gate of the Apstolike sea both in goyng and commyng, I shal honorably entreate and helpe him in all necessities. Beyng called to a Synode I shalbe ready to come, unlesse I be let by some lawful and canonicall impechement. The palace of the Apostles euery thyrd yeare I shall visite either by my selfe, or my messenger, except otherwise beyng licensed by the sea Apostolique. All such possessions as belong to the table and dyet of my Byshoprike: I shall neither sell, nor geue, nor lay to morgage, nor leise out, or remoue away by any maner of meanes, MarginaliaAnd how be not those byshops then periured which at the death of Q. Mary, set & let out a great part of their possessions, frō their successors.without the consent and knowledge of the Byshop of Rome, so God helpe me and the holy Gospels of God.

☞ Hereby hast thou by the way (gentle Reader) to note and cōsider among other thyngs which here may be vnderstand, that since the tyme the othe began to be layd & thrust vpon Byshops, all generall Councels began to lose their libertie. For how could any fredome remayne for men to speake their knowledge in redresse of thyngs: beyng by their othe so bounde to the Pope to speake nothyng but on his side, to maintaine the Papacie & the church of Rome in all tymes and places. Coniecture by thy selfe (Christē Reader) what is more hereby to be considered.

BEsides this it was also decreed in the sayd Councell at Rome of 310. Byshops, by Pope Alexander: that no mē should haue any spirituall promotiō, except he were of lawfull age, & borne in wedlock. That no Parish church should be voyde aboue vi. monethes. That none within orders should medle with temporall busines. That Priests should haue but one benefice. And that the Bishop should be charged to finde the Priest a liuyng, till he be promoted.

That open vsurers should not cōmunicate at Easter, nor be buried within the Churchyard.

That nothyng should be taken for ministryng Sacramentes, or burying.

Item, that euery cathedrall Church should haue a master to teach children freely, without takyng any thyng for the same.

MarginaliaThe vowe of chastitie layd vpō priestes.In this Councell the vowe of chastitie was obtruded and layd vpon Priestes. Thomas Becket also, and Bernard were canonised for Saintes.

Duryng the raigne and tyme of this kyng Henry the second: the City of Norwige was destroyed and brent by the men of Flaunders. Also the towne of Leycester. Notingham wasted, and the Burgeses slayne by the Earle of Ferers. The towne of Barwike destroyed by the Scots. The kyng of Scots was taken in warre by Englishmen, an. 1174. The towne of Huntington taken & burned. The towne of Canterbury by casualtie of fire, brent with all the Churches, specially with the Trinitie church, where Becket was woorshipped, an. eod. The yeare of our Lord. 1170. Williā kyng of Scots with Dauid his brother, and all the Barons of the realme dyd homage to the kyng of Englād. Ireland made subiect to England. Decreed in a Councell in Normandy, that no boyes or children should possess any benefice. A Coūcell of Lateran was holdē at Rome, where were. 33. articles concluded, an, 1179. The French kyng came in pilgrimage to Thomas Becket, the kyng of England meetyng him by the way. An. 1184. MarginaliaRichardus
Baldwinus
Archbishop of Canterb.After the death of Richard Archbishop of Canterbury, who followed after Thomas Becket, succeeded Baldwinus, who of a Cistercian Monke beyng made a byshop, is sayd neuer to eate flesh in his lyfe. To whom a certaine poore woman (bare and leane) meetyng him in the streete: desired to know of hym whether it were true þ^t was sayd of him, that be neuer eate flesh. Which thyng when he affirmed to be true: Nay, sayth she that is false: for ye haue eaten my flesh vnto the bone. For I had but one cow wherwith I was susteined, and that hath your Deanes taken from me. True, true sayd the Byshop, and thou shalt haue an other Cow as good as that. &c. Iornalens.

Moreouer, in the raigne of the sayd king Henry, about the yeare of our Lord. 1178. I find in the story of Rog. Houeden and other, that in the Citie of Tolouse was a great multitude of men and women, whom the Popes Commissioners, to witte, Peter Cardinall of S. Crisogom. and the Popes Legate: with the Archbyshops of Narbone & Bituriensis: Reginald Byshop of Bathe, Iohn Byshop of Pictauia, Henry Abbot of Clareuallēsis. &c. did persecute and condemne for heretickes: Of whom some were scourged naked, some chased away, some cōpelled to abiure. Concernyng whose articles & opinions I haue no firme ground to make any certayne relatiō: for somuch as I see the Papistes ma-ny tymes so false in their quarelyng accusations, vntruly collecting mens sayinges, not as they ment, and meanyngs, not as they sayd: but wrestyng and deprauyng simple mens assertions after such a subile sorte as they list themselues to take them. But this I finde how one of the sayd commissioners or Inquisitors (Henry the Abbot) in a certaine letter of his, writ thus of them: Nam & panem sanctum vitæ æternæ sace dotis ministerio in verbo Domini consecratium non esse corpus Domini, nouo dogmate contendebat asserere. That is: After a newe opinion he affirmed, that the holy bred of eternall life, consecrated by the ministery of the Priest, was not the body of the Lord. &c.

MarginaliaVualdenses sen Pauperes de lugduno Leoniste. Insabbatati.In the tyme of this Alexander sprong vp the doctrine and name of them, whiche were then called Pauperes de lugduno whiche of one waldus a chief Senatour in Lyons were named, Waldenses: Item leonistæ: & Insabbatati: about the yeare of our Lord. 1109, or (as Laziardus writeth) an. 1170.

Marginalia4. Arche pillers of proud papistry.Not long before this tyme (as is expreste aboue) rose vp Gratianus master of the decrees, & Petrus Lombardus, master of the sentence, both archpillers of all Papistry. After whom followed also two as euill, or worse then they, Franciscus and Dominicus, mainteyning blinde hypocrisie, no lesse then the other maintayned proud prelacy. As these labored one way, by superstition and worldly aduauncement to corrupt the sinceritie of Religion: So it pleased Christ the contrary way, laboryng against these, to rayse vp therfore the sayd Valdensians, agaynst the pride and hypocrisie of the other.  

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Waldensians

The Waldensians were of crucial interest and importance to Protestant historians and martyrologists. They traced their origins to Peter Waldo, a wealthy twelfth-century merchant of Lyons, who gave away his money and became a wandering preacher. He began to attract followers, but the ecclesiastical authorities were suspicious and denied Peter and his followers permission to preach. In 1215, the Waldensians were condemned as heretics and this, in turn, radicalized the movement. Much of what is known about the Waldensians comes from reports by Reinerius Saccho (d. 1259), a former Cathar who became an informant for the Inquisition. The Waldensians were almost completely suppressed in southern France but they spread into the Piedmont, northern Italy, southern Germany and Bohemia. Aeneas Sylvius, in his influential history of the Hussites, linked them to the Waldensians. The importance of the Waldensians to Protestant historians stems from their relative antiquity and geographical diffusion. This made them a useful counter-example to Catholic challenges that there were no Protestants before Luther. They were even more useful because, in contrast to the Albigensians, their beliefs were compatible with those of the Reformers. Interestingly, Catholic writers like Reinerius and Aeneas were particularly useful to the Protestants because both groups of writers, albeit for different reasons, wished to emphasize the continuity between the early Waldensians and late medieval heresies.

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Foxe's account of the Waldensians first appeared in his 1563 edition and itwas reprinted without change in subsequent editions. It began with a history of Peter Waldo and the genesis of the Waldensians, which was taken from Matthias Flacius, Catalogus testium veritatis (Strasbourg, 1562), pp. 705-9. The list of Waldensian articles is taken directly from Flacius, although one article, stating that only baptism and communion were sacraments was - accidently? - dropped by Foxe. (Cf. Flacius, Catalogus testium, pp. 709-10). The letter from the Waldensians to the king of Hungary is excerpted from Ortwin Gratius, Fasciculus rerum expetendarum ac fugiendarum (Cologne, 1535), fos. 87v-88r, 92r and 92v-93r. All of the remaining material in the account of the Waldensians is reproduced accurately from scattered items in Flacius, Catalogus testium veritatis, pp. 711-12, 721-7, 757-6 [recte 759], and 760-1. It is worth noting that the one item in this account, the letter to the king of Hungary, not from Flacius, argued against any real or corporal presence of Christ in the sacramental bread. This belief was offensive enough to Flacius not to print (Flacius was well aware of Gratius's book) and important enough to Foxe for him toinsert it into the other material Flacius had provided on the Waldensians.

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Thomas S. Freeman
University of Sheffield

Thus we neuer see any great corruptiō in the Church, but that some sparkle, yet of the true light of the Gospell, by Gods prouidence doth remaine. What soeuer Doctour Augustinus, Reinerius, Siluius, Cranzius with other in their Popish historyes, do write of them (diffamyng them through misreporte) and accusing them to Magistrates, as disobedient to orders, rebels to the Catholicke Church, and contemners of the virgine Mary: Yet they that cary iudgement indifferent, rather trustyng truth then waueryng with tymes, in weying their Articles, shall finde it otherwise: that they maintained nothyng els, but the same doctrine, which is now defended in the Church. And yet I suppose not contrary, but as they did with the Articles of Wickliffe, and Hus: so the Papistes did in lyke maner with their articles also, in gatheryng and wrastyng them otherwise then they were ment.

MarginaliaThe history of Valdenses or Albingenses.THe first originall of these Valdenses came of one Valdus, a man both of great substaunce, and no lesse callyng in the Citie of Lyons: the occasion wherof is declared of diuers writers, thus to come. About þ^e yeare of the Lord 1160. it chaunced that diuers of the best and chiefest heades of the Citie of Lions, talking and walkyng in a certaine place, after their old accustomed maner, especially in the summer tyme, conferred and consulted together vpon matters, either to passe ouer tyme, or to debate things to be done. Amongest whom it chaunced one (the rest lookyng vpon) to fall downe by sodaine death. In the number of whom this foresayd Valdus there beyng amongest them was one. Who beholdyng the matter more earnestly then the other, and terrefied with so heauy an example, beyng (as is sayd) a rich man, and Gods holy spirite workyng withall: was stroken with a deepe & inward repentaunce, wheruppon folowed a new alteration, with a carefull study to reforme his former lyfe. In somuch that first he begā to minister large almes of his goods, to such as needed. Secondly to instruct him selfe and his family, with the true knowledge of Gods word: Thirdly, to admonish al that resorted to hym, by any occasion, to repentaunce and vertuous amendement of lyfe.

Whereby, partly throughe his large geuing to the poore, partly through his disgent teaching, and wholesome admonitions: more resort of people daily frequented about hym. Whom when he dyd see ready and diligent to learne, began to geue out to them certayne rudiments of the Scripture, which he had translated hymselfe into the French tounge. For as he was a man welthy in riches, so he was also not vnlearned.

Although Laziardus Volateranus, with other: note hym vtterly vnlearned, and charge hym with ignorance, as who should procure other to write and translate for hym. By other that haue sene hys doyngs yet remayning in old parchment monumentes, it appeareth he was both able to declare and translate the bookes of scripture, also did collect