In the meane whyle Peter Carew hearyng of that was done, fled into Fraunce: but the other were taken, and Wiat came towardes London in the beginning of Februarye, from whome the Emperours Embassadours sped themselues awaye in haste all by water. The Quene hearyng of Wiates commynge, came into the citie into the Gilde Hall, where she made a vehement oration against Wiate, declaryng that she neyther had, nor woulde consent to mary, otherwyse then shoulde seme to the Counsayle to bee for the wealthe of the realme. Wherefore she desyred them of the citie to sticke to her in the suppressyng of rebellious Traitours, & defendyng her royal estate.
The version of Mary's speech in the London Guildhall on 1 February 1554, which is printed in the 1563 edition (see textual transposition 23), is different from the version printed in subsequent editions. The substance is generally similar but the version in the later editions is much smoother. The 1563 version appears to have been based on a spectator's notes; Foxe may have worked this up into a more polished version or he may have obtained a better version. (It is more likely to be the latter, and this is partially confirmed by Foxe's adding of anecdotes in the 1570 edition, together with his account of the speech, describing what happened when the speech was given [see textual variant 17]). In any case, the initial appearance of this oration in the concluding pages of the 1563 edition suggests that Foxe obtained this version of the speech only as the Actes and Monuments was going to press. Earlier, in the 1563 edition, Foxe was able only to summarise the speech (see textual variant 16).
[Back to Top]As concerning Wiat, after that he cōming to Southwarke could not bee receiued þt waie into Londō, returnyng another way by Kingstone with his army, he came vp throughe the stretes to Ludgate, wher as returnng thence, was resisted at Temple barre and there apprehended, which was vppon Ash wednisdaye: at what time at the apprehension of the said Wiat there was a generall pardon by the Harolde proclaimed, promising generally pardō of life. Yet that notwithstāding, gallowes & gibbets wer erected in all partes of the citie & suburbes of London to the nūber of. xx. or thereabout (3. being set vp in chepe side) wherupon diuers of the captaines and souldiors of Wiat wer hanged, & he himself afterward executed at Towre Hill & then quartered, whose head after beyng set vp vpon the gallowes at Hayhill, was ther stollen away, & great searche made for þe same: concerning whose cause and matter I partlye referre them to the English Chronicles, suche as list more fully to be satisfied therin, & partly hereafter more shall be touched amonge other thinges done in the moneth of Aprill.
Although Foxe promises an account of the theft of Wyatt's head (1563, p. 917; 1570, p. 1580; 1576, p. 1348; 1583, p. 1419), such an account does not appear in the Actes and Monuments. This is because the passage is taken, word for word, from Crowley (cf. Crowley, Epitome, sig. Ffff4r), who did not give this account himself.
[Back to Top]The glosses here help to fashion Jane as a martyr or pseudo-martyr. As a sufferer for the truth and a letter-writer, her efforts are characterised in ways which ally them with those of later martyrs; thus ('Lady Iane comfortably taketh her trouble'), and feels bold enough to offer reproof to a priest who has fallen from the faith ('A sharpe letter or exhortation of the Lady Iane to M. Harding') as well as spiritual encouragement to her father and sister ('This Parenthesis includeth with a praier, a priuy admonition to her father that he fall not from his religion' and 'So liue to dye, that by death you may liue'). The glosses also support her spirited defence of faith against Fecknam, mainly by simply pointing to the matters affirmed ('Faith onely iustifieth', 'Good workes necessary in a christian, yet do they not profite to saluation', etc.), but on one occasion Foxe does offer a more logically focussed summary of what she says than is directly warranted by the content ('Christ had power to turne the bread into his body, is no argumēt to proue that he did so'). Also relevant is a gloss which points to her steady and devout conduct in the face of death ('The wordes and behauiour of the Lady Iane vppon the Scaffold'). The gloss 'A wonderfull example vpon Morgan the Iudge who gaue sentence agaynst the Lady Iane' adds to the implicit sense of injustice by highlighting the providential visitation of a judge who convicted Jane.
[Back to Top]To paraphrase Voltaire, if Jane Grey had not existed, Foxe would have invented her. Her constancy and articulate championing of her evangelical convictions did a great deal to counteract the recantation of her father-in-law and some of his closest adherents. And, unlike her father and Wyatt, who also died 'good deaths', she was regarded as being innocent of treason. Yet at the same time, Foxe's account of her is more than merely the narrative of a martyrdom. Jane Grey's conference with Feckenham and her letter to Harding also form an important part of the arguments against the mass and the eucharist which are the overriding themes of Book 10. Moreover, her connections with the Marian exiles (particularly James Haddon and John Aylmer, who had been her tutor), and continental reformers with whom she had corresponded (notably Bullinger), ensured that Foxe had ample information about her even when he was in exile.
[Back to Top]In fact, most of the material Foxe printed regarding Jane Grey had already been printed in the Rerum and this material was largely unchanged in the Actes and Monuments. The items in the Rerum include the dialogue with Feckenham (pp. 234-36), Jane's letter to Catherine Grey (pp. 236-38) and Jane's speech at her execution (pp. 237-38). Jane's prayer 'in time of trouble' and her letter to Harding are not in the Rerum, but appear in the 1563 and all subsequent editions. These items were rearranged in the 1570 edition (see textual transpositions 1 to 4 inclusive), apparently to bring them into chronological order. (Jane's letter to Catherine Grey was reprinted from the 1563 edition in Bull's LM, pp. 662-63). Also reprinted from the Rerum are Latin verses by Foxe, Laurence Humphrey and John Parkhurst, praising Jane Grey for her learning, emphasising the pathos of her death and acclaiming her as a martyr.
[Back to Top]There are, however, some passages about Jane Grey in the Rerum which were never reprinted in the Actes and Monuments. One set of passages states that Jane Grey was no more than seventeen when she died but that she was very gifted, especially in her mastery of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and that she died through no fault of her own, but for the sins of her parents and of the family into which she had married (Rerum, p. 238). The last comments explain why this passage was not reprinted. Not only did it attack the very powerful Dudley family, but it also attacked the Duke of Suffolk, whom Foxe would portray as very nearly a martyr in the Actes and Monuments.
[Back to Top]Another set of passages which only appeared in the Rerum described 'D. Ioanne Brugius' (i.e., Sir John Brydges, the Lieutenant of the Tower), asking Jane Grey to write some verses in a book of his. These verses are printed in the Rerum and form a conventionally pious exhortation which ends with a rather lugubrious but apt quote from Ecclesiastes: 'Tempus est nascendi, tempus moriendi: meliorque est dies mortis dies nativitatis' (Rerum, p. 238.) (A prayer book, now BL Harley MS 2342, is traditionally supposed to have been the book Jane Grey gave to Brydges, [J. G. Nichols, (ed.), The Chronicle of Queen Jane and of two years of Queen Mary, Camden Society Original Series 48, (London, 1850) pp. 57-58]. The verses printed in the Rerum match the verses printed in Harley 2342).
[Back to Top]FEcknam. Madame I lamēt your heauy case, and yet I doubt not but that you beare out this sorowe of yours with a constant and pacient minde.
Iane. You are welcome vnto me Sir, yf youre comming be to geue christian exhortation. And as for my heauy case, (I thanke God) I doe so litle lament it, that rather I accompte the same for a more manifest declaration of gods fauour toward me, then euer he shewed me any tyme before. And therefore there is no cause why eyther you or other whiche beare me good wyll,
[Back to Top]should lament or be greued with this my case, being a thing so profitable for my soule health.
Fecknam. I am here come to you at thys presente sent from the Quene and her Counsayle, to enstruct you in the true doctrine of the right fayth: although I haue so greate confidence in you, that I shall haue (I trust) litle nede to trauayle with you muche therin.
Iane. Forsooth I hartely thanke the Quenes highnesse, whiche is not vnmindeful of her hūble subiecte: and I hope lykewyse that you no lesse will do your dutie therin bothe truely and faithfully, accordyng to that you were sente for.
Fecknam. What is then required of a Christian?
Iane. That he should beleue in god, the father, the sonne, and the holye ghost, three persons and one god.
Fecknam. What? is there nothing els to bee required or looked for in a Christian, but to beleue in God?
Iane. Yes, we muste beleue in him, we muste loue him with all our heart, with al oure soule, and with all our minde, and our neighbour as our selfe.
Fecknam. Why? then fayth iustifieth not, nor saueth not.
Iane. Yes verely, faith (as saint Paule sayeth) onely iustifieth.
Fecknam. Why? saint Paule saieth, if I haue all faith without loue, it is nothing.
Iane. True it is. for how can I loue him, whō I trust not, or how can I trust him whō I loue not? Faith and loue goeth bothe together, & yet loue is comprehended in faith.
Fecknam. How shal we loue our neighbour?
Iane. To loue our neighbor, is to fede the hungry, to clothe the naked, and geue drinke to the thurstye, and to do to him as we woulde doe to our selues.
Fecknam. Why? then is it is necessary vnto saluacion to doe good workes also, and it is not sufficient onely to beleue.
Iane. I deny that, and I affirme that fayth only saueth, but it is mete for a christian, in token that he dothe folowe his maister Christ, to doe good workes: yet may we not say that they profit to saluation. For when we haue done all, yet we be vnprofitable seruauntes, and faith onely in Christes bloud saueth.
[Back to Top]Fecknam. How many sacramentes are there?
Iane. Two. The one, the sacramēt of baptisme and thother the sacrament of the lordes supper.
Fecknam. No, there are seuen.
Iane. By what scripture finde ye that?
Fecknam. Wel, we wil talke of that hereafter. but what is signifyed by your. 2. sacramentes?
Iane. By the sacramente of Baptisme, I am washed with water, and regenerated by the spirite, and that washyng is a token to me that I am the chylde of God. The Sacramente of the Lordes Supper offered vnto me, is a sure seale and testimonye that I am by the bloude of Christe, whiche he shedde for me on the crosse, made partaker of the euerlastyng Kyngdome.
[Back to Top]Fecknam. Why? what doe you receiue in that sacramēt? Do you not receyue the very body & bloude of Christ?