to suffer what soeuer the cruell hands of their enemies shoulde woorke againste them, diinge more ioyfully in the flaminge fire, then some of them that burned them, did perauenture in their beddes: suche a Lord is God, glorious and wonderful in all his saintes. The martirdome of these saints of god was the. xvi.of Maye.

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MarginaliaIhon Harpole. Ione Beach widow.MVch about this tyme fell the martirdom of two other holy martirs burned at Rochester, thone a man named Ihon Harpole, thother a woman named Ioane Beache widow, who for theyr cōstant perseuering in the Lords truth, and testimony of his word, gaue theire lyues and bodyes to be consumed and resolued in the fire at Rochester, about þ^t day, as I find it recorded, fyrst of Aprill.

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MarginaliaA blynde boy burnedANd here is not to be forgotten an other as godly couple which suffered the like passion and martirdom for the same cause of religion at Gloucestre, of the which two the one was the blind boy, mencioned before in the history of bishop Hoper pag. 1056. col.2. whō the saide vertuous byshop confirmed then in the lord, and in the doctrine of his word.

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MarginaliaAn other burnt with the blynde boy at Glocester.With him also was burned an other in the same place, and at the same fyre in Gloucester about the. 5. of may whose name and examinations, as yet, be not come to our hands.

MarginaliaMay. 21.After the death of these aboue rehersed, wer thre men burnt at Beckles in Suff. in one fyre, about the. xxi. daye of Maye. Ano. 1556.  

Whose names are here vnder specified.

MarginaliaMartyrs
Thomas Spicer.
Iohn Deny and
VVilliam  

Pole.

These thre men were brought before MarginaliaDunyngs.Dunnings then Chauncelor of Norwich, and MarginaliaM. Mynges.maister M. the Register,  

sittinge then at the saide Beckles to examine them: and there the sayd Chauncelor perswading what hee coulde to turne thē from þ^e trueth, could by no meanes preuaile of his purpose. Wherby minding in the ende to giue sentence on them, bruste out in teares, intreating them to remember them selues, and to turne againe to the holy mother church, for that they were deceaued and out of the waye, and that they should not be willfully caste away them selues, with such like woordes. Now as he was thus labouring thē and semed very loth to rede sentence (for they were the first that he condempned in that di-

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oces) the foresayd Register stode vp and sayd:  

Syr what ado make you? they be at that point they will be at: therfore reade sentence and dispatche the knaues. At which wordes the Chaūcelor red the condempnacion ouer them with teares, & deliuered them to the secular power. And the next daye they all were burnte at the sayd Beckles by Sir Iohn Silliard thē high sherife of Norff. and Suff. Wherat many murmured, and thought he wente beyond his commission, in that he put them to death without a writte from the lord Chauncelor of England, for his warraunt, which in so short time could not be obteyned, the sayd Chauncelour being then at Londō, which is at least lxxx. myle from that place. As they were at the stake, and had prayed, they sayd their beliefe: and when they cam to the reciting of the catholick church, sir Iohn Silliard spake to them: that is wel sayd sirs, quod he. I am glad to heare you say, you do beleue the Catholick church. That is the beast worde I hard of you yet: to which his saings William Pole answered, that though they beleue the Catholike church, yet do they not beleue in theyr Popish church, which is no parte of christes catholick church, and therfore no parte of theyr belefe. When they rose from prayer, they all wente ioyfully to the stake, and being bound therto, and the fire burning about them, they praysed God in such an audible voyce, that it was wonderfull to al those which stode by & hard it. MarginaliaRobert Bacon.And one Robert Bacon, dwelling in the said Beckles, a very enemy to Gods truth, & a persecutor of his people, being there present within hearinge thereof, willed the tormentours to throw on fagots, to stop the knaues breathes, as he termed them: so whote was his burning charity. But these good men not regarding their malice, confessed the truth, & yelded their liues to the death, for the testimony of the same, very gloriously and ioyfully, the which thier constancy in the like cause, the Lord graunte we may imitate and followe for his Christes sake. Amen.

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The sayde Thomas Spicer was a single man,  

of the age of. xix. yeres, and by vocation a labourer, dwelling in Wenson, in the coūty of Suffolke, & ther taken in his maysters house in sommer, about, or a none after the rising of the sunne (being in his bed) by MarginaliaIames Ling Ihō Keretch. William DauiesIames Ling and Ihon Keretch of the same towne, & Williā Dauies of Debnā, in the said Coūty. The occasion of hys taking was, for that he would not go to their popishe churche to here masse, and receiue their Idole at the commaūdment of the said Sir Ihon Silliard, and Sir Ihon Tirrell knight of Gypping hall in Suffolk, who sent them to Eay dungeon in Suffolke, and at length they suffered death as ye haue heard.

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