Then went Bennets man to the Bishops lodgyng and deliuered his letter. And when the Byshop had read the contentes therof, he called for the man that brought it. Come Syrha, quoth he, you can tell me more by mouth, then the letter specifieth, & had him in to a litle garden. Now, quoth the Byshop, what say you to me? Forsoth my Lord, quoth he, I haue nothyng to say vnto your Lordshyp, for I dyd not bryng the letter to the Towne. No quoth the Byshop, where is he that brought it? Forsoth my Lord quoth he, I left him busie at his lodgyng. Then he will come, quoth the Byshop. Byd him be with me betymes in the mornyng. I will quoth he, do your Lordshyps commaundement, and so he departed home to his lodgyng. And when his kynsfolkes saw him come in, alas cosin, quoth they, we are all vndone. Why so, quoth he, what is the matter?MarginaliaBennets man searched for at Oking. Oh sayd they, here hath bene since you went, M.Padget the kyngs Secretarie, with sir Tho. Cardine of the priuye Chamber, & searched all our house, for one that should come to the town with Ockā: therfore make shift for your selfe as soone as you cā. Is that all the matter, quoth he? thē content your selfe, for I will neuer flee one foote, hap what hap will. And as they were thus reasonyng together, in came þe foresayd searchers agayne, and when M. Cardine saw Bennets mā, he knew him very well, & sayd: was it thou that came to the towne with Ockā? Yea sir, quoth he. Now who the deuill (quoth Maister Cardine) brought thee in cōpanie with that false knaue? Then he tolde them his busines, & the cause of his cōming: which being knowen, they were satisfied & so departed.MarginaliaBennet discharged out of prison by good men of the priuie chamber. The next day hao Bennets mā a discharge for his maister (procured by certain of þe priuy Chāber) and so wēt home.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaCertayne of the priuie chamber indited. Now was Ockam all this while at my Lord priuye Seales, where he was kept secret, til certaine of the Counsaile had perused all his writynges, among the which they found certaine of the priuye Chāber indited, with other the kyngs Officers, with their wiues
This list shows the intention of London, Simonds and, very probably, Stephen Gardiner to go after courtiers suspected of heresy. Philip (not William) Hoby and Sir Thomas Carden were gentlemen ushers of the Privy Chamber, with constant access to the king. Thomas Weldon was a master of the Royal Household and Snowball had the delicate and trusted position of yeoman chef for the king's mouth.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe B. of Winchester out of the kynges fauour. After this, the kyng withdrew his fauour frō the Bysh. of Winchester, & beyng more and more enformed of the conspiracie of Doctour London and Symōs, be commaunded certaine of his Counsaile, to search out the grounde therof.
MarginaliaD. London, W. Simons and R. Ockam, apprehended and condemned of periurye. Whereupon Doctour London and Symons were apprehended and brought before the Counsaile, and examined vpon their othe of allegiance. And for denying their mischeuous and trayterous purpose, which was manifestly proued to their faces, they were both periured, and in fine, adiudged as periured persons, to weare papers in Wyndsore, and Ockam to stand vppon the Pillery in the Towne of Newbery, where he was borne.
[Back to Top]The iudgemēt of all these three was to ride aboutMarginaliaThe punishment of D. London, W. Symons, and of Rob. Ockam, for false accusation and periurye. Windsore, Readyng, and Newbery, with papers on their heades, and their faces turned to the horse tayles, and so to stand vpon the Pillery in euery of these Townes, for false accusation of the forenamed Martyrs, and for periurie.
[Back to Top]And thus muche touching the persecution of these good Saintes of Wyndesore, according to the copie of their own Actes,MarginaliaEx testimonio Ioan. Marbecki. receaued and writtē by Iohn Marbecke, who is yet a liue, both a present witnes, and also was then a partie of the said doynges, and can testifie the truth therof.
This is an important indication that Marbeck himself was the source of this narrative.
This concluding section to the narrative of the Windsor martyrs was Foxe's response to the charge made by Nicholas Harpsfield that Foxe had erroneously identified Marbeck as a martyr, and to the implication, rapidly taken up by other Catholic writers, that this demonstrated Foxe's inaccuracy.
Foxe is closely paraphrasing Harpsfield's criticism of his error in confusing Marbeck and Filmer (see DS, pp. 962-3).
And admitte, that I had not foresene and corrected this escape before, touchyng the matter of Iohn Marbecke, but that the place stil had remained in the booke, as it was, that is, that the sayd Iohn Marbecke, which is yet alyue, had thē dyed & suffered with the other 3. the same tyme at Windsore: yet what gentle or courtuous reader, could haue therin any iust matter to triūphe & insult agaynst me, seyng the iudiciall actes, the recordes, & registers, yea and the Bishops certificate, and also the writte of execution remainyng yet in Recorde, sent to the king, did lead me so to say and thinke?
This is an important indication that Foxe based his account of the Windsor martyrs partly on documents that must have been sent to him during his exile. It should also be remembered that, for all of Foxe's protesting, he disregarded what Hall (or, more accurately, Richard Grafton) wrote about the incident. And that he only caught his mistake while the first edition was being printed, and his correction was made in a place where it was easy for Harpsfield to overlook.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe death Iohn Marbecke in the former booke amended. But now I correct and reforme the same agayne, and first of all other, I finde the fault, & yet am I founde fault withall. I correct my selfe, and yet am I corrected of other. I warne the Reader of the truth, & yet am I a lyer. The booke it selfe sheweth the escape, and byddeth in stede of 4. to read 3. burned, and yet is the booke made a Legēd of lyes.
[Back to Top]Briefly, where I preuent all occasion of cauillyng to the vttermost of my diligence, yet can not I haue that law, which all other bookes haue, that is, to recognise & reforme myne own errata.
Wherfore to conclude, these mē, whosoeuer they are if they will be satisfied, I haue sayd inough: if they will not, what soeuer I cā say, it will not serue, & so I leaue thē: I would I could better satisfie them. God himselfe amende them.
Marginalia1544.
George Bucker, alias Adam Damlip Martyr. AT what time
Calais was the last English outpost left from the Hundred Year's War. It was governed by the King's Deputy, directly answerable to the King. Since 1533, this had been Arthur, Viscount Lisle, whose religious inclinations were conservative and who sponsored, to the best of his ability, conservative clerics and officials in Calais. Spiritual jurisdiction, however, was held by Thomas Cranmer, the evangelical archbishop of Canterbury, who used his patronage to place evangelical preachers in livings in the town. Moreover, Cranmer's commissary for Calais, John Butler, was aggressively evangelical. Supporting Cranmer, was Thomas Cromwell, the vice-gerent for Spiritual affairs and, effectively, Henry VIII's chief minister. The tensions that developed from this division of authority and confessional allegiance were exacerbated by the conservative efforts in the years 1538-43, to oust Cromwell and Cranmer from power and the energetic responses of both minister and prelate to these threats. (On the situation in Calais see A. J. Slavin, 'Cromwell, Cranmer and Lord Lisle, a study in the politics of reform', Albion 9 [1977], pp. 316-36; Philip Ward, 'The politics of religion: Thomas Cromwell and the Reformation in Calais, 1534-40', Journal of Religious Religious History 17 [1992-3], pp. 152-71 and The Lisle Letters, ed. Muriel St. Clair Byrne, 6 vols. [Chicago, 1981]). Also of significance was Henry's open enmity towards Reginald Pole, his kinsman and, since 1535, the major spokesman against the king. Henry's wrath and paranoia towards Pole would be exploited by both conservatives and evangelicals.
[Back to Top]Foxe's sources for the complicated, intertwined, narratives which follow were varied. The story of William Callaway and Dr. London first appeared in the Rerum, as did the account of the execution of Germain Gardiner (Rerum, pp. 143-4). The first came from Edward Hall, The union of two noble and illustre famelies of Lancastre and Yorke (London, 1550) STC 12734a, fo. 257r, the second probably was related to Foxe by John Bale. Both of these stories were repeated in all editions of the A&M. In the 1563 edition, Foxe added accounts of Adam Damplip (from unknown informants), Thomas Broke's speech against the Six Articles, accounts of the 1539 persecution of heresy in Calais, which came from informants, and accounts of the 1540 persecution of heresy in Calais, also obtained from informants, almost certainly including Thomas Broke's wife, who supplied the detailed narrative of her husband's ordeals. The 1563 edition also contained an account of an earlier heretic, William Button, who was forced to do penance in Calais sometime before 1532; Foxe states that this account was derived from informants in the town. And Foxe also added the recantations of John Athee and John Heywood, which he obtained from Bishop Bonner's register (Guildhall MS 9531/12, fos. 61r and 254v).
[Back to Top]In the second edition, Foxe eliminated much of the material he had printed in the 1563 edition, including Thomas Broke's oration against the Six Articles, much of the interrogations of Broke and the recantation of John Heywood. But he also added material on Adam Damplip's 1541 arrest, imprisonment and death, obtained, as Foxe declares from John Marbeck. Foxe also added material on the persecution of William Smith and also on the 1540 persecution in Calais, which was obtained, as Foxe notes, from informants in Calais, including some of those who had been persecuted. They were also the source for the account Foxe added on the persecution of an unnamed labourer and a man named Dodd. There was no change to any of this material in subsequent editions, except that John Heywood's recantation was restored in the 1583 edition.
[Back to Top]Thomas S. Freeman
In order to provide a link with the preceding narrative (on the three martyrs at Windsor in 1543), Foxe is beginning this account out of chronological order. Foxe is beginning, in 1543 (not 1544), with Damplip's execution.
Damplip was re-arrested in 1541 in the command of Stephen Gardiner, the bishop of Winchester. But Gardiner did not, as Foxe's wording implies, order Damplip's execution. That was done by royal command.
Foxe is indicating that John Marbeck is his source for the description of Damplip's imprisonment and execution.
Touchyng which story of Adā Dālyp, for somuch it includeth matter of much trouble & persecution that happened in Calyce, to digest therfore & comprise the whole narration therfore in order, first I will enter (the Lord willyng) the story of Dālyp, and so procede in order to such as by the sayd occasion were afflicted & persecuted in the towne of Calyce.
[Back to Top]Persecutors. | Persecuted. | The Causes. |
Iohn Doue, Prior of the gray Friers in Calice. Syr Grego- ry Buttol, Priest. | George Bucker, or els called Adā Dam- lip. A poore la- bouring mā W. Steuens. | IN the yeare of our Lord. 1539. the Lord Crōwell beyng yet alyue, there came to Calyce one George Bucker, aliâs Adam Dālyp, who had bene in tyme past a great Papist & Chapleyne to Fisher Byshop of Rochester, & after the |