The castles and abbeys of England; Vol. 2 of 2: from the national records, early chronicles, and other standard authorsBeattie, William
History
The castles and abbeys of England; Vol. 2 of 2: from the national records, early chronicles, and other standard authors
Beattie, William
Abbeys -- England; Castles -- England
Among the rest of these condemned images, there was “a crucifix in South
Wales, called by the common people <g>David-Darvel-Gatheren</g>, which,
according to an old legend or prophecy, was one day to fire a whole
_forest_. It happened at this time that there was one Forest, a friar,
who, after taking the oath of supremacy, repented of the deed, and
declared it unlawful; wherefore he was condemned as a relapsed traitor
and heretic. Hitherto King Henry, ‘Defender of the Faith,’ had burned
the Reformers, and hanged the Catholics; but on the present occasion, he
could not resist the temptation to make a point, or to figure as a
mighty engine of fate, and a fulfiller of prophecy.” “The miraculous
image was accordingly conveyed from Wales to Smithfield, to serve as
fuel with faggots and other materials; and there, on the twenty-second
of May, 1539, the monk was suspended by the armpits; underneath him was
made a fire of the image, wherewith he was slowly burned--and thus by
his death making good the prophecy that the image should fire a whole
_forest_. There was a pulpit erected near the stake, from which Hugh
Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, preached a sermon; and there was also a
scaffold in the centre for the accommodation of the Dukes of Norfolk and
Suffolk, the Lord Admiral Howard, the Lord Privy Seal, Cromwell, and
divers others of the council; together with Sir Richard Gresham, Lord
Mayor, and many citizens of repute, who stayed to witness the frightful
execution.”[147] By frequent spectacles like this, the minds of the
people were brutalized to a degree previously unknown in England.[148]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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