haue we added to the forsaid storye of Laurence Saunders, the communication which in the begynnyng of his trouble, was betwene hym and Doctour Pendleton, by the example whereof, such as stand, may learne to vnderstand and take hede with dew feare, and not to bragge: to leane to the grace of the lorde, and not to presume in themselues.
[Back to Top]AT the change of religion in this realme, & the beginning of Quene Maries reign, Doctour Pendleton, and Maister Saunders men knowen to the worlde: not onely to be learned, but also earnest preachers of gods word in the time of blessed king Edward, mette together in the countrey, where by occasion they wer at that tyme, and as the case required (by reason of the persecution that was then at hand) fell to debate what was best for them to do, in so daungerous a season. Wherupon maister Saunders whether thorough verye frailtie in deede of hys weake fleshe, that was lothe to tast of the bitter cuppe,
Saunders is referring to Christ's words in the garden of Gethsemane (see Matthew 26:39, Mark 14:36 and Luke 22:42).
then he presently felt in himself, aknowledging his own weakenes, consented notwithstanding though it were somewhat faintly, to ioine wyth him in the profession of the gospel, and so to goe vp to London, and set forth the same: whervpon they gaue eche other their hands. Now whē thei were come to London, lord what a great change was there betwene these two persōs. The poore feble faintharted Saunders, by þe goodnes of almighty god, taking hart of grace to him, seeking the same in humilitie, boldly and stoutely confirmed his flock out of the pulpet, where his charge lay, mightely beating doun Antichrist, & lustely preached Christ his master, for þe which he afterward suffred most willingly as is afore declared Wheras on the other side Pendleton the proud, who as it appeared by the sequele, had ben more stout in wordes, then constant in dedes, & a greater bragger, then a good warriour, folowed Peter so iustely in crakes, howe soeuer he didde in repentance (whiche God onelye knoweth) that he came not so soone to London but he changed his typpette,
Literally, he changed a garment which he wore as part of his clerical dress. Apparently this was a popular proverb negatively characterizing a change of behaviour (see OED), but Foxe is also taking a jab at the wearing of clerical vestments.
Apostate or traitor.
There are two striking features about the life and martyrdom of Hooper in the Rerum. The first is how little information Foxe has on the martyr's life before Edward VI's reign. There are only two sentences stating that Hooper studied at Oxford and was forced to flee due to the emnity of Dr Richard Smith and that he stayed in Basel until Edward VI's reign (Rerum, p. 279). Surprisingly neither Bullinger nor Zurich are mentioned. One can only conclude that Bullinger did not supply any information about Hooper while Foxe was in exile. (J. F. Mozley argues that Bullinger supplied Foxe with Hooper's writings which Foxe published in theRerum, [John Foxe, p. 125] but he supplies no evidence for this and, in the light of Bullinger's silence at this time on his friendship with Hooper, this must remain doubtful). Hooper's meteoric rise under Edward VI, his struggle with Cranmer and Ridley over vestments (the Rerum account is markedly more hostile to bishops in general than the Acts and Monuments versions would be), his arrest over this issue and release after a grudging capitulation are all recounted in the Rerum (pp. 279-81). The Rerum also contains the praise of Hooper as a bishop, the detailed description of his arrest and examinations, and the very detailed account of his journey to Gloucester and his execution, which would be reprinted without major changes in all the editions of theActs and Monuments. This is the work of Grindal's team and reflects their editorial priorities: detailed accounts, drawn from eyewitnesses, of the final journeys and deaths of themartyrs are very much a feature of the Rerum. (The accounts of Laurence Saunders and Rowland Taylor provide excellent examples of this).
[Back to Top]The 1563 edition provides little new material. Hooper's marriage is mentioned for the first time, but that is all that is added about his exile. Two interesting documents are added, both concerning the quarrel over vestments in Edward VI's reign: Edward VI's dispensation for Hooper to be ordained as bishop without wearing vestments and Ridley's later letter to Hooper holding out an olive branch on the subject. The first edition also adds an account of Hooper's degradation and a poem by Conrad Gesner memorializing Hooper.
[Back to Top]The 1570 edition saw the inclusion of much new detail on Hooper's early years and his friendship with Heinrich Bullinger. (The farewell to Bullinger and Hooper's prediction of his own martyrdom, now added for the first time, almost certainly came from Bullinger; it is possible that Henry Bull opened the floodgates for this information.) The Earl of Warwick's letter to Cranmer on behalf of Bullinger was also added in this edition. There was no change to this account in the second or third editions of the Acts and Monuments.
[Back to Top]Material similar to the glosses of the previous section can be found in the margins of this section, although they also perhaps reflect what seems to be Foxe's sense that Hooper was a somewhat grander, more confident figure than Saunders (as in the gloss 'Discretion how ministers and preachers ought to behaue themselues' which comments on Hooper's austere manner, framing the point in terms of the difficulties this presented for those who sought spiritual comfort from Hooper). Thus there are glosses linking catholicism and insanity ('This Morgan shortly after fel into a phrensy, and madnes and dyed of the same') and pointing out the catholic reliance on 'force and extremitie' ('The popes religion standeth onely vpoon force and extremitie'). Hooper endures a somewhat more thoroughgoing examination than Saunders and, as a result, some glosses in this section fulfill a similar function to those found in the Oxford disputations section; thus Foxe takes Hooper's point that the Council of Nice ruled that no minister should be separated from his wife as proving that the Council permitted clerical marriage, a rather wider point ('The coūcel of Nice permitteth Priests mariage'); also 'Gardiner exhorteth M. Hooper to returne to the Popes church', (Gardiner says 'Catholique Church' in the text), 'Queene Mary will shew no mercy but to the Popes friendes' (the text says, 'the Queene would shew no mercy to the Popes enemies'). A repetition of the term 'care' in two glosses ('The diligent care of B. Hooper in his Dioces'; 'The care of M. Hooper in instructing his family') show how the marginalia could be used to make a point with economy and subtlety; in this that there was a profound analogy between Hooper's godly governance of his home and his concern for his pastoral flock, a point which made the catholic opposition to marriage appear all the more destructive and misguided. There are also some glosses which are badly positioned in editions after 1570.
[Back to Top]This is extremely unlikely. Hooper apparently left Oxford in 1519 and entered the Cistercian monastery at Cleve, Somerset. One of the commissioners in charge of suppressing Cleve was Sir Thomas Arundel, who visited the house in 1537. David Newcombe suggests that this was when Hooper entered Arundel's service. Newcombe also points out that Hooper was rector of Lidington, Wiltshire, from 1537 to 1550, a living which was in Arundel's gift. (Newcombe, pp. 12-18). Richard Rex has suggested that Hooper was a friar (Rex, p. 47); in the weight of Newcombe's evdence this seems lesslikely, but it still involves Hooper having left Oxford well before Richard Smith's heyday there.
[Back to Top]Apparently Foxe means by this that she was from Bruges, or that she was Burgundian. (The Low Countries were part of the old Duchy of Burgundy). Anna Hooper was from Antwerp.