his death and passion, vntill his comminge agayne. So that it is lefte in remembraunce of his body, and not by the wordes of consecratiō to be made his body, really, substantially, and the same body, that was borne of the Virgin Mary. I vtterly do deny that. After this (besides sondry other times) the third daye of October, the sayde Ihon Web, with the two fore named, Gregroy Roper, & George Park, wer broughte (all three together) before the sayde Iudge: and then, making and stedfastly allowing the lyke former answer of maister Web, thei wer (by the blody tirant) adiudged as heretickes. And therefore about thend of the same moneth October, they were together burned in one fyre at Cauntorbury, abyding most pacientlye their tormentes, and counting them selues happye & blessed of the Lorde, that they were made worthy to suffer for Christes gospell sake.

Of VVylliam VVyseman 

Commentary    Close

William Wiseman

There is a note in the Rerum that William Wiseman, at an unspecified date,died in Lollards' Tower and was buried in the fields (Rerum, p. 538). Foxe printed his complete account of Wiseman's death, derived from oral sources, in the 1563 edition. It was reprinted, without change, in all subsequent editions of the Acts and Monuments.

[Back to Top]

MarginaliaDecember 13.
W. Wyseman dead in Lollars tower, and cast in the fieldes.THe xiii of December in the Lollards tower dyed William a clothworker of London, where hee was in prison and bandes for the Gospel and word

of God. How and wherupon he deceased it is not fully certayne: some thought that eyther through famine, or some yll handeling of the murthering Papistes he was made a waye. By reason wherof the crowner named Ihon Gybbes gentilmā, with an enquest of. xii. men were fayne to sitte vpon hym, who although to the outward appearaunce were sayd to find nothing in him els but onely Gods visitacion yet what other priuy causes might lie lurking in his death, the Lord knoweth I cannot saye. After the sayd wylliam was departed, as is sayd, in the Tower, the holy catholyke churchmen cast him out into the fieldes, commaunding that no man should bury hym, according as their deuout maner is to do with all suche as dye in lyke sorte, whom they accoumpte as profane, and worthy of no buriall, but to bee cast to Dogges and Byrdes, ἑλώρια κύνεσσι 

Latin/Greek Translations    Close

Homer

Foxe text Greek

ἑλώρια κύνεσσι

Foxe text translation

Not translated.

Translation (Wade 2003)

Prey for dogs

Actual text of Homer, Iliad, I, 4-5

ἡρώων, αὐτοὺς δὲ ἑλώρια τεῦχε κύνεσσιν οἰωνοῖσί τε πᾶσι, Διὸς δ’ ἐτελείτο Βουλή,

Translation (Hammond, 1987)

of heroes, making their bodies the prey to dogs and the birds' feasting: and this was the working of Zeus' will.

[Accurate citation]

[View a larger version]

Commentary on the Woodcuts    Close

Alternative title: 1583: The order and maner of burying in the Fields such as dyed in prison, and namely, of William Wiseman. The fate of the London clothworker, William Wiseman, who died in the bishop of London's prison, the so-called Lollards' Tower of St Paul's, was not unique. Another woodcut (1583, p. 1703), told the story of four prisoners who earlier in 1555 had similarly been 'cast into the fields' after dying in custody. As was here explained with caustic irony, the 'devout manner' customary in church law prevented suicides and heretics whose alienation placed them beyond God's mercy from being granted burial in consecrated ground. The scene shows the charitable action of a group of devout 'good Tobies', who put themselves at risk by giving decent burial to the outcast under cover of darkness. The reference is to the example of Tobit in the apocryphal book of Tobit (included in the Geneva Bible), who made a grave and buried a man who had been strangled and cast out in the market place. A sizable throng is depicted, including the archers mentioned as being out in the fields, one of whom looks heavenward, doffing his cap. This was a religious ceremony, with psalm-singing and women with praying hands, as Wiseman was gently laid to rest. In 1563 the woodcut has no top framing line - giving the appearance of its having been removed to make room for the heading. In 1570 this is made good by a thin replacement line of the kind used to surround the columns of text. In 1576 and 1583 the line is again lacking.

Iames Gore. 

Commentary    Close

The Death of James Gore

There is a note in the Rerum that one Gore died in prison in Colchester(Rerum, p. 538). A somewhat expanded account, giving the date of Gore's death as 7 December 1555, was added in the 1563 edition. It was unchanged in subsequent editions of the Acts and Monuments.

JN the same moneth, aboute the. vii. daye of December deceased also Iames Gore, in the

pryson at Colchester, layed ther in bandes for the right and truth of Gods woord