MarginaliaAnno. 1555. October.
Marginaliai. Of things gottē by fraude, guile, & deceat, as of thinges gotten by open theft and robbery.partis. Wherfore let not your brother maister N. by cauillation continue in the deuils possession. I wil do the best I can, & wrastle with the deuill, omnibus viribus,
omnibus viribus Not translated. with all strength
These premisses well considered, looke vpon it, good maister N. that we haue no farther adoe. Gods plague is presently vpon vs: therefore let vs now diligently looke about vs, and in no wise defende, but willyngly reknoweledge and amende what soeuer hath been amisse. These were the capitall pointes of your talke (as I was informed,) after you had perused that my nipping and vnplesaunt letter: and I thought good to make you some aunswer to them, if perchaunce I might so moue you, the rather to call your self to some better remembraunce, & so more earnestly applie your self, to accomplishe and performe what you haue begun & promised to doe, namely the thing it self beyng of suche sorte, as apparently tēdeth both to your own worship, & also to gods high pleasure.
[Back to Top]Thus loe with a mad heade, but yet a good will, after long scriblyng, I wot not well what (but I knowe you cā reade it, and comprehende it well enough) I bidde you most hartly well to fare in the lorde, with good health, and long life to Gods pleasure, Amen. From Baxsterley the. xv. of Iuly.
Duryng the tyme that the said M. Latimer was prisoner in Oxforde, we read not of muche that he did write, besides his conference with D. Ridley, and his protestation at the tyme of his disputation. Otherwise of letters, we finde verie few or none that he did write to his frēdes abroad, saue onely these fewe lines, which he wrote to one maistres Wilkinson of London, a godlie matron, and an exile afterwarde for the Gospelles sake. Who so long as she remained in Englande, was a singular patronesse to the good Sainctes of God, and learned Bishops, as to maister Hoper, to the Bishoppe of Hereford, to maister Couerdale, M. Latimer, Doctour Cranmer with many other. The coppie and effecte of whiche his letter to maistres Wilkinson here followeth.
[Back to Top]ECL MS 260, fo. 276v.
JF the gifte of a pot of cold water, shall not be in obliuion with God, how can God forget your manifold & bountifull giftes, whē he shall saie to you: I was in prison, and you visited me. God graunt vs all to do & suffer while we be here, as maie be to his will and pleasure, Amen.
Yours in Bocardo. Hugh Latimer.
Touchyng the memorable actes and doynges of this worthie man, among many other this is not to bee neglected, what a bold enterprise he attempted, in sendyng to kyng Henry a present: the maner whereof was this.
This implausible story first appeared in an appendix to the 1563 edition (p. 1734) and was integrated into the section containing Latimer's letters in the 1570 edition.
Fornicatores & adulteros iudicabit Dominus.
Not translated.
God will judge fornicators and adulterers.
fornicatores enim et adulteros iudicabit Deus.
And thus haste thou, gentle reader, the whole life, bothe of M. Ridley, & of M. Latimer, twoo worthy doers in the Churche of Christe, seuerally and by them selues set forthe, and described with all their doynges, writynges, disputations, sufferynges, their painful tra-
uailes, faithfull preachynges, studious seruice in Christes churche, their pacient imprisonment, and constant fortitude in that whiche thei had taught, with all other their proceedynges from tyme to tyme, since their firste springyng yeares, to MarginaliaB. Ridley, and M. Latymer brought forth to examinatio.this present tyme and Monethe of Queene Mary, beyng the Monethe of October. Anno. 1555. MarginaliaOctober. 1. In the whiche Moneth thei were bothe broughte forth together, to their finall examination and execution. Wherfore, as we haue heretofore declared, bothe their liues seuerally, and distinctly one from the other, so now ioyntly to couple them bothe together, as thei were together both ioyned in one societie of cause and Martyrdome, we will by the grace of Christe prosecute the rest that remaineth concernyng their latter examination, disgradyng, and constant sufferyng, with the order and maner also of the Commissioners, MarginaliaM. White B. of Lincolne M. Brokes B. of Glocester the Popes deputies.which were Maister White Bishoppe of Lincolne, Maister Brokes Bishoppe of Glocester, with others: and what were their woordes, their obiections, their Orations there vsed, and what againe were the aunsweres of these men to the same, as in processe here foloweth to bee seen.
[Back to Top]There were relatively brief accounts of the examinations of Ridley and Latimer, on both 30 September and 1 October, in the Rerum (pp. 705-08). These accounts were clearly based on the commission to examine the two bishops, the articles on which they were interrogated and brief versions of their replies. Foxe obviously had copies of the first two documents in exile, supplemented with what may well have been a copy one of the notarial records of the examinations. Curiously, there was nothing in the Rerum on the condemnation and degradation of Ridley and Latimer and only a terse note of their executions (Rerum, p. 538).
[Back to Top]This deficiency was made good in the 1563 edition. The entire accounts of the examinations, condemnations, and executions of the two martyrs were first printed in this edition as well as the accounts of Ridley's degradation and his behaviour on his final night on earth. These accounts, apart from one famous, almost certainly apocryphal, remark first attributed to Latimer in the 1570 edition,were substantially unchanged in subsequent editions.
[Back to Top]What were Foxe's sources for this wealth of information? Ridley's examinations may have been written by Ridley himself; if not, they were certainly written by a co-religionist. But Ridley could not have recorded Latimer's examinations as he was not present at them; they were probably recorded by a sympathetic observer, quite possibly at Ridley's instruction. (They do not appear to have been written by Latimer himself; for one thing, the detailed descriptions of Latimer's dress and appearance suggest that the bishop did not describe his own examinations). Ridley's condemnation, degradation, behaviour in his final days and his execution were all recounted to Foxe by George Shipside, Ridley's devoted brother-in-law. (Shipside is specifically mentioned as being present on each of these occasions and the accounts frequently address a concern of his: Ridley's efforts to have leases bestowing property on Shipside's wife honoured by Mary). Augustine Bernher, Latimer's amanuensis, was very probably present at the bishops's execution and he may well have been a source for Foxe as well.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe last examination of B. Ridley and M. Latymer.FIrste, after the apperyng of Thomas Cranmer Archbishoppe of Canterburie, before the Popes Delegate, and the Queenes Commissioners in sainct Maries Churche at Oxford, about the. xij. daie of September, whereof more shalbee saied (by the Lordes grace) when we come to the death of the saied Archbishoppe: shortly after, vpon the xxviij. daie of the saied Moneth of September, was sent doune to Oxford an other Commission
From here down to the words 'all such heresy and schism' Foxe is clearly quoting from the commission to examine the bishops.
There are three types of papal (personal representatives of the pope): a legatus natus, a nuncio and a legate à latere. A legatus natus is the holder of an office (e.g., the archbishopric of Canterbury before the reformation) which automatically confers legatine status on the officeholder. Today a numcio is a diplomatic representaive from the Holy See, but in the sixteenth century he was a papal official with the authority to collect revenue due to the papacy from a particular province. Legates à latere acted as deputies for the pope on important missions. They have full papal power in much the same way as a viceroy has royal powers. The trials of Ridley and Latimer were conducted under Cardinal Pole's legatine authority.
[Back to Top]Mary's government refused to accept the validity of ordinations conducted under the 1550 ordinal, which included the episcopal ordinations of Latimer and Ridley.
The period between Henry VIII's break with Rome and Mary's accession.
MarginaliaD. Ridley and M. Latymer ascited to appeare, the last of Septemb.Wherfore, the last of September, the said two persones Nicholas Ridley & Hugh Latimer, were ascited to appere before the said lordes, in the diuinitie schoole at Oxford, at. viij. of the clocke. At what tyme thether repaired the Lordes,
The bishops trying Ridley and Latimer: Bishop White of Lincoln, Bishop Brooks of Gloucester and Bishop Holyman of Bristol.
Separately.
Repeatedly.