duties, whatsoeuer you haue or shall graunt to vs of your deuotion and liberalitie, both by you, and in places vnder your dominion. In witnesse whereof &c. Dated xxviij. of Ianuary. 1425. at S. Albons, the xij. yere of our gouernemēt.

To expresse moreouer and describe the glorious pompe of these princelike prelates in these blynde dayes of Popish religion reignyng then in the church: I thought to adioyne hereunto an other example not much vnlyke, neyther differyng much in tyme, concernyng certayne poore men cited vp, MarginaliaW. Courtney Archb. of Cant.and enioyned straight penaunce by W. Courtney predecessour of the sayd Tho. Arundell, for bringyng litter to hys horse, not in waynes as they should do, but in priuy sackes, in a secret maner vnder their clokes or cotes. For the which so haynous and horrible trespasse, the sayd Archbishop sittyng in hys tribunall seate, did call and cite before hym the said persons (Pro litera. i. for lytter, after hys owne latine) and after their submission enioyned them penaunce. Which penance, what it was, and what were the names of þ^e foresayd parties, here followeth out of the said Archb. registers, both by his own wordes, and by picture of the persons in the same registers annexed and painted, in all resemblaunce, as there standeth and here is also to be sene.MarginaliaEx. Regist. W. Courtney.

Commentary on the Woodcuts     Close

This woodcut, added to the A&M in the 1570 edition, is unusual both for its content and for the fact that it can be compared with the original from which it was taken: namely Archbishop Courtenay's Canterbury register (f. 337v). The delineation of a man performing in 1390 the penance of carrying a load of straw was not the kind of thing to be expected in such a record. For Foxe it served several purposes, including a demonstration of the authoritarian pomp of medieval prelates, the 'Romish prelates' of his title-page; and the proof that his account was derived from authentic records, important among which were the archiepiscopal registers where so much invaluable material was garnered by the martyrologist and his assistants. It is possible that Foxe himself drew this figure. See also commentary on Placement of text and woodcut for his knowledge of this illustration when writing the text. CUL copy: The man is wearing a purple outfit with a blue lining and orange undergarments. Flecks of orange provide detail in the regions of his knees and ankles. The top of the illustration, and the sack are shaded in blue. The ground upon which he walks is light green and there is a thin strip of yellow at the horizon line. WREN copy: in this copy the sack is in white. The outfit is purple but the lining is yellow with orange shading. His undergarment is orange. The ground is brown at the horizon line and brownish-orange in the foreground. His face is crudely whitened, although there is some attempt to detail a flush to the cheeks, lips and earlobes.

MarginaliaEx Registro W. Courtney.ERroris mater ignorantia, quosdam Hugonem Pennie, Iohannem Forstall, Iohannem Boy, Iohannem Wanderton, Gulielnium Hayward, & Iohannem White, Tenentes domini de Wengam taliter obcœcauit, quod ante aduentum dicti domini Archiepiscopi ad palatium suum Cantuariæ in vigilia dominice in ramis palmarū, anno domini millesimo trecentesimo nonagesimo, de cariando & ducendo ad dictum palatium, fœnum, stramen, siue literam, MarginaliaMarke ye Grā;marians litera for littour.prout ex tenura terrarum, & tenura suorum quas & quæ tenent de domino & ecclesia sua Cantuariæ astringuntur per balliuum domini ibidem iussi & legitime præmoniti debita seruitia more solito impendere dedignantes, stramen huiusmodi non in carrucis & vehiculis publice in sufficienti quā;titate, sed modice in saccis sub latibulo, pontificis ad palatium prædictum perduxerunt, in vilipendium domini ac subtractionem iurium ecclisiæ suæ Cantuar. Vnde super hoc euocati coram domino, die Iouis in hebdomada Paschæ in castro suo de Statewode pro tribunali sedente personaliter comparentes, ipsius iudicio in hac parte se humiliter submiserunt, veniam & misericordiam pro cōmissis deuote petendo. Et deinde dominus præfatus, Hugonem Pennie, Iohannem Forstall, Iohannem Boy, Iohannem Wanderton, Gulielnium Hayward, & Iohannem White, de stando mandatis ecclesiæ, & fideliter peragendo pœnam eis pro eorum demeritis iniungendam, iuratos absoluit in forma iuris, nunciata eis & eorum cuilibet, pro modo culpæ pœna salutari: videlicet, quòd die dominica tunc proximè sequente, prædicti pœnitentes nudi capita & pedes, processionem apud ecelesiam collegiatam de Wengham faciendam cum singulis saccis super humeris suis palam portantes (plenis videlicet fœno & stramine) ita quòd stramen & fœnum huiusmodi ad ora saccorum patentium intuentibus prominerent, lentis incessibus procederent humiliter & deuotè. MarginaliaEx Regist. W. Courtney Arch. Cant.In English.

IGnoraunce the mother of errour so much hath blinded and deceaued certaine persons, to witte, Hugh Penny, Iohn Forstal, Iohn Boy, Iohn Wanderton, Williā; Hayward, and Iohn White, tennantes of the Lord of Wengham: that agaynst the comming of the aforesayd Archbyshop to hys palace of Canterbury on Palmes Sonday euen, the yeare of our Lord. 1390. where they beyng warned by the Baylife, to conuey and cary hay, straw, and other littour to the aforesayd palace, as they were bounde by the tenour of their landes, which they hold of the sea of Canterbury:MarginaliaPenaunce enioyned for bringing straw to my L. horse.refusing and disdayning to doe their due seruice, as they were accustomed, brought their straw and other littour, not in cartes and waynes openly and sufficiently, but by peece meale, & closely in bagges or sackes, in contempt of their Lord & derogation of the right and title of the sea of Canterbury. Wherupon they being ascited and presented before the archbyshop, sitting in iudgement at his manour of Statewood, yelded and submitted themselues to his lordships pleasure, humbly crauing pardon of their trespasse.MarginaliaExcommunication & absolution abused.Then the aforesayd Archbishop absolued the aboue named Hugh Penny. &c. they swearing to obey the lawes and ordinaunce of holy Church, and to do the punishment that should be appointed them for their desertes, that is: that they going laysurely before the procession, euery one of them should cary opēly on hys shoulder, his bag stuffed with hay and straw, so that the said hay and straw should appeare hanging out, the mouthes of the sackes beyng open.

MarginaliaNotes of this kings parliamentes.To proceede now further in the raigne of this king,  

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Parliament Rolls for the reign of Henry IV

Foxe added this material on Parliamentary legislation curtailing papal jurisdiction to the 1570 edition and it remained unchanged in subsequent editions. Foxe's purpose in reproducing this material was fairly straightforward; he wished to demonstrate that papal claims to secular jurisdiction had been challenged even in the centuries before Luther. Unsurprisingly, Foxe drew much of this material from the Parliament Rolls. (See Rotuli Parliamentorum, ed. J. Strachey et al., 6 vols. {London, 1783], III, pp. 419, 594, 595 and 614-16). Foxe had access to the Rolls, which were part of the Tower Records, through his friend William Bowyer, who was effectively Keeper of the Tower Records from 1563-1570. But Foxe also drew the bill to deprive the church of its temporalities, which was advanced in the 1410 Parliament, from Robert Fabian's chronicle (see The chronicle of Fabian [London, 1555], STC 10664, pp. 386-7). Interestingly, Foxe also cites Thomas of Walsingham's chronicle as a source for the bill. Walsingham mentions the bill, claiming that it misrepresented the wealth of the Church, but he does not print it (see Thomas of Walsingham, Historia Anglicana, ed. H. T. Riley, 2 vols., Rolls Series 28 {London, 1864-5], II, pp. 282-3).

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Moreouer, forsomuch as our Catholike papistes wyll not beleue yet the contrary, but that the iurisdiction of their father the Pope hath euer extended throughout all þ^e world, as well here in England as in other places: here therfore speaking of the parliaments holden in this kings dayes ccōerning this matter, I referre them to the Parliament of ō sayd king Henry in his first yeare holden, and to the 27. article of the same. MarginaliaThe popes iurisdiction excluded out of thys realme.Where they may read in the x. obiectiō layd agaynst king Richard in playne wordes: how that, for as much as the crowne of this realme of England, and the iurisdiction belonging to the same, as also the whole Realme itselfe, at all tymes lately past, hath bene at such lybertie, & enioyed such prerogatiue, that neither the Pope, nor any other out of the same kingdome, ought to intrude hymselfe, nor intermedle therein: it was therefore obiected vnto the forenamed king Richard the secōd for procuring the letters Apostolicall from the Pope, to the confirming and coroborating of certaine statutes of his, & that his censures might be prosecuted agaynst the breakers thereof. Which seemed then to the Parliament, to tende agaynst the crowne and regall dignitie, as also against the statutes & liberties ofthe sayd this our Realme of England. Act. Parl. an. 1. Reg. Henrici. 4. Act. 27.MarginaliaEx Anno. 1. Reg. Henrici. 27.

MarginaliaAn. 1. Reg. Henr. 4. act. 29.Furthermore, in the second yeare of the said king, thys was in the Parliament required, that all such persons as shalbe arested by force of the statute made agaynst the Lollardes in the 2. yeare of Henry. 4. may be bayled, and freely make their purgation: That they be arested by none other then by the Sheriffes or such like officers, neither that any hauocke be made of their goods. The king graunted to take aduise therein.

MarginaliaAn. 8. Reg. Hēri. 4. Act. 116.In the viij. yeare moreouer of this kings raigne, it was likewise propounded in the Parliament, that all such persons as shall procure or sue in the court of Rome any proces touching any benefice, collation, or presentation of the same, shal incurre the payne of þ^e statute of prouisors, made in the 13. yeare of Richard. 2. whereunto the kyng graunted, that the statutes herefore prouided, should be obserued.

MarginaliaAn. 8. Reg. Hen. 4. act. 114.Item, in the sayd Parliament, there it was put vp by petition, that the king might enioy halfe the profites of euery parsons benefice, who is not resident theron. Thereun