MarginaliaAnno. 1556. Iuly.certaine Acte and Sentence, the summe whereof was that Katherine Cawches and her. ij. daughters were found heretikes,MarginaliaKatherine Cawches, Perrotine Massey, Guillemine Guilbert, wrongfully condemned by the Deane and Iustices. and such they reputed them, and haue deliuered them to Iustice, to doe execution, accordyng to the Sentence, of the whiche the tenour foloweth.

MarginaliaThe vniust sentence of the Deane against the 3. Martyrs.AN. dom. millesimo, quingentesimo, quinquagesimo sexto, die vero. xiij. mensis Iulij apud Ecclesiam diui Petri in portu maris insula promotor. per nos Dominum Decanum inquisitio facta fuit de fide Catholica, & super Sacramenta Ecclesiastica, videlicet super Sacramentum Baptismi, confirmationis, pœnitentiæ, ordinis Matrimonij Eucharistiæ, & extremæ vnctionis, nec non super ceremonias Ecclesiæ, ac de veneratione & honoratione beatæ Mariæ & sanctorū, de Missa & eius efficacia, & de ceremonijs Ecclesiæ, videlicet Katherinæ Cawches, eiusdemq; duarum filiarum Guilleminæ & Parotinæ nuncupatarum, & harum tam coniunctim quam separatim & via iuris. Et quamuis pluries ad veniam petendam, & ad delicta sua cognoscenda *Marginalia* Solœicismus catholicus.hortauimus & inuitauimus, quæ quidē prædicta omnino negauerunt & negant, quod locutæ fuerunt aliquod verbum inane, inhonestum, ociosum, & vanum contra fidem Catholicam, Sacramenta Ecclesiæ, & alias ceremonias Ecclesiæ. Quapropter auditis negationibus prædictarum, & attestationibus & depositionibus testium per nos visis, consideratis, & bene ponderatis, & per opiniones Curatorum & Vicariorum ibidem assistentiun super easdem Katherinam & Parotinam, nec non & Guilleminam crimine hereticas inuenimus & reputamus. Quapropter coram vobis Domino Balliuo omnino remittimus vt antea remissimus. Thomas le Coll de mandato, Iohn Alles, Guillielmus Panquet, Petrus Tardise, & Iohannes Manatiell.

When this was done, commaundement was geuen to the kinges officers, to go to the Castle to fetche the said woman, to heare the sentence againste them in the presence aforesaid. And they appearyng before them, said in the eares of all the auditorie, that they would se

their accusars, & know them that had deposed againste them, because they might make aunsweres to their sayings and personages and to haue their libel accordingly: for they knew not to haue offended the maiesties of the king and Queene, nor of the Churche, MarginaliaThe three women willing to be conformed to the Queenes ordinaunces, were notwithstandyng condemned.but intierlie would obey, obserue and keepe the ordinaunces of the Kyng and Queene, and of Churche, as all good and true Subiectes are bound to do. And for any breach of the King and Quenes lawes that they had done, they required Iustice. All which their reasons and allegations notwithstāding, the said poore women wre condemned, and adiudged to be burnt, vntil thei were consumed into Ashes, accordyng to a sentence geuen by Elyer Goslyne Bailife: of the whiche sentence the tenour hereafter foloweth.

MarginaliaThe wilfull sentence and murther of Ellyer Gosselyne Bailiffe, against the thre innocent women in Garnesey.THe xvij. (or as some other thinke the xxvij. day) of the moneth of Iuly. 1556. Elier Gosselin Bailife in the presence of Thomas Deuicke, Pierres Martine, Nicholas Cary, Iohn Bloundell, Nicholas Deuise, Iohn le Marchaunt, Iohn le Feauer, Pierres Bonamy, Nicholas Martine and Iohn de la March Iurates: Katherine Cowches, Perotine Massey, and Guillemyne Guilbert, the said Perotine and Guillemyne daughters to the said Katherine, are all condemned & iudged this day to be burned, vntill they bee consumed to ashes in the place accustomed, with the confiscation of all their goodes, moueables, and heritages, to bee in the handes of the Kyng and Quenes Maiesties, accordyng and after the effect of a sentence deliuered in Iustice, by master Deane & the Curats the xiij. day of the moneth of Iuly, in the yeare aforesaid, in the which they haue bene approued heretickes.

After which sentence pronounced, MarginaliaThe mother with her twoo daughters made their appeale to the king & Quene, but could not be heard.the saide women did appeale vnto the Kyng and the Queene, and their honorable Counsell, saiyng that against reason & right they wer condemned, and for that cause thei made their apeale: notwithstandyng they could not be heard, but were deliuered by the saied Bailiffe, to the Kyng and

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Commentary on the Woodcuts     Close

The dreadful account of the three Guernsey martyrs and the baby born and burned in the fire lost nothing in the telling, visual and verbal. This image, one of the most horrific in the book, comes from the hand recognizable in various of the smaller woodcuts (Type 1). The image is not a close transcription of Foxe's text (that of 1570 adding to 1563), which states that the women were tied to three stakes, the mother, Katherine Cawches being in the middle, and her elder daughter Perotine Massey, who was pregnant, on the right. Insecurely chained, the victims collapsed into the fire, and Perotine fell on her side before she gave birth. The steely detachment of the officials at the fire - two on the right positively debonair in their stance, while the two priests on the left seem to be giving dire instructions - could have done nothing to assuage the angry opponents who impugned Foxe's veracity and good faith in telling this story. This is a scene in which spectators play no part, their presence being only suggested by the line of heads behind the staves of the halberdiers. The framing line of this cut was already damaged in 1570.