John Foxe and ‘The Story of Richard Hun, Martyr’
In a very real sense the case of Richard Hunne is far from over. Ever since Hunne was found dead in his cell on the morning of Monday 4 Decembern 1514 – hanging from a staple by his own girdle – the issue of why he died and who was responsible has been the object of furious controversy among polemic...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
1986
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| In: |
The journal of ecclesiastical history
Year: 1986, Volume: 37, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-14 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In a very real sense the case of Richard Hunne is far from over. Ever since Hunne was found dead in his cell on the morning of Monday 4 Decembern 1514 – hanging from a staple by his own girdle – the issue of why he died and who was responsible has been the object of furious controversy among polemicists and historians alike. Many explanations have been put forward – some convincing, others merely ingenious – and all, in one sense or another, plausible. An equally interesting facet is the controversy that surrounds the account of the case. It is to this often neglected aspect of the affair – in particular in relation to The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe – that this paper is principally directed. ‘The Story of Richard Hun’ ofers the student of Foxe remarkable scope for exploration. Here we see Foxe not only as archivist – but for his zeal various documents, such as the transcripts of Hunne's interrogation and trial for heresy, would almost certainly not have survived – but also as a commentator in his own right. Over a third of the martyrologist's account – an unprecedented amount incidentally, in Foxe's treatment of the Henrician period – was devoted to developing his own line of thought while, at the same time, he attempted to work out for himself and his reader the peculiar inconsistencies that governed the course of Hunne's life and death. The question then arises, how reliable is Foxe on Richard Hunne. Did he faithfully report the facts of the case or are there signs that he might have been biased? Clearly the first consideration when answering this question must be to ascertain the exact circumstances of Hunne's interrogation and trial and the events leading up to his death: what happened to Richard Hunne in the Lollard's Tower and why? |
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| ISSN: | 1469-7637 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of ecclesiastical history
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0022046900031882 |