A defence of the Apologie of the Churche of Englande conteininge an answeare to a certaine booke lately set foorthe by M. Hardinge, and entituled, A confutation of &c. By Iohn Iewel Bishop of Sarisburie.

M. Hardinge.

That ye tel of a VVoman named Ioane, bearinge the worlde in hande, she was Pope of Rome, it is a fonde and avaine fable. VVere ye so wise, as ye be malicious, ye woulde neuer haue brought your credite in hazard by reportinge sutche vanitie. This I accoumpte for one of your accustomed lies. By this men maie iudge, what litle stoare of true thinges ye haue to obiecte againste vs. VVho listeth to see a Learned discourse written hereof, him maie is please to reade the annotations of * 1.1 Onuphrius Pāuinius vpō Platina, de vitis pontificum,* 1.2 printed in Venis. And he shal easely beleue the whole matter to be fabulous.

After Anastasius, they that in theire writinges recite an exacterewe and order of Popes, as A∣demarus, and Annonius of Paris, Regino, Hermannus Schafnaburgensis. Otho Frisingensis, Abbas Vr∣spergensis, Leo Bishop of Hostia, Iohanes of Cremona, and Godfridus Vrterbiensis, of which some wrote three hundred, some foure hundred yeeres paste, al these make no mention at al of this VVoman Pope Ioane. Againe there be in bibliotheca Palatina, at Rome, six or seuen tables of the Popes names writē in sundry bookes, before the time of Innocentius the fourthe. Mary in the margent of Pandulphus this fable is put in betweene Leo the fouthe, and Benedicte the thirde, written in a hande farre different from the olde characters of that Auncient Booke, added by some man of later time. VVhiche maketh the matter to be the more suspected, and taken for a fable.

Though men had at that time ben so farre bewitched, and distract of theire fiue wittes,‡ 1.3 as they coulde not haue knowen a woman from a man, (whiche no wise man I wene beleueth), yet* 1.4 it is not to be thought, that God him selfe, who appointed and ordained the Seate of Peter, whereof he woulde the whole Churche to be directed, woulde departe so far from his merciful prouidence, towarde the Churche, as to suffer the same to be polluted by a woman, whiche is not of capacitie for holy orders.

‡ 1.5 The firste Author of this fable was one Martinus Polonus, a Monke of the order of Cisterce: VVho wrote longe after the time that Pope Iohane is fayned to haue liued in. VVhose manner of writinge if we consider, wee shal finde it vaine, and nothinge like to be true. It beginneth thus, Iohannes Anglicus natione, Maguntinus, sedit annos duos, mensem vnum, dies quatuor, &c. Iohn an Englishe man by nation, of Maguntia, saie (in the Romaine See) twoo yeeres, one moneth, and foure dayes, alias, fiue monethes and three daies. VVhat a foolishe speache is this, an English man Maguntine, or of Maguntia? It foloweth in the fable, as the saide Martine telleth. This (as it is

saide) was a VVoman,* 1.6 and in the younge age of a girle, she was brought to Athenes by one that was her Louer in a mans apparel, and there profited so mutche in diuerse sciences, as none was founde to be compared with her. To Athenes was she brought, saithe the fable. And why? For learning. Very wel. VVhereas at that time* 1.7 neither any Athenes stoode, * neither was there any place of lerning there any lenger: but al the countrie of Attica became Barbarous, and vtterly voide of learninge, as we vnderstande by the writers of that time. The authour reporteth, that from thence she came to Rome, and there professed learninge openly, and had greate Doctours to her Scholers, and for opinion of learninge and good life, by one consente of al was made Pope. VVhiche is soone confuted as false: ‡ 1.8 for there was no learninge at those dayes openly professed at Rome, as ‡the Stories declare.

It foloweth in the fable. Beinge in the Popedome she is begotten with childe of her Seruaunt. And not knowinge the time of her delyueraunce, as she wente from S. Peters to Laterane, streined with paines betweene Colosseo and S. Clementes Churche, she brought foorthe, and died, and was (as they saie) there buried. Here is to be marked, howe the* 1.9 deuiser of this fable bewrayeth himselfe, and thinketh the matter harde to be beleued. And therefore in the beginninge saithe, she was a VVoman (vt asseritur) as folkes saie: and nowe he saith, she was buried, vt dicitur, as it is said. So he dothe not affirme it to be true, but referreth al to heresaie. By whiche testimonie lies commonly be soothed.

And as it is false, that euer there was any sutche Pope, so is it not true, that ye note in the mar∣gent of your booke touchinge the image, whiche ye saie is to be sene yet in Rome, resemblinge that wo∣man Pope lieinge in trauaile. The image, whiche ye meane, I haue sene my selfe at Rome, grauen in a stone, after the manner of a tombe stone, pitched vpright not farre from the Colosseo. It resembleth no sutche thinge ye speake of.

Neither is it of any more truthe, whiche some haue ignorantly written of the Popes refraininge to go that waie, when he goeth thereby in solemne processions: nor that whiche I haue reade in some of your‡ 1.10 Schoolefelowes peuishe bookes of the stoole of easemente, that is at Laterane made of faire porphyry stone, whiche they haue reported to be kepte there for an vnsemely vse at the creation of the Popes, for proufe of theire Humanitie. Thus, we truste, we haue brought your great matter of Pope Ioane to nought.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Onuphrius is a mā yet liuing, hired of pour∣pose to face out this mater.
• * 1.2

  In Vita Io∣han. 8.
• ‡ 1.3

  Semiramis be∣inge a vvooman vvas of longe time taken for a man. Yet mennes eies vvere not be∣vvitched.
• * 1.4

  God hath suf∣fered others as very monsters to sitte in that See, as euer vvas Pope Iohane.
• ‡ 1.5

  Vntruthe. For there vvere o∣thers before him, that vvrote the same.
• * 1.6

  Dame Iohane the Pope.
• * 1.7

  Vntruthes, tvvoo togeather
• ‡ 1.8

  Vntruthes, 2. Reade the An∣svveare.
• * 1.9

  This Diuiser dvvelt in Rome, and liued aboue fiue hundred yeeres agoe.
• ‡ 1.10

  Vntruthe. For they liued 500. yeeres before vs: and vvere the beste vvriters of that time.