-
3. Foxe and the Jouissance of Martyrology
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
t q chapter three oxe and the ouissance of artyrology An art that appeals to a mimetic fascination with the violence it represents frequently denies that appeal by monumentalizing the scene of violence. —Leo Bersani and Ulysse Dutoit, Caravaggio’s Secrets ohn foxe opens his narrative account of English martyrdom for the year 1552 by transporting his audience, rather in the style of Shakespeare’s Henry V, to the European continent: “Commyng now to the yeare next folowyng, 1552, we will somwhat steppe aside and borow a little leave, coastyng the Seas into Portyngale amongest the Popishe Marchauntes there” (1570, 1541; CT, 6:274).1 Foxe’s purpose is to recount “the history, no lesse lamentable then notable of William Gardiner an English man,” martyred “for the testimony of God’s truth” (1570, 1541; CT, 6:274). Like many of his fellow martyrs in the Acts and Monuments, Gardiner provokes the suffering he endures: attending mass in the presence of the king and his court, Gardiner seizes the sacrament from the cardinal’s hands and grinds it beneath his feet. Refusing to repent for his action, Gardiner is subjected to a series of ordeals. One form of torment involves forcing a linen ball “unto the bottome of his stomacke,” then pulling it up by means of an attached string and “pluckyng it to and fro through the meate pipe” (1570, 1543; CT, 6:280). This yo-yo-like action is repeated when Gardiner, both his hands now cut off, is taken to the place of execution and placed on a pulley: “Then was ther a great pile of t 86 q Fig. 1. “The order and maner of the cruell handlyng of William Gardiner, an Englishe Marchaunt, tormented and burned in Portugall in the cause of God and of hys truth.” From The First Volume of the Ecclesiasticall history. . . . (London: John Day, 1570), p. 1544. By permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library. [44.206.248.122] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 04:05 GMT) woode set on fire underneath him, into the which hee was by little and little let downe, not with the whole body, but so that his feete onely felt the fire. Then was he hoysted up, and so let downe agayne into the fyre, and thus oftentymes pulled uppe and downe” (1570, 1544; CT, 6:280). Gardiner remains faithful, refusing the exhortations to repent that are made “when hys feete were consumed.” Eventually, “the rope beyng burnt a sonder,” he falls into the flames and “the body of the sayd Gardiner [is] consumed ” (1570, 1544; CT, 6:280–81). Foxe reports that God took vengeance against Gardiner’s tormentors, and “yet for all that,” his story will not seem to die, for “there are some (as I have heard divers reporte) out of whose myndes the remembraunce of this constaunt Martyr can never be pulled” (1570, 1545; CT, 6:281). Converting the yo-yo action of Gardiner’s tormentors into a trope for mental retention and release, Foxe extends Gardiner’s suffering to readers, who will have “remembrance” agitatingly placed and “pulled” from their minds. Beyond lending formal patterning and coherence to his narrative, Foxe’s rhetorical extension of torment invites or enables readers’ involvement with the suffering martyr. The gagging ball and the pulley, ostensibly deployed to force Gardiner’s repentance, prolong his torment and frustrate a wish for the closure death would provide. In his presentation of this episode, Foxe rhetorically mimes the persecutors’ actions, so that readers drawn into this compact play martyrs to Foxe as tormentor. This reading economy, I suggest, should alert us to the peculiar dynamic behind the astonishing popularity and impact of the Acts and Monuments. A landmark text of Reformation England, the Acts and Monuments has defied interpreters’ attempts at generic classification. Strong arguments have been advanced for its inclusion within the fields of ecclesiastical history, nationalist politics, apocalyptic, and hagiography.2 Recently, it has been asserted that the Acts and Monuments can best be thought of as many works rather than a single coherent one: the four editions of the book published during Foxe’s lifetime (in 1563, 1570, 1576, and 1583) represent not only an accumulating mass of material but variations of emphasis and presentation.3 For instance , Tom Betteridge suggests a distinction between the prophetic (1563), apocalyptic (1570), and monumental (1583) versions.4 Enormously influential from the time of its first English publication in 1563 through the nineteenth century...