MarginaliaAn. 950.In the yeare of our Lord. 950. lyued Odo Archbishop of Caūterbury, in whose tyme, it appeareth by the Catholickes own confession, that many Priestes then affirmed, that the bread and wyne after consecration, did remaine in their former substance, and that the sayd mysteries were onely a figure of the body & bloud of Christ, MarginaliaThe witnes of Osberne.as we finde it wytnessed by Osberne him selfe, who did write the lyues of Odo, Dunstane, and Elphege, at the byddyng of Lancfrācke Archbyshop of Canterbury, as reporteth Edmerus, Anselmus Chapleine
Eadmer's works were collected by Matthew Parker and are now Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 371. This is one very good indication that Foxe had the active cooperation of Matthew Parker and John Joscelyn - most probably of both of them - in compiling these 'proofs' that the Anglo-Saxon Church did not believe in transubstantation.
[Back to Top]Foxe is taking the story of Oda's championing the doctrine of transubstantiation, and his performing a miracle to verify it, not from Osbern, but from William of Malmesbury. See William of Malmesbury, De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum, ed. N. E. S. A. Hamilton, Rolls Series 52 (London, 1870), pp. 24-5. (This includes the citation from Osbern).
[Back to Top]And as he faileth in the number of these Clergymē, whiche then held agaynst transubstantiation, so he vpholdeth the same with as lying a miracle: MarginaliaA lying miracle to proue Transubstantiation.Which miracle hee fayneth to bee wrought the same tyme, for the conuersion of the sayd Clergymen, by the bloud droppyng out of the host at Masse, as Odo was breakyng the host ouer the chalice. At the sight wherof, first Odo hym selfe (sayth he) wept for ioye, seyng his petition accomplished, whiche hee so earnestly prayed for. Secondarely, all those Clergymen (sayth hee) whiche before beleued not this transubstantiation, by and by were conuerted, and blessed the Archbyshop, that euer hee was borne, desiryng him to pray agayne, that the bloud might returne to his former shape, and streight is was done. And this was the miracle: which seemeth as true, as that which W. Malmesbery wryteth of the sayd Odo, MarginaliaEx Malmesb.how by hys prayers, hee caused a sworde to come flying from heauen, into Kyng Æthelstanes scabbaard, when he had lost his owne, as he should fight agaynst Analanus: or ells as that miracle where the said Odo is sayd to couer and defend the Church of Canterbury, that no droppe of rayne coulde touch it, so long as the roofe therof was in makyng
See 1570, p. 199, 1576, p. 152 and 1583, p. 151. The story is from William of Malmesbury, De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum, ed. N. E. S. A. Hamilton, Rolls Series 52 (London, 1870), p. 21.
MarginaliaReasons & proufes alleaged agaynst this miracle.In whiche so miraculous a miracle, many thynges are to be merueled. First I meruel, þt at this great miracle of the Archbyshop in his Cathedrall Churche, amongest so many singyng men, we read of no Te deū there to be song, after the doyng therof.
Secondly I meruell, that those Priestes & Clerkes, whiche then denyed transubstantiation, were suffered to be so nere the Archbishop at his Masse, and that they were not committed rather to warde lyke heretickes and traytours, if this Article of transubstantiation had ben then such a Catholicke doctrine, & so publickely receaued in the Churche, as they say it was.
[Back to Top]Thirdly I meruell, seyng the tyme of miracles is expired, we hauyng the Scriptures to guyde vs, why the Archbishop would seke to miracles and apparitiōs to conuerte men, rather then to the lawe & Prophetes, accordyng as we are commaunded, especially hauyng no such example of all the old Doctours, which in confutation of so many erroneous opinions, yet neuer sought to such miracles, or blynd meanes.
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MarginaliaThe authors of this fabulous miracle, do not agree within them selues.Fourthly, I meruell much at þe discrepāce in tellyng this tale, betwene Osberne and other whiche since haue written Legendes of Odo. For where Osberne speakyng of certein Priestes, nameth no place, but leaueth þe matter at large, & speaketh absolutely: quidā clerici: all other which haue since writtē the Legendes of Odo, doe tell this tale agaynst certein Priestes of Cāterbury, addyng to the wordes of Osberne: quidam clerici Cantuarienses.
A marvellous piece of hairsplitting. But it should be noted that there is no evidence that Foxe consulted the life of Oda attributed to Osbern, although it is possible. It is also possible (and more likely) that that John Joscelyn informed Foxe of its contents. This life was once a part of BL, Arundel MS 16, which is heavily annotated by John Joscelyn. Unfortunately the life of Oda is now missing. The question is: was the life of Oda still in the volume when Joscelyn consulted it?
The version of the legend that Foxe is about to relate is taken from mthe life of St Oswald attributed to Byrhtferth of Ramsey. Cf. 'Vita sancti Oswaldi autore anonymo' in The historians of the church of York and its archbishops, ed. J. Raine, 3 vols., Rolls Series 71 (1879), I, pp. 403-4. (The attribution to Bryghtferth has been confirmed; see The Recovery of the Past in Early Elizabethan England: Documents by John Bale and John Joscelyn from the Circle of Matthew Parker, ed. Timothy Graham and Andrew G. Watson, Cambridge Bibliographical Society 13 [Cambridge, 1998], p. 56). The sole surviving version of this work is BL, Cotton MS Nero E. i/1 (fos. 3r-23v) which has been underlined and marked up throughout by John Joscelyn. Clearly Joscelyn was supplying Foxe with this material.
[Back to Top]But this much more I meruell, why this miracle is not storyed in Henry Huntyngton, which professedly writeth of such miracles, nor in Rog. Houeden, and such other: MarginaliaLying legendes.but onely in such blynd Legendes, which commonly haue no substance of veritie, nor certeintie of tyme or writer, to know when, and by whom they were written, and for the msot parte are stuffed with liyng visions, and prodigious fables.
[Back to Top]Finally, if this miraculous fiction of Osborne were true, that for the conuertyng of the Priestes of England, whiche would not beleue transubstantiation, this bloud did droppe out of the hoste (of the whiche bloud peraduenture came the bloud of Hales)
Hailes Abbey contained a famous relic: a vial of the blood of Christ. Long a target of Lollard and evangelical criticism, when, during the Dissolution, the holy blood was revealed to be duck's blood, the relic became synonymous with monastic forgery of relics and miracles (Peter Marshall, 'The Rood of Boxley, the Blood of Hailes and the Defence of the Henrician Church', Journal of Ecclesiastical History 46 [1995], pp. 689-96).
[Back to Top]Foxe is confusing Aelfric of Eynsham (c. 950-c. 1010), the author of the epistles and sermons that he will quote, with Aelfric, who was archbishop of Canterbury from 995-1005.
The quotations which follow are from A testimonie of antiquitie (London, 1566?), STC 159.5. This work, edited by Matthew Parker and John Joscelyn, includes a sermon by Aelfric, extracts from his letters and the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, all printed in Old English, with English translations.
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MarginaliaÆlfricus Archbishop of Cant.
¶ An. 996.
This paragraph is drawn from the preface to A testimonie of antiquitie, (London, 1566?), STC 159.5, fos. 7v-8v. Scholars believe that this preface was written by John Joscelyn.