whom also all the other instruments are obedient, is always a spirituall mā which hath euer such an inordinate loue vnto his own kingdōe that he wil maintein that, though al the tēporal kingdoms & comon welth of the world should therfore vtterly be vndone. Here leaue we out the greatest matter of al, lest that we declaring such an horrible caren of euill against the ministers of iniquitie, shuld seme to declare the one only faut or rather the ignorance of our best beloued minister of rightuousnesse, which is to be hid til he may be learned by these smal enormities that we haue spoken of to know it plainly him self. But what remedy to releue vs youre poore, sicke, lame, & sore bedemen? to make many hospitals for the relief of the poore people? Nay truly. The mo the worse, for euer the fatt of the whole foundatiō hangeth on the priestes berdes. Diuers of your noble predecessors kinges of this realme, haue geuen lādes to monasteries to giue a certain somme of mony yearly to the pore pople, wherof for the aunciēt ye of the time they giue neuer one peny. They haue likewise geuen to theim to haue a certain masses said daily for theim whereof they say neuer one. If the Abbot of Westminster shuld sing euery day as many masses for his founders as he is bounde to do by his foundacion. M. monkes were to few. Wherfore if your grace will builde a sure hospitall that neuer shall faile to releue vs al your poore bedemen, so take from them al these things. Set these sturdy loubies abrode in the world to get them wiues of theyr own, to get their liuīg with their labour in the swette of their faces according to the cōmaundement of God. Gen. 1. to giue other idle people by their example occasion to go to laboure. Tie these holy idell theues to the cartes to be whypped naked about euery marke towne till they wil fal to labour, that they by their importunate begging take not away the almesse that the good christē people wold giue vnto vs sore impotent, miserable people your bedemē. Thē shal aswel the nūber of our forsaid monstruous sorte as of the baudes, hores, theues, & idel people decrease. Then shal these great yerely exactions cease. Then shal not your swerde, power crowne, dignitie, & obediēce of your people, be translated frō you. Then shal you haue full obedience of your people. Then shal the idel people be set to worke. Then shall matrimony bee much better kept. Then shall the generation of your people be encreased. Then shal your commons encrease in ryches. Then shal the gospel be preached thē shal none beg our almes frō vs, thē shal we haue inough & more, thē shal suffise vs: whiche shalbe the best hospital þt euer was foūded for vs. Then shal we daily pray to God for your moste noble estate long to endure.
[Back to Top]Now that you haue hard the whole effect & tenore of this treatise, it remaineth also to declare vnto you the certeinty touching the Autor therof and vpon what occasion it was first made, with the circumstance how it was delyuered vnto the kinges handes, and what ensued therupō. The manner wherof was this.
[Back to Top]Maister Symon Fyshe, borne of a Noble stock, a gētlemā of graies inne, one of a tal stature. A. xxxvi. yeare a goo the fyrst yeare after he came to London to dwell theire was a certeyne playe made by one maister Roo of the MarginaliaExsame inne gentilman,
In the winter of 1527 Jack Roo had produced a masque (written twenty years earlier) which Wolsey took to be aimed at himself. Foxe has Fish playing the offending role. Roo spent time in the Fleet prison as a result of the play, and Fish escaped to Antwerp. However, Foxe may have placed Fish into the play without any real justification as Edward Hall, a barrister of Gray's Inn and eye-witness to the events, does not mention Fish, although one Thomas Moyle was also imprisoned (for which, see Edward Hall, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre & York [London, 1547], fol. 154v). These events are examined closely in Rodney M Fisher, 'Simon Fishe, Cardinal Wolsey and John Roo's Play at Gray's Inn, Christmas 1526', in Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, 69 (1978), pp. 293-8 and in Peter Gwyn, The King's Cardinal: The rise and fall of Thomas Wolsey (London, 1990), pp. 136-7.
[Back to Top]No doubt as a result of his treatise, A supplication for the beggars (1529).