Brief Chronicle Concerning Examination and Death of John Oldcastle, Part 10 – Prophecies
☞The conclusyon.
An other cause of his deathBEsydes the cause rehersed afore in the preface / concernynge the dreadfull death of this most Christen knyght syr Iohan Olde castell the lorde Cobham / this is also rekened for one. In the ende of the fyrst boke / which he put vp into the Parlemēt how se agaynst the abusyons of the clergy… /Agaynst ye clergye. in the yeare of oure Lord… a. M.CCC. xcv. (which was also the .xviii. yeare of kynge Rycharde the seconde) were these .vi. verses wrytten as a brefe conclusyon sommarye of the vnyuersall cō tentes therof.
Plangunt Anglorum Gentes crimen Sodomorum.Verses in Latyne.
Paulus fert, horum sunt Idola causa malorum.
Surgunt ingrati, Giezite Symone nati,
Nomine prelati, hoc defensare parati.
Qui r…ges estis, populis quicun que preestis,
Qualiter … gestis gladios prohibere potestis?
A tyme of ignoraūceThough the verses be grosse and vnperfyght accordynge to the tyme than / wherin all freshe lytterature was clerelye extynguyshed / yet is the sentence of them lyuelye and of a freshe faythfull sprete / euen in the zele of Helias and Phinees for rebuke of synne. And thus are they in the Englyshe.
Bewayle maye Englande / the synne of Sodomytes.The verses are here Englyshed.
For Idolles and they / are grounde of all theyr wo.
Of Symon Magus / a secte of hypocrytes
Surnamed prelates / are vp with them to go.
And to vpholde them / in all that they maye do.
yow that be rewlers / peculyarlye selected.
How can ye suffre / soche myscheues vncorrected?
Vvhan this boke wolde not helpe towardes anye reformacyon / By nothynge will they amende.but was law hed to scorne of the Bysshoppes / than were these verses copyed out by dyuerse menne / & set vponupon theyr wyndowes / gates / and dores / which were than knowē for obstynate hypocrytes and fleshlye lyuers / which made ye prelates madde. And this is ye great insurreccyon that Vvalden complayneth of vntounto Pope Martyne the fyft / & after him Polydotus the Popes collectour / with other papistes more / wherin neuer a one manne was hurt.The insurreccyō complayned of. I wolde maruele moche more of the doublenesse of Thomas Vvalden beynge than the kynges confessour yf I ded not knowe the vnshamefast nature of that lyenge generacyon.Ad Martinum papā Et in prefatiōe. 4. libri cōtra Vvicleuistas. In his fyrst Epistle vntounto Pope Martyue / & in the fyrst Preface of his fourth boke contra Vvicleuistas / he sayth that syr Iohan Olde castell with a great nombre of heretyques conspyred agaynst kynge Henrye the fyft in the fyrst yeare of his regne / & that he offered him for euerye monke / chanon / fryre / and Popyshe Prestes head within his realme / a golde noble. And cleane contrarye vntounto this / he testyfyeth in his boke called Fasciculus zizaniorum Vvicleui / Fasciculꝰ zizaniorū Vvicleui.that he was the same selfe tyme / yeare / monethmonth / weke / and daye a presoner within the Tower of London. How wele these two wrytynges agre / I report me.
But thus commonlye are innocent menne lyed vponupon amonge these blasphemouse bessygoddes.Lyars. But he that is essencyallye true of himselfe / Iohan. 8.hath promysed at one tyme or other to clere his true seruaunt / not by lyes and fables / but by his owne pure worde. No secrete (sayth he) is so close / but ones shall be opened / neyther is anye thynge so hydde / that shall not at the last be knowen clerelye.Mat. 10. Luc. 12. Thus hath syr Iohan Oldecastell a tryumphaūt victorye ouer his enemyes by the veryte which he defended / Cobham ouercometh.all cō trarye to the blynde worldes expectacyon / & they hauehave a fowle ouerthrowe beynge proued manyfest murtherers / blynde beastes / hypocrytes / & lyars by the same.Psal. 33. Luc. 1. Soche a swete Lorde is God alwayes to those that be his true seruaū tes / blessed be his holye name therfore. Conferre the causes of this godlye mā nys death with the poyntes that Thomas Becket dyed for and other Popishe martyrs besydes / & ye shall fynde them farre dyfferent and vnlyke.Stephanꝰ Langtō in vita Thome li. 3. ca. 19. Thomas Becket was slayne at Caunterburye / in his Prelates aparell / in the head churche / before the hygh aultre / amonge relygyouse Monkes and Prestes / and in the holye tyme of Christmas / by his owne sekynge. And all this is gloryouse vntounto worldlye iudgementes.
Syr Iohan Oldecastell was brent in cheanes / Vvalden. Io. maior Fabianꝰ.at London in saynct Gyles felde / vndre the galowes / amonge the saye people / & vponupon the prophane workynge daye / at the Bysshoppes procurement. And all this is vngloryouse / yea & verye despyscable vntounto those worldlye eyes / what though Iesus Christ his mastre afore him were handeled after a verye lyke sort.Iesus Christ. For he was crucyfyed at Hierusalem / without the cyte & without the holye synagoge / a cursed out of churche / Heb. 1…. Iohan. 9.amonge the prophane multytude / in the myddest of theues / in ye place where as theues were cōmonlye hanged / Mat. 27. Ioha. …9. Act. 3.and not vponupon the feastfull daye but afore yt / by the Bysshoppes procuremēt also. Now let vsus consydre the causes of both theyr deathes / & trye them both by the manyfest scripturs of the Gospell / which of them shuld seme most to the glorye of menne.Herybertus Hoscham in vita Thome. Thomas Becket dyed vponupon his owne sekynge onlye / for maynteynynge the wanton lybertees and superfluouse possessyons of the Romyshe churche here within Englande / which are both forbydden of Christ and also condemned by the same scripturs. He that forsaketh not all that he hath / Luc. 14.(sayth he) can not be my disciple. And whan a contencyon befell amonge the Apostles for the superyoryte / Luc. 23. 1. Pet. 5.he sayd also vntounto them. The kynges of the worlde hauehave the worldes domynyon with all pompe and rytches belongynge to the same. But yow shall not so
Syr Iohan Oldecastell dyed at the importune sute of the clergye / Vvherfore the forde Cobhā dyed.for callynge vponupon a Christen reformacyon in that Romyshe churche of theyrs / & for manfullye standynge by the faythfull testymonyes of Iesu / as all the afore seyd processe declareth. And this is both allowed in the Gospell / and also requyred of euerye Christen beleuer. He that confesseth me / and my worde before menne (sayth Christ) him will I confesse for myne before my eternall father.Mat. 10. Mar. 8. …uc. 9. Luc. 12. And he that shall denye me & my veryte before menne / him will I also denye for myne before my euerlastynge father which is in heauen.
Thomas Becket in the tyme of his death cōmended himselfe to the patrones of his churche (which were two gylded ymages of saynct Sauer and saynct Marye) & the cause of his churche vntounto saynct Denys / Ben…dic▪ de Burgo Petri. Ioannes capgraue. Stephanꝰ Langton. li. 3. ca. 18.& had no more but his Prestes crowne cut of (which is the Popes lyuerye marke) euen by the verye shauynge as his storye mencyoneth.
Syr Iohan Oldecastell in the tyme of his death cōmended his sowle with Dauid / Christ / & Steuen into the handes of God the eternall father / and his cause to the ryght…ull iudgement of his sonne Iesus Christ / How the lorde Cobham ham dyedwith desyre of mercyfull forgeuenesse cōcernynge his enemyes / as became a faythfull Christyane / & had his whole bodye consumed in the fyre. Now plucke from youre eyes the corrupted spectacles of carnall or popyshe iudgementes / & do vponupon them that clere syght which ye hauehave by the sprete of Christ.No popisshe martyr is Cobham. And that faythfullye done / tell me which of these two semeth rather to be the martyr of Christ / and which the Popes martyr? The wayes of God (sayth Esaye) are not ye wayes of menne.Esa. 55. But so farre as the heauens are aboue the vyle earth / so farre do his iudgementes excede theyrs.Luc. 16. That wc semeth hygh and gloryouse vntounto menne (sayth Christ) is verye abhominacyon afore God. By this maye ye se that the precyouse spowse or immaculate churche of Christ / is no gorgyouslye paynted gentyll woman nor gloryouse glytterynge madane / Psal. 44.but all hydden and vnknowen to the worldlye infydels which dysdayneth to seke her in the scripturs.
Nothynge is precyouse vntounto them / that shyneth not vntounto the eye. A most fyt membre for Christes mystycall bodye / is he that suffreth with the head therof.Vvho is a ryght mē lye of Christ. As this good syr Iohan Oldecastell ded / whan he was with Christ examyned of the proude Bysshoppes / scorned of the Prestes / The tyrā nye of bisshops and prestes.dysdayned of the worlde / yll reported / mocked / hated / re…yled / acursed / and so commytted vntounto the laye iudgemēt to be condemned by them vntounto most shamefull and cruell deathe. yea / so extremely malycyouse was that spyghtfull spiritualte agaynst him / that they wolde not suffre his bodye to be buryed in theyr great cyte or holye Churche (which is spirituallye called Sodoma and Egyptus) to make the prophecye of saynct Iohans Apocalyps trulye to be verefyed vponupon him / Apoc. 11.& to proue him Christes membre all togyther. They both resolued his bodye into ashes / & also made the ryuer to carrye them awaye / lyke as they ded also with the bones of Iohan Vvycleue / De sacramentalibꝰ ca. 09. (1137 Fasciculꝰ zizantorūleast anye thynge therof shulde remayne / bycause they wolde also shewe them selues lyke in tyrānye to Iulianus apostata that so vsed the bodye of holye Iohan Baptist afore them. I shuld make a comparyson betwixt this blessyd martyr of Christ syr Iohan Oldecastell / and Peter of Myllayne with other of the Popes martyrs / The Popes martyrs.which dyed for the Popes power / pardone / pylgrymages / eare confessyon / and other popyshe matters more establysshed in the generall counsell of laterane / but yt wolde axe to moche tyme.
And as concernynge the kynde of his cōtemtuouse death or martyrdome. More vyle was not his hangynge vndre ye galowes in an yron cheane / than was the hangynge of his lorde Iesus Christ vponupon the crosse in the tyme of his death. Nor than was the hangynge of Peter / Iohā. 19. Petrus Equilinꝰ Ioannes textor.Andrew / and Phylyp his holye Apostles / Bysshop Symeon / Dorotheus / Gorgonius / Alexander / Epipodius / Claudius / Asterius / Menon / Nemesius / Nestor / Agricola / Iulia / zoc the wyfe of Nicostratus with manye other holye martyr … more. More odyouse was not his burnynge in the fyre / Brēt was he with Christes martyre.than was the cruell burnynge of Barnabas the Apostle / Polycarpus ye good Bysshop of Smyrna / Amancius / Agathon / Tyburciu… / Getulius / Symphronins / Sosthenes / Victor / Dioscorus / Eulogius / Fructuosus / Castus / Aemilius / Fideneius / Hero / …yreneus / Aphra / Hyplaria / Apolonia / Anastasia / & manye hondrethes more.Psal. 21. Amos. 4. Vvhan this stronge wytnesse of the lorde was amō ge the fatte bulles of Basan / and most cruellye assaulted of them / he was throughlye assertayned in his conscience for that conflyct of fayth / to tast his eternall goodnesse in the lastynge lande of the lyuynge.Iohā. 12. Psal. 26.
yea / soche tyme as he was reproued of his enemyes and forsaken of his fryndes / Psal. 30.in maner of a broken vessell / he toke a stronge stomacke vntounto him as ded the myghtye Machadees / and thought thus in this mynde.2. Mach 7 That though those vngracyouse tyrauntes shulde put him vntounto death / yet wolde the eternall kynge (which is both resurreccyon and lyfe) rayse him vp agayne in the resurreccyon of lyfe euerlastynge / amonge them that hath dyed for his pure lawes.Iohā. 11. Iohā. 6. Apoc. 20. All redye hath he raysed his fame (which laye longe dead) by the lyuynge sprete of his Gospell / for that he was a mynystre therof.The Gospell vnsaynteth Becket. VvhichWhich is a most euydent token that he will here after with his other mystycall members / rayse him vp in perfyght glorye. Vvhan the Gospell laye dead / gloryouse Thomas Becket was a saynct / & Iohan Oldecastell a forgotten heretyque. But now that the lyght therof shyneth / we are lyke to se yt farre otherwyse. For proude Becket hath alredye hydden his face / and poore Oldecastell begynneth now to apere verye notable.The Gospell canon…seth Cobhā. Not all vnryghtlye ded saynct Augustyn speake yt and other olde doctours besydes that manye were worshypped here in earth for saynctes / whose wretched sowles are greuouslye crucyate in hell.
Soche tyme as oure most worthye souerayne kynge Henrye the .viii. now lyuyng / after the most godlye example of kynge Iosias vysyted the temples of his realme / 4. Reg. 23.2. ….he perseyued the synnefull shryne of this Becket to be vntounto his people a most pernycyouse euyll / and therfore in the worde of the lorde he vtterlye amonge other destroyed yt.Prestes suffered vponupon amendement. If he had vponupon that and soche other abhomynable shrynes brent those ydolatrouse prestes which were (& are yet) theyr chefe maynteners / he had fulfylled that godlye historye through out. But that which was not than perfourmed in hope of theyr amendement / maye by chaū ce lyght vponupon them herafter / whan no gentyll warnynge will seme to be regarded. I doubt yt not at all / but his / most noble dyscressyon perseyueth moche more that wycked generacyon of the Popes norryshynge vp / They daū ce but in a net.which alwayes hath maynteyned (and yet do) soche manyfest errours / than he euer in his lyfe yet vttered.The lorde conserue his grace. The eternall father rewarde his grace for that clere lyght of helthe which we poore creaturs hauehave receyued at his onlye hande vndre God / though yt be not all without the greuouse ponnyshment of oure bodyes. By the processe which we hauehave afore here vttered of syr Iohan Oldecastell / ye maye euydentlye se / that great is the treasure which the Lorde hath layed vp for the behoue of thē that hath trusted in him.Psal. 30. … 4. Sap…. 5. Vvherwith now he maketh dūme / the lyenge lyppes of them that dysdaynouslye reported the ryghtuouse / to the honour and prayse of his most gloryouse name. AMEN.
☞Thus endeth the brefe chronycle cōcernynge the Examynacyon & death of ye blessed martyr of Christ syr Iohan Oldecastell the lorde Cobham / not canonysed of the Pope / but in the precyouse bloude of his Lorde Iesus Christ. Collected by Iohan Bale / and imprynted anno Domini. 1544. &. vi. die Augusti.
☞Prophecyes of Ioachim Abbas.
IN the latter dayes shall apere a lawe of lyberte. The Gospell of the kyngedome of Christ shall be taught / and the churche shall be pourged as wheate is from chaffe and tares
More clerelye shall menne than be lerned. The kyngedome of the fleshe shall be done awaye / and these thynges shall be fulfylled towarde the ende of the worlde.
The holye ghost shall more perfyghtlye exercyse his domynyon in conuertynge peoples by the preachers of the la…ter tyme / than by the Apostles.
The churche of Rome is the fleshlye synagoge of sathan.
The churche of Rome shall be destroyed in the thyrde state / as the synagoge of the Iewes was destroyed in the seconde state. And a spirituall churche shall from thens forth succede / to the ende of the worlde.
The departynge of the Grekes from the churche of Rome / was godlye. For yt was ordayned of God / and wrought by the holye ghost.
☞ Ex compendiario Guidonis Perpiniani / de heresibus.
End of the text · John Bale, Brief Chronicle Concerning Examination and Death of John Oldcastle (1544)