MarginaliaAn. 1556. Aprill.¶ The storye of Iohn Harpole, of the parishe of Saint Nicholas in Rochester,  

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The Martyrdom of Harpole and Beach

According to the writ authorizing his execution, Harpole was from Tunbridge, not Rochester (PRO, C/85/144, fo. 34).

Ioane Beach wydowe, of Tunbridge, Martyrs.  

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In the 1563 edition, Foxe just stated that Harpole and Beach were burned in Rochester on 1 April 1556. This entire account first appeared in the 1570 edition and was based entirely on material taken from the register of Maurice Griffins, bishop of Rochester, which Foxe must have consulted between 1563 and 1570 (see 1570, p. 2086; 1576, p. 1700 and 1583, p. 1406). Only fragments of this register survive andthese documents are now lost.

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MarginaliaIohn Harpole, Ioane Beach, Martyrs.TOuchyng the examination of Ioane Beache wydowe, and of Iohn Harpole within the Dioces of Rochester, by Maurice B. of þ^e sayd Dioces, remēbraunce was made before in the story of Nicholas Hall, Pag. 1591. wherin was declared the foure articles Consistoriall of the Bishop, obiected and layd, as vnto the said Nich. Hall and his company, so also to this Ioane Beach wydow: wherof the first was this.

MarginaliaEx Regist. Articles layd to Ioane Beacch.1 That she was of the parish of Tunbridge, in the Dioces of Rochester.

2 Item that all persons which preache, teache, beleeue, or say otherwise or contrary to that their mother holy Catholike Churche of Christ, are excommunicate persons and heretikes.

3 Item, that the sayde Ioane Beach hath and yet doth affirme, mainteyne, and beleue contrarye to the sayde mother holy Churche of Christe, videlicet, that in the blessed Sacrament of the Aultar, vnder forme of bread and wyne, there is not the verye bodye and bloud of our Saueour in substaunce, but onely a token and a memoriall thereof: and that the very body and bloud of Christ is in heauen, and not in the sacrament.

4 Item, that shee hath bene, and yet is, amongest the parishioners of Tunbridge, openly noted, and vehemētly suspected to be a sacramentary, and heretike.

MarginaliaAunsweres of Ioane Beach, to the Articles.TO the which foresaid articles, her answeres were these: First, that shee was and is of the saide parishe of Tunbridge in the Dioces of Rochester.

2 That al persons which doo preach or holde otherwise & contrary to that, which the holy catholike church of Christ dooth, are to be reputed for excommunicate and heretikes: MarginaliaThe Catholicke Church no mother.addyng withal, that neuerthelesse shee beleueth not the holy Catholike church to be her mother, but beleueth only the father of heauen to be her father.

3 Thirdly, that she hath, and yet dooth veryly beleue, holde, and affirme, in the Sacramente of the Aultar vnder fourmes of bread and wyne, not to be the verye bodye and bloud of our Saueour in substaunce, but onely a token and remembraunce of his death to the faythfull receyuer, and that his body and substaunce is onely in heauen, and not in the Sacrament.

4 Lastly, as touchyng howe shee hath bene or is noted and reputed among the parishners of Tunbridge, shee said, shee could not tel: howbeit shee beleued, shee was not so taken and reputed.

THe like matter, and the same foure Articles were also the same present tyme and place ministred to Iohn Harpole by the foresayde Bishop Maurice: who, after the like aunsweares receyued of hym, as of the other before, adiudged and condemned them both together to death, by one fourme of sentence, accordyng to the tenour and course of their seueral sentence, which ye may reade before in maister Rogers story, pag. 1417.

MarginaliaThe Martyrdome of Iohn Harpole, and Ioane Beach, at Rochester. Anno. 1556. Aprill. 1.And thus these two Christian Martyrs coupled in one confession, being condemned by the Bishop, suffered together at one fire, in the towne of Rochester, where they together ended their lyues about the first day of this present moneth of April.

¶ Iohn Hullyer Minister and Martyr.  

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John Hullier

All the 1563 edition does is to state that Hullier was burned in Cambridge about 2 April 1556. This brief introduction to Hullier's letters shows that by the time the 1570 edition was being printed, Foxe had acquired no firther information on Hullier's life and death. Eventually he would acquire such information, which came from witnesses to Hullier's execution (see 1570, pp. 2196-7; 1576, and 1583, p. 2004).

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MarginaliaIohn Hullier, Martyr.NExt after these ensueth the martyrdome of Iohn Hullyer Minister, who first beyng brought vp in the schole of Eaton, was afterward scholler, and then Conduct in the Kinges Colledge at Cambridge, and in the same Vniuersitie of Cambridge, suffered vnder Doctour Thurlby Bishop of Ely, and his Chauncellour, for the sincere settyng out of the light of Gods gracious Gospell reuealed in these our dayes. In whose behalfe this is to be lamented, that among so many freshe wyttes and styrryng pennes in that Vniuersitie, so litle matter is leaft vnto vs, touchyng the processe of his iudgement, and order of his sufferyng, which so innocently gaue his lyfe in suche a cause, among the myddest of them.  

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Shortly after this appeal was written, and before it was even printed, Foxe did receive an account of Hullier's martyrdom apparently gathered by none other than one of Cambridge's most famous scholars, William Fulke (see 1570, pp. 2196-7; 1576, and 1583, p. 2004).

day of this present moneth of April. MarginaliaAnno. 1556. Aprill. 2.

¶ Letters of M. Iohn Hullier Minister.  

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Hullier's Letters

Hullier's second letter and his prayer first appeared in the Rerum (pp. 538-42). His first letter was first printed in Letters of the Martyrs (pp. 517-22). In the 1570 edition, both of his letters were reprinted but his prayer was deleted. No further changes were made to this material in subsequent editions. A letter of Hullier to his Cambridge congregation, which was never printed by Foxe or Bull, is ECL 260, fos. 153r-156v.

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¶ A letter of Iohn Hullier to the Christian congregation, exhortyng them faithfully to abide in the doctrine of the Lorde.  

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This letter was first printed in Letters of the Martyrs, pp. 517-22. Incomplete manuscript copies survive in Foxe's papers: ECL 260, fos. 157r-159v, 173r-v and 207r-v.

MarginaliaA letter exhortatory of Iohn Hullier, to the flocke of the faythfull christians.IT standeth nowe most in hande (O deare Christians) all them that looke to be accounted of Christes flocke at that great and terrible day, when a separatiō shal be made of that sort that shalbe receyued, from the other which shall be refused, faithfully in this time of great afflictions, to heare our Maister Christes voyce, the onely true sheephearde of our soules, which saith: MarginaliaMath. 24.Who soeuer shall endure to the ende, shall be safe. For euen now is that great trouble in hande (as here in Englande we may wel see) that our Saueour Christ spake of so long before, which should folow the true and sincere preachyng of his Gospell. Therefore in this tyme we must needes eyther shewe that we be his faythfull souldiers, and continue in his battayle, vnto the ende, puttyng on the armour of God,MarginaliaEphe. 6. 1. Thess. 5. the buckler of fayth, the brest plate of loue, the helmet of hope and saluatiō, and the sword of his holy worde (which we haue heard plentifully) with al instaunce of supplication and prayer: or els if we doo not worke and labour with these, we are Apostataes and false souldiers, shrinkyng most vnthankfully from our gracious and soueraigne Lorde and Captayne Christ, and leanyng to Belial. For as he saith plainely: MarginaliaLuke. 14.Who soeuer beareth not my crosse and foloweth me, he can not be my disciple. And MarginaliaMath. 6.no man can serue two maisters: for either he must hate the one, and loue the other, or els he shall leane to the one, and despise the other. The which thyng the faythfull Prophet Helias signified when he came to the people, and sayd: Marginalia3. Reg. 18.Why halt ye betweene two opinions? If the Lord be God, folow hym, or if Baal be he, then folowe hym.

Nowe let vs not thinke, but that the same was recorded in writyng for our instruction, whom the endes of the worlde are come vpon, as the Apostle Saint Paule sayth: MarginaliaRom. 15.Whatsoeuer thyngs are written aforehand, they are written for our learnyng. If Christ be that onely good and true Sheephearde that gaue his lyfe for vs, then let vs that beare his marke, and haue our consciences sprinkeled with his bloud, folowe all together for our saluation his heauenly voyce and callyng, accordyng to our profession and first promise. But if we shall not so doo, certaynely (say what we can) although we beare the name of Christ, yet we be none of his sheepe in deede. For he sayth very manifestly: MarginaliaIohn. 10.My sheepe heare my voyce, and folow me: a straunger they wil not folowe, but wyll flee from hym, for they knowe not the voyce of a straunger.

Therfore let euery man take good heede in these perilous dayes (whereof we haue had so much warnyng aforehand) that he be not begyled by the goodly outward shew & appearance, as Eue was of our old subtile enimy, whose crafte & wilynes is so manifold & diuers, & so ful of close windyngs, MarginaliaThe wilines of the subtile Serpent.that if he can not bring him directly & the playne strait way to cōsent to his suggestions, then he wil allure hym & wynd him in by some other false waies (as it were by a traine) þ^t he shal not perceiue it, to deceyue hym w^tall, & to steale from hym that goodly victorie of þ^t incorruptible & eternal crowne of glory, which no mā els can haue, but he that fighteth lawfully:Marginalia2. Tim. 2. as at this present day, if he cā not induce him thorowly as other doo, to fauor his deuilish religiō, & of good wil & free hart, to helpe to vpholde þ^e same, yet he wil enuegle hym to resort to his wicked & whorish schoolehouse, & at the lest wise, to be cōuersant & keepe cōpany w^t his cōgregatiō there & to hold his peace & say nothing, what soeuer he thinke so that he be not a diligent souldier & a good labourer on Christes side, to further his kingdome: by that subtile meanes flatteryng hym that he shall both saue his lyfe, and also his goods, & lyue in quiet. But if we looke wel on Christes holy will & testamēt, we shall perceyue þ^t he came not to make any suche peace vppon earth nor yet that he gaue any suche peace to his Disciples: MarginaliaMath. 10. Iohn 14. 15. 16. The peace of Christ to them that sustayne the troubles of this worlde. Luke. 14.I leaue peace with you (saith he) my peace I geue you, not as the world geueth it, geue I vnto you. let not your hart be troubled, nor feareful. These thinges haue I spokē vnto you, that in me ye should haue peace. In the world ye shal haue affliction, but be of good cheare, I haue ouercome the worlde. The seruaunt is not greater then his Lord and maister: if they haue persecuted me, they shal also persecute you. If any man come to me, and hateth not his own father & mother, wife, children, sisters, yea, and moreouer his owne life, it is not possible for him to be my disciple. Blessed be ye that nowe weepe, for ye shall laugh: and wo be vnto you that now laugh, for ye shall mourne & weepe. He that wyll finde his life, shal loose it.