd vnto him, that it might be seeme him right wel, waying the authoritie he did represent, to do hys duetie vnto hym. Whereunto Doctour Cranmer aunswered and sayd, that he had once taken a solemne othe, neuer to consent to the admittyng of the Bishop of Romes authority into this Realme of England agayne, and that he had done it aduisedly, and ment by Gods grace to kepe it, and therfore would commit nothyng either by signe or token, which might argue his consent to the receiuyng of the same, and so he desired the sayd Bishop to iudge of him, and that he did it not for any contempt to his person, which hee could haue bene content to haue honored as well as any of the other, if his Cōmission had come from as good authoritie as theirs. This aūswered he both modestly, wisely, prudently, & patiently, with his cap on his head, not once bowyng nor making any reuerēce to him that represented the Popes person, which was wonderously of the people marked, that was there present and sawe it, and marked it as nye as could be possible.
[Back to Top]WHen after many meanes vsed, thei perceiued that the Archbishop would not moue his bonet, the Bishop proceded in these wordes followyng.
MarginaliaThe Oration of Bish. Brokes.
This is Foxe's mistake; the oration was actually made on 12 Serptember 1555.
And firste, as charitie doeth moue vs, I would thinke good, somewhat to exhort you, and that by the seconde chapiter of S. Iohn in the Apoc: Memor esto vnde excideris, & age pœnitētiam, & prima opera fac. Sin minus. i.
Memor esto vnde excideris & age poenitentiam, & prima opera fac. Sin minus. Remember from whence thou art fallen,[next phrase not translated:'repent']and doe the firste workes. Or if not memor esto itaque unde excideris et age paenitentiam et prima opera fac sin autem ... etc. [See below Page 1766, Column 1, Line 60 and Page 1767, Column 2, Line 33]