Thematic Divisions in Book 11
1. The Martyrdom of Rogers 2. The Martyrdom of Saunders 3. Saunders' Letters 4. Hooper's Martyrdom 5. Hooper's Letters 6. Rowland Taylor's Martyrdom 7. Becket's Image and other events 8. Miles Coverdale and the Denmark Letters 9. Bonner and Reconciliation 10. Judge Hales 11. The Martyrdom of Thomas Tomkins 12. The Martyrdom of William Hunter 13. The Martyrdom of Higbed and Causton 14. The Martyrdom of Pigot, Knight and Laurence 15. Robert Farrar's Martyrdom 16. The Martyrdom of Rawlins/Rowland White17. The Restoration of Abbey Lands and other events in Spring 155518. The Providential Death of the Parson of Arundel 19. The Martyrdom of John Awcocke 20. The Martyrdom of George Marsh 21. The Letters of George Marsh 22. The Martyrdom of William Flower 23. The Martyrdom of Cardmaker and Warne 24. Letters of Warne and Cardmaker 25. The Martyrdom of Ardley and Simpson 26. John Tooly 27. The Examination of Robert Bromley [nb This is part of the Tooly affair]28. The Martyrdom of Thomas Haukes 29. Letters of Haukes 30. The Martyrdom of Thomas Watts 31. Mary's False Pregnancy32. Censorship Proclamation 33. Our Lady' Psalter 34. Martyrdom of Osmund, Bamford, Osborne and Chamberlain35. The Martyrdom of John Bradford 36. Bradford's Letters 37. William Minge 38. James Trevisam 39. The Martyrdom of John Bland 40. The Martyrdom of Frankesh, Middleton and Sheterden 41. Sheterden's Letters 42. Examinations of Hall, Wade and Polley 43. Martyrdom of Christopher Wade 44. Martyrdom of Carver and Launder 45. Martyrdom of Thomas Iveson 46. John Aleworth 47. Martyrdom of James Abbes 48. Martyrdom of Denley, Newman and Pacingham 49. Richard Hooke 50. Martyrdom of William Coker, et al 51. Martyrdom of George Tankerfield, et al 52. Martyrdom and Letters of Robert Smith 53. Martyrdom of Harwood and Fust 54. Martyrdom of William Haile 55. George King, Thomas Leyes and John Wade 56. William Andrew 57. Martyrdom of Robert Samuel 58. Samuel's Letters 59. William Allen 60. Martyrdom of Roger Coo 61. Martyrdom of Thomas Cobb 62. Martyrdom of Catmer, Streater, Burwood, Brodbridge, Tutty 63. Martyrdom of Hayward and Goreway 64. Martyrdom and Letters of Robert Glover 65. Cornelius Bungey 66. John and William Glover 67. Martyrdom of Wolsey and Pigot 68. Life and Character of Nicholas Ridley 69. Ridley's Letters 70. Life of Hugh Latimer 71. Latimer's Letters 72. Ridley and Latimer Re-examined and Executed73. More Letters of Ridley 74. Life and Death of Stephen Gardiner 75. Martyrdom of Webb, Roper and Park 76. William Wiseman 77. James Gore 78. Examinations and Martyrdom of John Philpot 79. Philpot's Letters 80. Martyrdom of Thomas Whittle, Barlett Green, et al 81. Letters of Thomas Wittle 82. Life of Bartlett Green 83. Letters of Bartlett Green 84. Thomas Browne 85. John Tudson 86. John Went 87. Isobel Foster 88. Joan Lashford 89. Five Canterbury Martyrs 90. Life and Martyrdom of Cranmer 91. Letters of Cranmer 92. Martyrdom of Agnes Potten and Joan Trunchfield 93. Persecution in Salisbury Maundrell, Coberly and Spicer 94. William Tyms, et al 95. Letters of Tyms 96. The Norfolk Supplication 97. Martyrdom of John Harpole and Joan Beach 98. John Hullier 99. Hullier's Letters 100. Christopher Lister and five other martyrs 101. Hugh Lauerocke and John Apprice 102. Katherine Hut, Elizabeth Thacknell, et al 103. Thomas Drury and Thomas Croker 104. Thomas Spicer, John Deny and Edmund Poole 105. Persecution of Winson and Mendlesam 106. Gregory Crow 107. William Slech 108. Avington Read, et al 109. Wood and Miles 110. Adherall and Clement 111. A Merchant's Servant Executed at Leicester 112. Thirteen Burnt at Stratford-le-Bow113. Persecution in Lichfield 114. Hunt, Norrice, Parret 115. Martyrdom of Bernard, Lawson and Foster 116. Examinations of John Fortune117. John Careless 118. Letters of John Careless 119. Martyrdom of Julius Palmer 120. Agnes Wardall 121. Peter Moone and his wife 122. Guernsey Martyrdoms 123. Dungate, Foreman and Tree 124. Martyrdom of Thomas More125. Examination of John Jackson126. Examination of John Newman 127. Martyrdom of Joan Waste 128. Martyrdom of Edward Sharpe 129. Four Burnt at Mayfield at Sussex 130. John Horne and a woman 131. William Dangerfield 132. Northampton Shoemaker 133. Prisoners Starved at Canterbury 134. More Persecution at Lichfield
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1755 [1716]

Quene Mary. The Martyrdome of W. Hunter. The story of M. Higbed & M. Causton.

MarginaliaAn. 1555. March.not, I shall require my bloud at your handes.

Then sayd William: Sonne of God, shyne vpō me, MarginaliaAn externall shew of Christes fauour vpon W. Hunter.and immediatly the sunne in the element shone out of a darke cloud, so full in his face, that he was cōstrained to looke an other way: whereat the people mused, because it was so darke a litle tyme afore.  

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This could have happened, but the sun shining on a martyr out of a cloudy sky occurs commonly in hagiography; e.g., the description of the clouds parting and the sun shining on John Fisher as he mounted the streps to the scaffold (Fr. van Ortroy, 'Vie du bienheureux martyr Jean Fisher,' Analecta Bollandiana 12 [1893], p. 194. This life of Fisher was written in an attempt to secure the canonization of the martyred cardinal).

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Then William tooke vp a Fagot of broome & imbraced it in his armes. MarginaliaWilliams dreame verefied.Then this Priest which William dreamed of, came to his brother Robert with a popishe booke to cary to William, that he might recant, which booke his brother would not meddle withall. Then William seyng the Priest, and perceiuing how he would haue shewed hym the booke, said: MarginaliaHunters wordes to a Popish priest.away thou false Prophet. Beware of them, good people, and come away from their abominations, lest that you be partakers of their plagues. Then, quoth the Priest, looke how thou burnest here, so shalt thou burne in hel. Williā answered: thou lyest, thou false Prophet: away thou false Prophet, away.

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Then was there a Gentleman which sayd, I pray God haue mercy vppon his soule. The people sayd: Amen, Amen. Immediatly fire was made. Then William cast his Psalter right into his brothers hād, who sayd: MarginaliaHunter comforted by hys brother Robert.William thinke on the holy Passiō of Christ, & be not afrayd of death. And William aunswered: I am not afrayd. Then lift he vp his hands to heauen & said, Lord, Lord, Lord, receiue my spirite, & castyng downe his head agayn into the smothering smoke, he yelded vp hys lyfe for the truth, sealyng it with hys bloud, to the prayse of God.

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MarginaliaThe end and Martyrdome of W. Hunter. An. 1555. March. 26.¶ The burnyng of William Hunter, Martyr.

woodcut [View a larger version]

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This example of the small woodcuts added in 1570 (Type 2) is among those that were not put to repeated use. Allowance should be made for the possibility (as with the small cut (d) of Raulins White) that this woodcut was tailored to Foxe's account of the martyr, in this case the teenage apprentice who lifted up his hands to heaven immediately before he died.

Now, by and by after, M. Browne cōmaunded one olde Hunt to take his brother Robert Hunter, MarginaliaRob. Hunter sette in the stockes.and lay him in the Stockes till hee returned from the burning of Higbed at Hornden on the hill, the same day. Which thing olde Hunt dyd. Then M. Browne (MarginaliaRob. Hunter had before M. Browne.when Robert Hunter came before him) asked if hee would do as his brother had done. But Robert Hunter aunswred: if I do as my brother hath done, I shall haue as he hath had. Mary (quoth M. Browne) thou mayest bee sure of it. Then M. Browne sayd, I maruayle, that thy brother stode so to his tackling: and moreouer, asked Robert if Williams Maister of London  

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This was Thomas Taylor, the silk weaver to whom William Hunter had been apprenticed. Obviously Brown suspected, rightly or wrongly, that Taylor had fostered William Hunter's evangelical convictions and he was trying to force Robert Hunter to implicate Taylor.

were not at his burning. But Robert sayd, that he was not there: but M. Browne bare hym in hand that hys Maister was there, and how that hee dyd see hym there, but Robert denyed it. MarginaliaRob. Hunter by Gods prouidence deliuered.Then M. Browne

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commaunded the Constable and Robert Hunter to go their wayes home, and so had no further talke with them.

Here followeth the history of M. Higbed, and M. Causton, two worthy Gentlemē of Essex, shich for the sincere confeßion of their faith vnder Boner B. of London, were Martyred and burned in Essex. Anno. 1555. March. 26.  
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The Martyrdoms of Causton and Higbed

The Rerum contains an account of Causton and Higbed being taken toLondon and prints the confession of faith Causton and Higbed made in Consistory Court (Rerum, pp. 426 and 428-31). This material was reprinted in the 1563 edition. Foxe also added accounts of their sessions in the Consistory Court of St Pauls, the articles presented against them with their answers and their condemnation, all drawn from Bishop Bonner's official records. A description of their condemnation may have been taken from the description of a spectator. In the second edition Foxe added nothing, but he arranged the material in chronological order. He also eliminated material from this narrative, and more unusually rewrote it. The account of Causton and Higbed remained unchanged in the third and the fourth editions.

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Commentary on the Glosses   *   Close
Higbed and Causton

Starting with a gloss recording the date of their martyrdoms (as appears to be Foxe's standard practice at the beginning of the lives of his martyrs), the glosses in this section serve the usual purpose of marking the events leading up to execution: interrogation, imprisonment, preparation for the end. The gloss 'Also sir Edmund Boner priest before the death of Cromwell, seemed to be of the opinion and was sworne twise agaynst the Pope' makes the point that Bonner's conduct under an earlier monarch cannot be reconciled with his actions under Mary, sustaining the all-important charge of hypocrisy. Foxe parodies the form of the article in calling Bonner 'sir Edmund Boner priest'. The glosses 'M. Causton and M. Higbed constant to death in their confession' and 'The constāt Martirdome of M. Thomas Caustō, and Maister Higbed Martyrs' emphasise the constancy of the martyrs, a virtue as important to the portrayal of the martyrs as hypocrisy was to that of their persecutors. The glosses relating to the confession of faith illustrate a common difference between 1563 and later editions. 1563 uses the most perfunctory form of annotation (numbers) while the later editions include the numbers in the text and have full glosses. The restrained, factual tone of the gloss 'M. Causton appealeth to the Cardinall' probably reflects Foxe feeling torn between the desire to expose procedural injustice with the tacit endorsement of Pole's, and therefore the pope's, authority that such an appeal implied. Several of the glosses (especially at the start of the 'confession' section) are badly placed, no more commonly in one edition than another.

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MarginaliaMarch. 26. The story of Maister Higbed and M. Causton, Martyrs.ALthough the condemnation of M. Higbed and M. Causton followed after the condemning of those other. iiij. Martyrs which were condemned with Tomkins & Hunter aboue mentioned, yet because the time of their execution was before the burning of the foresayd. iiij. Martyrs, for so much as they suffered þe same day that W. Hunter did, which was the. 26. of March, I thought therefore next after the story of the sayd W. Hunter, following the order of tyme, here to place the same.

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This M. Higbed and M. Causton, two worshipful Gentlemē in the County of Essex,  

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Praise of Essex as the county most fruitful in producing martyrs follows in the 1563 edition. This was dropped in subsequent editions, probably because Foxe became more aware of the contributions of the counties of Kent and Sussex. (Kent has the dubious distinction of being the countywith the most martyrs executed).

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the one at Hornden of the hyll, the other of the parish of Thunderst, beyng zealous and religious in the true seruice of God, as they could not dissemble with the Lord their God, nor flatter with the worlde, so in tyme of blind superstition and wretched idolatry, they could not long lye hyd and obscure in such a number of malignaunt aduersaries, accusers, and seruants of this world, but at length they were perceaued and detected to the foresayd Edmund Boner bishop of London,MarginaliaM. Higbed & M. Causton detected to B. Boner. peraduenture not without the same organe which sent vp W. Hunter, as is aboue declared.  
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In effect, Foxe is saying that he does not know how Causton and Higbed came to be arrested. Despite their relative social prominence, the backgrounds of Causton and Higbed remain surprisingly obscure.

By reason whereof, by cōmaundement they were committed to the officers of Colchester to be safely kept, and wyth them also a seruaunt of Tho. Causton,  
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See 2 Maccabees 7: 20-29. Brad Gregory has described the importance of the Maccabees as models for early modern martyrs (Gregory, pp. 67, 109, 157, 221 and 280).

who in this praise of Christian godlynes, was nothing inferiour to hys Maister.

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Boner the foresayd bishop, perceiuing these. ij. Gentlēmen to be of worshipfull estate, and of great estimation in that countrey, lest any tumult should thereby aryse, came thither him selfe,MarginaliaB. Boner commeth himselfe to Colchester. accompanied with M. Fecknam and certaine other, thinking to reclaime them to hys faction and fashion:  

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A description of Feckenham trying to convert Higbed and Causton was printed in the 1563 edition and subsequently dropped. It does appear that Foxe was trying to shorten this narrative in the 1570 edition; perhaps this concern was related to a shortage of paper for this edition (see Evenden and Freeman, pp.37-39).

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so that great labour and diligence was taken therein, as wel by terrours & threatnings, as by large promises and flattering, and al fayre meanes, to reduce them agayne to the vnitye (as they termed it) of the mother church.

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In fine, when nothing could preuayle to make them assent to theyr doings, at lēgth they came to this point, that they required certaine respite to consult with them selues what were best to do. Which time of deliberation being expired, and they remayning styll constant and vnmoueable in their professed doctrine, and setting out also their confession in writing, the bishop seing no good to be done in tarying any longer there, MarginaliaM. Higbed & M. Causton caryed to London.departed thēce & caryed them both with hym to London,  

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A description of Bonner riding in triumph through London, which was here in 1563, was subsequently dropped. It has been hypothesized that Foxe toned down his rhetoric in the the 1570 edition (see Alaister Fox) and this would appear to supply confirmation of this theory.

& wyth them certayne other prisoners also, which about the same tyme in those quarters were apprehended.

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The accounts of the sessions in Consistory Court, together with the articles charged againt Causton and Higbed, and their answers, are taken from Bishop Bonner's official records, probably a court book which has now been lost.

It was not long after this, but these prisoners being at London committed to straite prison, & there attempted sundry wyse by þe bishop & his Chapleins to reuoke their opinions: at length, whē no perswasions would serue, they were brought forth to open examination at the Consistory in Paules, the. xvij. day of February, an. 1555. MarginaliaThe first dayes Session.Where they were demaunded aswell by the sayd bishop, as also by the bishop of Bath and others, whether they would recant their errours and peruerse doctrine (as they termed it) and so come to the vnitie of the popish Church. Which when they refused to do, the bishop assigned them lykewyse the nexte day to appeare agayne, being the xviij. of February. MarginaliaThe second dayes Session.On the which day, among many other thinges there sayd and passed, he read vnto them seuerally certayne articles, & gaue thē respite vntill the next day, to aunswere vnto

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the