1576 Edition | Book 11 | Page 1832 
MarginaliaExecution of burning in Northfolke done without a writte.MarginaliaAn. 1556. Maye.lour B. Heath, beyng the same tyme at London. Which if it be true, then it is playne, that both they went beyond their Commission, that were the executioners, and also the Clergie whiche were the instigatours thereof, can not make good that they now pretend: saying, that they did nothyng but by a lawe. But this let the Lord finde out, when hee seeth his tyme.
[Back to Top]In the meane tyme, while these good men were at the stake, and had prayed, they sayd their beliefe: and when they came to the recityng of the Catholicke Church, Syr Iohn Silliard spake to them. MarginaliaSyr Iohn Silliardes wordes.That is well sayd Syrs, quoth he. I am glad to heare you say, you doe beleue the Catholicke Church. That is the best word I heard of you yet.
[Back to Top]To which his sayinges, MarginaliaEdmunde Pole refuseth the Popes Church.Edmond Pole aūswered, that though they beleue the Catholicke Church, yet do they not beleue in their popish Church, which is no part of Christes Catholicke Church, and therfore no part of their belief.
When they rose frō prayer, they all went ioyfully to the stake, and beyng bound thereto, and the fire burnyng about them, they praised God in such an audible voyce, that it was wonderfull to all those which stode by and heard thē.
Then one Robert Bacon,MarginaliaRobert Bacon an enemye. dwellyng in the sayd Beckles, a very enemy to Gods truth, and a persecutour of hys people, beyng there present within hearyng thereof, willed the tormentours to throw on Fagots to stoppe the knaues breathes, as he termed them: so hotte was his burnyng charitie. But those good men not regardyng their malice, confessed the truth, and yelded their lyues to the death for the testimony of the same, very gloriously and ioyfully. The which their constancie in the like cause, the Lord graunt we may imitate and follow vnto the end, whether it be death or lyfe to glorifie the name of Christ, Amen.
[Back to Top]And for asmuch as we haue here entred into the persecution of Northfolke and Suffolke, it commeth therfore to mynde by occasion hereof, briefly to touche by the way, some parte (for the whole matter can not be so exprest as it was done (touchyng the troubles of the Townes of Wynson and Mendlesam in Suffolke, raysed and styrred by the sayd Syr Iohn Tyrrell and other Iustices there) of the like affinitie.
CloseNote that in the 1563 edition Sir John Silliard was blamed along with Sir John Tyrrel for this persecution, but that Silliard's name was removed in the 1570 edition. Undoubtedly Foxe was pressured to make this deletion by Silliard or by friends or family of the former sheriff.
CloseThis account was complete in the 1563 edition and - except for the deletion of Silliard's name - was unchanged. It was certainly based on information relayed to Foxe by informants, although the list of causes for the persecution may be based on an official document; if so, Foxe obviously reworded it.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaPersecution at Winston and Mendlesham in Suffolke.BY the procurement of Syr Iohn Tyrrell Knight and other of his Colleagues, there were persecuted out of the Towne of Wynson in Suffolke these persons here after followyng. an. 1556.MarginaliaWynson or Wynston.
Mistres Alyce Twaites Gentlewoman, of the age of
lx. yeares and more, and two of her seruauntes.
Humfrey Smith and his wife.
William Katchpoole and his wife.
Iohn Maulyng and his wife.
Nicholas Burlyngham and his wife.
And one Rought and his wife.
Such as were persecuted and driuen out of the towne of Mendlesam, in the County of Suffolke.MarginaliaThe names of good men persecuted in Suffolke Mendlesam.
CloseSimon Harleston was the brother-in-law of Matthew Parker, who would become the first Elizabethan archbishop of Canterbury. An informer would denounce him to Bishop Bonner as one the leading teachers of heretical doctrine in the Colchester area (1563, p. 1603).
fiue children.
William Whityng
CloseOn 8 May 1556, William Whiting recanted, before the chancellor of the diocese of Norwich, his declaration that the sacrament of the altar was an idol (BL, Harley 421, fos. 175r-176v).
Thomas Dobson
CloseThomas Dobson, the vicar of Orwell, Cambridgeshire, had already been in trouble with the authorities in 1554 for ridiculing the mass (Felicity Heal, 'The Bishops of Ely and their Diocese during the Reformation Period 1515-1600' {Cambridge: 1972], p. 89). Dobson must have fled to Mendlesham after this incident.
[Back to Top]Thomas Hubbard and his wife.MarginaliaGods people persecuted.
Iohn Doncon and his wife and his mayde.
William Doncon.
Thomas Woodward the elder.
One Konnoldes wife.
A poore Widow.
One mother Semons mayde.
CloseMother Seaman is Joan Seaman, the mother of William Seaman, a Mendlesham husbandman who was burned on 19 May 1558. Joan Seaman was driven from Mendlesham and forced to sleep in the open countryside.
Besides those that were constrayned to do agaynst their conscience, by the helpe of the Parishe Priest, whose name was Syr Iohn Brodish.
MarginaliaThe fayth and doctrine of these Confessours.1. FIrst, they did hold and beleue the holy word of God to be the sufficient doctrine vnto their saluation.
2. Secondly, they denyed the Popes vsurped authoritie, and did hold all that Churche of Antichrist to be Christes aduersaries: and further, refused the abused Sacramentes, defied the Masse and all Popishe seruice and ceremonyes, saying they robbed GOD of his honor, and Christ of his death and glory, and would not come at the Church, without it were to the defacyng of that they did there.
[Back to Top]3. Thirdly, they did hold, that the ministers of þe Church, by Gods word might lawfully marry.
4. Fourthly, they held the Queene to be as chief head: and wicked rulers to be a great plague sent of God for sinne. &c.
5. Fiftly, they denyed mans free will, and that the Popes Church did erre, and many other in that poynt with them, rebukyng their false confidence in workes, & their false trust in mans righteousnesse. Also when any rebuked those persecuted for goyng so openly, and talkyng so freely, their aunswere was: they knowledged, cōfessed, & beleeued & therefore they must speake: & þt their tribulatiō was Gods good will and prouidence, and that his iudgementes were right, to punishe them, with other, for their sinnes: and that of very faythfulnesse and mercy GOD had caused thē to bee troubled: So that one heare of their heades should not perish before the tyme: but all thynges should worke vnto the best, to them that loue GOD: and that Christ Iesus was their lyfe and onely righteousnesse, and that onely by fayth in hym, and for his sake, all good thynges were freely geuen them: also forgiuenes of sinnes, and life euerlastyng. MarginaliaWitnessed by the faythfull report of Suffolke men.
[Back to Top]Many of these persecuted, were of great substaunce, and had possessions of their owne.
Geue God the prayse.
CloseThese stories of providential rescues on the seas first appear in the 1570 edition and were, as Foxe states, sent to the martyrologist by a merchant named Thomas Morse. These stories are wonderful examples of the continuing belief among protestants, as well as catholics, of belief in providence and of direct divine intervention in human affairs. (For a magisterial discussion of this point, see Alexandra Walsham, Divine Providence in Early Modern England [Oxford: 1999]).
[Back to Top]MarginaliaA story of Gregory Crow marueilously preserued vpon the sea, with his new Testament.VPon Tuesday after Whitsonday, whiche was the 26. day of May, in this present yeare. 1556. (or els, as he rather thinketh, in the yeare next before, which was. 1555.) a certaine poore man, whose name was Gregory Crow, dwellyng in Malden, went to the Sea, myndyng to haue gone into Kent for fullyng earth, but by the way being foule wether, was driuen vpon a sande, where presently the boate sanke and was full of water: so that the men were forced to hold them selues by the mast of the boate, and al thyngs that would swim did swim out of her. Amongest whiche, Crow saw his Testament in the water, & caught it & put it in his bosome. Now it was ebbyng water, so that within one houre the boate was dry, MarginaliaCrowes boat broken vpon the sand.but brokē so as they could not saue her: but they went them selues vpō the sand (beyng. x. myles at the least from the land) and there made their prayers together, that God would send some shyp that way to saue thē (beyng two men and one Boy in all): for they might not tary vpō the sand but halfe an houre, but it would be floud. In the which tyme they found their chest wherein was money to the summe of v. pound vj. shillinges viij. pence, the which money the mā that was with the sayd Crow (whose name I know not) tooke & gaue it to Crow who was owner therof, MarginaliaCrow taketh his Testament and casteth his money away.and he cast it into the sea saying: if the Lord will saue our lyues, he will prouide vs a lyuing and so they went vppon the maste there hangyng by the armes & legges for the space of. x. houres, MarginaliaThe boy beaten with sea, and drowned.in the which tyme the boy was so weery, and beaten with the Sea, that he fell of and was drowned.
[Back to Top]And when the water was gone agayne, and the sand dry, Crow sayd to his man: It were best for vs to take downe our mastes, and when the floud commeth we will sit vpon them, and so it may please God to bryng vs to some shyp that maye take vs vp. Which thyng they did, and so at. x. of the clocke in the night of the same Tewsday, the floud did beare vp the mast wheupon they sat.
[Back to Top]And vppon the Wedensday in the night the man dyed,MarginaliaCrowes man dead vpon the Maste. beyng ouercome with hunger and watching. So there was none left but this Crow, MarginaliaGregory Crow driuen vpon the Seas sitting vpon a Maste.who driuyng vp and downe in the Sea, callyng vppon God as he could, and might not sleepe for feare that the sea would haue beaten him of.
[Back to Top]So at the length I my selfe (sayth Thomas Morse) beyng laden to Antwarpe with my Crayer, goyng from Lee vpon Friday, hauyng within my Crayer, of Marriners and Marchants, to the number of xlvj. persons, and so commyng to the Foreland, MarginaliaGods prouidence to be noted.the wynd was not very good, so that I was constrayned to go somewhat out of my way, beyng in the after noone about vj. of the clocke, where at the last we saw a thyng a farre of, appearing vnto vs like a small Boy,
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