one devout person of their company by the space
of ii years next after my burial, daily to make a
special memory to God for my soul and of all
Christian souls. And my mind is that the same
convent, the next day after my month's mind by
them to be kept for my soul, do receive of mine
executor the said whole sum of money, viz., iii
score florins. For the which I beseech them that I
may have my year's mind kept with Mass and Dirige
by the space of iii years.
Also, I do give and bequeath to the house and
company of the charter house in Louvain the sum
of xx florins ; requiring them of their charity in
their celebrations to pray by special memory for the
soul of my said parents and for my soul, so long
as by their charity they shall be moved thereunto.
Also I give and bequeath to the great hospital,
which lodgeth and keepeth sick persons, the sum of
ten florins, desiring them of their charity to pray
for my soul and all Christian souls. 1
1 The original ending of the will here follows in the MS. It was
afterwards cancelled by the martyr, and the conclusion printed
above substituted for it. In the margin the martyr has written,
" Cancellatio hec facta est per me Jhoannem Story." It runs as follows :
" The residue of all my goods, wheresoever and in whose hands soever
they be, I do give and bequeath to Joan Storey my wife, whom I do
make mine executrice so and under the condition that she do not
io6 BLESSED JOHN STOREY
The residue of all my goods and specialties, in
whose hands soever they be, upon full trust and
confidence that I have in the promise of my well-
beloved wife, Joan Storey hereafter mentioned, I do
give and bequeath unto her ; whom I do make my
whole and sole executrice, to perform this my last
will. Provided always, and it is my full mind and
deliberate will, that my said executrice shall not
take nor demand my whole money out of my great
and especial friend Mr. Bonvice's hand, by the
space of iii years next after my decease ; but shall
return and by the space of one month abide in England, neither
send her daughter and mine thither or carry her, until the same land
or state thereof be converted and returned to the unity of our mother
the holy catholic church, out of the which the same land by schism
is swerved. And if my said wife, following her sensuality and
neglecting her soul, shall chance to return into England, as God
forbid, and make her abode there above the space of one month,
without lawful impediment of her return, or do at any time before
religion be there reformed, carry or send her daughter and mine
into that land or any part thereof, then and in such case my mind
is that my especial good friend Mr. Anthony Bonvice, upon suit
made to him by my said wife, do deliver to her of such money as
remaineth of mine in his hands twenty pounds Flemish or of English
money at her choice, and to keep the rest of my money remaining
in his hand for the payment of my legacies abovesaid, and for the
use of my daughter for her best profit, to be delivered to her
at the day of her marriage ; so that she do not marry but with the
consent of my said especial good friend Mr. Bonvice then living.
And in case that my said daughter do rather choose to enter and
continue in religion than to marry, then my will is that, after one
hundred and xx florins by Mr. Bonvice paid to the cloister where
she will be professed, and after all other my legacies performed,
that the rest of my money with him remaining shall still remain in
his hands and with the profits thereof to find my nephew John
Storey to school in Louvain by the space of iii years; and after that
time to distribute all such money as then shall remain in his hands,
the one moiety thereof to poor scholars and priests being English-
men here tarrying in these parts and the other moiety to my said
BLESSED JOHN STOREY 107
receive only such money of him, as will pay my
legacies to be prayed for, (the which several sums
my mind is shall be paid although I do depart this
life out of Louvain) and such other money as my
said worshipful friend of his charitable benevolence
will give to her for occupying such her stock as he
hath of mine in his hands. And my mind is that
this clause shall take place only in the life of my
said worshipful friend Mr. Bonvice, or else my said
wife to take up the whole at her pleasure.
Item, I do desire my said good friend,
Mr. Anthony Bonvice, 1 to be overseer of this my
wife, daughter, nephew, and servant called Bess, after such sort
and rate, as to his wisdom shall seem to be most requisite and
expedient according to their necessity and following of this my last
will. And I shall most entirely desire my said worshipful and
charitable friend Mr. Bonvice to be overseer of this my last will,
and in my wife's refusal by her departing into England, to execute
this my last will as well concerning my burial and legacies, as in
causing a piece of brass to set upon my grave declaring my name and
day of my departing, if I chance to die in Louvain ; provided alway
that if my said wife do continue still in Louvain and do marry or
not marry, and do take upon her to be mine executor or not take
upon her, my full mind and special request is, that my said worship-
ful friend Mr. Bonvice do not deliver to her above the sum of thirty
pounds by the year. And after she hath tarried here at Louvain iii
full years after my decease, my mind is that my said worshipful
friend, upon her bond that she will not return into England until it
be reformed, do deliver to my said wife (if they both shall think it
best) the whole sum remaining for the behoof of her and my
daughter.
In witness whereof I have written these presents, the year and
day abovesaid.
Per me,
Jo: STORYE."
1 Antonio Bonvisi, our martyr's dear and faithful friend, was a
wealthy wool merchant, sprung from an ancient and noble family
of Lucca, but probably born in England. He was a fervent
io8 BLESSED JOHN STOREY
last will and testament, most heartily desiring him
to be good instructor of my wife, to keep and perform
her promise made to God and me. Whereupon I
have altered the last end of my will above written.
Which promise is that she at no time, until the
land of England be restored to the unity of Christ's
Catholic, a kindly patron of learned men, and the devoted
friend of Blessed Thomas More, Blessed John Fisher, and Cardinal
Pole. He ministered to Fisher and More in prison, stood by
Friar Peto when he had to fly to the Low Countries after his
courageous sermon against Henry VIII. 's first divorce, and was
eulogized by Pole, who calls him " a special benefactor of all
Catholic and good persons, . . . worthy is he of name, and I doubt
not but his name is in the book of life." He resided at Crosby
Hall, Bishopsgate Street, which he at first leased from the nuns of
St. Helen's, and after the dissolution of the priory, bought (in 1552)
from the King. . At the beginning of the reign of Edward VI. he
went into voluntary exile for the Faith, his property in England
was confiscated, and in the general pardon which concluded the
Acts of the Parliament of 1553, he was specially excepted, together
with his friends Pole and Storey. He recovered his English
property in the reign of Queen Mary, and died at Louvain at a very
advanced age, December 7, 1558. His nephew, Benedict, inherited
his English property.
Two Inquisitiones post mortem relating to him are to be found in
vol. xv. of the publications of the British Record Society, the first
taken at the confiscation of his property (p. 113), the second at his
death (p. 182). From the former we learn that before he, " without
licence from the King, craftily and rebelliously took flight with all
his family and went to parts beyond the seas, to wit, to Antwerp,"
he had conveyed Crosby Hall (or Crosbies Place as it was then
called), and other property, to William Roper and William Rastell
(both near connections of Blessed Thomas More), for the term of
99 years.
We may add that More says, in a letter written from the Tower,
that he had been for nearly 40 years " not a guest, but a continual
nursling of the house of Bonvisi," and calls Antonio the most
faithful of his friends. For other details see Dictionary of National
Biography, vol. v. p. 335 (by C. Trice Martin).
BLESSED JOHN STOREY 109
church, will return thither, or carry her daughter
and mine into that land, except it be for the only
intent to procure her mother to come thence. And
in such case not to tarry there above the space of
iii months, unless she by compulsion be enforced
thereunto.
In witness whereof I have written these presents
and subscribed my name.
Per me JOHANNEM STORYE.
AUTHORITIES. The principal Catholic authority is, of
course, Sander, who was a friend of the martyr. His account
of him in the De Visibili Monarchia (1570) is perhaps most
accessible in the Concertatio (Treves, 1589), fol. 43 A 45 B.
It has been translated into Spanish by Bishop Yepes, Historia
Particular (Madrid, 1599), pp. 43, 44. Sander also speaks of
the martyr in his History of the Anglican Schism (Edit. Lewis,
1877), pp. 200, &c.
The principal general sources are, the Calendars of State
Papers, especially the Spanish and Foreign, passim.
Acts of the Privy Council (Edit. Dasent).
Journals of the House of Commons, vol. i. pp 6, 8, and 9.
Camden's Annals, for 1569 and 1571.
Strype's Life of Archbishop Cranmer, and Life of Archbishop
Parker, also Memorials and Annals of the Reformation, passim.
Burnet, History of the Reformation (Edit. Pocock).
Wood, A thence Oxon., Edit. Bliss, i. 386 90.
Macleane, History of Pembroke College (Oxford Hist. Soc.,
1897).
Foster, Alumni Oxonienses (1500 1714).
Wright, Elizabeth, i. 373, 374, 378.
Maitland's Essays on the Reformation.
Foxe's Acts and Monuments (Edit. Townsend), very bitter
and unscrupulous.
BLESSED JOHN STOREY
Dictionary of National Biography (by A. F. Pollard, vol. 54,
p. 427).
There are also the pamphlets issued by various Protestant
writers in 1571, to which we have referred in the text, and the
letters printed in various volumes of the Parker Society (see
Cough's Index), all of which are exceedingly hostile. The
reader will find Froude not less bitter. He may also refer to
Dixon, History of the Church of England, vols. iv. and v., and
the Cambridge Modern History, vol. ii. pp. 474 and 585.
The other authorities, including R. Simpson's admirable
article in the Rambler, are fully referred to in the text.
III.
THE BLESSED THOMAS PERCY,
York, 22 August, 1572;
THE BLESSED THOMAS PLUMTREE,
Durham, 4 January, 1572.
FEW writers, even among Catholics, appear to have
given quite the attention it deserves to the magni-
ficent confession of the Faith, made both during
life and still more at his death, by the martyred
nobleman who forms the subject of this memoir.
He was born in 1528, and was the eldest son of
Sir Thomas Percy, brother and heir-presumptive to
Henry Algernon, sixth Earl of Northumberland,
who was childless. His mother, the Lady Eleanor,
was daughter to Sir Guiscard Harbottal, who had
fallen at Flodden Field in 1513, slain by the hand
of the Scottish King himself. 1
Sir Thomas and his lady seem after their
marriage to have resided partly at Newburn, partly
at Prudhoe Castle, on the Tyne, one of the many
fortresses belonging to the Earl ; and there most
probably were spent the early years of the future
martyr's life. It was a time when there was rarely
1 History of Northumberland. By Cadwallader J. Bates, p. 209.
ii2 BB. THOMAS PERCY AND THOMAS PLUMTREE
peace for long together upon the Scottish border,
and when, even whilst a truce existed between the
English and the Scotch, the tranquillity of the
country was too often disturbed by petty feuds
between the gentry of Northumberland themselves.
The din of arms must thus have been familiar to the
little Thomas Percy, even from his earliest years.
When he was but little more than eight years
old, there broke out, in the October of 1536, the
movement known as the Pilgrimage of Grace,
which stirred the whole North of England, from
the Scottish borders to the H umber. Gathering
together under banners bearing the representation
of our Lord upon the Cross, and the Chalice with
the Host, the good simple people of the northern
counties marched in thousands into Yorkshire,
crying out for the re-establishment of the monas-
teries, the repeal of the laws by which the Pope's
authority had been abolished, and the restoration
of the ancient Faith in its entirety. At first King
Henry quailed before the Pilgrims, and found it
necessary to dissemble his resentment until, by
deceitful promises of redress of their grievances, he
had cajoled them into dispersing and returning to
their homes. But, in the next spring, on their
reassembling, having meantime despatched more
numerous forces to the Duke of Norfolk, his lieu-
tenant, he succeeded in securing the persons of
their leaders ; and these were forthwith sent up to
London to be tried and executed, while their more
humble followers were hanged in scores at York,
Hull, and Carlisle.
BB. THOMAS PERCY AND THOMAS PLUMTREE 113
In the Pilgrimage of Grace no one, after Robert
Aske, its leader, seems to have figured more con-
spicuously than Sir Thomas Percy, our martyr's
father. He led the vanguard of the pilgrim army,
composed of six thousand men, marching under the
banner of St. Cuthbert. After their dispersion, he
returned to Prudhoe Castle ; but, on being sum-
moned to Doncaster by the Duke of Norfolk, he
surrendered of his own accord, and being taken up to
London, was thrown into the Tower. Thence, after
the formality of a trial at Westminster, he was
drawn to Tyburn on the 2nd of June, 1537, an d
there hanged, in company with other supposed
leaders of the movement, amongst whom were the
Abbot of Jervaulx and a Dominican friar named
John Pickering. The official report of the trials,
now published amongst the State Papers, 1 shows
that the charge, on which these sufferers were
condemned, was that they " did, as false traitors,
conspire and imagine to deprive the King of his
royal dignity, viz., of being on earth Supreme Head
of the Church of England." We may therefore be
allowed to hope that, in the sight of God, they died
true martyrs for the Catholic Faith.
The knowledge, if not the actual recollection (for
he was nine years old when it occurred), of the
circumstances which led to his brave father's death,
in defence of the very cause for which he was himself
to die so gloriously, cannot have failed to influence
the character of our martyr, especially considering
1 Given in De Fonblanque's Annals of the House of Percy, vol. i.
PP- 570. 57 1 -
I II.
n 4 BB - THOMAS PERCY AND THOMAS PLUMTREE
the sufferings which Sir Thomas Percy's execution
brought upon his family. As a consequence of his
attainder, his children were excluded from succeed-
ing either to the earldom of Northumberland, or to
the estates which, on the demise of the Earl, their
uncle, a few weeks later, would naturally have fallen
to them; and for a time they had to depend entirely
upon the charity of strangers. The Lady Eleanor
Percy, their poor widowed mother, seems to have
been considered too much implicated in the so-called
treason of her husband to be allowed to retain them
in her charge ; and for a while, at all events, the
little Thomas and his still younger brother Henry
were placed under the keeping of Sir Thomas
Tempest one of the Commissioners appointed for
the trials of the Pilgrims who lived at Holmside,
near to Durham.
The cost of their maintenance there to his
honour be it said was defrayed by none other
than the Duke of Norfolk, 1 who, in spite of the
relentless manner with which he had executed the
King's vengeance on the defeated pilgrims, pitied
the forlorn condition of these homeless children of
their leader. The position of Holmside exposed it,
however, to the attacks of Scotch marauders, who
might be tempted, it was feared, to carry off the
little Percys in hopes of obtaining the payment of
a ransom. Some months later, therefore, at the
request of Sir Thomas Tempest, Bishop Tunstall
wrote to Cromwell, begging that some place might
be provided for them " more within the country.
1 De Fonblanque, ii. p. 4.
BB. THOMAS PERCY AND THOMAS PLUMTREE 115
The children be young, and must be among women." '
We are not told what followed from the Bishop's
application, nor how long the poor children were
kept separated from their mother ; 2 and but little
more is known with reference to the early life of our
martyr. He and his brother are said, however, to
have received some part of their education at Liver-
pool, which must then have greatly differed from
the present crowded city. 3
Meanwhile Henry VIII. passed to his account,
and was succeeded by his son, Edward VI. Under
the boy-king, in the February of 1549, an Act of
Parliament was passed "for the restitution in blood
of Mr. Thomas Percy," 4 who in that year attained
the age of manhood. By this Act the young Percy
was so far rehabilitated, as heir to his father, as to
be entitled to inherit any property which might come
to him from collateral branches of his family ; and
he was enabled also to receive the benefit of an
annuity which his uncle, the late Earl, had left him.
About this same time, moreover, he was knighted.
It was not till three years later that restoration
was made to him of any part of the North-
1 R.O. Henry VIII. Domestic, vol. v. p. 118.
2 In the year following her husband's execution, Lady Percy is
mentioned as being at Preston Tower, a residence some ten miles
south of Berwick, which she had inherited from her father's
family, with a portion of the Ellingham estate. (Bateson's History
of Northumberland, ii. p. 106.)
3 See Collins's Peerage of England, 1779, vol. ii. p. 386, where bills,
&c., relating to the board and education of the two young
Percys are referred to as amongst the papers of the Duke of
Northumberland.
4 Lords' Journals, 2. Edward VI.
n6 BB. THOMAS PERCY AND THOMAS PLUMTREE
umberland estates, but he was then allowed to
take possession of Langley, Ellingham, and certain
other manors. Meantime the entire barony of
Alnwick was bestowed by the young King on
the adventurous and unprincipled Dudley, Earl of
Warwick, with the then unprecedented title of
Duke (not Earl) of Northumberland.
The downfall of this nobleman, consequent on
his attempt in 1553 to exclude Queen Mary from
the throne, removed the chief obstacle to Sir Thomas
Percy's reinstatement in the ancient honours and
possessions of his family ; and we may be sure that
from the first he must have had the sympathy of
the good Queen, whose own fidelity to the Faith
had been the occasion of so many sufferings. Soon
after her accession, Sir Thomas Percy was named
Governor of Prudhoe Castle, and throughout her
reign he showed himself a faithful and active
supporter of her interests. In the April of 1557, he
earned particular distinction by capturing, after a
two days' siege, the Castle of Scarborough from Sir
Thomas Stafford, who had seized upon it whilst in
conspiracy with the French King against Queen
Mary. The restoration of Sir Thomas Percy to
the earldom quickly followed, and on May the
ist of the same year he was created Earl of
Northumberland, with remainder to his brother
Henry: the subordinate titles of Baron Percy, Baron
Poynings, Lucy, Bryan, and Fitzpane, having been
conferred upon him on the previous day.
The patent of his creation set forth that "the
same was done in consideration of his noble descent,
BB. THOMAS PERCY AND THOMAS PLUMTREE 117
constancy of virtues, valour in deeds of arms, and
other shining qualifications." Of the ceremony of
his installation at Whitehall, Hutchinson writes :
" It was attended with great pomp. The procession
was preceded by eight heralds and twelve trumpeters.
He was accompanied by the Earls of Pembroke,
Arundel, and Rutland, and the Lord Montague
walking in the middle in robes of crimson velvet,
and a coronet of gold." l
Queen Mary gave him a fresh proof of her con-
fidence by appointing him at the same time Warden
General of the Marches, in conjunction with Lord
Wharton. He was soon called upon in this capacity
to show his prowess in the field. A fresh outbreak
of hostilities with the Scotch occurred in the July
f I 557j when the latter crossed the Border. The
new Earl of Northumberland led an expedition to
the Cheviots, where he not only gained a victory,
but succeeded in taking prisoner Sir Andrew Ker,
the Scotch leader.
In the following January the Queen commissioned
him to treat with Scotland for a truce between the
two kingdoms, and wrote at the same time to the
venerable Bishop of Durham, Cuthbert Tunstall,
requesting him to assist the Earl with his counsel
in this important matter. 2 The truce, however,
proved but of short duration ; and in the summer
of the same year we again find the Earl and his
brother, Sir Henry Percy, occupied, not always with
complete success, in repelling the inroads of the
Scotch, now led by French officers.
1 View of Northumberland, ii. 238.
- Scottish Calendar, January 21 and 23, 1558.
n8 BB. THOMAS PERCY AND THOMAS PLUMTREE
Meanwhile, we must not forget to mention the
Earl's marriage, in the same year, 1558, with Anne
Somerset, daughter of the Earl of Worcester, a
courageous lady, who, by her patient endurance
throughout the long period of her widowhood and
exile, proved herself no unfitting consort for the
destined martyr. His mother, the Lady Eleanor,
seems to have continued living on her Ellingham
estate, which she had made over to him, but had to
receive back for her lifetime ; and we find her com-
plained of to Cecil, in 1563, as having had Mass
said in her house. About four years after her
husband's death, the Lady Eleanor had married
Sir Richard Holland, of Denton, in Lancashire, who
died in 1548 ; from which time, until her own
death in 1567, she remained a widow. 1
In the November of 1558, Queen Mary died ;
and the accession of her half-sister, Elizabeth, was
the signal for England's being plunged again, more
hopelessly than ever, into heresy and schism.
The new Queen soon made it clear that her first
object was to sever all connection between England
and Rome ; and, following the bad example of her
father, to leave no stone unturned to wrest to herself
the authority which God has given to the Roman
Pontiff.
Elizabeth's first Parliament assembled on the
25th of January, 1559, and was dissolved on May
the 8th following. In this, in opposition to the
votes of all the Bishops, and to counter-resolu-
1 Collins, ii. p. 386.
BB. THOMAS PERCY AND THOMAS PLUMTREE 119
tions of both Houses of Convocation, were passed
the two Acts of Supremacy and of Uniformity, the
effect of which was to depose the Catholic religion
from its place as the religion of the country (the
observance of it being thenceforth made into a
legal crime), and to set up in its stead the institu-
tion still styled in law the Established Church of
England, to which all the old Catholic churches and
cathedrals were from that time made over.
By the first of these two Acts the spiritual
authority of every foreign prelate was declared
within the realm to be abolished, the jurisdiction
exercised till then by the Pope being made over
to the Crown. Assertors of the Pope's authority
were to be punished, for a first offence by forfeiture
of property, fora second by perpetual imprisonment;
whilst a third transgression was to be visited with
the penalty of death, inflicted as in cases of high
treason. By the Act of Uniformity the Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass was prohibited, and it was required
that in all churches the ministers should use the
Protestant Book of Common Prayer alone, under
like penalties of forfeiture, deprivation, and death. 1
It was thus that the so-called Church of England
came into existence ; the faithful Bishops, who had
all, save one, refused to take the oath of the Queen's
Supremacy, being at the same time deposed from
their sees by the civil power, and condemned to
end their days in prison or in voluntary exile ; whilst
into their bishoprics, thus forcibly vacated, they
1 Hallam, Constitutional History of England, i. 152 ; Lingard, vi.
P- *3-
120 BB. THOMAS PERCY AND THOMAS PLUMTREE
had to witness the intrusion of ministers of the new
State-made religion.
Most justly, therefore, did our martyr Earl
exclaim later, as he stood upon the scaffold : " As