1570 Edition | Book 6 | Page 853 
filthe of Necromancie him selfe.Marginalia4.
Coniecture.The fourth cōiecture: because this accusation against the Duches of Glocester, Duke Humfreis wife, beganne not before, but after the grudge kindled betwene the cardinall of VVint. and Duke Humfrey, her husband.
Marginalia5.
Coniecture.An other coniecture may be hereof, for that, if the duches had entended any suche haynous treason agaynst the kinges life, as by burning of a waxe candle to consume him, it is not lyke (neither was there anye suche nede) þt she woulde haue made so many priuye to such a pernicious counsel, as the witch of Eye, Mayster Roger Bolingbroke, Maister Tho. Southwell, and Iohn Hume.
Marginalia6.
Coniecture.Sixtlye, it is not to be supposed, if any suche hye treason had bene wrought or pretended agaynste the kinges person by these, that eyther the Duches shoulde so escape with bearing a taper and banishment: or that Iohn Hume should be pardoned his life, the fact being so heynous that neyther any durste aske hys pardon, nor if it had ben asked, it had not ben like to be graūted
Marginalia7.
Coniecture.To these we maye also adde an other supposall, rysing vpon the wordes and forme of their accusation, as it standeth in Harding, Polychronicon and other moe, wherein they were accused for working sorcery and inchauntments agaynst the church and the king. Nowe what sorcery can be wrought agaynst the churche: that is, the whole multitude of Christiās, let þe reader iudge, and by the truth of this, consider also the truth of the other, which was against the king. Farthermore, if by this church is ment the Cardinall of VVint. as lyke it is: then it may be coniecturall, that all this matter rose of that Cardinal, who was then a mortall enemy to the house of Glocester. &c.
Marginalia8.
Coniecture.Eightly: And that all this was done and wroughte by the sayd Cardinall of VVint. the witch concerning Eye maketh the matter the more suspicious, seing that towne of Eye, as Fabian witnesseth, was neare beside VVintchester, and sea of that bishop.
Marginalia9.
Coniecture.Moreouer, forsomuch as Polidore Virgill, among other story autors, being a man as may be supposed, rather fauouring the Cardinals part, thē þe Dukes, made no mention at all touchyng thys treason, hys silence therof may minister matter not onely to muse, but also to coniecture, that he had found something whych made him to mistrust the mater. Otherwise it is vnlike that he would haue so mewed vp the matter, and passed it ouer without some mention.
Marginalia10.
Coniecture.Finally and briefly: The frequent practises and examples of other times, may make this also more doubtfull, considering how many subtile pretences, after like sort haue bene sought, & wrongful accusations brought against many innocent persons. For (not to repeate the like forgeries against the Lord Cobham and syr Roger Acton. &c.) why may not this accusation of the Duches and Onley, be as false, as that in the tyme of K. Edward the fift, which was laid to the charge of the Quene, and Shores wyfe, by the Protectors, for inchaunting & bewitching of his withered arme? Which to be false, all the world doth know, and but a quarell made, onely to oppresse the life of the L. Hastinges, and the L. Standley. &c. And thus mayest thou see, gentle Reader, according to the wise mans saying: Nihil nouum esse sub sole: Nihilq; dictum, quod non dictum prius. &c.
Although these, with many moe coniectures, may be alledged in some part of defence of this Duches, and of her Chaplens and Priestes: yet because it maye be not vnpossible againe, the matter layde against them, to bee true, I leaue it therefore at large as I finde it: saying as I sayd before, that if it be true which the stories saye in this matter, thinke, I beseche thee gentle reader, that I haue sayd nothing hereof. Onely, because the matter may be disputable, and not vnpossible to be false, I haue but moued thereof a question, and brought my cōiectures, leauing the determination and iudgemēt hereof, to thy indifferent and free arbitrement. And if M. Cope, be so hyghly offēded with me, and become so heauye maister vnto me, because, in my first edition of Actes and Monumentes I durste name the Ladye Eleonor Cobham, and Roger Onley, let hym take thys for a shorte aunswere, because my laysure serueth not to make long braules with him: MarginaliaA biref answere to M. Copes cauillatiōs, concerning duke Humfreyes wife.that if I had thought no imperfections to haue passed in my former edition before, I would neuer haue takē in hand þe recognitiō therof now the second tyme, whereby to sponge away such moates, as I thought would seme greate stomblyng blockes in such mens walkes, which walke with no charitie to edifie: but with malice to carye and reprehēd, neither admonishyng what they see amisse in others, neither taryeng while other men reforme them selues, and finally, findyng quarels, where no great cause is iustly geuen. And here an end with M. Cope for this time.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe cōtention betwene the Cardinall of Wint. & duke Humfrey, Lord protectour.For somuch as in þe processe before, mētion was touched concernyng the grudge betwene the Cardinall, called the rich Cardinall of VVincester, and the good duke Humfrey Duke of Glocester, the kynges vncle, and protector of the realme: order of story now requireth to opē some part of that matter more at large.
CloseFoxe's account of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, was drawn from an impressive range of print and manuscript sources. The most important of these was Edward Hall's chronicle. The background to the feud between Gloucester and Cardinal Beaufort, the articles Gloucester objected against Beaufort, the hostility of the earl of Suffolk and Margaret of Anjou to Gloucester, the death of Gloucester, the death of Beaufort and the murder of the earl of Suffolk are all taken from Hall, in some instances, on a word-for-word basis. (Edward Hall, The union of the two noble and illustre famelies of Lancastre and York [London, 1560], STC 12723a, fos.142v-148r, 151v-152v and156v-158v). Foxe supplemented Hall with the Great Chronicle for Beaufort trying to ambush Gloucester and for the intervention of the archbishop of Canterbury and the the duke of Coimbra to mediate the quarrel (The Great Chronicle of London, ed. A. H. Thomas and I. D. Thornley [London, 1938], pp. 136-7). Foxe also drew on Polydore Vergil's history for small points of detail: Henry Chichele's death and college foundations, the observation that the title 'duke of Gloucester' was unlucky, and William Wainfleet's foundation of Magdalen college (Polydore Vergil, Anglica historia [Isengrim, 1555], pp. 491-3). And while the burning of St. Paul's steeple could have come from a number of sources, Foxe's wording is quite close to the account of the event in Robert Fabian, Fabyans cronycle (London, 1559), STC 10664, p. 441.
[Back to Top]Foxe took the story of Gloucester's exposing the fraudulent miracle from Thomas More's Dialogue Concerning Heresies (2 parts., vol. 6 The Complete works of St. Thomas More [New Haven, CT, 1981], I, pp. 86-7). Foxe also cites William Tyndale as a source for this story, but Tyndale simply referred to More's account. But Foxe did draw on Tyndale's The Practice of Prelates for the summoning of the Parliament at Bury St. Edmund's in 1447. (See William Tyndale, Expositions and Notes…with the Practice of Prelates, ed. Henry Walter, Parker Society [Cambridge, 1849], p. 297). The quotations from dedications to Gloucester by Piero del Monte and Lapo are from Bodley MS Auct. F.5.26, pp. pp. 1-2 and 117. And Foxe drew the writ forbidding Cardinal Henry Beaufort from entering England in his capacity as papal legate from Bodley Tanner MS 165, fos. 81r-82v. (Foxe notes that he borrowed the manuscript he used as a source for this writ from William Bowyer and Bowyer owned Tanner MS 165).
[Back to Top]Although modern historians have questioned Gloucester's character and political judgement, he enjoyed a universally good press from his contemporaries. This was partly because Gloucester was an aggressive proponent of a popular, albeit unsuccessful, war with France and partly because he was the foe of those, like Beaufort and Suffolk, who were seen as evil, but influential, councillors to the king. Contemporary praise of Gloucester shaped sixteenth-century perceptions of him; Tyndale and More agreed on little but they agreed on Gloucester's virtues. Writers such as More and Foxe were also influenced in their assessments by Gloucester's undeniable prominence as a patron of humanist writers. This allowed Foxe to present Humphrey as an ideal lay magistrate opposed to evil worldy clerics led by Cardinal Beaufort.
[Back to Top]Thomas S. Freeman
University of Sheffield
Marginalia1.
Winch. presumeth to be Cardinall against the minde of hys king.FIrst complained to his soueraigne prince, his ryght redoubted Lord, duke Humfrey, his vncle & protector of the realme, that the Bishop of VVinchester, in the dayes of his father, kyng Henry the v. tooke vpon him þe state of a Cardinall, being denayed by the kyng, saying that hee had as lefe set his crowne beside hym, as to see him weare a Cardinals hatte: and þt in Parliamentes, he not beyng contēted with the place of a Bishop amōg the spirituall persons, presumed aboue his order, whiche the sayd Duke desired to be redressed.
Marginalia2.
Wint. incurreth the law of premuniri.Item, where as he beyng made Cardinall, was voided of his Bishoprike of VVinchester, he procured from Rome the Popes Bull, vnknowing to the kyng, whereby he tooke agayne his Byshoprike, contrary to the cōmon lawe of this realme, incurryng thereby the case of prouision, and forfettyng all his goodes to the kyng, by the law of premuniri facias.
Marginalia3.
Wint. intrudeth hym selfe to be the kynges gouernour.Item, he complayned, that the sayd Cardinall, with the Archbishop of Yorke, intruded them selues to haue the gouernaunce of the kyng, and the doyng vnder the king, of temporall matters, excludyng the kyngs vncle, and other temporall Lordes of the kynges kynde, from hauyng knowledge of any great matter.
Marginalia4.Item, whereas the kyng had borowed of the Cardinall. iiij. thousand poūdes, vpon certeine Iewels, and afterwarde had hys money readye at the day to quite hys