CArolus Rex Francorum & Longobardorum, Patricius Romanorum viro venerando, & fratri charissimo Offæ Regi Merciorum Salut. Primo gratias agimus omnipotēti Deo, de catholicæ fidei sinceritate, quam in vestris laudabilibus paginis reperimus exaratam. De peregrinis vero qui pro amore Dei, & salute animarū suarum, beatorum Apostolorum lumina desiderant adire, cum pace sine omni perturbatione vadant. Sed si aliqui religioni non seruientes, sed lucra sectantes inueniantur inter eos, locis opportunis statuta soluant telonia. Negociatores quoq̀ volumus vt ex mandato nostro patrocinium habeant in regno nostro legitime. Et si in aliquo loco, iniusta affligantur oppressione, reclament se ad nos, vel nostros iudices, & plenam iusticiā iubemus fieri. Cognoscat quoq̀ dilectio vestra quod aliquā benignitatem de Dalmaticis nostris vel pallijs ad singulas sedes Episcopales regni vestri vel Ethelredi direximus in ellemosinā Domini Apostolici Adriani deprecātes & pro eo intercedi iubeatis, nullam habentes dubitationem beatā illius animam in requie esse, sed vt fidem & dilectionē ostēdamus in amicum nobis charissimum. Sed & de thesauro humanarum rerum, quum Dominus Iesus gratuita pietate concessit aliquid per metropolitanas ciuitates: Direximus vestræ quoq̀ dilectioni vnum baltheum, & vnum gladium & duo pallia serica. &c.MarginaliaHow the Pope heareth the cry of poore widowes and orphanes.The cause why this Carolus writeth so fauourably of Adriane partly is touched before, partly also was for that Carolomane his elder brother being dead, his wife called Bertha with her ij. children came to Hadrian, to haue them confirmed in there fathers kyngdome: wherunto the Pope to shew a pleasure to Carolus would not agree: but gaue the mother with her two children, and Desiderius the Lōbard king with his whole kyngdom, his wife and children, into the handes of the sayd Carolus: who ledde them with him captiue into Fraūce, and there kept them in seruitude duryng their lyfe.

MarginaliaThe Empire translated frō Greece to France.Thus Carolus Magnus beyng proclamed Empe-perour of Rome, through the preferment of Adrian, and of Pope Leo the. iij. whiche succeded nexte after hym: was the Empire translated frō the Grecians about the yeare of our Lorde 801. vnto the French men: where it continued about 102. yeares till the comming of Conradus and his neuew Otho, which wer Germanis: and so hath it continued after them emong the Almanes vnto this present time. This Charles builded so many monasteries as there be letters in þ^e row of A. B. C: he was beneficiall chiefly to Churchmē also merciful to þ^e poore, in his Actes valiant and triumphant, skild in all lāguages, he held a Councell at Francford, where was condēned the Coūcell of Nice and Irene, for settyng vp and worshyppyng of images. &c.

Concernyng whiche councell of Nice, and thynges there concluded & enacted (because no man shall thinke, the detestyng of Images to be any new thyng nowe begon) thys I find it recorded in an auncient writen historie, of Roger Houedē, called Continuationes Bedæ. His wordes in Latin be these: Anno. D .cc. xc. 11. Carolus Rex Francorum misit sinodalē librum ad Britanniā, sibi a Cōstantinopoli directum, In 4. lib. Heu, proh dolor, multa inconuenientia, et veræ fidei contraria reperiuntur, maxime ф pene omnium orientaliū Doctorum non minus q̃ 300. vel eo amplius Episcoporum vnanimi assertione confirmatū sit, imagines adorari debere: MarginaliaImages writen agaynst, as contrary to the true faith.Quod omnino ecclesia Dei execratur. Contra quod scripsit Albinus epistolam ex autoritate diuinarum scripturarum mirabiliter affirmatam, illamq̀ cum eodem libro ex persona Episcoporum ac principum nostrorum, Regi Francorum at tulit. Hæc ille. That is. In þ^e yeare of our Lord. Dcc. xc. ij. Charles the Frēch kyng sent a booke conteyning the actes of a certein Synode, vnto Britaine, directec vnto hym from Constanti-nople. In the which booke (lamentable to be hold) many thyngs inconuenient, & cleane contrary to the true faith are there to be found: especially for that by the common consēt of almost all þ^e learned Bishops of þ^e East Church not so few as 300. it was there agreed þ^t images should be worshipped. Which thyng the Church of God hath alwayes abhorred. Against which booke Albinus MarginaliaThis Albinus was Alcuinus aboue mētioned.wrote an Epistle substantially groūded out of the autoritie of holy Scripture. Which Epistle with the booke, the sayd Albinus in the name and person of MarginaliaThe bishops and princes of Englād against images.our Bishopes, and princes, did present to the French kyng.

And thus much by the way of Romish matters: now to returne agayne to the Northumberlād kyngs, where we left at Egbert. Which Egbert, as is before declared, succeded after Ceolulph⁹ after he was made Mōke. MarginaliaKyng Egbert made a monkeAnd lykewise the sayd Egbert also folowyng the deuotion of his vncle Ceolulphus, and Kenredus before him: was likewise shorn Mōke, after he had reigned xx. yeres in Northumberland, leauing his sonne, Osulphus after hym to succeede: about which time & in þ^e same yere whē Ceolulph⁹ deceassed in his monastery, which was þ^e yere of our Lord 764. diuers Cities were brent with sodein fire as the Citie of Wenta. þ^e Citie of London, the Citie of Yorke, Donacester wyth diuers other townes besides. Roger Houeden. Lib. Contin. post Bedam, who in the first yeare of his reigne, MarginaliaAn. 757
Osulphus,
Mollo, otherwise called Adelwold.which was þ^e yere of our Lord. 757. being innocently slayne, next to him folowed Mollo, otherwise called Adelwald, who lykewise beyng slayne of Alcredus after he had reigned. xi. yeares departed. MarginaliaAlcredus or Aluredus.
Ethelbert otherwise named. Adelred, or Eardulphe.After, Alcredus when he had raigned. x. yeares was expulsed out of hys kyngdome by his people. Thē was Ethelbert otherwise named Edelred the sonne of þ^e foresayd Mollo receaued kyng of Northumberland. Which Ethelbert, or Adelred in lyke sorte after he had reygned v. yeares, was expulsed. MarginaliaAlfvvold.
Osredus.After whom succeded Alfwold who lykewise whē he had reigned xi. yeares was vniustly slayne. So likewise after hym his nephew, & the sonne of Alcredus named Osredus reigned one yere and was slayne. MarginaliaAdelred again, kings of Northūland.Then the foresayd Ethelbert the sonne of Mollo after xij. yeares banishment, reigned agayne in Northūberland the space of iiij. yeares, and was slayne: þ^e cause wherof (as I find in an old writtē story) was þ^e forsaking his old wife he maried anew. Cōcernyng the restoring of whome, Alcuinus writeth in this maner: MarginaliaAn. 794
Alcuinus.Benedictus Deus qui facit mirabilia solus. Nuper Edelredus filius Edelwaldi de carcere processit in solium, et de miseria, in maiestatem, cuius regni nouitate detenti sumus ne veniremus ad ad vos. &c. And afterwarde the same Alcuinus agayne speakyng of hys death writeth to kyng Offa, in these wordes: Sciat venerāda dilectio vestra ф Do. Carolus amabiliter et fideliter sæpe mecum lucutus est de vobis, et in eo habetis fidelissimum Amicū. Ideo et vestræ dilectioni digna dirigit numera, et per Episcopales sedes regni vestri, similiter et Edelredo Regi, et ad suas Episcoporum sedes direxit dona. Sed heu Proh dolor, donis datis, et Epistolis in man⁹ missorum superuenit tristis legatio per missos qui de Scotia per nos reuersi sunt, De infidelitate gētis, et nece Regis. Ita Carolus retracta donorum largitate in tātum iratus est contra gentem illam, vt ait, perfidam, et peruersam, et homicidam dominorum suorum, peiorem eam paganis estimās, vt nisi ego intercessor essem pro ea, quicquid eis boni abstrahere potuisset, et mali machinari, iam fecisset. &c.

¶ The kingdome of Northumberland ceaseth.  

Commentary     Close

Remainder of Book II

Foxe did not disguise his purposes as a historian when he came to write the history of the 'second age' of the church through the eyes of the early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms for the 1570 edition of his martyrology. He took the opportunity in this concluding section to the book to summarise 'the storye precedent'. He had encountered considerable difficulties in its composition: 'the matter being so intricate, in such confusion & diversitie of things incident together'. The meta-narrative was that 'it pleaseth God […] to reuenge with blood, bloudy violence, and the uniuste dealings of men, with iust and like retribution' - one that was consonant with the contemporary history of the protestant reformation as Foxe would present it in due course. Yet Foxe's cataloguing instincts had not yet been exhausted. In this final section, he provides a compendium of the ecclesiastical foundations that composed the principal fabric of English Christianity up to and through the reformation. The table was composed from all the sources which he had used to compile the history of book 2, both lay and clerical. When it came to the issue of how these foundations should be regarded, and what role they should play in contemporary memory, Foxe revealed another important aspect of this enlarged history of the English church which he appended to the 1570 martyrology. Their patrons and founders had seen them as contributing to their own salvation 'by their owne deseruinges & meritorious dedes'. He illustrated the point through the Charter of Ethelbert, king of the Mercians, which he cited in the original Latin, taken from William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum (J. S. Brewer, and C. T. Martin, 'William of Malmesbury: Gesta Regum' in Reigistrum Malmesburiense. The Registor of Malmesbury Abbey, ed. by J.S. Brewer and C.T. Martin [London: Rolls Series, 1869-1880], book 1, ch. 84). Foxe wanted the 'lieux de mémoire' of these foundations instead to 'put vs in mynde and memorye, how much we at this present are bound to God for the true sinceritie of his truth: hidden so long before to our foreauncitors, and opened now to vs by the good wyll of our God'. They were, in short, monuments to the 'blind ignorance of that age' and the 'superstiticious deuotion' of its kinds and princes. Foxe then summarized one of the underlying elements that had emerged in his treatment of the Saxon heptarchy - rulers who had become monks. Since the counterpart to the 'names and lineall descent' of the kings was the 'names and order of the Archbishops of Canterbury' Foxe follows with an enumeration of it, compiled from William of Malmesbury's Gesta Pontificium (N. E. S. A. Hamilton, ed. William of Malmesbury. Willemesbiriensis Monachi De Gestis pontificium Anglorum [...] [London: Rolls Series, 1870], book 1, chs 1-4; 7-8; 13) with the detail about the foundation of St Martin's monastery and the temporary translation of the see of Canterbury to Lichfield from Matthew Paris' Flores Historiarum [H. R. Luard, ed. Matthew Paris. Flores Historiarum 3 vols (London: Rolls Series, 1890], pp. 346-7; 492). Some of this material may also have been generated in the preparation of De Antiquitate Britanniae, confirming our suspicion that there was some collaboration between Foxe and members of Archbishop Matthew Parker's entourage in the late 1560s, especially around the early history of the see of Canterbury.

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Matthew Phillpott and Mark Greengrass
University of Sheffield

MarginaliaNorthumberland kingdom ceaseth.Thus, as you haue heard, after the reigne of king Egbert, before mencioned, such trouble and perturbation was in the dominion of Northumberland: with slaying, expulsing, and deposing their kinges one after an other, that after the murdering of this Edelred aboue specified, none durste take the gouernment vppon hym, seing the great daunger therupon insuing. In so much that the foresayde kingdome dyd lye voyde and waste the space of. xxxiij. yeares together, after þ^e term