Marginalia1556. Iune.other part, and sayd (like a lyar) the like to them, that they whom he had bene with before, had recanted, & should therfore not suffer death, counsellyng them to do the like, and not wilfully to kill themselues, but to play the wise men &c.

Vnto whom they aunswered as their brethren had done before, þ^t their fayth was not builded on man, but on Christ and his sure word &c.

Now when hee saw it booted not to perswade (for they were, God be praysed, surely grounded on the rocke Iesus Christ) he then led them to the place where they should suffer, and beyng all there together, most earnestly they prayed vnto God, and ioyfully went to the stake and kissed it & embraced it very hartely.

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The largest multiple burning to be depicted was of a group of individuals nearly all of whom came from Essex, the county preeminent for its godliness in Foxe's estimation. The thirteen are accurately represented, with the men in groups of four and three bound to the three stakes, and the two women shown unattached as described. It is an unusually animated scene, which the tree and embanked enclosure indicate as taking place in a rural setting. At the back and sides people peer over the surrounding bank and two men on the right seem about to throw themselves towards the outstretched hands of those already chained to the stake, surrounded by the towering pile of faggots. In front the two women joining the men are saying last farewells in the face of the pikeman. There is a sense of hubbub, with the onlookers of both sexes praying and reaching towards the unlit pyre. The two married women, aged 26 and about 30 (the latter reportedly pregnant) are shown making their way into the pile of faggots, seemingly an extrapolation from the statement that when the men were bound to the stakes they were 'loose in the midst without any stake'. The illustrator seems to have tried to show something of the age differential of the group (three of whom were 50 and the rest in their twenties or thirties): the face of the man praying (front right, above attendant putting on fuel) is distinctly lined and careworn as compared with those behind him.

MarginaliaTwo women standing at the stake vnbound.The eleuen men were tyed to three stakes, and the two women lose in the middest without any stake, and so were they all burnt in one fire, with such loue to eche others, and constauncie in our Sauiour Christ, that it made all the lookers on to maruell. The Lord graunt vs the lyke grace, in the like neede, accordyng to the good pleasure of his will, Amen.

In the company of these foresayd xiij. were three more condemned to dye,  

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The writs authorizing the executions of Freeman, Stannard and Adams, dated 13 June 1556, survive (pro c/85/127/21).

Which three aunswered to those Articles that were propounded vnto the sayd xiij. in effect as they did. MarginaliaThese iij. were dispensed withall by the Cardinall.And beyng thus in the handes of the secular power, Cardinall Poole sent his dispensation for their lyues, by what occasion I can not safely say, but by meanes thereof they then escaped. The copy of whiche dispensation because it is exemplified in our former Impression,  

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This dispensation was printed in the 1563 edition and then deleted, almost certainly to save paper. Foxe copied the dispensation from the copy in Bishop Bonner's register (Guildhall Libray, MS 9531/12, fo. 430r-v).

MarginaliaThe sclaunders of Fecknam reproued.The Sonday after these foresayd xvj. were condemned, Fecknam Deane of Paules Preached at Paules Crosse, where he declared, that they had as many sondry opinions, as there were sondry persons. At the hearyng wherof, they drue out their fayth, and set to their handes as hereafter followeth, and directed the same to their frendes, and the faithfull congregation, as followeth.  

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John Strype printed a copy of this apology in his Ecclesiastical Memorials (III, 2, pp. 469-71). He states that it came from Foxe's manuscripts; however, it no longer survives.

BE it manifest to all, vnto whom this our certificate shall be sene, that where vpon Saterday, beyng the xiij. day of

MarginaliaA Letter or Apologie of the Martyrs purging them selues of the false sclaūder of M. Fecknam.Iune, at Fulham before the Byshoppe of London, xvi. of vs (whose names here vnder are subscribed) were condemned to dye for the most pure and sincere truth of Christes veritie: whiche most Godly truth hath bene from the begynnyng, with the wicked aduersaries thereof continually defaced, and is by the Deuill and his impes euen at this present likewise dayly sclaūdered. Vpon which occasion, dearely beloued brethren, we are moued, yea constrayned, in the eares of all men to manifest our beliefe, and also briefly the Articles wherefore we are condemned, for the auoydyng of false reportes and sclaunderous tounges, whiche might happen by the most vngodly and vncharitable Sermon, late Preached at Paules crosse the xiiij. day of the sayd moneth, beyng Sonday, by Maister Fecknam, now Deane of the same Churche: where he in that most worthy audience defamed vs to be in xvj. sundry opinions, whiche were a thyng preiudiciall to all Christian veritie: and for a true testimoniall therof, this here vnder written shal aunswere our cause, and therfore we pray you that are of God to iudge.

MarginaliaVniforme agreement in their fayth.The first, we beleue we were Baptised in the fayth of Christes Church, and incorporate vnto him, & made members of his Churche, in the whiche fayth we continue. And although we haue erred for a certaine time, yet the roote of fayth was preserued in vs by the holy ghost, which hath reduced vs into a full certainetie of the same, and we do persist, and will by Gods assistance to the end. Now marke, that although the Minister were of the Churche malignaunt, yet his wickednes did not hurt vs, for that he Baptised vs in the name of the Father, the Sonne, and the holy Ghost.

MarginaliaThe profession of their Baptisme.There was both the worde and the element, and our Godfathers and Godmothers renouncyng for vs the Deuill and all his woorkes, and confessyng the Articles of the Christian fayth for vs, and also witnesses that we were Baptised, not in the fayth of the Church of Rome, but in the