al olde customes, thoughe they were neuer so rotten with age. This one thing I cānot but smyle at in my mynde, when I see howe hee braggeth & vaunteth himself in al hys letters to þe lord Protector, & other of the coūsel of the hye fauour of his noble Kyng of famous memory, the kinges father that dead is. &c. when nothing was lesse true, neither dyd the kyng lesse fauour any english man then him, as by the depositions both of the Earle of Warwik & of the L. Paget may appeare, pag. 824. 816. But into this false and foles paradise he was was brought, through the sayd L. Paget, who, as he reporteth him selfe in hys messages frō the king to the said Winchester deluded him, telling him muche otherwise then the kyng had spoken. Which thing puffed vp the vayn glorious Thraso not a litle, thinking the Moone was made of grene cheese. &c. But what soeuer he was, seing he is now gone, I refer him to his Iudge, to whom he shall stande or fall. As concerning his death, and maner thereof, I woulde they whiche were present thereat, woulde testify to vs what they saw. This we haue al to thinke, his death to happen so oportunely, that England hath a mighty cause to geue thankes to the lord therfore: not so much for the great hurt he had done in time past, in peruerting his Princes, in bringing in the. vi articles, in murthering Gods sayntes, in defacing Christes sincere religion. &c. as also especiallye for that he hadde thought to haue brought to passe, in murdering also our noble Quene that now is. For if it be true that her highnes was in daunger, it is as truly out of doubt that this vile bishop was the cause ther of.
Commentary
Foxe persistantly, and unfairly, claimed that Gardiner was largely responsible for the imprisonment of Elizabeth and that the bishop sought to have her killed. For a discussion of this see Thomas S. Freeman, 'Providence and Prescription: The Account of Elizabeth in Foxe's "Book of Martyrs"' in Susan Doran and Thomas S. Freeman (eds.), The Myth of Elizabeth, (Basingstoke, 2003), pp. 30-31.
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MarginaliaQuene Elizabeth preserued.And if it be certayn which we haue heard, that her highnes being in the tower, a wryte came downe from certeyn of the Counsell for her execution, it is out of cōtrouersy, but that vyle wyly Wynchester was the onely
Dædalus
Commentary
In classical mythology Daedalus was a brilliant inventor and engineer.
and framer of that ingine.
Commentary
Who no doubt in that one day had brought this whole realm in woful ruine, had not the Lordes most gratious counsel, through maister Bridges, then the Lieutenant, cōming in hast to the Quene certified the matter, and preuented Achitophels bloudy deuises. For the which thankes be to the same our Lord and Sauiour, in the congregation of al English churches. Amen. Of thynges vncertayne, I muste speake vncertainlye, for lacke of fuller information, or els peraduenture they be in the Realme that can say more, then here I haue expressed. For as Boner, Storye, Thorndon, Harpesfielde, Downing, with other, were occupied in putting the poore braunches of Gods sayntes to death: so this bishop for his parte bent all hys deuises, in assayling the roote, and in casting such a plat forme (as he hym selfe in woordes at hys death is sayd to confesse) to buylde hys
[Back to Top]popery vpon, as he thought should stande for euer. But as I sayde before, or vncertayne thynges I canne speake but vncertaynelye. Wherfore as touchinge the maner and order of his death, how riche he dyed, what were his wordes in defieng the honour of this world whether he dyed with his tounge swolne and out of his mouth, as
MarginaliaThos Arūdell Archbyshop of Cant.Thomas Arundell Archbyshop of Caunt. pag. 276. or whether he stonke before he dyed, as Cardinall Wolsey dyd, (who as he had vsed coniuration before, so after he had poysoned hym selfe by the waye,
MarginaliaEx relatu cuiusdam qui interfuit, et morientem Cardinalem brachio sustinuit.
Latin/Greek Translations
Foxe? [Marginal Note]
Foxe text Latin
Ex relatu cuiusdam qui interfuit, et morientem Cardinalem brachio sustinuit
Foxe text translation
Not translated.
Translation (Wade 2003)
From the account of someone who took part, and lifted up the dying Cardinal by his arm.
[Cf. account in Cattley-Pratt, VII, p. 592. Does this appear anywhere in the later edition?]
at his buriall was so heauy that they let him fall did geue suche a sauoure that they coulde not abide him, with such a sodain storme & tempest aboute him, that al the torches wente out and coulde beare no light) or whether he died in dispaire. &c. al this I refere either to theire reportes of whō I hard it, or leaue it to the knoledge of them which knowe it better. I coulde name the man (but I absteine from names) who being then presēt, and a great doer about the saide Winchester reported to vs concerning the saide byshop, that when the Byshop of Chichester cam to him, and began to comfort him with wordes of Gods promise, and with the free iustificatiō in the bloud of Christ oure sauioure, repeting the scriptures to hym Winchester hearinge him, what my Lorde, (quod he) wil you open that gap now? thē fare well all together: to me and such other in my case you may speake it. But opē this wyndow vnto the people, then farewell all to gether. Moreouer what Boner then sawe in him, or what he harde of him, and what woordes passed betwene them about the time of his extremitye,
MarginaliaA postrophe to Boner.betwyxte him and him be it. If Boner dydde then beholde anye thing which mighte turne to his good example, I exhorte hym to take it, and to beware in tyme, as I pray God he may. Here I coulde bring in the friuolous Epitaphe, which was made of his death made of a Papist for a popish Byshop. but I pretermit it, and in stede thereof, I haue here inferred a certein tretise of D. Ridley, wherein is declared contradictions in þe workes of Winchester, wherin he varieth from other Papists in the doctrine of the Sacrament, to thentent that as hee in his bookes rebuketh vs of variablenes, so other agayne may reproue hym wyth the same or greater, who in his doctrine varieth not only from other Papists, but also doubleth from himselfe, as here foloweth to be sene.
[Back to Top]To the Reader.
☞ For asmuch (good Reader) as our aduersaries that is the Romish Catholickes, as Lindanus,
Commentary
Wilhelmus Lindanus (1525-1588), catholic theologian, inquisitor and bishop of Roermund and Ghent.
Pighius,
Commentary
Albertus Pighius (1490? - 1542), Dutch catholic theologian and polemicist.
Wintoniensis, with other mo, are wont so greatly to charge vs wyth dissension and repugnaunce among our selues, for the same cause I haue thought good, especiallye hauing here in hande the storye of Wynchester to set fourth to the eyes of men, a briefe
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HHHh.ii.