Marginalia1555. Iuly.on the right side with such a palsie, or strocke of Gods hād whatsoeuer it was, that for þ^e space of viij. yeres after, till his dying day, he was not able to turne hym self in hys bed, but as ij. men w^t a shete were fayne to styrre

hym: and withall such an insaciable deuouryng came vpon hym, that it was monstrous to see. And thus continued he the space of viij. yeares together.

[View a larger version]

Commentary on the Woodcuts     Close

Bradford, standing in the pyre on the right with his call to England to repent of idolatry, and the short figure on the left of the illiterate young apprentice, John Leafe, who died with him, are shown before the lighting of the fire. The preliminaries reflected the godly fibre of the accused as they first prayed prostrate beside the stake, and then Bradford kissed the instruments of his coming death and gave his clothes to his servant. Apart from one pair of raised hands, officials and guards armed with pikes dominate the scene. Sheriff Woodroffe, who abruptly silenced Bradford's invocation and ordered his hands to be tied, was divinely punished by being struck down with paralysis six months after this event. As other martyrdoms show, hands were the last remaining recourse for communication from the fire. This is not the only case (compare Laurence Saunders, or Latimer and Ridley) in which the illustrator takes temporal liberties, representing an unlit pyre as well as the martyr's last words uttered in the flames. And as elsewhere, the final words were set afresh in each edition gothic type (1563), roman thereafter but with minor differences in positioning.

Discipulo nulli supra licet esse magistrum:
Quiq; Deo seruit, tristia multa feret.
Corripit omnipotens natum quem diligit omnem:
Ad cælum stricta est difficilisq; via.
Has Bradforde tuo dum condis pectore voces:
Non hominum rigidas terribilesq; minas,
Sed nec blanditias, non vim nec vincula curas,
Tradis & accensæ membra cremanda pyræ.

MarginaliaThe letters of M. Bradford.THis godly Bradford and heauenly Martyr, during the time of his imprisonment, wrote sundry comfortable treatises, & many godly letters, of which, some he wrote to the city of London, Cambridge, Walden, to Lankeshire and Chesshiere, and diuers to hys other priuate friendes. By the which foresayd letters, to the entent it may appeare how godly this man occupied hys time being prisoner, what speciall zeale he bare to the state of Christes church, what a care he had to performe his office, how earnestly he admonished all men, how tenderly hee comforted the heauie harted: howe fruitfully he confirmed them whom he had taught, I thought here good to place þ^e same: although to exhibite here all the letters that he wrote (being in number so many that they are able to fyll a booke) it cā not well be cōpassed, yet neuertheles we mynd to excerpe þ^e principall of thē, referring þ^e reader for the residue to MarginaliaRead the booke of Letters of the Martyrs.þ^e booke of letters of þ^e Martyrs, where they may be found.

MarginaliaThe copie of Maister Bradfords lettre whereof the Earle of Derby complained in the parliament.And first, forsomuch as ye heard in the story before, pag. 1783. how the Earle of Darby complained in the Parlament house of certaine letters wrytten of Iohn Bradford out of prison to Lankeshiere, and also how he was charged both of the bishop of Winchester, and of Maister Allen with the same letters, to the entēt the Reader more perfectly may vnderstand what letters

they were, beyng written in deede to his mother, brethren and sisters, out of the Tower before hys cōdemnation, we will begyn first with the same letters: the copy with the contentes wherof is this as followeth.

MarginaliaA letter of M. Bradford to his mothre, brethrne, and sisters.OVr deare and sweete Sauiour Iesus Christ, whose prisoner at this present (praysed be his name therefore) I am, preserue and kepe you my good Mother, with my brothers aud sisters, my father Iohn Traues, Thomas Sorrocold, Laurence and Iames Bradshaw with their wiues and families. &c. now & for euer, Amen.

I am at this present in prison sure enough for starting, to cōfirme that I haue preached vnto you: as I am ready (I thanke God) with my life and bloud to seale the same, if God vouch me worthy of that honour. For good Mother and brethren, it is a most special benefite of God to suffer for his names sake and Gospell, as now I do: I hartely thanke hym for it, and am sure that with hym I shall be partaker of his glory, as Paul sayth: Marginalia2. Timo. 2.If we suffer with hym we shall reigne with hym. Therfore be not faynt harted, but rather reioyce, at the least for my sake which now am in the right and high way to heauen: for MarginaliaActes. 14.by many afflictions we must enter into the kyngdome of heauen. Now will God make knowen his children. When the wynde doth not blow, then can not a man know the wheate from the chaffe: but when the blast commeth, thē flyeth away the chaffe, but the wheate remaineth and is so farre from beyng hurt, that by the wind it is more clēsed from the chaffe and knowen to be wheate. Gold whē it is cast into the fire, is the more precious: so are Gods children by the Crosse of affliction. MarginaliaGod beginneth his iudgement with his owne house.Alwayes God beginneth his iudgement at his house. Christ and the Apostles were in most misery in the land of Iewry, but yet þ^e whole land smarted for it after: so now Gods children are first chastised in this world, that they should not be damned with the world: for surely great plagues of God hang ouer this realme.