1576 Edition | Book 7 | Page 816 
his coate al his lyfe. Which he dyd two yeares together vpon his left sleeue, tyll at length the person of Colchester required hym to helpe in the seruice of the Churche, and so pluckt the badge from his sleeue:
CloseThis was a badge that some people convicted of heresy were compelled to wear identifying them as penitents convicted of heresy; removing it was an offence in itself.
CloseThis is actually Rotherhithe.
CloseI.e., a cowherd.
CloseI.e., 26 July. Sweeting and Brewster were both arrested when various Lollards, informed on them under questioning; see Andrew Hope, 'The lady and the bailiff: Lollardy among the gentry in Yorkist and Tudor England' in Lollardy and the gentry in the later Middle Ages, ed. Margaret Aston and Colin Richmond (Stroud, 1997), p. 265. Archbishop Ussher's notes of these interrogations, the originals of which no longer survive, are in Trinity College, Dublin, MS 775, fo. 124r.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaCrimes obiected. The crimes whereupon he was examined were these.
MarginaliaThe Gospell of S. Mathewe. First, for hauyng muche conference with one William Man of Boxsted, in a booke which was called Mathewe.
CloseI.e., they discussed the gospel of Matthew.
Item, that he had familiaritie, and frequēted much the company of Iames Brewster, who had bene before abiured.
MarginaliaAgaynst pilgrimage. Item, that when his wyfe would go on pilgrimage, he asked of her, what good she should receyue by her goyng on pilgrimage, addyng moreouer, that as he supposed, it was to no purpose, nor profite, but rather it were better for her to keepe at home, and to attende to her busines.
MarginaliaAgaynst transubstantiation. Item, that he had learned, and receyued of William Man, that the Sacrament of the Priestes altar was not the present very bodie, but bread in substaunce, receyued in memorial of Christ.
Item, that he had propounded, and affirmed the same doctrine to Iames Brewster.
MarginaliaAgainst Images. Item, because he had reprehended his wyfe for worshippyng thþee Images in the church, and for settyng vp candles before them.
And thus haue you all the causes and crimes layde agaynst this William Swetyng, wherfore he was condemned. Who then beyng asked what cause he had why he shoulde not be iudged for relapse, sayde he had nothyng els, but onely that he commytted hym selfe to the mercye of almighty God.
MarginaliaIames Brewster of Colchester Martyr. WIth William Swetyng also the same tyme was examined and condemned Iames Brewster, of the parishe of saint Nicholas in Colchester. This Iames Brewster was a Carpenter, dwellyng ten yeres in the towne of Colchester, who beyng vnlettered, could neither read nor write, and was apprehended vpon the day of saint Iames,
CloseI.e., 25 July.
About sixe yeares before, which was. ann. 1505. he had bene abiured by William Warham Archebishop of Canterbury,
CloseSweeting and Brewster had both abjured at Paul's Cross on 15 March 1505 (The Great Chronicle of London, ed. A. H. Thomas and I. D. Thornley [London, 1938], p. 331).
MarginaliaCrimes obiected against Brewster The crimes wherupon he was examined, and whiche he confessed were these:
CloseThe original records have not survived, but Archbishop Ussher's notes, taken from them, partially corroborate Foxe's version (Trinity College, Dublin, MS 775, fo. 123v.
Item, because he vsed the companye and couference of Henry Hert
CloseThis might be the same Henry Hart who was a leader of the 'Freewillers' in the 1550s. This point is discussed in Patrick Collinson, 'Nightschools, conventicles and churches: continuities and discontinuities in early Protestant ecclesiology' in The Beginnings of English Protestantism, ed. Peter Marshall and Alec Ryrie (Cambridge, 2002), p. 227, n.81.
[Back to Top]Item for hauyng a certaine litle booke of Scripture in English, of an olde writyng, almost worne for age, whose name is not there expressed.
Item, because he hearyng vpon a tyme, one mayster Bardfield
CloseJohn Bardfield was elected as one of the two bailiffs of Colchester (the highest municipal office in the city) in 1505. (See Andrew Hope, 'The lady and the bailiff: Lollardy among the gentry in Yorkist and Tudor England' in Lollardy and the gentry in the later Middle Ages, ed. Margaret Aston and Colin Richmond [Stroud, 1997], pp. 261-64).
[Back to Top]
CloseMaozim, or 'the god of fortresses' appears in Daniel 11:38. The term is being used here to designate an idol.
Item, that he had much conference with Henry Hert
CloseThis might be the same Henry Hart who was a leader of the 'Freewillers' in the 1550s. This point is discussed in Patrick Collinson, 'Nightschools, conventicles and churches: continuities and discontinuities in early Protestant ecclesiology' in The Beginnings of English Protestantism, ed. Peter Marshall and Alec Ryrie (Cambridge, 2002), p. 227, n.81.
[Back to Top]Item, for that he had communication and conference with Roger Heliar and one Walker a Thicker of S. Clementes, concernyng diuers such matters of Pilgrimage, offeryng to Images, worshippyng of saints, and the sacra ment of the altar.
Item, when Thomas Goodrede, William Swetyng, and he in the fields keepyng beastes, were talking together of the Sacrament of the Lordes bodye, and like matters, this Iames Brewster shoulde thus say: Nowe the sonne of the lyuyng God helpe vs. Vnto whom William Sweting agayne shoulde answeare, Nowe almightye God so doo.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaA perilous heresie.
Ex Regist. Lond.
CloseAnd thus haue you the causes likewise and crymes laid agaynst Iames Brewster, vpon whiche he with William Swetyng was together examined and condemned.
Then beyng asked, as the Romishe maner is, whether he had any cause why he should not be adiudged for relapse, he trusting to finde fauour and grace in submyttyng hym selfe, said, that he submitted hym to the mercy of almighty God, and to the fauourable goodnes of hym his iudge. And likewise did William Swetyng submyt hym selfe, trusting belike that they should finde some fauour and reliefe in this humble subiectyng them selues vnto their goodnes.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe vnmercifull, and vnchristian dealing of the catholique Papistes. But note here the vnmercyfnl and vnchristian dealing of these Catholicque fathers, who vppon their submission were contented to geue out a solemne commission, the tenor whereof was to release and pardon them from the sentence of the excommunication, whereinto they had incurred: But immediately after vpon the same, the Bishop all this notwithstandyng, pronounced vpon them the sentence of death and condemnation.MarginaliaWilliam Swetyng, and Iames Brewster, burnt in Smythfield. Whereupon they were both deliuered to þe secular power, & both together brent in Smithfielde at one fire, the xviij. day of Octob. ann. 1511.
CloseThe signification of the excommunication of Sweeting and Brewster, and their transfer to the secular authorities for execution, is dated 14 September 1511 (TNA C/85/126/19).
MarginaliaChristofer Shomaker burnt in Newbery Martyr. TO these blessed saintes before past,
CloseOf all the sections of Foxe's book, this account of the persecution of the Lollards in the Chilterns, may be the most valuable to students of late medieval English religion. One reason for its value is that is based on court books from the diocese of Lincoln that are now missing. However, there is some corroboration for Foxe's account of these persecutions. In the seventeenth century, Archbishop James Ussher copied twelve lines into one of his notebooks '"Ex libro Detectionum Confessionum et Abjurationum haeretic" coram Johanne Lincolnensi episcopo an. 1521 (In Bibliotheca Lambetha)' (Trinity College, Dublin, MS 775. fos. 128v-129r). Furthermore, the signification to Chancery survives of the excommunication of four heretics - named by Foxe - who were burned in Longland's persecution. Foxe did not invent the persecution and he is probably accurate in his description of the scope of the persecution and the people affected by it. But the extent to which he rewrote the beliefs of those accused of heresy, or omitted material he felt was damaging, will never be known.
[Back to Top]The second reason for the value of these records lies in the systematic manner in which Bishop John Longland investigated heresy in his diocese. The bishop began his inquiries by questioning those who had previously abjured and were thus vulnerable to being charged as relapsed heretics. Moreover, once they had abjured again, they were required to inform on other heretics, to demonstrate their sincerity. By this means, one heretic incriminated several others, each of whom incriminated others and ultimately Longland detected about 50 heretics. Four of these people were burned and the rest were obliged to do penance.
[Back to Top]Longland's persecution not only confirms that Lollardy was entrenched in the chilterns, it also demonstrates that in towns, such as Amersham, were almost completely controlled by them and that the local elites were disproportionately Lollard in sympathy. (For discussion of this see Derek Plumb, 'John Foxe and the Later Lollards of the Thames Valley' [Cambridge PhD, 1987], pp. 274-76 and Andrew Hope, 'Lollardy: the stone the builders rejected?' in Protestantism and the National Church in Sixteenth Century England, ed., Peter Lake and Maria Dowling (Beckenham, Kent, 1998], pp. 3-4 and 9-10). On occasion, the Lollard minorities were even able to intimidate the orthodox Catholics in the region. All of this was, of course, manna from heaven to Foxe, who used this material to show that there was a 'True Church' in England.
[Back to Top]Thomas S. Freeman
University of Sheffield
CloseIf Smith was burned in in 1518, then he was prosecuted while Bishop William Atwater held the see of Lincoln. Foxe probably obtained his knowledge of this case from the testimony of John Say.