THese disputations being thus discoursed & ended, whiche were had at Oxforde in this moneth of April, as is aforesayd: nowe let vs returne againe to the prosecuting of our storie, touching other thinges lykewyse, that happened in other parties of the realm, in this tumultuouse time of Quene Mary. And because thinges that happened in that time were so many and diuerse, that it is hard to kepe a perfit order in reciting them al: therfore to brynge in certaine thinges whiche haue been left out before, we shall bee faine a litle to interrupt the order of tyme (albeit not much) returning againe to the moneth of August the yeare before vz: 1553.
The Oxford disputations were the last section of Book 10 that had any basis in the Rerum. All of the remaining narrative in this book was researched and composed in the period 1559 - 1570 from a medley of sources, mostly oral informants, chronicles and official documents. The very nature of these sources meant that Foxe's acquisition of them was relatively unplanned and somewhat chaotic.
[Back to Top]The section on events in the first year of Mary's reign provides a classic example of how the later editions (to say nothing of the Victorian editions) conceal the sources and development of the Acts and Monuments. In every edition there are a few introductory sentences in which Foxe apologises for breaking the chronological order of his narrative to include further material on the first year of Mary's reign (1563, p. 1000; 1570, p. 1634; 1576, p. 1394; 1583, p. 1465). This was because new material reached him during the printing of the 1563 edition which he inserted into the text as he acquired it.
[Back to Top]This material was a list of events about the reimposition of catholicism in Cambridge and London (1563, pp. 1000-01). The source for this was a journal or chronicle, now lost, by a source who was well informed about events in Cambridge. The London material either came from him or was added by Foxe from other sources. (The evidence suggests, however, that there was a single source for the London material; it is noticeable that all the London events take place in the area of Cheapside).
[Back to Top]Almost all of this material was retained in later editions - the exception being which was very probably dropped because it depicted protestants as coming very close to sedition in their opposition to Mary - but this material was broken up and scattered (in chronological order) among new information which was added in the 1570 edition. This information was drawn largely from a London chronicle (or chronicles) now lost. Foxe printed this source en bloc, resulting in a great deal of repetition of events already discussed, irrelevancies (it was simpler to reprint than select and edit this material), inconsistencies (especially in dates) and inaccuracies. Foxe never reworked this material or tried to integrate it with the earlier political narrative in Book 10. This relative neglect, contrasted with the laborious editorial care devoted to the Oxford disputations, clearly demonstrates Foxe's editorial priorities.
[Back to Top]Among the many repetitions is a notice of Gilbert Bourne's Paul's Cross sermon of 13 August 1553 (1570, p. 1634; 1576, p. 1394; 1583, p. 1465). (Incidentally, the date of the sermon is given as 13 August earlier in Foxe - 1570, p. 1570; 1576, p. 1339; 1583, p. 1397 - and as 11 August here. This is one of a number of cases where Foxe reprinted differing dates for events by different sources and never bothered to correct, or apparently even to check, them).
[Back to Top]It is also worth observing that notes in the different editions direct the reader to the account of Bourne's sermon given earlier in Foxe. But in 1583, the note directs the reader to page 1339, which is the correct page in the 1576, not the 1583, edition. (The correct page in the 1583 edition is page 1397). This failure to revise the cross-references is a recurring problem in the 1583 edition.
[Back to Top]Among other repetitions in this section of Book 10 are a description of Mary's proclamation against heretical books (1570, p. 1634; 1576, p. 1395; 1583, p. 1465) already printed in 1563, pp. 903-04; 1570, p. 1570; 1576, p. 1338; 1583, pp. 1408-09, and a new account of the executions of Northumberland, Gates and Palmer (1570, 1634; 1576, p. 1395; 1583, p. 1465) already described in 1563, p. 902; 1570, p. 1569; 1576, p. 1338; 1583, p. 1408. One cause of numerous repetitions was Foxe's introduction of material from the Privy Council Register into the 1583 edition. In many cases, Foxe had already related the incident, drawing it from other sources. Thus, for example, Foxe had a notice of John Bradford, Thomas Becon and Jean Veron being sent to the Tower in 1570, p. 1634; 1576, p. 1394; 1583, p. 1465) when he added another notice of this to 1583, p. 1497 [recte 1409], based on APC IV, p. 321.
[Back to Top]The glosses here are less directly adversarial than they were during the disputations. Many of them describe political events, others deal with arraignments, imprisonments and pardons. The move from the debating chamber has not stopped Foxe's willingness to criticise procedure, though now it is illegality rather than indecorum that he attacks; it is perhaps significant that shortly after the account of the repeal of Edward VI's laws, Foxe reports and highlights the case of a Canterbury priest who repented saying Mass: the implication is perhaps that beyond the law, conscience must be heard. The shift to narrative also encourages Foxe to emphasize some providential signs in the glosses, as with the strange sights preceding Phillip's arrival and the satisfactorily horrible death of the 'murtherer' Thornton. This may be contrasted with the noble and godly death of Suffolk, whose virtuous deportment is cued by a series of glosses. It is worth noting that the last gloss contains further and more accurate information than the text, yet it was not edited into the main text after 1570. Other glosses provide examples of errors.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaSeptemb. 26.The xxvi. daye of September, one maister Gray of Cambridge called before him one maister Garthe, for that he would not suffer a boy of Peterhouse to helpe him saye masse in Penbrokehall, whiche was before any lawe establyshed for that behalfe.
MarginaliaOctober. 3The third of October, the vicechaūcelor of Cambridge did challēge one maister Pierson, for that he ministred still the communion, in his owne parishe, and did receiue straūgers of other parishes to the same, and would not saye masse. Whereupon within two dayes after he was cleane discharged fro farther ministringe in his cure.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaOctober. 26.The xxvi. day of October, the vicechauncelour went to Clarehalle, and in the presence of Doctor Walker, displaced Doctor Madew, and placed maister Swynborne in the maistership there. by force of the Lorde Chauncelours letters, for that he was as they termed it, Vxoratus, that is, maried.
MarginaliaOctober. 28.The xxviii. day of October, the Papistes in the kynges Colledge in Cambrydge, (not tarying the makyng of any lawe, but of theire blind zeale) had their whole seruice again in þe latin tonge, cōtrary to the law then in force.
MarginaliaOctober. 31.The last of October, the Vicechauncelour of Cambridge, did sharpely reproue and threaten one maister Thrackolde, for that he challenged the sayde Vicechauncelour, who had suffered maister Bouell (contrary to the statutes then in force) quietly without punishment to departe, notwithstanding that he refused to sweare to the supremacie of the Quene, & the abrogation of the byshop of Rome.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaNouemb. 3The iii. day of Nouember, the Vicechaunce-
lour sent for the Curat of the round parishe in Camb.
The curate of the Round Parish (1563, p. 1000; 1570, p. 1636; 1576, p. 1396; 1583, p. 1466) was the curate of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Cambridge, which is round rather than cruciform in shape.
MarginaliaNouemb. 6.The vi. day of Nouemb. maister Pollarde preached at S. Michels, and in his sermon approued Purgatory.
MarginaliaNouemb. 28.The xxviii day of Nouember, the Archdeacons Official visited in Hynton, wher he gaue in charge to present all such as did distourbe þe Quenes proceadings, in letting the Latin seruice, the setting vp of their Altars, & saying of masse, or any part therof: whereby it was easye to see how these good fellowes mēt to procede, hauing the lawe once on their side, that thus redely against a manifest law would attempt the punyshement of any man.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaDecemb. 15.The xv. day of December, was ther two proclamatiōs at London: thone for the repealing of certein actes made by king Edward, and for the setting vp of the masse, from the xx. daye of December then next following: Thother was, that no man should interrupt any of those that would say masse.
Marginalia1554. Iannuary. 13.The xiii. day of Ianuary, the Vicechauncellour of Cambridge called a congregaciō generall, wherin amonges other things, he shewed that the Quene would haue there a masse of þe holy Ghoste vpon the xviii. daye of February then next follwyng, for that it was her birth day, whiche was fulfilled the day appointed, and that very solemly.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaMarch. 7.In Londō the vii. day of March, euery housholder
Foxe resumed following his chronicle sources for events in the spring of 1554. One of these sources was the 'Cheapside chronicle,' which first appeared in 1563; the remaining material was added in 1570.
MarginaliaMarch. 25.The. xxv. day (being Easter day) in the morning, at S. Pancrase in Cheape, the crucifixe with the pixe, were taken out of the sepulchre, before the Priest rose to the resurrection: so that when after his accustomed maner, he put his hand into the sepulchre, and saide very deuoutly Surrexit non est hic, he found his words true: for he was not there indede. Whereupon (being halfe dismayed) they consulted amongs them selues, whome they thought to be lykeliest to do this thing: in which debatement thei remēbred one Marshe, which a litle before had been put from that personage, because he was maried, to whose charge they layde it: but whē they could not proue it, being brought before the Maier, they thē burdened him to haue kept company with his wyfe, synce þt they were, by cōmaūdemēt diuorsed: wherto he answered, þt he thought the Quene had done him wrong to
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