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1239 [1239]

K. Henry. 8. The diuorcement of Queene Catherine.

him selfe before, so that they might long looke for hym before he could come. Whiche was an. 1533.

To this story of Panier, may also be added the lyke terrible example of Doct. Foxeford Chauncellour to the Byshop of London, a cruell persecutor and a common butcher of the good Saintes of God: who was the cōdemner of all those aforenamed, which were put to death, troubled, or abiured vnder B. Stokesley through all the dioces of London. MarginaliaThe terrible hand of Gods iudgement vpon Foxford the bishops Chauncellour.Thys Foxford dyed  

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Foxford died suddenly if perhaps not so dramatically.

about thys present yeare and tyme: of whose terrible ende it was then certaynlye reported and affyrmed by such as were of ryght good credite, vnto certayn persons, of whom some be yet aliue, that he dyed sodenly sittyng in his chayre, his bellye being brust, and his guttes falling out before him.

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MarginaliaThe death of W. Warham Archbi. of Cant.About the same tyme dyed also W. Warrham Archbyshop of Caūterbury:  

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The archbishop died on 22 August 1532.

MarginaliaTho. Cranmer Archbi. of Cant.in whose roume succeded Tho. Cranmer, which was the kinges Chapleine, & a great disputer agaynst þe vnlaufull Mariage of Lady Catherine Princesse Dowager, beyng then so called by Acte of Parlament.

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Ye heard before,  

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The Act of Appeals (24 Henry VIII, c.12).

how the Parlament had enacted, that no person after a certeine day, should appeale to Rome for any cause. MarginaliaQueene Catherine appealeth to Rome.Notwithstanding whiche Acte, þe Queene, now called Princesse Dowager, had appealed to þe Court of Rome, before that Acte made: so that it was doubted, whether that appeale were good or not. This question was wel handeled in the Parliament house, but much better in the Conuocation house, and yet in both houses it was alleaged, yea, and by bookes shewed, MarginaliaConcluded by councels of the primitiue church, that none should appeale out of their prouince.that in the Counsailes of Calcedone  
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The council of Chalcedon (451) produced the condemnation of monophysitism and affirmed the two distinct natures of Christ.

, Affrike  
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Foxe may be here referring to one of many national or plenary Episcopal synods (e.g. Hippo in 393 or Carthage in 407) representing the church in North Africa.

, Toletane  
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Foxe may be here referring to a synod held at Tolentino.

,
and diuerse other famous Councels in the primitiue Church, yea, in the tyme of sainct Augustine, it was affirmed, declared, and determined, that a cause rysing in one Prouince, shoulde be determined in the same, and that neyther the Patriarke of Constantinople should medle in causes moued in the iurisdiction of the Patriarke of Antioche, nor no bishop should enter medle within an others Prouince or countrey. Which thinges were so clerckly opened, & so cōningly set forth to all intentes, that euery man that had witte, and was determined too folowe the truth, and not wilfully wedded to his own mind, might plainly see þt all appeales made to Rome, were clerely voide and of none effect. Which doctrines and counsayles, were shewed to the lady Katherin Princesse Dowager, but she (as womē loue to lose no dignitie) euer continued in her old song, trustyng more to the Popes partialitie, then to the determination of Christes veritie. Whereupon the Archebyshop of Canterbury Cranmer aboue named, accompanied with the Bishoppes of London, Winchester, Bathe, Lincolne, and diuerse other great clerkes, in a great number, roade to Dunstable, whiche is six mile from Ampthyl,  
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Catherine's household was established at Ampthill. It was here, on 3 July 1533, she was informed of her official title change from queen to princess dowager.

where þe Princesse Dowager lay, and there by a doctor called Doctor Lee,  
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Archbishop Edward Lee met with Catherine at Ampthill, c.21 May 1533, on the verge of the conclusion of the marriage tribunal at Dunstable.

she was ascited to appeare before the saied Archebyshoppe in cause of matrimonie, in the said toune of Dunstable:  
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The priory at Dunstable was selected due to its remoteness from London, because it was unlikely to be disturbed, and because it was close to Ampthill. Late in April 1533, Cranmer cited Catherine and Henry to appear before this new tribunal [see, L&P, vi, 737 (no.7)] and, on her behalf, ambassador Chapuys sent a letter of protest to the king [see, L&P, vi, 391, 465]. The tribunal opened on 10 May and, because she had not appeared, Catherine was declared 'contumacious' [see, L&P, vi, 470] which, in a legal sense, not only means she refused to abide by the order but also means stubbornly disobedient, wilfully obstinate or even rebellious. Final sentence was rendered on 23 May 1533 [for a discussion, see Andrew A Chibi, Henry VIII's Conservative Scholar (Bern, 1997), pp.82-4].

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and at the day of appearaūce, she would not appere, but made defaut, and so was called peremptorilye, euery day. xv. daies to gether, & MarginaliaLady Catherine solemnly diuorced from the kyng.at the last, for lacke of appearaunce, and for contumacie, by þe assent of all the learned men there beyng present, she was diuorced from the kyng, and their Mariage declared to bee voyde and of none effecte: which sentence geuen, the Archebyshop and all the other, returned backe agayne.

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MarginaliaA note.¶ Where note that althoughe this diuorce folowyng after the new Mariage, neded not at all to be made, the first Mariage beyng no Mariage at all before God, yet to satisfie the voyce of the people, more then for any necessitie, the kyng was contented, throughe the persuasions of some, so to do. For els as touching God & consciēce, what great nede was of any diuorse, where before God, no Mariage was to be accounted, but rather an incestuous and detestable adultery, as the Acte of Parlament doth terme it? But to our matter agayne.

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After the dissolution of this first Mariage made betwene the kyng and the Lady Princesse Dowager, she neuertheles bearyng a stoute mynde, would not yet relent, neither to the determination of the Vniuersities, nor to the censure of the Clergie, nor of the whole Realme: but folowyng the Counsaile rather of a few Spanyardes, to moleste the kyng and the realme, by suite, and meanes made to the Pope, MarginaliaWrytings sette vp at Dunkerke against the kyng.procured certeine writynges, first of monition and aggrauation, then of excommunication and interdiction to be sent downe frō Rome,  

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Foxe is here referring to the fact that Catherine's appeal was still very much alive in the courts of Rome, with which Henry VIII still had to deal (largely through his agents there, Edmund Bonner and Sir Edward Carne). The marriage tribunal in Rome proceeded c.6 July 1533 and lasted to 11 July. The final sentencing was not, however, given until 23 March 1534. [See, Henry A Kelly, The Matrimonial trials of Henry VIII (Stanford, 1976), pp.164-70].

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wherein the Pope had interdicted both þe king and the whole Realme. But the Popes Cursor beyng not the hardiest mā (belike) that euer shewed his head, thought it much more sure for hym to discharge his PoPishe cariage without the kynges reache, and so kepyng hym selfe aloufe of (lyke a prety man) set vp his writynges in the towne of Dunkerke in Flaunders. In the whiche towne, first vpon the North doore of the Churche was set vp a monition, that the kyng of England should surcease þe suite of diuorce, MarginaliaIoh. Butler of Calyce toke downe the wrytte at Dunkerke against the king.the which Iohn Butler Clerke  
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John Butler was a Cranmer protégé, a royal chaplain, and was appointed his commissary of Calais by the archbishop by 1 April 1534. There seems, however, to be a question about the exact dating of his appointment [for which, see Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer (Yale, 1996), p.113].

, then Commissary of Calyce, by commaundement tooke downe in a night.

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MarginaliaK. Henry and the realme interdicted by the pope.After that, before Whitson  

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This is Pentecost, seven weeks after Easter (which in 1533 was 23 April).

weeke there was set vp in the same place an excommunication, aggrauation, regrauation, and interdiction. For the whiche also the sayd Butler by commaundement was sent to Dunkerke, to take it downe. And because the Counsaile of Calyce would be certified of his diligence therein, they sent a seruaunt of the Lord Lisley, then Deputie of Calyce, whose name was Cranuell, and vpon Wensday in Whytsonweeke, at vij. of the cloke in the mornyng, he tooke it down whole and brought it with him, and deliuered the same to the Lord Deputie aforesaid. Which was about the yeare. 1533.

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This beyng knowen and certified vnto the king, he was mocioned by his Coūsaile, that such as were about her, and moued her thereto, should be put frō her. And therfore the Duke of Suffolke  

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Charles Brandon was sent (c.18 December) to the village of Buckden, where Catherine was lodged at the Great Hall of the palace of Bishop Grossteste since July 1533. [See, Calendar of State Papers, Spanish, iv/ii, pp.892-99; L&P, vi, 622].

was sent to Bugden beside Huntyngton, where the said Lady Katherine lay, who perceiuyng her stomacke to cōtinue froward still, in aunsweryng hym with high wordes, & sodenly so in a fury to parte from him into her priuye chamber, and shut the doore: MarginaliaThe lady Catherins court discharged.brake vp the order of her Court, and discharged a great sorte of her houshold seruauntes, and yet left her a conuenient number to serue her lyke a Princesse. They þt remained stil, were sworne to serue her as Princesse onely, & not as Queene. Of whō some sayd they were once sworne to serue her as Queene, & otherwise would not serue, & so were dismissed. The other whiche were sworne to serue her as Princesse, she vtterly refused for her seruauntes, and so she remained with the fewer, liuyng after this about the space of two yeares.  
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Foxe's timing is a little off here as Catherine was moved on (although not a great distance away) to Kimbolton in May 1534.

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¶ The abolishyng the Pope out of England.  
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Royal Supremacy

Foxe's account of the monumental acts of the Reformation Parliament necessarily focused on the 'aboliyshing of the vsurped power and iurisdiction of the bishop of Rome' rather than the establishment of the royal supremacy. The marginal gloss to the 1563 edition, however, provides the key to later historians' interpretations of these events: 'The kinge proclaimed Supreme head by act of parliament'. By the 1570 edition, however, Foxe's marginal glosses subtly altered the message to meet an anticipated objection about the status of a proclamation: 'The stile of supreme head annexed to the crowne of England' adding, for good measure: 'The popes name and memory abolished'. There were other, even more substantial changes wrought by Foxe in this passage as between the 1563 edition and its successors. In 1563, he had said almost nothing about the other, more detailed but substantial measures that accompanied the famous proclamation and which had been turned into statutes by the Reformation Parliament. In 1570, Foxe was anxious to furnish much more substantive detail on the acts in restraint of appeals, payments to Rome, the forbidden degrees, etc. Wherever possible, Foxe also substantially increased the discussion of the ecclesiastical authorities which had supported these political changes, and their scriptural and other grounds for doing so. In the process, Foxe strengthened the impression in his text that these were changes which overthrew a usurpation, justified by law and scripture.

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Andrew ChibiUniversity of Leicester

Marginalia1534.THese thynges thus finished and dispatched concernyng the Mariage of Queene Anne, and the diuorce of Lady Katherine Dowager, next foloweth the yeare. 1434.  

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A compositor's error. Foxe obviously means 1534. This is corrected in subsequent editions.

In the whiche was assembled the hye Court  
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The fourth session of the so-called Reformation parliament assembled on the 4th February 1534. Foxe refers here to what became known as the 'first Act of Succession' (25 Henry VIII, c.22), passed in March, which included a necessary oath.

of Parlament agayne after many prorogations, vpon the iij. day of February, wherin was made an Acte of succession, for the more suretie of the crowne, to the which euery person beyng of lawfull age, should be sworne. MarginaliaPreaching against the pope.Duryng this Parlament tyme, euery Sonday preached  
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The sermons at St Paul's Cross (the outdoor pulpit set in St Paul's churchyard) to which Foxe refers must have been those of Stokesley (26 April 1534) and John Hilsey, bishop of Rochester (early December 1534). [See Millar Maclure, The Paul's Cross Sermons, 1534-1642 (Toronto, 1958), pp.184-5].

at Paules Crosse a Byshop, whiche declared the Pope, not to be the head of the Churche.

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MarginaliaEx edou Hallo.After this, Commissions were sent ouer all England, to take the othe of all men & women, to the Acte of succession. At whiche, few repyned, except D. Iohn Fisher Bishop of Rochester  

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Fisher refused to swear on 26 April 1534 and was sent to the Tower as a result.

, Syr Tho. More  
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More refused to swear on 13 April 1534 and was sent to the Tower as a result.

late Lord Chauncellour, and D. Nicolas Wylson  
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Wilson refused the oath on 13 April along with some other friars of the Charterhouse.

Person of S. Thomas Apostles in London. MarginaliaThe bishop of Rochester and Syr Tho. More, sent to the Tower.Wherfore these iij. persons, after long exhortation to thē made by the Bishop of Canterbury at Lābeth, refusing to be sworne, were sent to the Tower, where they remayned, and were

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often