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Azincourt (Agincourt) [Agyncourt]

Pas-de-Calais, France

Coordinates: 50° 28' 38" N, 2° 5' 55" E

 
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Caen (Cadomus) [Cadane; Cordoyne; Cadame; Barmondsey; Cadonum; Cane] Abbey

Normandy

Coordinates: 49° 10' 59" N, 0° 22' 10" W

 
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Château de Vincennes

Bois de Vincennes [Bloys], France

Coordinates: 48° 50' 34" N, 2° 26' 9" E

 
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Harfleur [Hareflew; Harflet]

Haute-Normandie, France

Coordinates: 49° 30' 18" N, 0° 12' 1" E

 
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Meulan [Meldune or Melione]

nr Paris, France

Coordinates: 49° 0' 22" N, 1° 54' 28" E

 
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Prague (Praha) [Parga]

Bohemia, Czech Republic

Coordinates: 50° 5' 0" N, 14° 25' 0" E

 
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River Touques [Towke]

Normandy, France

 
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Rouen

[Rowocum; Rhone; Rouan; Roan; Roane; Rowan; Rhoan]

Normandy, France

Coordinates: 49° 26' 38" N, 1° 6' 12" E

Capital of Normandy; cathedral city

612 [588]

K. Henry 5. The death of Tho. Arundell. The story of the Bohemians.

agaynst þe Lord Cobham, and pronounced sentēce of death vpon him, and did himselfe fele the stroke of death, & the sētence of God executed vpō him before the other.MarginaliaTho. Arundell geueth sentence against the Lord Cobham and God geueth sentence against Tho. Arundell. Who wold haue thought that the Lord Cobham being so cast and cōdemned definitiuely by the archbishops sentence, but þt he should haue died long before the archbishop?MarginaliaThe condemned man ouerliueth his condemner. But such be the works of gods almighty hand, who so turned þe whele þt this condēned Lord suruiued his condēner 3. or 4. yeres.

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In the death of this Archb. first Polydor VirgilMarginaliaPolydor Virgill is deceiued, who in his 22. booke, pag. 441. affirmed hys death to be an. 1415. and in the second yeare of king Henr. 5. also after the beginning of the Councell of Constāce who in dede neuer reached the beginning therof, nor euer saw the secōd yeare of that king (vnles ye count the first day for a yeare) but dyed before, an. 1414. Feb. 20. Ex hist. S. Albani & multis. Furthermore concerning the death of this Arundell, and the maner therof, who had not bene so heauy a troubler of Christes saints in his time, because the thing semeth worthy of noting, to behold the punishment of God vpon hys enemies, this is to report, as I haue found it alledged out of MarginaliaTho. Gascohius in Dictionario theologico.Thomas Gascoin in Dictionario Theologico: Whose playne wordes be these: Anno. 1414. Tho. Arundel Cant. Archiepiscop. sic lingua percussus erat: vt nec deglutire, nec loqui per aliquot dies ante mortem suam potuerie, diuitis epulonis exemplo: & sic tantum obijt. Atque multi tunc fieri putabant, quia verbum alligasset, ne suo tempore prædicaretur. &c.

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MarginaliaAn example of Gods working hand against the enemies of his word.That is, Thomas Arundel archbishop of Cant. was so strikē in his tongue that neither he could swallow, nor speake for a certayne space before hys death, much lyke after the example of the rich glutton, and so dyed vpon the same.MarginaliaThe hand of God vpon Tho. Arūdell Archb. of Cant. And thys was thought of many to come vpon him, for that he so bound the word of the Lord, that it should not be preached in hys dayes &c. whiche if it be true, as it doth well here appeare, these and such other horrible exāples of gods wrath,MarginaliaIt is in vaine to gainstand Gods word. may be terrible spectacles for such as occupy theyr tongues and braynes so busily to stop þe course of gods wrath, striuing but against þe streame against the force whereof, neither they are able to resiste, & many times in resisting are ouerturned thēselues & drowned therin. And thus much for the death of Tho. Arundel, who cōtinued archb. in þe see of Cant. the space of 18. yeres.

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MarginaliaHen. Chichesly Archb. of Cant.After this Arundel, succeeded next in the said see of Cāterb. Henry Chichesly made archb. an. 1414. and sate xxv. yeares. This Henry following likewise the steps of hys prodecessour, shewed himselfe no small aduersary against þe fauourers of the truth. In whose time was much trouble and great afflictiō in the church. For as the preaching and teaching of the word did multiply and spread abroad daily more and more, so on the contrary side, more vigilant care and straight inquisition followed and increased against the people of God, by reason wherof diuers did suffer, & were burned, some for feare fled þe country. Many were brought to examinatiō, and by infirmitie constrained to abiure. Of whome hereafter (Christ willing) particularly in order of theyr times we will entreat.

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MarginaliaSion & Bethleē builded.As true pietie, and sincere preaching of Christes worde began at this time to decay: So idle mōkery and vaine superstitiō in place therof begā to encrease. For about þe same yere the king began the foundation of 2. monasteries, one of the one side of Thames of Friers obseruaunt, þe other on the other side of Thames called Shene and Syon, dedicated to Charter house monkes, with certaine Brigit nonnes or recluses, to the nūber of 60. dwelling within the same precinct, so that the whole number of these with priestes, mōkes, deacons and nonnes shoulde equall the number of 13. Apostles and 72. disciples. The order of these was according to the discription of S. Paule the Apostle, Col. 1. Eat not, tast not, touch not, &c. to eat no fleshe, to weare no linnen, to touch no mony. &c.

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About Michaelmas, the same yeare the king began his Parliament at Leicester, aboue mentioned. In the whiche Parliament the commons put vp theyr bill agayn, which they had put vp before, an. 11. Henr. 4. the tēpporalties disorderly wasted by men of the church, might be conuerted & employed to the vse of the king, of his Earls and knights and to the reliefe of þe poore people, as is before recited, pag. 557.MarginaliaVide supra pag. 557. In feare of which bill least the king woulde geue therunto any comfortable audience (as testifieth Rob. Fabian and other writersMarginaliaFabiā with other) certayne of the Prelates & other headmen of the church put the king in mind to clayme his right in Fraunce.MarginaliaA crafty practise of the prelates. Whereupon Hen. Chichesly Archbish. of Caunterbury made a long and solemne oration before the king to perswade him to the same, offering to the king in the behalfe of the Clergie great and notable summes. MarginaliaThe king stirred vp to warres by the bishops.By reason wherof (sayth Fabian) the bill was agayne put of, and the king set his minde for the recouery of the same: so that soone after he sent his letters and messengers to the French king concerning that matter, and receiued fromhim againe answere of derision, wt a pype of tennis balles (as some recorde) sent from the Dolphin, for him to playe with at home. Whereby the kinges minde was incensed þe more toward that viage. Who then furnishing hymselfe wt strength and armour, with powder & shot, and gunstones to play with in Fraunce, and with other artilliarye for that purpose conuenient, so set ouer into France, where he got Hareflew with diuers other townes and castles in Normandy and Picardy, and at Agyncourt had a great victory ouer the french army, they being counted but 7. thousand by pricking sharp stakes before them. &c. After that he wan Cane, Towke, Rowan with other townes moe, as Meldune or Melione, and maryed with Katherine the french kinges daughter. And yet notwithstanding the third time he made hys viage agayne into Fraunce, where at length at Bloys he fell sicke and dyed, Concerning all which viages, because they are sufficientlye discoursed in Fabian, Halle, and other Chronographers, referring therfore the reader vnto them, I will return my story to other matters of the Church more effectuall.

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The entry of the story of the Bohemians.  
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Jan Hus

Starting with Martin Luther and his followers, the Protestant Reformers had hailed Jan Hus as an important, arguably the most important, proto-Protestant of the entire Middle Ages. This it seems a little surprising that Foxe had only a relatively brief account of Hus and his teachings in the Commentarii (fos. 62v-78r). This account was based on John Bale's notes in the Fasciculi Zizaniorum (see Bodley Library MS Musaeo e 86, fos. 128r-135r); Bale, in turn drew them from the inquisitorial manual of Bernard of Luxemburg, which explains the emphasis on Hus's doctrines in this account. Foxe reprinted the account of Hus in the Rerum (pp. 61-67) without change. In the 1563 edition, however, Foxe rewrote this account with material from the Catholic polemicist Johannes Cochlaeus's history of the Hussite wars. This described how Hus was denounced as a heretic to the antipope John XXII, how he was summoned to Rome, and how Weceslaus IV of Bohemia prevented his going there - see Johannes Cochlaeus, Historia Hussitarum (Mainz, 1549), pp. 19-24). In the 1570 edition, Foxe drew further on Cochlaeus to describe the spread of Hus's teachings in Bohemia, the initiatives from the University of Prague to stop Hus and his followers, the division of Prague into pro-Hus and anti-Hus factions, Hus's objections to the a decree from the University of Prague against him and to reprint John XXIII's letter to Wenceslaus, urging the king to crack down on Hus (Cochlaeus, Historia Hussitarum, pp. 22-3, 25, 29-33, 38-50, 53-54 and 56-66). This account of Hus before the Council of Constance was unchanged in subsequent editions.

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Thomas S. Freeman
University of Sheffield

I Declared a little beforeMarginaliaVide supra. pag. 507. howe by the occasion of Queene Anne, which was a Bohemian and maried to king Richard 2. the Bohemians cōming therby to the knowledge of Wickliffes bookes here in England, MarginaliaThe Bohemians receiuing the Gospell.began first to taste and sauor Christes gospell, til at length by the preaching of Iohn Husse, they increased more and more in knowledge. In so much that pope Alexander the v. hearing thereof, began at last to styrre coales,MarginaliaThe pope against the Bohemiās. and directeth his Bul to þe archbishop of Suinco, requiring hym to looke to the matter, & to prouide that no person in Churches, Schooles or other places should mayntayne that doctrine, MarginaliaIohn Hus cited of the Pope.citing also I. Hus to appeare before him. To whom the sayd Iohn aunswering againe, declared that mandate or Bull of the pope vtterly to repugne agaynst the manifest examples & doinges both of Christ and of hys Apostles, and to be preiudiciall to the liberty of the Gospell, in binding þe word of God not to haue free recourse. MarginaliaIohn Husse appealeth from the pope to the Pope.And therefore from this mandate of the P. he appealed to the same Pope better aduised. But while he was prosecuting hys appeale, Pope Alexander died, as is aforesayd, pag. 553. Ex Cochleo, in hist. Hussit.

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After whome succeeded Pope Iohn the xxiij.MarginaliaPope Iohn. 23. who also playing hys part here in this matter like a Pope, sought by all meanes possible how to represse and keepe vnder the Bohemians, first beginning to worke his maine vpō the foresayd Iohn Husse theyr preacher. Who at the same tyme preaching at Prage in the temple of Bethleem, because he seemed rather willing to teach the Gospell of Christ, then the traditions of Bishops, MarginaliaIohn Hus accused popewas therefore accused of certayn to the forenamed P. Iohn the 23. for an heretick. The Bishop committed the whole matter vnto Cardinall de Collumna, who when he had heard the accusation, he appoynted a day to Iohn Husse, that he shold appeare in the court of Rome: whiche thing once done, Wenceslaus king of the Romaynes & of Boheme, at the request specially of his wife Sophia, and of the whole nobility of Boheme, as also at the earnest sute and desire of the towne and vniuersitie of Prage: He sent his Embassadours to Rome, to desire the byshop to quit & clearely deliuer Iohn Husse from that sentence and iudgement, and that if the byshop did suspect the kingdome of Boheme to be infected with anye heretical or false doctrine, that he shold send his ambassadors the which might correct and amēd the same, if there be any errour or fault in them. And that all this should be done at the onely costes and charges of the king of Boheme, and to promise in his name that he would ayde and assiste the Bishops Legates with all hys power and authoritie, to punishe all such as shoulde be taken or found in any erroneous doctrine. In the meane season also Iohn Husse before his day appointed, sent his lawfull and meete procurators vnto the court of Rome, and with most firme and stronge reasons, dyd proue hys innocency, whereupon he trusted so, that he thought he shoulde haue easely obtayned that he should not haue bene compelled, by reason of the great dāger, to appeare the day appoynted. But when as the Cardinall de Collumna, (vnto whose will and iudgement the whole matter was committed) would not admit no defēce or excuse: Iohn Husse his procurators, appealed vnto the high Bishop: yet notwithstanding, this last refuge did not so much preuaile with Cardinall de Collumna, but that he would opēly excommunicate Iohn Husse as an obstinate hereticke, MarginaliaIohn Hus excōmunicate by Cardinall de Collumna.because he came not at hys day appoynted vnto Rome.

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Notwithstanding for so much as his procurators had

appealed