councellors had bene about him, if all they which dyd accuse and moleste hym, had not bene de via realium, as Thomistes, that is, of the secte of thomas:MarginaliaDiscorde betwixt Reals & Nominals. whiche Thomistes were set at that time, agaynst the other sect of þe seculars, which were called Nominales, and therfore, they so spyted thys Doctour because he did not hold with their Thomas, agaynst whom otherwise (had it not bene for that cause( they would neuer haue bene so fierce and malicious in procedyng agaynst him. I take God to witnesse
This entire quotation, regarding contemporary disapproval of Ruceruth's trial, is taken directly from Matthias Flacius, Catalogus testium veritatis (Strasbourg, 1562), p. 560.
MarginaliaDoct. Iohn de Wesalia reuoketh his opinions. Although this aged
This paragraph was added in the 1570 edition in response to Nicholas Harpsfield's claim that Ruceforth was not a tue martyr because he did not die violently. (See Nicholas Harpsfield, Diaogi sex contra summi pontificatus, monasticae vitae, sanctorum Sacrarum imaginum oppugnatores et pseudomartyres [Antwerp, 1566}, p. 822). Foxe wanted to emphasize that Ruceruth was a victim of persecution.
[Back to Top]As touchyng the reygne of this Fridericke Emperour, seyng we haue comprehended hetherto sufficiently the most principall matters in his tyme incurrent, we will now passe forward (the Lorde guidyng vs) to Maximilian, after I haue first geuen a brief memorandum of iij. valiaunt princes and captaines florishing in the same tyme of this Fridericke, in Germanie:MarginaliaAlbert duke of Saxonie, called Dextera manus Imperij. of the whiche, one was Albert Duke of Saxonie, who for his renowmed and famous actes, was called by publique voyce, Dextera manus Imperii. The right hand of the Empire.MarginaliaAlbert Marques of Brādenburg, called Achilles Germanicus. The other was Albert. Marques of Brandenburge, to whom also the name was attributed, named of Pope Pius to be Achilles Germanicus. The third was Friderick Earle Palatine, surnamed Victoriosus, who manfully defended the fredome and maiestie of the Empire, from the fraudulent oppressions of the popes tyrannie.
[Back to Top]Marginalia1484.
The abhomination of Pope Sixtus. In the yeare of our Lord. 1484, in this Emperors tyme dyed Pope Sixtus, the. iiij. a litle before touched, a monster rather of nature, then a prelate of the churche
The material on Sixtus IV - including the pasquinades - is taken entirely from John Bale's Catalogus, pp. 602-4 and 624-5.
I.e., the prostitutes paid a tax every July.
MarginaliaThe warres of Pope Sixtus. Iohn Carion also speakyng of this Byshop, witnesseth hym to be a mā rather borne to warre, then to Religiō: For he warred agaynst Vitellius Tiphernates, against þe Florentines, the Venicians, whom he excōmunicated & did not absolue till he dyed: also against Colū nenses, agaynst Ferdinandus king of Apulia, & Duke of Calabria: also against other nations and Princes moe.MarginaliaEx Ioan. Laziardo. lib. Historiæ Vniuersalis cap. 284. Ex Ioan. Laziardo.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaA large gift of the pope to the begging Friers. Of the sayd Pope it is recorded that he was a speciall patron and tutor to all beggyng Friers, grauntyng them to haue and enioy reuenewes in this world, and in the world to come euerlastyng life. Among the which Friers
In the 1563 edition, Foxe printed an account of Alan de Rupe's founding of a rosary and a confraternity in honour of the Virgin Mary and of the vision which inspired it. Foxe drew this account from Bale, but (interestingly) was openly sceptical about it. By 1570, Foxe had checked Bale's source and found that Bale's report was accurate. (See Thomas S. Freeman, 'Offending God: John Foxe and English Protestant Reactions to the Cult of the Virgin Mary' in The Church and Mary, ed. R. N. Swanson, Studies in Church History 39 [Woodbridge, 2004], pp. 232-5).
[Back to Top]Concernyng the institution of this Rosary, there was a booke
The book was Jodocus Beissel, Rosacea augustissime christiferae Maria corona (Antwerp, 1495). The passage quoted (accurately) below, is on sig. b5v .
This fabulous figment, when I read in the centuries of Iohn Bale
I.e. Bale's Catalogus, which was divided into 'centuries'.
Foxe is quoting the story accurately; it is taken from Jodocus Beissel, Rosacea augustissime christiferae Maria corona (Antwerp, 1495), sigs. a4v-a5r.
When the tyme of her labour came, she beyng left desolate alone amōg beastes and hogges, & remēbring this twise holy Rosary, (first instituted sayth the booke by S. Dominicke, and afterward reneued by Alanus) eftsones the holy Virgin was redy and stood by her, and receiued the child at her trauayle, supplying all the partes of a diligent midwyfe:MarginaliaThe detestable impietie and blasphemie of the popishe lying religion. & more ouer causing a priest sodenly to appeare, gaue the child to be Christened, calling it after her owne name, Marianus: & so was she wyfe to Alanus, midwife to Lucia, and Godmother to Marianus. Which story if it be true, then is þe popes Canon, by this example, to be controlled, which permitteth midwiues in tyme of necessitie, to baptise,MarginaliaMendacem memorem esse oportet. seyng the blessed Virgin playing the part her self of a midwife, durst not baptise this child without a priest.
[Back to Top]It foloweth more in the story, that by the helpe of the sayd blessed virgine, this Lucia our Ladies gossip, after her Purification, was restored with her chylde safe to her coūtrey agayne.MarginaliaEx Latino Codice impresso, cui titulus: Rosacea Mariæ Corona. This booke beyng in Latin and printed, beareth this title: Rosacea Augustissimæ Christiferæ Mariæ Corona: and in the fronte it sheweth the name of Iodocus Bisseleius a noble man of Aquine. And this by the occasion of pope Sixtus. Which Sixtus, what a mainteiner of blind superstition he was, by this it appeareth: how filthy in hys lyfe, how cruelly geuen, and all set vpon warre, and what an hater of peace he was, partly by that aforespoken, partly by the ende followyng it may be sene.MarginaliaThe death of Pope Sixtus. 4. For so we read in certain writers, that after this Pope had vnderstanding that Hercules Estensis, Duke of Ferraria, had ioined peace with the Venetians agaynst his will, he was so greued therewyth, that for rācour of mynde, within v. dayes after, he died: whereunto his Epitaph folowyng geueth sufficient record.MarginaliaHere endeth Platina. About whose tyme also dyed Platina a man not vnlearned, but yet a shamefull flatterer and bearer with the wicked lyues of the Popes.
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Non potuit sæuum vis vlla extinguere Sixtum:
Audito tandem nomine pacis obit.
Non potuit sævum ... pacis obit.
J. Barrie Hall
No force was able to obliterate savage Sixtus. He died finally on hearing the word 'peace'.
Sixte iaces tandem, nostri discordia secli,
Sæuisti in superos, nunc Acheronta moue.
Sixte iaces tandem, deflent tua busta cinædi,
Scortaq; lenones, alea, vina, venus.
Sixte jaces tandem ... alea, vina, venus.
J. Barrie Hall
At last you, Sixtus, the discord of our age, are brought low. You raged against the gods above: now set Acheron in motion. At last you are brought low, Sixtus, and your death is bewailed by catamites, harlots, pimps, the dice, the drink, and lust.
Gaude prisce Nero, vincit te crimine Sixtus,
Hic scelus omne simul clauditur, & vitium.
Gaude prisce Nero ... et vitium.
J. Barrie Hall
Rejoice, ancient Nero, Sixtus surpasses you in wickedness. Enclosed here together are every crime and every vice.
But leauing here pope Sixtus with hys verses, and vices, let vs now procede, as we before promised, to enter the story of Maximilian, kepyng notwithstandyng the order of our kynges here in England:MarginaliaThe death of K. Edward 4.
An. 1483. For a litle before the reigne of Maximilian, king Edward the fourth ceased hys life. an. 1483. after he had reigned. 22. yeares.
Apart from the description of Richard III's coronation, which is drawn from Hall's chronicle, Foxe's narrative of the brief reigns of Edward V and Richard III is based entirely on Thomas More's History of King Richard III and Polydore Vergil's Anglica historia. (Although Foxe regarded both historians as Catholics and untrustworthy sources on religious history; on secular affairs he preferred their humanist histories to chronicle accounts). For Richard's seizure of the throne, which is covered by both authors, Foxe preferred More's fuller and more dramatic account. For Richard III's reign after Buckingham's rebellion - which Foxe barely mentions - Foxe had to rely on Vergil.
[Back to Top]Thomas S. Freeman
University of Sheffield
More alludes to the incident (see The History of the Reign of King Richard III, ed. Richard S. Sylvester, The Complete Works of St. Thomas More 2 [New Haven, CT, 1963], p. 70). But Foxe has details found in no other source; probably he drew on the memories of individual informants.