1576 Edition | Book 7 | Page 889 
| Persecutors. | Martyrs. | The causes. |
| MarginaliaThe cruell murthering of Iohn Diazius. Aphonsus Diazius, a Spanyard. Petrus de Maluenda the Popes prolocutor at Ratis- bone, a Spaniard. The Empe- rours con- fessor, a blacke Fry- er a Spani- ard. Marquina. | Ioannes Diazius, a Spaniard, martyr, kil- led of hys owne bro- ther at Neoberge in Germa- nie. An. 1546. | Of this Iohn Di- azius the full proces & history is set forth in Latine, wherein the whole circumstaunce is debated at large, whereof the briefe summe is this. Iohn Diazius a Spaniard borne, first being at Paris. 13. yeares, frō theēce remoued to Ge- neua: then to Basill, and after to Straus- burgh: from whēce he was sent Ambassa- dour with Bucer & other, to the Coūcell of Ratisbone: where he talking with Pe- ter Maluēda his coū treyman, MarginaliaThe Emperours confessours. the Popes factour, so declared |
his religion vnto hym, that Maluenda wrote to the Fryer, which was the Emperours confessour, touchyng the sayd Iohn Diazius: at the openyng and readyng of which letters, one Marquina an other Spaniard was present. Vpon this it folowed, whether by this confesor, or by Marquina, that Alphōsus Diazius, brother to Iohn Diazius, which was one of the popes Lawyers in Rome, had knowledge geuen him, of his brother Iohn.
[Back to Top]When the communication of Ratisbone was dissolued and broken vp. Iohn Diazius, from Ratisbone went to the Citie of Neoberge, within the dominion of Otto Henry Palatine, about the expedition of Bucers booke there to be printed. As Iohn Diazius was their occupied, it was not long, MarginaliaAsphonsus Diazius come from Rome to kil his brother. but Alphonsus his brother was come from Rome to Ratisbone, where Maluenda was, bringing with him a pestilent cutthroate, a notorious ruffian or homicide belonging to the Citie of Rome, Maluenda and Alphonsus consulting together about the dispatch of their deuilish purpose, first laboured to hunt out by the frendes of Diazius, where Diazius was. Wherof Alphonsus and the homicide hauing knowledge by certeine of his secret frendes, pretendyng great mat- ters of importance, came to Neoberge, where Diazius was printing of Bucers booke: Where after long debating of matters of Religion betwene the ij. brethren, Alphonsus seyng the harte of his brother Iohn to be so constantly planted on þe sure rocke of Gods truth, that by no wise he coulde eyther be remoued from his opinion, or perswaded to ryde in his company (beyng otherwise counsailed by Bucer and his frendes) fained him selfe frendly to take hys leaue of his brother and to depart: but shortly after, secretly with his ruffenly murderer he returned agayne, and by the way they bought a certein hatchet of a carpenter.
[Back to Top]This done, Alphonsus sendeth his man beyng disguised, with letters vnto his brother, he him selfe folowyng after. As Iohn Diazius in the mornyng was risenMarginaliaIohn Diazius slaine by hys owne brother. out of his bedde, to read thee letters, the wretched hangman, with the hatchet cloue his head vnto the braynes, leauing the hatchet in his head, & so hee with Alphonsus tooke them to their horse, which stoode without the Citie gate, with as much speade as they might. They of Neoberge, hearing of the horrible acte, sent out certeine horsmen, makyng great iourneys after them. Who commyng to Augusta, and hearing the murderers to be past before, were out of hope to ouertakeMarginaliaGod wyll haue murther knowē. them, & so returned. One in the company more zealous then the rest, would not returne, but pursued them still, and in þe Citie of Oeniponte, caused them to be stayed, and put in prison. Otto Palatine hearing of their taking writeth to the Magistrates of Oenipōte for iudgement. Which Magistrates at first semed very willing therto: but in conclusion, through the practise of Papistes, and crafty lawyers, the sentence iudiciall was so delayed from day to day, then from houre to houre, that the Emperours letters came in posthast requiring the matter to be stayed, and reserued to his hearing. And thus the terrible murder of Cain and his felow, was bolstered out by the Papistes. The like wherof frō the memory of men was neuer
[Back to Top]| Persecutors. | Martyrs. | The causes. |
heard of, since the first example of Cain, MarginaliaCain still killeth Abell.whiche for religion slue his owne brother Abell. But although true iudgement in this world be peruerted, yet such bloudy Cains with their wilfull murther, shall not escape the handes of him, who shal iudge truely both the committers, and the bolsterers also of all mischieuous wickednes. Ex Claudio Senarcleo.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaInterim. ¶ An. 1546.
CloseThe table interspersed some materials about the political history of Germany in the later 1540s, without intending to be a detailed history of it. So Foxe included a brief excursus on the failure of the Augsburg ('Augusta')'Interim', the forlorn attempt concluded on 15 May 1548 to negotiate a 'concord' between the major contending faiths in Germany. Foxe had clearly absorbed enough during his time in Basel to pour scorn on 'a new forme of Religion called Interim' with its attempts to 'make a hodgebotch of them both' (1583, p. 892). That became an increasingly common view, especially in Reformed circles, after the peace of Augsburg (1555), which formally excluded Reformed (Zwinglian/Calvinist) confessions from being incorporated within the peace. Foxe's source for the early failure of the Imperial siege of Constance, one of the few protestant successes of the Schmalkaldic War, was Sleidan (book 21), 3, 139-40. For the flight of various protestant ministers from southern Germany during the war, where Foxe singles out Martin Frecht ('Martinus Frechtus'), superintendant at Ulm, Wolfgang Musculus at Augsburg, Johannes Brenz ('Brentius') from Halle, Ambrose Blaurer ('Blaurerus') from Contance and Martin Bucer from Strasbourg, his source of information was also Sleidan (book 20), 3, pp. 139-140. His presentation of Johann Friedrich ('John Fridericke'), Elector of Saxony as among the 'godly and constant Sayntes of Christ' for his 'admirable constancy' in the aftermath of his defeat and capture by the emperor in 1547 also largely glosses the account given in Sleidan (book 19), 3, pp. 13-19 et seq. Foxe reinforced the case for an honourable mention of the protestant princes who had so disastrously engaged in the Schmalkaldic War by including Philip, Landgrave of Hesse as another 'godly and constant' saint, especially during his five-year captivity in Spain. Again, Foxe's source was Sleidan (book 19), 3, pp. 28-34. At the same time, Foxe could not resist a paragraph being devoted to the interesting reform-minded Archbishop of Cologne whose attempts to reform his own archdiocese were among several examples of those figures in the catholic authority who took an independent and conciliatory line towards protestant critique. Sleidan had reported on them briefly (Sleidan [book 15], 2, p. 309) but as the background to his summary removal from office in the different climate of 1548 and replacement by Adolf von Schauenburg (Sleidan [book 18], 2, p. 575). Foxe might well have liked to have dwelt longer, however, on the stubborn resistance to siege by imperial forces of the 'Christian city of Magdeburg' and the 'constancy of their doctrine reformed' in 1552. It marked a turning-point in German protestant fortunes in their conflict with the emperor. Once more, Foxe's source was Sleidan (book 23), 3, pp. 302-4.
[Back to Top]Among them which withstode this Spanishe Interim, besides other, were also the Citizens of Constantia. For the whiche. iij. thousande Spanyardes priuily by night came agaynst the towne of Constance, where they kylled iij. of the watchmen of the towne, which watchyng in þe suburbes, went forth to vewe þe noyse which they heard in þe woodes. The deuise of the spanyardes was in the mornyng, when the Citizens were at the Sermon, sodenly to set vpon the Citie and take it, so (no doubt) intendyng to haue gone further. But as the Lord would, some thing began to be suspected in the night, by the watchmen in the suburbes, on the otherside the water, wherby þe Consul and Citizens had intelligēce to be in readines. When the morning came, the Spāyardes were ready at the gate to breake into þe Citie. But being driuen from thence and their Captaine Alphonsus slaine, they went to the bridge which goeth ouer the Rhene. But being beaten also from thence, with shot and great peeces from the walles, and a great number of them drowned in the riuer, the Spanyardes breakyng down the hynder part of the bridge, because the Citizens shoulde not pursue them, they recoyled backe into the suburbes, and burned them with þe dead bodyes also that were slayne, so that the number of the Spanyardes that there were killed, could not be knowne: Onely a hūdreth of honest Citizens of Cōstance were missing. Ex Ioan. Sled. lib. 21.
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CloseFoxe pursued the narratives of martyrdom as conscientiously as his sources allowed. He turned initially to Sleidan. The imprisonment, and eventual release, of a woman in Augsburg for questioning a priest who carried a lighted candle to the bedside of an individual who was close to death in 1552 he had diligently found there (Sleidan [book 22], 3, pp. 214-5). Equally, stretching the embrace of those who 'suffered' for the faith to include those who were deprived of their livings, he found a place for Johannes Frisius, abbot of Neustadt, deprived in 1554 of his clerical positions. In the same vein, Foxe included the exile of around 200 suspect ministers (actually somewhat under that number) from Bohemia, to which Sleidan had alluded (Sleidanus [book 25], 3, p. 488).
[Back to Top]| MarginaliaThe martirdome of a godly priest. A Byshop in Hunga- ry. | A godly priest in Hungary. | In Hungary a cer- tayne godly Prieste preached, that the ea- ting of fleshe is not prohibited in þe scrip- ture: for the which þe cruel Bishop, after he had emprisoned hym certaine weeks, cau- sed him to be brought out, & his bodye to be tyed ouer wt Hares, Geese, and Hennes, hanging round about |
hym: and so the beastly Byshop made dogges to be set vpon hym, which cruelly rent and tore what soeuer they coulde catch. And thus the good minister of Christ, beyng driuen about the Citie with the barkyng of dogges, dyed, and was martyred. The sight whereof, as it was lamentable to the godly, so it seemed ridiculous to the wicked. But within few dayes MarginaliaIust punishment of God vpon a cruell persecution. after, the impious byshop by þe stroke of Gods iust hand, fell sicke, and became horne madde, and so rauing without sense or witte, miserably dyed. Ex tomo. 2. Conuiualium Sermo. Ioan. Gastij.
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