The Burning Time

by Virginia Rounding

  through life a very consistent character … J. L. Campbell, The Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of England, Vol. 2, John Murray, 1846, p. 9.

  ‘aggressive’ or ‘tough-minded’ J. F. Davis, ‘The Trials of Thomas Bylney and the English Reformation’, The Historical Journal 24 (4), 1981, p. 775.

  No one would trouble Luther … G. W. Bernard, The King’s Reformation: Henry VIII and the remaking of the English Church, Yale University Press, 2005, p. 238.

  little rigor and much mercy Thomas More, A Dialogue Concerning Heretics [1529], in The Complete Works of St Thomas More, ed. Thomas M. C. Lawler, Germain Marc’hadour and Richard C. Marius, Yale University Press, Vol. 6, Pt. 1, 1981, p. 416.

  when they be drunken down … Thomas More, The Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer [1532], in Complete Works of St Thomas More, ed. Louis A. Schuster et al., Yale University Press, Vol. 8, Pt. 1, 1973, p. 38.

  every heretic was related … C. W. D’Alton, ‘Charity or Fire? The Argument of Thomas More’s 1529 Dyalogue’, The Sixteenth Century Journal 33 (1), 2002, p. 58.

  At the heart of both faiths … Susan Brigden, London and the Reformation, Clarendon Press, 1989, p. 122.

  I find that breed of men … E. F. Rogers (ed.), St Thomas More: Selected Letters, Yale University Press, 1961, p. 180.

  it is not necessary … ‘Henry VIII: June 1530, 17–30’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4, 1524–1530, ed. J. S. Brewer (London, 1875), pp. 2902–21. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol4/pp2902-21 [accessed 19 June 2016].

  showed signs of not always … Andrew Hope, ‘Bayfield, Richard (d. 1531)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. http://www.oxforddnb.com.ezproxy2.londonlibrary.co.uk/view/article/1745 [accessed 19 June 2016].

  There was never a wretch … Preface to Thomas More’s Confutation to Tyndale’s Answer, in The English Works of Sir Thomas More, ed. Rastell/Campbell, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1931, p. 348.

  Please continue your goodness … ‘Henry VIII: May 1532, 16–31’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5, 1531–1532, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1880), pp. 470–87. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol5/pp470–87 [accessed 24 June 2016].

  gratifying his Royal Highness … See E. A. Webb, ‘The sixteenth century: Prior Robert Fuller’, in The Records of St. Bartholomew’s Priory and St. Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield: Volume 1 (Oxford, 1921), pp. 238–52. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/st-barts-records/vol1/pp238–52 [accessed 24 June 2016].

  so difficult to agree upon Ibid.

  not wishing further … Ibid.

  It seems to have been … E. A. Webb, ‘The sixteenth century: Prior Robert Fuller’, in The Records of St. Bartholomew’s Priory and St. Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield: Volume 1 (Oxford, 1921), pp. 238–52. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/st-barts-records/vol1/pp238–52 [accessed 24 June 2016].

  making, writing and enrolment … ‘Henry VIII: March 1532, 21–31’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5, 1531–1532, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1880), pp. 415–30. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol5/pp415–30 [accessed 7 June 2016].

  For we long dwelled … William Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas More, c. 1556, ed. Gerard B. Wesemer and Stephen W. Smith, Center for Thomas More Studies, 2003. http://www.thomasmorestudies.org/docs/Roper.pdf [accessed 24 June 2016].

  wealthy sinecure J. L. Campbell, The Lives of the Lord Chancellors, p. 11.

  woman sole ‘Henry VIII: January 1536, 16–20’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10, January–June 1536, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1887), pp. 38–47. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol10/pp38–47 [accessed 24 June 2016].

  the King cannot therefore … Ibid.

  whether the King … Ibid.

  dare not say Ibid.

  Henry might seize … Ibid.

  execute the King’s orders … Ibid.

  The houses … David Loades, Thomas Cromwell: Servant to Henry VIII, Amberley, 2013, p. 181.

  first care was to augment … J. L. Campbell, The Lives of the Lord Chancellors, p. 11.

  enjoyed by Thomas Ellys … ‘Henry VIII: May 1536, 26–31’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10, January–June 1536, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1887), pp. 402–20. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol10/pp402–420 [accessed 24 June 2016].

  a continual fire … W. C. Waller, ‘An Essex Alchemist’, The Essex Review 13, 1904, pp. 19–20.

  an insult … J. L. Campbell, The Lives of the Lord Chancellors, p. 11.

  See also:

  J. D. Alsop, ‘Blagge, Robert (d. 1522)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2010. http://www.oxforddnb.com.ezproxy2.londonlibrary.co.uk/view/article/2555 [accessed 24 June 2016].

  A. P. Baggs, Diane K. Bolton, Eileen P. Scarff and G. C. Tyack, A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5, Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton, Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham, ed. T. F. T. Baker and R. B. Pugh (London, 1976) British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol5 [accessed 24 June 2016].

  G. W. Bernard, The King’s Reformation, Yale University Press, 2005, p. 190.

  T. Cooper, The Last Generation of English Catholic Clergy: Parish Priests in the Diocese of Coventry and Lichfield in the Early Sixteenth Century, Boydell Press, 1999, p. 7.

  C. Harper-Bill, The Pre-Reformation Church in England 1400–1530, Longman, 1996, p. 79.

  History of Parliament Online, especially: http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/rich-richard-149697-1567.

  K. J. Kesselring, ‘A Draft of the 1531 “Acte for Poysoning”‘, The English Historical Review 116 (468), 2001, p. 894.

  J. F. McCue, ‘The Doctrine of Transubstantiation from Berengar through Trent: The Point at Issue’, The Harvard Theological Review 61 (3), 1968, p. 413.

  L. Miles, ‘Persecution and the Dialogue of Comfort: A Fresh Look at the Charges against Thomas More’, Journal of British Studies 5 (1), 1965, p. 21.

  C. Rawcliffe and S. Flower, ‘English Noblemen and Their Advisers: Consultation and Collaboration in the Later Middle Ages’, Journal of British Studies 25 (2), 1986, pp. 164–6.

  S. Wabuda, ‘Bishops and the Provision of Homilies, 1520 to 1547’, The Sixteenth Century Journal 25 (3), 1994, pp. 553–5.

  Two – FUEL FOR THE FIRE

  Most lamentably complaineth … Simon Fish, A Supplication for the Beggars, 1529. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32464/32464-h/32464-h.htm [accessed 5 May 2015].

  Abbots, Priors, Deacons … Ibid.

  ravenous wolves … Ibid.

  these greedy sort … Ibid.

  Every man and child … Ibid.

  translate[d] all rule … Ibid.

  a large oak frame … L. A. Parry, The History of Torture in England, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1933, pp. 76–7.

  ordered the rack … Church of England Tract Society, Some account of the Life and Martyrdom of James Bainham, of the Middle Temple, Esquire, who was burnt at Smithfield, London, April 30th, 1532 (Bristol, 1815), pp. 2–4.

  Given the source … See Thomas More, The Apology, ed. J. B. Trapp, The Complete Works of St. Thomas More 9, (Yale University Press, 1974) pp. 117–20.

  in the stocks … Some account of the Life and Martyrdom of James Bainham, pp. 10–11.

  chained to a post … Ibid.

  cruelly used Ibid.

  where he lay a fortnight … Ibid.

  the treasures of his shrine … ‘Henry VIII: August 1538, 16–20’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 13 Part 2, August–December 1538, ed. James Gai
rdner (London, 1893), pp. 37–57. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol13/no2/pp37–57 [accessed 14 June 2016].

  if he committed her … ‘Henry VIII: Appendix’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5, 1531–1532, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1880), pp. 763–77. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol5/pp763–77 [accessed 2 June 2016].

  Of the presence of Christ’s body … ‘Henry VIII: April 1533, 26–30’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6, 1533, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1882), pp. 177–93. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol6/pp177–93 [accessed 2 June 2016].

  good young Father Frith … More, Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer, ed. Schuster et al., p. 35.

  Although he lacks irons … ‘Henry VIII: October 1532, 21–25’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5, 1531–1532, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1880), pp. 615–19. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol5/pp605–19 [accessed 2 June 2016].

  The will of God … ‘Henry VIII: May 1533, 1–10’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6, 1533, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1882), pp. 193–211. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol6/pp193–211 [accessed 2 June 2016].

  See, you are not alone Ibid.

  Sir, your wife … Ibid.

  obstinate heretics ‘Henry VIII: July 1533, 1–10’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6, 1533, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1882), pp. 334–52. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol6/pp334–52 [accessed 2 June 2016].

  a very simple … E. Hall, Chronicle.

  one Doctor Cooke … E. Hall’s Chronicle.

  God, into whose hands … James Anthony Froude, History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the death of Elizabeth, Vol. 2, 1856 (reprinted by Nabu Press, 2011), p. 90.

  Item moreover … Common Council record of 13 May 1533, quoted in email to author from Howard Doble, Senior Archivist (City Records), London Metropolitan Archives.

  And if a man … Leviticus 20:21.

  The functional argument… David Loades, The Oxford Martyrs, B. T. Batsford, 1970, pp. 24–5.

  therefore ensured that … Tracy Borman, Thomas Cromwell: The untold story of Henry VIII’s most faithful servant, Hodder & Stoughton, 2014, p. 150.

  that they be the Church … The whole workes of W. Tyndall, John Frith, and Doct. Barnes, ed. J. Foxe (1572–3), p. 126.

  extended the definition … David Knowles, The Religious Orders in England, Volume III: The Tudor Age, Cambridge University Press, 1959, p. 230.

  was she not too familiar … See Knowles, The Religious Orders in England, p. 230.

  the first whole-hearted defence … Claire Cross, Church and People, 1450–1660: The Triumph of the Laity in the English Church, Harvester Press, 1976, p. 62.

  The powers that be … William Tyndale, The Obedience of a Christen man, and how Christen rulers ought to govern, wherein also (if thou mark diligently) thou shalt find eyes to percieve the crafty convience of all iugglers, 1528. http://www.godrules.net/library/tyndale/19tyndale7.htm [accessed 27 June 2016].

  Dost thou not see … Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas More.

  formulation and debate … Wilfrid R. Prest, 1972, The Inns of Court under Elizabeth I and the Early Stuarts 1590–1640, Longman, 1972, p. 116.

  Supposing that it were enacted … ‘Henry VIII: July 1535, 1–10’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 8, January–July 1535, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1885), pp. 379–402. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol8/pp379–402 [accessed 2 June 2016].

  I, as you know … R. S. Sylvester and D. P. Harding (eds), Two early Tudor lives, Yale University Press, 1962, pp. 245–6.

  denied the King’s supremacy … Harpsfield’s The Life and Death of Sir Thomas More, Knight, Sometymes Lord High Chancellor of England, Oxford University Press, 1963, p. 274.

  whosoever being once taught … C. Lloyd (ed.), Formularies of faith put forth by authority during the reign of Henry VIII, Oxford, 1825, p. 61.

  how the bishop of Rome’s … J. Block, ‘Thomas Cromwell’s Patronage of Preaching’, The Sixteenth Century Journal 8 (1), 1977, p. 38.

  I am not able … ‘Henry VIII: June 1532, 16–30’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5, 1531–1532, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1880), pp. 494–510. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol5/pp494–510 [accessed 2 June 2016].

  Father Forest, who neither loves … ‘Henry VIII: November 1532, 1–15’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5, 1531–1532, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1880), pp. 637–50. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol5/pp637–50 [accessed 2 June 2016].

  I think the chancellor … Ibid.

  Today or tomorrow … ‘Henry VIII: September 1532, 16–30’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5, 1531–1532, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1880), pp. 571–89. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol5/pp571–89 [accessed 6 June 2016].

  If he do come … ‘Henry VIII: November 1532, 16–30’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5, 1531–1532, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1880), pp. 650–69. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol5/pp650–69 [accessed 2 June 2016].

  It grieves me sore … ‘Henry VIII: February 1533, 1–5’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6, 1533, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1882), pp. 45–56. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol6/pp45–56 [accessed 10 June 2016].

  In my judgment … Ibid.

  I hear you have conceived … ‘Henry VIII: Miscellaneous, 1532’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5, 1531–1532, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1880), pp. 700–46. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol5/pp700–746 [accessed 2 June 2016].

  [Forest] says that he will … ‘Henry VIII: February 1533, 11–20’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6, 1533, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1882), pp. 68–79. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol6/pp68–79 [accessed 2 June 2016].

  I wish you to burn … Ibid.

  Since you first rebuked … Ibid.

  I have written my mind … ‘Henry VIII: April 1533, 11–20’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6, 1533, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1882), pp. 151–70. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol6/pp151–70 [accessed 2 June 2016].

  prosperous state, both spiritual and corporal ‘Henry VIII: February 1533, 1–5’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6, 1533, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1882), pp. 45–56. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol6/pp45–56 [accessed 10 June 2016].

  he took his oath … See G. W. Bernard, The King’s Reformation: Henry VIII and the remaking of the English Church, Yale University Press, 2005, p. 156.

  Broadly defined … Peter Marshall, ‘Papist As Heretic: The Burning of John Forest’, The Historical Journal 41 (2), 1998, p. 363.

  prisoner of the mass See www.turveybeds.com/mordaunts.html and www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/mordaunt-sir-john [accessed 14 June 2016].

  And as for the Bishop of Rome … B. Camm, Lives of the English Martyrs, declared Blessed by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 and 1895, Longmans, Green & Co., 1914, pp. 294–5; also A. Cuddon, Modern British Martyrology, 1838, i, pp. 103–4.

  Your Lordship spoke to me … ‘Henry VIII: April 1538, 26–30’, in
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 13 Part 1, January–July 1538, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1892), pp. 311–30. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol13/no1/pp311–30 [accessed 14 June 2016].

  might not lawfully … ‘Henry VIII: May 1538, 21–25’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 13 Part 1, January–July 1538, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1892), pp. 384–93. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol13/no1/pp384–93 [accessed 20 March 2016].

  To know the King’s pleasure … ‘Henry VIII: April 1538, 26–30’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 13 Part 1, January–July 1538, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1892), pp. 311–30. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol13/no1/pp311–30 [accessed 14 June 2016].

  by his outward man … ‘Henry VIII: May 1538, 21–25’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 13 Part 1, January–July 1538, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1892), pp. 384–93. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol13/no1/pp384–93 [accessed 20 March 2016].

  in a fair chamber … ‘Henry VIII: May 1538, 16–20’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 13 Part 1, January–July 1538, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1892), pp. 372–83. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol13/no1/pp372–83 [accessed 20 March 2016].

  Some think he is … Ibid.

  This year, the 12th day of May … Charles Wriothesley, A Chronicle of England during the reigns of the Tudors, from A.D.1485 to 1559, ed. W. D. Hamilton, Camden Society, Vol. 1, pp. 78–9.

  the place of execution … Wriothesley, Vol. 1, pp. 80–1.

  wish his pardon … ‘Henry VIII: May 1538, 16–20’, in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 13 Part 1, January–July 1538, ed. James Gairdner (London, 1892), pp. 372–83. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol13/no1/pp372–83 [accessed 20 March 2016].