1576 Edition | Book 7 | Page 914 
| Persecuters. | Martyrs. | The Causes. |
| Antony Eschaux Baily. The kinges Procura- tor. | At Ost by Piedmont. Ann. 1557. | The report of which Sermon beyng reci- ted to this Sartori- us, by one that heard hym, Sartorius re- prehended the errour & blasphemies there- of, which were a- gaynst the holy scrip- tures. Shortly after, the partie that tolde hiym, went to a Se- cretary named Ri- pet, who couertly came to entrap Ni- colas, demaundyng hym of the Fryers Sermon: And dyd not our Preacher (sayde hee) preach well? No, sayd Ni- colas, but he lyed falsely. Ripet entring further with him, de- |
maunded: And do not you beleue the body of þe lord to be in the hoste? to whom Nicolas then aunswered agayne, that to be agaynst our Creede, which sayth that he ascended vp and sitteth. &c. Incontinent Ripet went to the Fryer and hys companions, to cause hym to be apprehended. The frendes of Nicolas perceauing the daunger, wylled hym to auoyde and saue hymselfe, and also accompanyed hym out of the towne, about the space of 3three leagues. Then was great pursute made after hym to all quarters, who at length was taken at the towne of S. Remi, at the foote of the mountaine of great S. Bernerd, where he was examined before Antony Eschaux Baily of the towne, & other Iustices, before whom he aunswered with great boldnes, for his faith. Thē they brought hym to the racke, and when the Sergeaunt refused to draw the corde, the Baily himselfe and the Receauer, with a Canō did racke him with their owne handes. Notwithstādying that þe Lordes of Berne wrote for him to the towne of Oste, requiring to haue their owne subiect deliuered vnto them, they hastened the execution, and pronounced sentēce, that he should be burned. Whiche sentence he receaued with such constancie, that neyther the kynges receauer, nor all the other enemyes could diuert him from the truth of the Gospell, which he manfully maynteined while any spirit remayned in hys bodye. Ex Ioan. Crisp. lib. 6.
[Back to Top]| Marginalia George Tardif, Martyr. A Broderer of Tours, Martyr. The accu- sers be not named in the story. | George Tardif, with one of Tours, a Broderer. Nicolas, a Shomaker of Ienuile. At Tours. Ann. 1558. At Ienuile. An. 1558. | The Printer of the story of þe frēch mar- tirs named Crispine, amōg other moe ma- keth also memorial of George Tardife, a Broderer of Tours, and Nicolas of Ien- uile, declaryng that all these three toge- ther were in prison, and afterward were disseuered, to suffer in sundry places, one frō þe other: of whom first George Tardife was executed at Sens. The Broderer of Tours, as he was cōmying with v. or vi. other out of a woode, beyng at prayer, was taken, and thereupon examined. Before he shoulde be examined, he desired þe Iudges, that he might pray. Which being graūted after his praier made, wherein he prayed for the Iudges, for the king, & all estates, & |
for the necessitie of all Christes Saints, he aunswered for himselfe, wyth such grace and modestie, that
| Persecuters. | Martyrs. | The Causes. |
the hartes of many were broken vnto the sheddyng of teares, seking (as it seemed) nothing els but his deliueraunce. Notwithstandyng he at last was sent vnto Tours, & there was crowned wt martyrdome.
MarginaliaNicolas of Ienuile, Martyr. The third, which was Nicolas, being but yong of yeares, and newly come from Geneua, to his coūtrey, for certaine money: by meanes of a Lady there dwelling, was caused to be apprehended. When he was condemned and set in the cart, his father comming with a staffe, would haue beaten hym, but the officers not suffering it, would haue strocken the old man. The sonne crying to the officers, desired them to let his father alone, saying that his father had power ouer hym, to do with hym what he would: and so going to the place where he should suffer, hauing a balle of yron put in his mouth, he was brought at length to the fire, in the towe of Ienuile, where he patiently tooke his death and martyrdome, ann. 1558 Ex Typogra. Crisp. lLb. 6.
[Back to Top]| MarginaliaA terrible persecution at Paris against the Congregation. The priestes of the Col- lege of ples- sis. The doctors of Sorbone. Doctor De- mocrates. Cenalis, Bi- shop of Au- ranches. Martine the kinges At- turney. The Cardi- nall of Lor- rane. Maillardus Henrye the secōd Frēch kyng. | The cōgre- gatiō of Par- is persecu- ted, to the number of three or foure hun- dreth. At Paris. Ann. 1558. 
CloseFoxe's account of the famous 'Affaire de la rue St-Jacques' in Paris carries the correct date but not the right year. As his source-note suggests, he was unsure whether to follow the date seemingly indicated in Crespin [1564], fol 872, which (in a misprint) dated it '1558' (corrected in later editions) and Pantaleon, who (correctly) dated it 1557. Foxe's instinct was to follow what he probably believed to be the more reliable French source, but (in this instance) it proved incorrect. Crespin's account came directly from Antoine de La Roche-Chandieu, Histoire des persécutions et martyrs de l'église de Paris: depuis l'an 1557, jusques au temps du roy Charles neuvième (Lyon: n.p., 1563), pp. 3-88. Chandieu proclaimed that he had researched his account carefully ('je n'ai rien mis dans ces escritures, que je n'aye eu de la main mesme de ceux qui sont morts ou apprins de leur bouche, quand ie les ay visitez en la prison, ou extrait des registres des greffes, ou veu de mes yeux ou receu des fidèles tesmoins' [Epistre, p. xxxv]). The incident centred around a forcible entry and mass arrest of the gathered church in Paris in the rue St-Iacques, opposite the Collège Du Plessis, one of the residential colleges of the University of Paris, originally endowed in 1322 by Geoffroi du Plessis and next door to the Sorbonne in the Latin Quarter. Those identified by Foxe as taking an active part in the raid or subsequent interrogations of those arrested include:- Antoine de Mouchy ('Doctor Democrates' in Foxe's text = leg. 'Démocharès', a reference to the Greek orator and stateman, a name adopted by Mouchy, apparently to avoid the popular sobriquet 'mouchard'), Inquisiteur de la foi and doctor of theology at the Sorbonne [Jöcher, 2]; Robert Céneau ('Cenalis' in Foxe's text), (1483-1560), bishop of Vence (1523), Riez (1530), Avranches (1532) [NBG, 9]; Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine; and M. Martine ['Martin' in Foxe's text, described as 'the kinges Attorney], in reality the procureur du roi at the Parlement of Paris. Foxe mentions the charge laid against the Paris community, that 'they assembled together to make a banket ['banquet'] in the night, and there putting out the candles, they went together, Iacke with Iille (as the[y] sayde) after a filthy and beastly maner […] and other heinous crimes'. The accusation of the discovery of sexual license, including infanticide, under the cover of darkness seems to have been made, and was echoed in the diary of Claude Haton, curé of Provins (L. Bourquin, ed. Mémoires de Claude Haton 3- vols, Collection de document inédits sur l'histoire de France (Histoire Moderne) [Paris: Editions du Comité des Travaux historiques et scientifiques, 2001-6], 1). It most likely originated in a publication by Antoine de Mouchy, and, interestingly, he seems to have copied the passage directly from the medieval chronicle of Gregory of Tours (see L. Racaut, 'Accusations of infanticide on the eve of the French wars of religion.' In Infanticide: Historical perspectives on child murder and concealment, 1550-2000, ed. by M. Jackson (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002), pp. 18-34). The protestants (probably Antoine de La Roche-Chandieu himself) prepared two documents in their defence, one a manuscript 'remonstrance' for the king, and the second a printed 'Apologie ou defense des bons chrestiens contre les ennemis de l'Eglise catholique'. The first was summarised in La Roche-Chandieu, op.cit., and the second was reproduced in full. Both texts found their way into later editions of Crespin (Crespin [1582], fol. 427 et seq) but had not appeared earlier. Foxe seems to have known them only through the brief summaries initially printed in Crespin [1564]. His résumé of the interrogations and trials of those arrested at this time is a summary of that same source, with a small, but interesting addition from Pantaleon, book 11, check to the effect that protestant princes and cities, meeting at the Diet of Worms (11 September - 8 October 1557), in concert with Swiss protestant cities, made strong representations against the arrests of those concerned. These arrests, trials and executions can be followed in detail in the accompanying notes on the individuals mentioned in this passage. [Back to Top] | AN. 1558. Sept. 4. a companye of the faithful, to the nūber of 3. or 4. hundred, were together con- uented at Paris in a certain house, hauing before it, þe college of Plessis in the streat of S. Iames, & be- hynd it, the college of Sorbone. Who there assembled in þe begin- nyng of the night, to the intent to cōmuni- cate together þe lords supper: but inconti- nent that was disco- uered by certaine pri- estes of Plessis: who gatheryng together such as were of that faction, came to beset the house, & made an outcry, that þe watch might come and take them, so that in short tyime almost all þe citie of Paris was vp in armour, thinkyng some conspiracie to haue ben in the citie. Who then folowyng the noyse, and percei- uyng that they were Lutherans, a MarginaliaThe furie of this world agaynst the poore Christians. greate part of thē wer in ex- treme rage, furiously seeking to haue their bloud, and therefore stopped the streates & lanes with cartes, and made fiers to see that none should es- cape. The faythfull |
albeit God had geuen them leisure to finish their administration & prayers, with such quietnes, as they neuer had better, seeyng the sodennes of the thyng, were stroken in great feare. Who then being exhorted by the gouernors of the congregation, fel to prayer. That done, through the counselle of some whiche knew the cowardly hartes of the multitude, this order was taken, that the men whiche had weapon, should aduēture through the prese: only the women and children remayned in the house, and a fewe men with them, which were lesse bold then the other, to the number of sixe or seuen score. Where appeared the admirable power of God in them that went out with weapon, which notwithstandyng that þe lanes and passages were stopped, and the fires MarginaliaOne of the Congregation beaten downe in the streates, and Martyred.made, dyd al escape saue onely one, who was beaten down with stones, and so destroyed. Certaine that remayned in the house with the women, afterward leaped into gardens, where they were stayed, tyll the magistrates came. The women (which were al Gentlewomen, or of great wealth, onely sixe or seuen excepted) seing no other hope, and perceaiuyng the furie of the people,
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