whereupon he kept himself out of sight till they had broken off their Henry communication. VIII. And as soon as he saw Master Cardine gone (leaving Ockam A.D. behind), he went to Ockam and asked him if he had delivered his 1543. master's letter to the bishop. "No," said Ockam, "the king removeth this day to Guildford, and I must go thither, and will deliver it there." "Marry," quoth he, " and I will go with you, to see what answer you shall have, and to carry word to my mistress;' and so they rode to Guildford together; where Bennet's man (being better acquainted in the town than Ockam was) got a lodging for them both in a kinsman's house of his. 66 man go his mis the bishop chester That done, he asked Ockam, if he would go and deliver his mis- Bennet's tress's letter to the bishop. Nay," said Ockam, you shall go eth with and deliver it yourself:" and took him the letter. And as they were tress's going in the street together, and coming by the earl of Bedford's letter to lodging (then lord privy seal) Ockam was pulled in by the sleeve, of Winand no more seen of Bennet's man, till he saw him in the Marshalsea. Then went Bennet's man to the bishop's lodging and delivered his letter and when the bishop had read the contents thereof, he called for the man that brought it. "Come, sirrah!" quoth he, you can tell me more by mouth than the letter specifieth ;" and had him into a little garden. "Now," quoth the bishop, "what say you to me ?" "Forsooth, my lord," quoth he, "I have nothing to say unto your lordship; for I did not bring the letter to the town." "No!" quoth the bishop, "where is he that brought it?" "Forsooth my lord," quoth he, "I left him busy at his lodging." "Then he will come," quoth the bishop, "bid him be with me betimes in the morning." "I will," quoth he, "do your lordship's commandment:" and so he departed home to his lodging. And when his kinsfolks saw him come in, "Alas, cousin," quoth they, "we are all undone!” “ Why so?" quoth he, "what is the matter ?" "Oh!" said they, "here hath been, since you went, Master Paget Bennet's the king's secretary, with sir Thomas Cardine of the privy chamber, searched and searched all our house for the one that should come to the town for at Oking. with Ockam; therefore make shift for yourself as soon as you can.' "Is that all the matter?" quoth he, " then content yourselves, for I will never flee one foot, hap what hap will." As they were thus reasoning together, in came the aforesaid searchers again; and when Master Cardine saw Bennet's man, he knew him very well, and said, "Was it thou that came to the town with Ockam ?" "Yea, sir;" quoth he. "Now who the devil," quoth Master Cardine, "brought Bennet thee in company with that false knave ?" Then he told them his ed out of business, and the cause of his coming; which being known, they prison by were satisfied, and so departed. The next day had Bennet's man a of the discharge for his master (procured by certain of the privy chamber), chamber. and so went home. man discharg good men privy the privy for the six Now was Ockam all this while at my Lord Privy Seal's, where he Certain of was kept secret, till certain of the privy council had perused all his chamber writings; among which they found certain of the privy chamber indicted indicted, with other the king's officers, with their wives; that is to articles. say, sir Thomas Cardine, sir Philip Hobby, with both their ladies, Master Edmund Harman, Master Thomas Weldon, with Snowball VIII. them. Henry and his wife. All these they had indicted by the force of the six articles, as aiders, helpers, and maintainers of Anthony Peerson. A. D. And besides them, they had indicted of heresy (some for one thing, 1543. and some for another) a great number more of the king's true and faithful subjects: whereof the king's majesty being certified, his grace, of his special goodness (without the suit of any man), gave to The king the aforesaid gentlemen of his privy chamber, and other his servants, pardoneth with their wives, his gracious pardon. And as God would have the Is certi- matter further known unto his majesty, as he rode one day a hunting pitiful in Guildford-park, and saw the sheriff with sir Humfrey Foster sitting on their horsebacks together, he called them unto him, and asked of them, how his laws were executed at Windsor. Then they, beat Wind- seeching his grace of pardon, told him plainly, that in all their lives they never sat on matter under his grace's authority, that went so much against their consciences as the death of these men did; and The up and told his grace so pitiful a tale of the casting away of these timony of poor men, that the king, turning his horse's head to depart from them. them, said, "Alas, poor innocents!" fied of the death of these godly martyrs sor. king's tes The bishop of After this the king withdrew his favour from the bishop of WinWinches chester, and being more and more informed of the conspiracy of Dr. ter out of London and Simons, he commanded certain of his council to search favour. out the ground thereof. Whereupon Dr. London and Simons were Dr. Lon apprehended and brought before the council, and examined upon mons, and their oath of allegiance; and for denying their mischievous and the king's Ockam apprehended and con demned of perjury. Their pu traitorous purpose, which was manifestly proved to their faces, they were both perjured, and in fine adjudged, as perjured persons, to wear papers in Windsor; and Ockam to stand upon the pillory, in the town of Newbury where he was born. The judgment of all these three was to ride about Windsor, nishment. Reading, and Newbury, with papers on their heads, and their faces turned to the horse-tails, and so to stand upon the pillory in every of these towns, for false accusation of the aforenamed martyrs, and for perjury. Hark you wran be satis fied And thus much touching the persecution of these good saints of Windsor, according to the copy of their own acts, received and written by John Marbeck, who is yet alive both a present witness, and also was then a party of the said doings, and can testify the truth thereof. AN ANSWER TO THE CAVILLING ADVERSARIES, TOUCHING JOHN MARBECK. Wherefore against these crooked cavillers, which make so much glers, and ado against my former book, because in a certain place I chanced to say that Bennet and Filmer had their pardon (when indeed it was Bennet and Marbeck), be it therefore known, protested, denounced, and notified, to all and singular such carpers, wranglers, exclaimers, depravers, with the whole brood of all such whisperers, railers, quarrelpickers, corner-creepers, fault-finders, and spider-catchers, or by what name else soever they are to be tituled, that here I openly say (1) The story doth purge itself, if it had pleased these men to take one place with another. [See the Edition of 1563. Compare page 626, line 46, with page 1742, middle column.-ED.] VIII. and affirm, profess, hold, maintain, and write the same as I said and Henry wrote before, in the latter castigations of my book: that is, that John Marbeck was, with the others, condemned, but not burned; cast by A.D. the law, but by pardon saved; appointed with the rest to die, and 1543yet not dead; but liveth, God be praised, and yet to this present day singeth merrily, and playeth on the organs, not as a dead man amongst "Foxe's Martyrs" (as it hath pleased some in the court to encounter against me), but as one witnessed and testified truly in the book of Foxe's Martyrs to be alive. And, therefore, such manner of persons, if the disposition of their nature be such that they must needs find faults, then let them find them where they are, and where those faults, by their finding, may be corrected. But whereas they be corrected already, and found to their hands, and also amended before, let then these legend-liars look on their own legends, and there cry out of lies, where they may find enough; and cease their biting there, where they have no just cause to bark. And admit that I had not foreseen, and corrected this escape before, touching the matter of John Marbeck, but that the place still had remained in the book as it was that is (that the said John Marbeck, who is yet alive, had then died and suffered with the other three, the same time at Windsor),' yet, what gentle or courteous reader could have therein any just matter to triumph and insult against me, seeing the judicial acts, the records and registers, yea and the bishop's certificate, and also the writ of execution remaining yet on record, sent to the king, did lead me so to say and think? For what man, writing histories, who cannot be in all places to see all things, but following his records and registers, wherein he seeth the said Marbeck to be judged and condemned with the rest, would otherwise write or think, but that he also was executed and burned in the same company. of Mar mer book But now I correct and reform the same again, and first of all The death others, I find the fault, and yet I am found fault withal. I correct beck in myself, and yet I am corrected of others. I warn the reader of the the fortruth, and yet am a liar. The book itself showeth the escape, and amended. biddeth instead of four, to read three burned; and yet is the book made a legend of lies! 2 Briefly, whereas I prevent all occasion of cavilling to the uttermost of my diligence, yet cannot I have that law, which all other books have, that is, to recognise and reform mine own "errata.” Wherefore, to conclude: these men, whosoever they are, if they will be satisfied, I have said enough; if they will not, whatsoever 1 can say, it will not serve; and so I leave them. I would I could better satisfy them. God himself amend them! The Persecution in Calais, with the Martyrdom of George Bucker, otherwise called Adam Damlıp, and others. At what time John Marbeck was in the Marshalsea, which was about the year of our Lord 1543, there was in the said prison with (1) In the First Edition of the Acts and Monuments, page 626, the story is thus briefly related: These five men were condemned to death by the statute of the Six Articles (whereof is spoken before), and adjudged to be burned, saving that Bennet and Finmore escaped by the king's pardon : the other three, Peerson, Testwood, and Marbeck, constantly and stoutly suffered martyrdom in the fire, the 28th day of July, 1543. See also the Latin edition, 1559, pp. 182, 183, of which the above is a repetition. Read more upon this subject in the following note.- En. (2) The book itself showeth the escape:' this erior of our author respecting Marbeck's death is VIII. Henry him one George Bucker, named otherwise Adam Damlip, who, having continued in the said prison three or four years, at last, by A.D. the commandment of Winchester, was had to Calais by John Massy, 1539 the keeper of the Marshalsea, and there hanged, drawn, and quartered for treason pretensed, which was a little before the condemnation of the Windsor men aforesaid, as is, by the letters of the said John Marbeck, to me signified. to 1544. Touching which story of Adam Damlip, forasmuch as it includeth matter of much trouble and persecution that happened in Calais, to digest, therefore, and comprise the whole narration thereof in order, first I will enter (the Lord willing) the story of Damlip, and so proceed in order to such as, by the said occasion, were afflicted and persecuted in the town of Calais. PERSONS PERSECUTED IN THE TOWN OF CALAIS :-George Bucker, or else called Adam Damlip, a poor labouring man; W. Stevens; Thomas Lancaster; John Butler, commissary; William Smith, priest; Thomas Brook; Ralph Hare; Jacob, a surgeon; a Fleming; Clement Philpot, servant; Jeffery Loveday; Dodde; sir Edmund, priest; William Touched, postmaster; Peter Becket; Anthony Pickering, gentleman; Henry Tourney, gentleman; George Darby, priest; John Shepard; William Pellam; William Keverdal; John Whitwood; John Boote; Ro. Cloddet; Coppen de Hane, alias James Cocke; Matthew Hound; William Button, crossbowmaker. PERSECUTORS:-John Dove, prior of the Grey Friars in Calais; sir Gregory Buttoll, priest; Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester; Dr. Sampson, bishop of Chichester; Dr. Clerke, bishop of Bath; Dr. Repse, bishop of Norwich; Harvey, commissary in Calais; lady Honor, wife to lord Lisle, deputy of Calais; sir Thomas Palmer, knight; John Rookwood, esquire; Richard Long, soldier of Calais; Francis Hastings, a soldier; Edmund Payton, Robert Poole, and Thomas Boyse; Hugh Counsel, a servant; sir Ralph Ellerker, knight; sir John Gage. In the year of our Lord 1539, the lord Cromwell being yet alive, there came to Calais one George Bucker, alias Adam Damlip, who had been, in time past, a great papist and chaplain to Fisher bishop of Rochester; and, after the death of the bishop his master, had travelled through France, Dutchland, and Italy; and, as he went, conferred with learned men concerning matters of controversy in religion, and so proceeding in his journey to Rome, where he thought to have found all godliness and sincere religion, in the end he found there (as he confessed) such blasphemy of God, contempt of Christ's true religion, looseness of life, and abundance of all abominations and filthiness, that it abhorred his heart and conscience any longer a favourite subject of his 'cavilling adversaries,' the papists. It is true that the extract given on the last page, contains the words upon which their accusations are founded; with what fairness, however, the reader may best judge, when he reads the following words from page 1742 of the First Edition of the Acts and Monuments. Faultes and oversightes escaped, and to be restored in the reading of this history,' &c. 'Page 626, lin. 46. a. Finmore, rede Marbeck; lin. 48. Marbecke rede Finmore; lin. 43, these five, rede four men; lin. 46. saving that Benet, rede, for Benet was not condemned.'-So that, in fact, the passage really reads thus: Upon these articles these four men were condemned to death by the statute of the six articles (whereof is spoken before), and adjudged to be burned; for Bennet was not condemned, and Marbecke escaped by the king's pardon: the other three, Peerson, Testwood, and Finmore, constantly and stoutly suffered martyrdom in the fire,' &c. The politic oversight of the papists is here remarkable, who could so acutely observe the error on page 626, but allow the contents of page 1742, entirely to escape their notice.-ED. VIIL 1539 to 1544. Damlip nal Pole at Rome. there to remain; although he was greatly requested by cardinal Pole, Henry there to continue, and to read three lectures in the week in his house, for which he offered him great entertainment, which he re- A.D. fused; and so, returning homeward, having a piece of money given him of the cardinal at his departure, to the value of a French crown, towards his charges, he came to Calais, as is aforesaid.' Who, as he was there waiting, without the gate, for passage into England, and requested being there perceived by certain Calais men, namely William Stevens by cardiand Thomas Lancaster, through conference of talk, to be a learned to tarry man, and also well affected; and moreover how that he, being of late a zealous papist, was now returned to a more perfect knowledge of true religion, was by them heartily entreated to stay at Calais a certain space, and to read and preach there a day or two, *therewith' to do the people to understand what he had found by his painful travelling to Rome; whereby they, who, through gross ignorance and vain superstition, had not altogether put out of their hearts that Antichrist of Rome, that ancient enemy of God and all godly religion, the pope, might the rather detest and abhor his filthy false doctrine, whereof this godly and learned man was a seeing witness.* To this request Adam gladly consented, so as he might be licensed by such as were in authority so to do. brought lord deputy of liked of puty and council of Calais. Whereupon the said Stevens, at the opening of the gates, brought Damlip him unto the lord Lisle, the king's deputy of the town and marches to the of Calais, unto whom he declared thoroughly what conference and talk had been between Adam Damlip and him. Which known, the said Calais. lord deputy instantly desired the said Damlip to stay there, and to preach three or four days or more at his pleasure, saying, that he should have both his license and the commissary's also, who then was sir John Butler, so to do. Where, after he had preached three or Well four times, he was so well liked, both for his learning, his utterance, the deand the truth of his doctrine, that not only the soldiers and commoners, but also the lord deputy, and a great part of the council, gave him marvellous great praise and thanks for it; and the said lord deputy offered unto him a chamber in his own house, to dine and sup every meal at his own mess, to have a man or two of his to wait upon him, and to have whatsoever it were that he lacked, if it were to be had for money, yea, and what he would in his purse to buy books or otherwise, so as he would tarry there among them, and preach only so long as it should seem good to himself. Who, refusing his lordship's great offer, most heartily thanked him for the same, and besought him to be only so good unto him as to appoint him some quiet and honest place in the town, where he might not be disturbed or molested, but have opportunity to give himself to his book, and he would daily, once in the forenoon, and again by one o'clock in the afternoon, by the grace of God, preach among them, according unto the talent that God had lent him. At which answer the lord deputy Damlip greatly rejoiced, and thereupon sent for the aforesaid William Stevens, ofStevens whom he earnestly required to receive and lodge the said Damlip in by the his house, promising, whatsoever he should demand, to see it paid puty's re with the most and, moreover, would send every meal, from his own (1) This French crown was dearly bought, for by the same he was impeached of treason. received lord de quest. |