putting on a regal chain than an instrument of death,
such was the alacrity manifested in his countenance.
O Blessed man ! truly worth}^ of the fullest
confidence of thee, O my country ! "
R. S. .
Authorities. — M. Chauncy : Historia aliquot liujus sceciili
Martyrum, fol. 8.
Third Report of Deputy Keeper of t'lie Records, App. ii. p. 237.
Myroiire of oure Ladye, published by Early English Text
Society, Edit. J. H. Blunt (1873), § 2, History of Syon, pp. xiii.
— xix.
IV.
BLESSED HUMPHREY MIDDLEMORE,
BLESSED WILLIAM EXMEW, AND
BLESSED SEBASTIAN NEWDIGATE,
CARTHUSIANS.
Tybiini, 19 June, 1535.
It was evidentl}- hoped that the death of the
Blessed John Houghton and his companions would
strike terror into the rest of the community, and
the men in authority were determined to lose no
time in taking advantage of the supposed impres-
sion. One of the quarters of the holy Prior with
an arm attached was fixed over the gate of the
monastery directly after the execution.^ And before
the day had closed one of the Commissaries, Thomas
Bedyll, Archdeacon of Cornwall, arrived armed with
books and treatises and plied the Vicar and Procura-
tor, Dom Middlemore and Dom Exmew, for more
than an hour and an half with arguments " against
the primacy of the Bishop of Rome and also of
St. Peter." He departed at length, but left with
' Two days after this holy relic fell to the ground as two of the
monks met from opposite directions under the gateway. No one else
being present they took it away and concealed it, together with his
blood-stained hair-shirt, in the hope of sending it abroad.
38 BB. HUMPHREY MfDDLEMORE, WILLIAM EXMEW,
them the books which he had brought with him.
He has recorded the visit himself in a letter written
two days later to Cromwell, and we have also his
testimony to the result. " Yesterday [that is the
day after the visit] they sent me the said books and
annotations again home to my house by a servant
of theirs, without any word or writing. Wherefore
I sent to the Procurator to come and speak with
me, seeing I kept my bed by reason of sickness and
could not come to him. And at his coming I
demanded of him whether he and the Vicar and
other of the seniors had seen or heard the said
annotations or perused the titles of the books making
most for the said matters. And he answered that
the Vicar and he and Newdigate had spent the time
upon them till nine or ten of the clock at night, and
that they saw nothing in them whereby they were
moved to alter their opinion. I then declared to him
the danger of his opinion, which was like to be the
destruction of them and their house for ever; and
so far as I could perceive by my communication with
the Vicar and Procurator on Tuesday and with the
Procurator yesterday, they be obstinately determined
to suffer all extremities rather than to alter their
opinion, regarding no more the death of their
Father in word or countenance, than he were living
and conversant among them."^
If reports which reached foreign countries were
correct, no less a person than the King himself tried
' This letter, of which the original is in the British Museum
(MSS. Cotton, Cleop. E. iv. 252), is printed in Wright's Suppression
of the Monasteries, Letter xiv.
AND SEBASTIAN NEWDIGATE
39
his hand at overcoming the constancy of the poor
Carthusians. The Bishop of Faenza^ in a letter of
the 6th of June, says, "The King (of France) told
him, and the Imperial Ambassador showed him a
letter to the same effect, that the King of England
went disguised to the Charterhouse, of which they
have treated some members so badly, and urged
them with man\' reasons to take him for head of the
Church, and not the Pope. To which they replied
unanimously, that he might do with their persons
what he would, but they would never consent to
what they considered unjust."-
They knew, no doubt, very well what the issue
would be. The policy of blood was fairly inaugurated
and they were not likely to be spared. The three
monks, accordingly, whom Bedyll had unsuccess-
fully endeavoured to convince, were marked out as
the next victims. Dom Humphrey Middlemore
we have met with as Blessed John Houghton's
companion in the Tower, in 1534. He was then
Procurator, but had become Vicar, or Sub-Prior,
perhaps on the holy Prior's second imprisonment.
He was succeeded as Procurator by Dom Williani
I'lxmew, a religious }'oung indeed in years, but of
great perfection and especially of extraordinary
humilit}'. When he was Procurator he used to
retire from choir at the end of the Second
Xocturn of Matins, as the rule permitted, full
of cfjufusion and in the sincere conviction tliat
' Mgr. Kidolfo ri(j, Xnnciij at I'uris, afterwards created Cardinal
by Paul III.
- Letters ami I'upeis, vol. \iii. n. .Sjy.
4o BB. HUMPHREY MlbDLEMORE, WILUAM EXMEW,
he was unworthy to stay in the company of his
brethren, to sing the praises of God, and that
it was for this reason he had been chosen to the
office of Judas, as he called it. Dom Sebastian
Newdigate, who was of good family and had been
brought up in the King's household, was also a
religious of great virtue. Three weeks after the
martyrdom of Dom Houghton, these three religious
were seized and committed to "a most filthy
prison." This was the Marshalsea in Southwark,
but they were afterwards transferred to the Tower.
Cromwell had not yet given up all hope of breaking
down their constancy. Nothing but this hope can
explain the inhuman cruelty with which they were
treated during their imprisonment. From their
apprehension on May the 25th, to their trial on
June the 12th, a span of more than a fortnight
elapsed. During this interval, Chauncy says, that
for a whole fortnight they were tightly fastened by
iron chains round their necks and legs to posts or
columns of the building, never being released for any
necessity, and of course unable to sit or lie down or
obtain any rest.^
^ This story would have been hard to believe on less trustworthy
testimony than that of Chauncy. In fact, however, Chauncy is
corroborated by several witnesses, (i) There is a relation in the
British Museum substantially agreeing with him, but with differences
of detail which indicate an independent source. It gives the length
of time as 13 days, and says the monks were " chained from their
necks and their arms, and their legs fettered with locks and chains."
See Letters and Papers, vol. viii. n. 895 ; it is stated to be " in a hand
of that period." (2) Another relation, Arundel MS. n. 152, gives the
length of time as 16 days, and adds that no food except bread was
given to the sufferers. (3) A letter written during the very time, on
AMD SEBASTIAN NEWDIGATE 4t
On Friday, " next after the quinzaine of Holy
Trinity," i.e., 12th of June, the hoh^ confessors were
brought to their trial at Westminster, by Sir Edmund
Walsingharn, Deput}- Constable of the Tower. The
indictment, still extant,^ sets forth as their offence,
that each of them did, at Stepney, on May the 25th,
say to several of the King's true subjects, " I cannot
nor will consent to be obedient to the King's
highness as a true, lawful, and obedient subject, to
take and repute him to be supreme head in earth of
the Church of England under Christ." Every means
had been used to overcome the confessors of the
Faith. Their disobedience to the statute was
unquestionable, and a verdict was returned accord-
ingly. A significant sentence follows in the Record
of the sessions. " The prisoners have no lands,
goods, or chattels." On their condemnation they
made but one request, that they might have the
consolation of receiving Holy Communion before
their death. "But, as Judge Spelman writ, 'the
court would not grant it, since that was never done
in such cases but by order of the King.' "'-^ A week
later, Friday, the igth of June, their martyrdom
took place at Tyburn, with the same barbarities
June Sth, by the Nuncio at Paris, is still extant, an abstract of which
is given in Letters and Papers, vol. viii. n. 846. The writer " hears that
the Carthusians whom the King himself tried to persuade to
recognize him as head of the Church, are in prison with chains
round their necks and will certainly be put to death, but perhaps
not so publicly, for fear of the displeasure of the people, which was
shown at the death of the others."
^ It is to be found in the Baf;a dc Sccretis.
- Burnet, Hist. Rcf. i. 706. Edit. 1829.
42 BB. HUMPHREY MIDDLEMORE, WILLIAM EXMEW,
which have been described in that of the three
Priors, and thus, after an interval of six weeks and
three days, they were reunited to their glorious
Father,
E.S. K.
A few more details as to these martyrs may here
be added. Dom Sebastian Newdigate was the
son of John Newdigate, Esquire, King's Sergeant
and lord of the manor of Harefield, in Middlesex,
whose tomb may still be seen in Harefield Church.
It is an altar-tomb with a brass representing the
Sergeant in coif, gown and hood, his wife, Amphelys
Nevill, and their seventeen children. Harefield
Place, the martyr's home, stood a little to the north
of the church, but few traces of it remain. Sebastian
was educated at Cambridge, and later on became a
great favourite at Court. He was admitted a Privy
Councillor. He married early and had one daughter,
whom he named Amphelys, after his mother.
She subsequently married a certain John Braeme.
Of his brothers and sisters, John, the eldest, is also
buried at Harefield. Silvester and Dunstan became
Knights Hospitallers ; George, a monk at Chertsey ;
Mary, a nun at Syon ; Sybil, Prioress of Holywell,
London ; and jane married Sir Robert Dormer,
Knight, of Wenge, county Bucks.
In the Life of Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria,
the grand-daughter of Jane, the martyr's sister, we
find some interesting details as to Sebastian. After
his wife's early death, he lived on at the Court until
the King began to take to evil ways. This alarmed
AND SEBASTIAN NEW DIG ATE 43
Lady Dormer, who cautioned her brother as to the
dangers of the corruption of the Court. He defended
the King, but presently said, " Sister, what shall
you say if the next news you hear of me shall be
that I am entered to be a monk in the Charter-
house ? " " A monk ! " she said ; " I should be less
surprised to see thee hanged ! " She lived to see
both happen.
When Sebastian found that his sister's fears as
to the King's evil designs were indeed too well-
founded, he retired to the Charterhouse. This
seems to have been about 1524. His sister thinking
it was a mere freak of which he would soon weary,
uent up to London and advised the Prior not to
admit him, for it was most unlikely he would
persevere. But the Prior assured her that he gave
every promise of becoming an excellent religious,
whereupon she praised God, and indeed, on seeing
her brother she could not restrain her tears, so
greatly was he changed. In a very short time
the former gay courtier made rapid strides in per-
fection and became a model of religious observance.
The King visited Blessed Sebastian both in the
Marshalsea and in the Tower, and did all he
could first by mild speeches and fair promises, and
then by menaces and injurious words to make him
yield to his will. The martyr, quite unmoved by
the King's furious harangue, calmly replied: "When
in Court I served your Majesty I did it loyally and
faithfull}', and so continue still your humble servant,
although kept in this prison and bonds. But in
matters that belong to the I^iitli and glor}- of our
44 BB. HUMPHREY MIDDLEMORE, WILLIAM EXMEW,
Lord Jesus Christ, to the doctrine of the CathoHc
Church, and the salvation of my poor soul, your
Majesty must be pleased to excuse me." The King
replied : " Art thou wiser and holier than all the
ecclesiastics and seculars of my kingdom ? " He
answered : " I may not judge of others, nor do I
esteem myself either wise or holy, being far short in
either ; onl}- this I assure myself that the faith and
doctrine I profess is no new thing, nor now
invented, but always among the faithful held for
Christian and Catholic. We must obey God rather
than man."'
Blessed Humphrey iNliddlemore was of a
ver}' ancient Warwickshire family which had its
head-quarters at Edgbaston, near Birmingham. The
Middlemores acquired Edgbaston by marriage with
the heiress of Sir Henry Edgbaston. The family
still flourishes in the neighbourhood, and has
recently brought out a very handsome and complete
family history. Erom this we glean the following
details as to the martyr.
Blessed Humphrey Middlemore is supposed to
have been the son of Richard Middlemore, of
Edgbaston, Esquire; described in his will as "lord
of Eggebaston." He held the manor of Studley
and a messuage in Solihull. His will dated
28 November, 1502, was proved 14 March, 1503.
He desires to be buried in the Churchyard of
St. Bartholomew of Eggebaston. He left money
to that church, to Lichfield Cathedral, the guild
' For further details see my Life of Blessed Sebastian Newdigate
(1901).
AND SEBASTIAN NEWDIGATE 45
of the Holy Cross of Birmingham, and that
of St. John of Deritend. His wife Margery
was daughter of Sir Thomas Throckmorton, of
Coughton, near Stiidley, After her husband's
death she took a solemn vow of chastity with the
approval of the Bishop of Lichfield. ^
She was henceforth by the Bishop's command,
" to be veiled or clad in a cloak, and to be given the
habit of widowhood usual to be assigned to widows
of this class at the profession of chastity together
with one ring only."
Her will was proved 6 February, 1530.
Of their children we know for certainty only
Thomas their heir, and Anne Willington, but most
probably William Middlemore, rector of Birding-
bury, and Blessed Humphrey are also to be ascribed
to them. " In no other line of Middlemore does it
seem possible to place the martyr, while it is
interesting to note that the name of Humphrey was
perpetuated by the Edgbaston Middlemores in
the person of Humphrey Middlemore, who was
born about 1560, less than thirty years after
the mart3Tdom of his namesake, and also in
the succeeding generation. It is likely that the
Middlemores of Edgbaston, so deeply attached
as they were to the Roman obedience, would thus
commemorate the martyrdom of the Proctor of the
Charterhouse."-
^ Dugdale's Warnnckshire, p. 654.
- Some account of the Family of Middlemore of Warwickshire and
Worcestershire. By W. I'. W. Phillimore, M.A., B.C.L. (London).
Printed for private circulation, igoi, pp.29 and 35. Gillow, however,
^6 BB. H.MIDDLEMORE, W.EXMEW.AND S.NEWDIGATE
The Recusant Rolls of a later date indicate how
they suffered in their possessions for their steadfast
adherence to their religion. Curiously enough, one
branch of the family settled at Stepney, whither
Cromwell had summoned Blessed Humphrey and
his companions, and where the offence which
brought them to their deaths was said to have
been committed. " Perhaps this early association
of the Blessed Humphrey Middlemore and the
later association of his kinsmen with the place may
not be unconnected."^
Ed.
{Dictionary of English Catholics, vol. v. p. 7), says that Blessed
Humphrey was the son of Thomas Middlemore of Edgbaston, by
Ann, daughter of Richard Lyttleton, of Pillerton Hall, Stafford-
shire, ancestor of the Barons Hatherton.
^ Phillimore, p. 264.
V.
THE BLESSED JOHN FISHER,
BISHOP OF ROCHESTER, AND CARDINAL.
Tower Hill, 22 June, 1535.
The Blessed John Fisher was born at Beverley, in
Yorkshire, and was the son of Robert and Agnes
Fisher, who were mercers in that town. They had
four children, of \\hom John was apparentl}- the
youngest, and about seven years old when his father
died. His birth has usually been placed in the
year 1459, but it was probably ten years later. ^
He received his early education in his nati\e
town, where there was a grammar school connected
with the collegiate Church of St. John, and in 1483
was sent to Cambridge. At the University he was
placed under the care of William de Melton, fellow
of Michael House, a College which occupied part
of the site of the present Trinit}-, and was after-
wards absorbed in that great foundation.
In more than one place of his writings Fisher
^ See Van Ortroy, p. 82, note. His father's will is printed
Lewis-Turner, Life of John Fisher, though it is wrongly dated. (The
real date is 1477.) The error is corrected in the body of the work,
vol. i. p. 3. The will has been preserved for us by Thomas Baker,
and can be seen in the British Museum. [HarL 7030.)
BLESSED JOHN FISHER
speaks in terms of praise of his first master at
College, calling him a holy and learned man, and
expressing his obligations to him.
The future martyr took his Bachelor's degree in
1487, and that of Master in 1491, and was soon
afterwards elected fellow of his College, and in
due time promoted to the priesthood, on that title. ^
He continued to devote himself to the acquisition
of learning, as the proper pursuit of his life at that
time, and great was the reputation and influence
he gained.
In 1494 he was chosen senior proctor, and three
years later, when his master, Melton, was appointed
Chancellor of York, he succeeded him as Master of
Michael House. In 1501 he took the degree of
Doctor in Divinit}', and very shortly afterwards
became Vice-Chancellor of the University.
While he was proctor, business of the Universit}-
in 1495 had obliged him to visit the Court at
Greenwich, on which occasion, as he has recorded
with his own hand in the proctor's book, he was
presented to the illustrious and most pious Margaret
Countess of Richmond, the mother of King Henry
Vn. This event led to a change in the hitherto
studious course of his life. The Countess soon
afterwards chose him for her own chaplain and
confessor, in place of a former one, who was nomi-
nated to a bishopric.'^
1 " On 17 Dec, 1491, Mr. John Fisher of Michael House was
ordained priest, his College giving him his title." (Reg. Rotherham,
York Minster Registers), cf. Testainenta Eboraccnsia, vol. iii. p. 228,
note. Surtees Society, 1S64,
- Probably in 1500.
BLESSED JOHN FISHER 49
Doctor Fisher was held in the greatest reverence
by this holy princess, who though much older than
he, treated him with the respect of a daughter, and
when her husband died made a public vow of
chastity into his hands, and to that added a vow
of obedience " to the intent that her works might
be more acceptable and of greater merit in the
sight of God."
We can barely notice the princely foundations
which this great lady made with the counsel of
Fisher. The first was the endowment of reader-
ships of Theology in the two Universities, the first
person to hold that in Cambridge being Fisher
himself, who undertook the onerous duties which
were originally attached to this office.
But a greater work than this was the foundation
of Christ's College, Cambridge, Before putting
herself under the direction of Fisher, it had been
the intention of the Countess to found a magnificent
chantry for herself and her son in the Abbey
Church of Westminster ; but the servant of God
easily persuaded her that it would be more to His
honour to promote the advancement of religion and
learning by the foundation of a College.
It was thus that Christ's College in Cambridge
was founded ; ^ but while this work was in progress
a great change took place in the career of Fisher
himself. The conscience of Henry VH. had become
uneasy, by reason of various nominations to bishop-
rics which he had made, and in general of his
^ The royal license to found is dated May ist, 1505. The
College still stands as Fisher built it.
50 BLESSED JOHN FISHER
distribution of Church patronage, in which he felt
that he had too often been influenced by motives
of worldly policy, and he had come to a resolution
henceforth to reform his conduct in this important
respect.
The King had been much impressed by \N'hat he
had seen and heard of Fisher, and was convinced
that he could not better begin his new course than
by presenting him to the vacant see of Rochester.^
This he did without solicitation or recommendation
from any one, and the servant of God would gladly
have declined to take upon himself the heavy burden
of the pastoral charge.
He yielded, however, to the persuasion of the
Lady Margaret and of Bishop Fox of Winchester,
and in the year 1504" was consecrated Bishop of
Rochester, one of the poorest dioceses of England,
but one which he could never be induced to change,
when others of larger revenues were proposed to
him.
The Bishop's new duties did not, however, inter-
fere with his services to his University. About the
time of his promotion he was elected Chancellor,
and the election was repeated annually for ten
successive years, when he was at length chosen to
hold the dignity for life. He was also elected to the
1 Vacant through the translation of the P>ishop, Kichard Fitz-
James, to the see of Chichester.
- His election had been confirmed by Pope Julius II., 13 October,
1504. Fisher was only about thirty-five at the time. When
Henry VII. paid a visit to Cambridge in 1506, he thanked the King
for having promoted him so young to the Episcopate — Q^'ippc qui
paucos annos hahucriin.
BLESSED JOHN FISHER 51
headship of Queen's College, the foundation of
Margaret of Anjou. having already resigned that of
Michael House.
The appointment provided him with a residence
at Cambridge, when his duties as Chancellor, or
as superintendent of the Countess's foundations
required his presence there ; but he onl}' held it for
three years.
The Lady Margaret's bounty was not yet
exhausted by her charitable works, and by the
recommendation, or with the sanction of her
confessor, she began a still greater undertaking for
the University by the foundation of the most
important College of St. John,
\\'e cannot here trace the progress of this noble
institution, but can merely state that she was called
to her reward before either her plans for its endow-
ment or the academical buildings were completed,
and that the necessary means were in a great
measure provided by the Bishop himself, who also
composed the rules for the government of the
College.
The Bishop of Rochester never wearied in his
services to the Universit}'; and these services were
not only gracefully acknowledged at the time, but
are still thankfully borne in mind by that illustrious
body, though it has imhappily abandoned the faith
which inspired the good works of the holy prelate.^
Great as was his love for Cambridge, and great
' Over the entrance to tlie new iJivinity Schools the University
has placed two statues, that of Blessed John Fisher and — Archbishop
Cranmer !
52 BLESSED JOHN FISHER
as was his zeal for learning, the holy man could not
satisfy himself that he had done enough, or that it
was in his pouer to do as much as others might.
Accordingly, under the conviction that Wolsey, wdth
his unbounded influence and inexhaustible means,
would more effectually advance its interests, he
obtained the reluctant consent of the Universit}''
and resigned his office of Chancellor in the year
1514, in favour of the Cardinal.
Though the Blessed John Fisher manifested such
zeal for learning and the good estate of the
University, in which he had been educated, never-
theless he was before all things a Bishop, and it was
to the discharge of his pastoral duties that he
especially devoted himself. He held his see, which
he would never consent to leave for one more
richly endowed or more conspicuous in the sight of
men, for the long period of thirty years, and during
this interval his reputation was spread throughout
Europe, as one of the holiest and most learned
prelates in the Church.
Erasmus, who was intimately acquainted with
him, speaks of him in his letters as " a divine
prelate," and says that in the whole nation " there
is not a more learned man or a holier bishop."
Cardinal Pole says, " If any one had asked the King,
before the violence of his passions had hurried him
out of the reach of reason and reflection, which of
all the bishops he esteemed most highh-, whose
affection and fidelity he chiefly relied upon ; he
would without hesitation have answered, ' the Bishop
BLESSED JOHN FISHER 53
of Rochester.' \Vhen the question was not put to
him, he was accustomed of his own accord to glory,
that no other prince or kingdom had so distinguished
a prelate. Of this I was witness, when turning to
nie, on m\' return from my travels, he said he did