1576 Edition | Book 8 | Page 1015 
all and singular, aswel exempt as not exempt, dwelling within your Archdeaconries, that within. xxx. dayes space, wherof x. dayes shalbe for the first. x. for the second, &. x. for the third and peremptory terme, vnder paine of excommunication, and incurring the suspicion of heresie, they do bryng in and really deliuer vnto our vicare generall, all & singular such bookes as conteyne the translation of the new Testament in the Englishe tongue and that you doe certifie vs or our sayd Commissarye, within ij. monethes after the day of the date of these presentes, duely, personally or by your letters, together with these presentes, vnder your seales, what you haue done in the premisses, vnder payne of contempt, geuen vnder our seale the, xxiij. of October, in the v. yeare of our consecration. an. 1526.
[Back to Top]¶ The lyke Commission in lyke maner and forme, was sent to the three other Archdeacons of Middlesexe, Essex, and Colchester, for the execution of the same matter, vnder the Byshops seale.
CloseIn October 1527, according to Le Neve's Fasti Ecclesiae, the archdeacons referred to here are Richard Rawson (Essex, collated on 24 January 1503, died c.29 October 1543), Richard Eden (Middlesex, collated on 11 August 1516, died c.9 April 1551) and Edward Lee (Colchester, collated on 19 November 1523, created archbishop of York in 1531). (See, Joyce M Horn [ed.], Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300-1541: volume 5: St Pau's, London [1963], pp.9-14).
[Back to Top]| The names of the bookes that were forbid- den
CloseThere was certainly no scarcity of indexes of forbidden or condemned works at this time. Bishops Fitzjames, Tunstal and Clerk (twice) had issued lists of heretical books, as had the Chancellor's office (twice in 1530) - see, Susan Brigden, London and the Reformation (Oxford, 1989), p.179.] None of these list was comprehensive enough for Stokesley, who released another on 3 December 1531(see, Andrew A Chibi, Henry VIII's Conservative Scholar [Berne, 1997], p.122). Sometimes these lists are mixed up or wrongly credited. Foxe here describes two lists, of which the first is probably an official proclamation from the archbishop's office (a Clerk list) while the second is probably Stokesley's [However, cf. Tudor and Stuart Proclamations 1485-1714. 2 vols [Oxford, 1910], i, p.13 [no.114 of 6 March 1528] and p.14 [no.122 of June 1530] and L&P, v, Appendix no.768 (xviii)]. [Back to Top]Testament. |
| MarginaliaBookes condemned and forbidden. THe supplication of beggers.
CloseThe works mentioned in this list include Simon Fish, The Supplicacyon for the Beggars (1529); a 1521 English publication, The Pope confounded and his kingdom exposed of Revelation of Antichrist (a work of Martin Luther which featured a number of woodcuts on the proposition that Rome is the new Babylon and the pope is now the Antichrist), or (alternatively) John Frith, Revelation of Antichrist published at Antwerp in 1529. There were, of course, numerous treatises on the subject of Antichrist available. The 1521 treatise is mentioned in William A Clebsch's article, 'The Earliest Translations of Luther into English', The Harvard Theological Review 56:1 (January 1963), pp. 75-86. The three other treatises mentioned here are Tyndale's The Parable of the Wicked Mammon (1528) - which is an 'elaboration and translation of Luther's exposition of the parable of the unjust steward' (William A. Clebsch, op.cit., p.75)]; The Obedience of a Christian man (1528) and Compendious introduction un to the pistle off Paul to the Romayns, which is sometimes known as Prologue to the Epistle to the Romans (1526) - and generally regarded as a direct translation of Martin Luther's Preface to St Paul's Epistle to the Romans (1522). (Leonard J Trinterud, 'A reappraisal of William Tyndale's debt to Martin Luther,' Church History 31 [1962], pp. 24-43 provides a comprehensive and comparative examination of the two treatises). For the 'Dialogue between the father and the son', There are several possible identifications. The most likely is William Roye's translation from the Latin of an anonymous German tract A Brefe Dialoge bitwene a Christen father and his stubborn Sonne (1526-7) (see William A. Clebsch, op.cit., p. 79) The next treatise in the list is Justus Menius, Economica christiana (1529). Menius, also known as Jost or Just Menig, was a Lutheran theologian, a student of Melanchthon's at Wittenberg, and had been heavily influenced in his opinions by Luther. He was variously a teacher, preacher and official church visitor for Duke John of Electoral Saxony. The following work is Unio dissidentium; Libellus ex praecipuis ecclesiae Christianae doctoribus selectus, per venerabilem petrum Herman. Bodium, an anthology of patristic works addressing a number of reformation related topics (e.g., the Eucharist, good works, etc.) Tyndale, in his disputations with Thomas More, made reference to a book entitled The Union of Doctors, which Foxe also seems to have appreciated. It is quite likely that this is the work to which he was referring. The Precationes Piae variis usibus, temporibus, et person is accommodatae was an anthology of prayers taken out of scripture, devotional poems and hymns. This had been recently translated in English by Geoffrey Lome, the porter of St Anthony's School and friend of soon to be executed heretics Thomas Bilney and Thomas Garrard (see John F Davis, 'The Trials of Thomas Bylney and the English Reformation', The Historical Journal 24 [1981], pp.775-90). The following treatise in the list is Martin Luther's famous Babylonian captivity of the church (1520). There follows Johannes Hus in Oseam (mentioned in Craig D'Alton, 'William Warham and English Heresy Policy after the Fall of Wolsey', Historical Research 77 [2004], pp.337-357). Then comes Huldrich Zwingli's notorious In catabaptistarum strophes elenchus (1527). The following work in the list probably refers to Wolfgang Capito, De pueris instituendis ecclesiae Argentinensis Isagoge (1527) which was translated into the English vernacular by William Roye in the same year. The next work is Johann Brenz (var: Brentz or Brentius) De administranda pie republica ac subditorum erga Magistratus justa obedientia libellus. Then comes a series of published works of Martin Luther, which include his famous Commentary on St Paul's Epistle to Galatians (1519); On the freedom of a Christian (1520) and A brief and sound explanation of the Lord's Prayer (1519). [Back to Top]The reuelation of Antichrist, of Luther. The new Testament of Tindall. The wicked Mammon. The obedience of a Christen man. An introduction to Paules Epistle to the Romanes. A Dialogue betwixt the father and the sonne. Oeconomicæ Christianæ. Vnio dissidentium. Piæ precationes. Captiuitas Babilonica. Ioannes Hus in Oseam. Zwinglius in Catabaptistas. De pueris instituendis. Brentius de administranda Republica. Luther ad Galatas. De libertate Christiana. Luthers exposition vpon the Pater noster. |
¶ Besides these bookes here before mentioned, within a short tyme after, there were a great nomber more
CloseThere were a number of lists of indexed books around this point in the early 1530s and D'Alton has done some interesting research into the problem of separating them (see Craig D'Alton, 'William Warham and English Heresy Policy after the Fall of Wolsey', Historical Research 77 [2004], pp.337-357. According to D'Alton, Bishop John Clerk (of Bath and Wells) had assembled a list for Archbishop William Warham's anti-Luther initiative of 1529. Clerk's list of 29 November, although no longer extant, may well have been the basis of subsequent lists, as preserved in David Wilkins, Concilia Magnae Britanniae et Hiberniae. 4 vols. (London, 1737), 3, p.706 and L&P, iv, no.2607. From this, it is possible to reassemble the Clerk list. Bishop Tunstal (of London) is often credited with another booklist of 1531/2, but this was actually the much more comprehensive Bishop Stokesley list, which was made with the cooperation of the Lord Chancellor Thomas More (see, Andrew A Chibi, Henry VIII's Conservative Scholar (Berne, 1997), p.122). A great many Lutheran works, treatises and letters, seemed to have been in circulation in London at this time and several of these are listed here, along with an edition of John Wyclif's four treatises on church doctrine (which had been collected together into a single volume). The Wyclif work is Johannis Wiclevi Trialogus (1525) which had been published in Basel (and in the same year at Worms as Dialogorum Libri quattuor). The many Luther works mentioned are A treatise on good works (1520), Letter to Pope Leo X (30 May 1518) - which includes his Resolutions to the Ninety-five thesis - and De quatuodecim spectris (1520) - which was also known by the more formal title Tessaradecas Consolatoria pro laborantibus et oneratis (and which was translated into German by Georg Spalatin). This last was a pastoral work written as a comfort to the sick and was much praised by Erasmus, and translated into English (STC 10868). The list also includes Luther, On the freedom of a Christian (1520), Sermons on the First Epistle of St Peter (1523), and Ad Librum eximii magistri nostri Mag. Ambrosii Catharini defensoris Silv. Prieratis acerrimi, responsio M. Lutheri (1521). In 1520 Ambrosius Catharinus Politus had been commission by Giulio de' Medici (future Pope Clement VII) to write a defense of the church against Luther (which was eventually published as the Apologia of 1520, in which Politus listed eleven ways in which Luther - identified as Antichrist - deceived the people). The treatise mentioned here is Luther's rather angry response (See Patrick Preston, 'Catharinus versus Luther, 1521', History, 88 [2003], 364-78. Also listed here is Luther's Deuteronomium Mosi cum annotationibus (1523) translated as The Deuteronomy of Moses with notes, Large Catechism (1530), his Commentary of the book of Jonah (1526) and his Commentary on St Paul's Epistle to Galatians (1519). This last may refer to the published edition of Luther's lectures of the 1518-19 period which was subsequently reprinted in a second edition of 1523. The final Luther work mentioned at this point is Operationes in Psalmos (1519-1521). The problem with the many mentions made of Luther's commentaries in Foxe is that the works were spread out over a number of volumes (see Richard Marius, Martin Luther: the Christian between God and death [London, 1999], p.192) making it difficult to pin-point exact publishing details. At all events, one other work mentioned on this list is list is Martin Borrhaus (Cellarius), De operibus dei (1527). This treatise was published in Strasbourg and featured a preface written by Capito. Cellarius was a friend of Melanchthon and Luther who had been influenced into a more spiritual doctrine by the Zwickau prophet Marcus Stübner, after which he moved to Zürich and joined the Swiss Brethren, only to subsequently make peace with Luther in 1525. His book acknowledged the various justifications for temporal government, repudiated free will and spelled out a doctrine of election similar to Zwingli's.
[Back to Top]The new Testament in the Catalogue aboue recited
CloseBy 1570, Foxe had clearly learned some more valuable details about the curious financing and publication of the second edition of Tyndale's New Testament (for which, see Edward Hall, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre & York (London, 1547), fol.186A; and Susan Brigden, London and the Reformation [Oxford, 1989], p.181). George Constantine (1500-60), the individual concerned in the story was a priest, 'book carrier' or 'colporteur' and the subject of a series of letters to Thomas Cromwell (beginning 14 November 1531) from Stephen Vaughan (an agent of Cromwell's in Antwerp). Vaughan was concerned that his was one of the names given up by Constantine, apparently under torture (Vaughan denied any heresy and More denied torture). Vaughan was in Antwerp after Constantine broke the stocks and escaped More's custody (c.6 December 1531) (see W E Campbell, Erasmus, Tyndale and More [London, 1949], pp.193-210. According to Brian Moynahan, Constantine was a canonist, friend of Tyndale's in Antwerp (though he also lived in Paris [L&P, iv, 4396] and was in London selling Tyndale books. Foxe mentions that Constantine gave More the names of other suspects - Richard Necton is named below -while others include Vaughan and Johan Bryte (another bookseller). Moynahan speculates that More actually allowed Constantine to escape, using him to lead More's agents to other English fugitives - Brian Moynahan, William Tyndale: If God spare my life [London, 2002], pp.255-9). The Richard Necton, mentioned towards the end of the story, was a bookseller of London and East Anglia, arrested originally by bishop Tunstal in March 1528. Necton had brought with him at least three volumes named on the index - Tyndale's New Testament, Justus Menius' Economica christiana, and Unio dissidentium; Libellus ex praecipuis ecclesiae Christianae doctoribus selectus, per venerabilem petrum Herman. Bodium. For Necton's activities, see Susan Brigden, London and the Reformation (Oxford, 1989), pp.115, 118. Foxe truncates the Constantine story, perhaps because further information was lacking to him, but it is interesting. Constantine returned to England in c.1536 - following More's death - and (according to Glanmor Williams) went into the service of Sir Henry Norris (who was later executed along with Anne Boleyn). In 1539 he took up the post of vicar of Llawhaden in Pembrokeshire (under Bishop William Barlow), only to be denounced as a sacramentarian and imprisoned in the Tower by Cromwell. In 1546, he became registrar of St David's (still under Barlow), archdeacon of Carmarthen in 1549, and prebendary of Llangamarch. Constantine was opposed to bishop Robert Ferrar, only to be deprived of his livings under Mary. In 1559, Elizabeth named him one of the visitors for the western circuit of dioceses, and in November 1559 he became archdeacon of Brecon.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaGeorge Constantine. In short space after, it fortuned that George Constantine was apprehended by Syr Thomas more, whiche was then Chauncellour of England, suspected of certaine heresies during the tyme that he was in the custodye of M. more. After diuers cōmunications amongest other thinges M. More asked of hym, saying: Constantine I would haue the playne with me in one thyng that I will aske, and I promise thee I will show the fauour in all other thynges, wherof thou art accused. There is beyond the Sea, Tyndall, Ioye, and a great many of you. I know they can not liue without helpe. There are some that helpe and succour them with money, and thou being one of them, haddest thy part therof, and therfore knowest from whence it came. I pray thee tell me, who bee they that helpe them thus? My Lorde quoth Constantine, I will tell you truly: it is the Byshop of London that hath holpen vs, for hee hath bestowed among vs a great deale of money vpō new Testamēts to burne them, and that hath bene and yet is our onely succour and comfort. Nowe by my truth, quoth More I thinke euen the same, for so much I tolde þe Byshop before he went about it.
[Back to Top]Of this George Constantine moreouer it is reported by Syr Tho. MoreMarginaliaOut of Mores preface agaynst Tyndall. that hee beyng taken and in hold, semed well content to renounce hys former doctrine, and not only to disclose certene other of hys felowes, but also studied and deuised, how those bookes, which him selfe and other of his fellowes had brought and shypped, might come to the Byshops handes to be burned, and shewed to the foresayd Syr Tho. More Chauncellour, the shypmans name that had them, and the markes of the fardels, by the which þe bookes afterward were taken and burned.MarginaliaGeorge constantine, a discloser of his fellowes. Besides this hee is reported also to haue disclosed diuers of hys companions, of whom some were abiured after, some had abiured before, as Rich. Necton, who was committed to Newgate vpon the same, and is thought there to haue dyed in prison, or els had not escaped their handes, but should haue suffered burning, if the reporte of M. More be to be credited. More in hys preface agaynst Tindall.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaGeorge Constantine a troubler of Ferrar Byshop of S. Dauids. Notwithstandyng the same Constantine afterward, by the helpe of some of hys frendes, escaped out of prison ouer the seas, and after that, in the tyme of kyng Edward, was one of them that troubled the good Byshop of S. Dauides whiche after in Queene Maryes tyme, was burned. But of Constantine enough.
[Back to Top]Mention was made in the leafe before. pag. 990. howe the Byshops had procured of the kyng a proclamation to be set forth, in the yeare of our Lord. 1529. for þe abolishing of diuers bookes aforenamed, and also for withstandyng of all such as taught or preached any thyng agaynst þe dignitie and ordinaunces of the Church of Rome. Vpon this proclamation insued great persecution and trouble agaynst the poore innocent flocke of Christ, as here followyng you may see, with the sayd proclamation also prefixed before þe same the tenor whereof is this.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThys proclamation was made through out all England, the yeare of our Lorde 1529. and the xxi. yeare of K. Henry. 8. THe kyng our souerayne Lorde, of his most vertuous and gratious disposition, consideryng that this noble realme of England, hath of long tyme continued in the true Catholike fayth of Christes religion, and that hys noble progenitours, kynges of this his sayd realme, haue before thys tyme made and enacted, many deuout lawes, statutes & ordinaunces, for the maintenaunce & defence of the sayd fayth agaynst the malicious and wicked sectes of heretickes and Lollardes, who by peruersion of holy Scripture, to induce erroneous opinions, sowe sedition among Christen people, and finally do disturbe the peace and tranquillitie of Christen realmes, as late happened in some parties of Germany, where, by the procurement and sedition of Martin Luther & other heretickes, were slayne an infinite number of Christen people: consideryng also, that aswell by the corruptiō and malice of indiscrete preachers, fautours of the sayd erroneous sectes, as by certaine hereticall and blasphemous bookes lately made, and priuily sent into this realme, by the disciples, fautors, and adherentes of the sayd Martin Luther and other heretickes, the kynges subiectes are lyke to be corrupted, vnlesse hys hyghnes (as the defensor of thee fayth) do put to his most gratious helpe & authoritie royal, to the due and spedy reformation therof: hys hyghnes therfore, like a most gratious Prince, of hys blessed and vertuous disposition, for the imcomparable zeale, which he hath to Christes religion and fayth, and for the singular loue & affection that he beareth to all his good subiectes of this hys realme, and specially to the saluation of theyr soules,
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