now M. Grafton at this tyme I haue specially called you to be a witnes with me that vpon this translation of Bishops Sees,MarginaliaBoner sweareth hartely to the kynges supremacie. I must accordyng to the statute take an othe vnto the kyngs maiestie knowledgyng hys Supremacy, which before God I take with my hart and so thinke hym to be, and beseech almighty God to saue hym, and long to prosper hys grace: hold the booke sirah, and read you the oth (sayd he) to one of hys chapleins, and he layd his hande on the booke and so tooke hys othe. And after this he shewed great frendshippe to the sayd Grafton, and to hys partener Edward Whitchurch,MarginaliaMyles Couerdall corrector in printing the Bible of the large volume. but specially to Myles Couerdall, who was the corrector of the great Bible.
Miles Coverdale, a superb Latinist with no Greek or Hebrew, had been given the task of revising the Matthew Bible and removing its marginal and other notes.
Now, after that the foresayd letters were deliuered, the Frenche kyng gaue very good wordes,
Francis I's licence, issued in response to a letter of Henry's, procured through Cromwell, of 23 June 1538, contained the proviso that the translation should contain no "private or erroneous opinions" (privatus aut illegittimus opiniones), a phrase that made Francis I's permission more qualified than might be immediately apparent.
[Back to Top]The inquisitors had been ordered to their task in December 1538, in response to a directive of Pope Paul III that Bibles "corruptly" translated into English be made liable to confiscation and burning.
I.e., vats or barrels.
I.e., to line hats.
The French constable eventually dropped the charge of heresy, and allowed the type, printers, and unused paper to be returned to England. As only bound copies had been burned, Grafton and Whitchurch were able to bring back with them salvaged, unbound copies of about half of the already-printed Old Testament and most of the New.
[Back to Top]Grafton and Whitchurch set up their London operation in what, before their dissolution, had been the buildings housing the Grey Friars, just north of St. Paul's.
On 25 April, 1541, the privy council licensed Anthony Marler, haberdasher, and, later, the first person to be appointed royal printer, to secure a four years' fixed-price monopoly to sell "the Bibles of the Great Volume" unbound at 10 shillings and bound at 12 shillings. On 1 May of the same year the council also granted Marler's petition again to issue proclamations enjoining every parish church to purchase the Bible in English, for otherwise (as he declared in his supplication) he would be financially ruined, burdened as he was with an "importune sum of the said books now lying in [his] hand."
[Back to Top]Here by the way, for the more direction to the story
Here Foxe turns to a retrospective account of the Thomas Matthew Bible.
I.e., Coverdale's Bible of 1535 and the Matthew Bible of 1537.
This folio version of the English-language Bible, an amalgam of Tyndale's and Coverdale's earlier translations, was actually compiled in Antwerp in 1537 by the English clergyman John Rogers.
Tyndale's name being now tainted with the fact of his execution for heresy, Rogers instead attributed the edition to a "Thomas Matthew," a pseudonym possibly derived from the names of the two apostles. Grafton and Whitchurch sponsored a print run of 1,500 copies of Matthew's Bible in Antwerp that was shipped to London in 1537.
[Back to Top]Cranmer liked it enough to pass on a copy to Cromwell in August of that same year.
Cromwell managed to procure royal licence for this edition pursuant to his own programme to place a vernacular Bible in all parish churches. Coverdale's Bible of 1535 boasted only of a dedication to the king; this was a further step towards the eventual authorization of the Great Bible of 1539.
Coverdale was ordered to revise these potentially heretical marginal notes the 1539 Bible.
MarginaliaAn other Byble of the great volume printed at Paris. Furthermore, after the restreynt of this foresayd Bible of Mathew, an other Bible began to be Printed at Paris, an. 1540. Which was called the Bible of the large Volume.
Here Foxe returns to his story of the abortive Paris printing, which was actually attempted in 1538 and shifted successfully to London in 1539.
After this, the Byshops bringyng their purpose to passe, brought the Lorde Cromwell out of fauour, and shortly to hys death: and not long after great complaint was made to the king of the translation of the Bible, and of the preface of the same,MarginaliaThe sale of the Bible stayde by the king through the bishops meanes. and then was the sale of the Bible commaunded to be stayed, the B. promising to amend & correct it, but neuer performyng the same: Then Grafton was called, & first charged with the Printyng of Mathewes Bible, but he beyng very fearefull of trouble, made excuses for hymselfe in all thynges. Then was he examined of the great Bible, and what notes he was purposed to make. To the which he aunswered, that hee knewe none. For his purpose was to haue retayned learned men to haue made the notes, but when he perceaued the kynges maiestie, and hys Clergye not willyng to haue any, he proceded no further.MarginaliaRich. Grafton imprisoned for printing the byble. But for al these excuses, Grafton was sent to the Fleete,
Grafton was imprisoned once in 1541 and twice more in 1543 on similar charges.
I.e., his assurance was underwritten with a 300 pound fine.
No revisions nor new versions of the English Bible were commissioned or printed for the remainder of Henry's reign.
But yet one thyng more is to be noted, that after the imprinters hadde lost theyr Bibles, they contynued suters to Boner, as is aforesayd to bee a meane for to obteyne of the Frenche kyng theyr bookes agayn: but so long they continued suters, and Boner euer fedde them with faire words promysing them much, but dyd nothyng for them, til at the last Boner was discharged of hys ambassade, and returned home, where he was right ioyfully welcomed home by the Lorde Cromwell, who loued hym very dearely, and hade a meruelous good opinion of hym.
Once again, Foxe backtracks in his account.
Cromwell had himself been known to employ ballad-mongering for political purchase; a number of both pro- and anti-Cromwellian ballads were circulating by the time of his execution.
This lengthy section narrates the lives and deaths of the three most prominent evangelicals executed for heresy by Henry VIII after the break with Rome, on each of whom see the ODNB. It is also a section which was extensively rewritten by Foxe between the 1563 and 1570 editions, although after 1570 only one, very minor change was made to the text. The account of Barnes in the 1563 edition drew principally on three sources. First was Barnes' autobiographical account in his A supplicacion vnto the most gracyous prynce H. the .viij. (STC 1471: London, 1534), sigs. F1r-I3r. This was extended, and slightly altered, from the account given in the 1531 edition of the Supplication, a text which Foxe apparently did not know. Alongside this was Edward Hall and Richard Grafton, The vnion of the two noble and illustrate famelies of Lancastre & Yorke (STC 12721: London, 1548), part II, fos. 241v-243r; and Barnes' protestation from the stake, found in John Standish, A lytle treatise composyd by Johan Standysshe, against the protestacion of R. Barnes (STC 23209: London, 1540) and reproduced in full by Foxe. In the 1570 rewriting, a new section was added, based on the detailed narrative in Stephen Gardiner, A declaration of such true articles as George Ioye hath gone about to confute as false (STC 11588: London, 1546).The main source for the account of Thomas Garret is a lengthy testimony of events in 1528 written by Anthony Dalaber, apparently specifically for Foxe's use. As Foxe tells us (1583, p. 1197), Dalaber died in Salisbury diocese in 1562, leaving his account unfinished. His text is reproduced apparently in full in 1563. There are some minor abridgements of Dalaber's account in 1570 and subsequent editions, mostly to omit digressions, lists of names or personal details apparently irrelevant to Garret's case. The remainder of Foxe's account of Garret is far sketchier and is assembled from the accounts of unnamed 'auncient and credible persones'.The source for the short account of William Jerome, which only appears in 1570 and subsequent editions, is unclear. Almost all of the information here can be substantiated from three documents in the State Papers (National Archives, SP 1 / 158 fos. 50-2, 120, 124-5 (LP XV 354.1, 411.2, 414), but these do not appear to be Foxe's sources, not least because none of them refer to Dr. Wilson's role, which is otherwise unrecorded. The account appears to be based entirely on a summary of Jerome's recantation sermon, given at St. Mary Spital on 29 March 1540, the Monday of Easter week.Alec Ryrie
[Back to Top]MarginaliaRob. Barnes. T. Garret, W. Hierome Martirs. LIke as in foreine battailes the chief poynt of Victorye cōsisteth in the safetie of the Generall or Captayn: euen so whē the valiaunt standerd bearer and stay of the Church of England, Tho. Cromwell I meane, was made away, pitie it is to beholde, what miserable slaughter of good men and good wemen ensued therupon, whereof we haue nowe (Christ willyng) to entreat. For Winchester hauyng now gotten his full purpose, and fre swynge to exercise his crueltye, wonder it was to se that Aper Calydonius, or (as the scripture speaketh) that Ferus singularis,MarginaliaPsal. [illegible text]0. what troubles he raised in the Lords vineyard. And least by delayes he might loose the occasion presently offered, he strayght wayes made his first assaultes vpon Robert Barnes, Thomas Garret & Williā Hierom, whom in the very same moneth within. ij. dayes after Cromwels death
This corrects the chronological error in the 1563 edition.