Fire in the Bones

1535
Antwerp and Vilvorde Castle

“The Wily Subtleties
of this World”

Moreover I take God, which alone seeth the heart, to record to my conscience, beseeching him that my part be not in the blood of Christ, if I wrote, of all that I have written throughout all my book, aught of an evil purpose, of envy or malice to any man, or to stir up any false doctrine or opinion in the church of Christ, or to be author of any sect, or to draw disciples after me, or that I would be esteemed, or had in price, above the least child that is born, save only of pity and compassion I had, and yet have, on the blindness of my brethren, and to bring them unto the knowledge of Christ, and to make everyone of them, if it were possible, as perfect as an angel of heaven.

—William Tyndale, “To the Christian
Reader” (1534 New Testament)

Warning!

Early in 1535, Tyndale was living with Thomas Poyntz in the English House in Antwerp, contentedly working on the Old Testament. He was at the peak of his skills, and all portents pointed to the fulfillment of his dream. The fire in the bones had increased over the years, and the word of God flowed smoothly from his pen into powerful English. In May, warning of a new plot to
capture him surfaced among the merchants. At the beginning of
the month, George Collins, a merchant from London visiting Antwerp, wrote a letter to a fellow businessman regarding important information he had recently received through the Christian Brethren’s underground connections.

“Sir,” he wrote, “it may please you to understand that the stadholder [viceroy] of Barrow spake with Mr. Flegge in the church, and he said: Mr. Flegge, there is commission come from the procuror-general of Brussels to take three Englishmen, whereof one is Dr. Barnes. Notwithstanding the stadholder said: We would be loth to do anything which were displeasure to the company [the merchant adventurers]. Wherefore he willeth Mr. Flegge to give Mr. Doctor warning.”¹

Brussels was firmly in the grasp of the Catholics. If Tyndale could be lured out of Antwerp, away from the privileges of the English House, or somehow be placed in the hands of the procurer-general of Brussels, his merchant friends would be powerless to save him. The secret meeting in the church with Robert Flegge, an English merchant, was probably not unique. Warnings invariably must have come before.

Robert Barnes was the Englishman who had carried a bundle of sticks at St. Paul’s Cross in 1526 with the German merchants caught in Sir Thomas More’s raid on the Steelyard. He was also the Englishman given safe conduct to England by Henry VIII—safe conduct that More wished to ignore so he could send Barnes to the stake. It is not surprising that he was a wanted man. But who were the other two the Brussels authorities were after?

“Mr. Flegge took so great kindness withal,” Collins continued in his letter, “that he forgot to know who the other two persons shall be. By my next letter I shall write you what be the names of the other two persons. I pray you, show Mr. Doctor hereof.”² So the other two, for the time being, remained unknown. It is not hard to guess who they were. George Joye and William Tyndale were producing the majority of heretical books, and Tyndale, in particular, was considered the head of the English reformers. Did they receive warning? Joye escaped to Calais, France, in late May or early June. Barnes was not in Antwerp at the time and was, therefore, the least of the three who needed warning. Tyndale, unwilling to leave Antwerp and trusting that his friends in the city would have advance notice of an arresting party from Brussels, chose to remain. Besides, the semidiplomatic immunity enjoyed in the English House was a security he had rarely enjoyed. Antwerp’s location was ideal for shipping his latest translation of the New Testament to England, and he knew the printers. He had lived a life of danger, so why should this latest threat pose any new significant problems? But the new threat was an ominous one. His unknown stalker was at that very moment enjoying Tyndale’s unchallenged confidence.

Henry Phillips, the English Judas

The man behind Tyndale’s capture was an Englishman named Henry Phillips.³ Foxe devoted a large portion of Tyndale’s life to Phillips’s duplicity, receiving details of Tyndale’s arrest from Thomas Poyntz,⁴ who had been an eyewitness.

“William Tyndale, being in the town of Antwerp, had been lodged about one whole year in the house of Thomas Poyntz . . . about which time came thither one out of England, whose name was Henry Phillips . . . a comely fellow, like as he had been a gentleman, having a servant with him: but wherefore he came, or for what purpose he was sent thither, no man could tell.”⁵

Phillips’s purpose was malice and treachery. He hailed from a noble family, the third son of Richard Phillips, who was a member of Parliament. Educated at Oxford, he was apparently schooled for an ecclesiastical position and claimed high church patronage. He had troublesome habits, gambling being one of them. While transporting a large sum of money to London for his father, he lost it all to this vice. Afraid to go home, he sought money from a number of sources but without much luck. His letters home, written after his betrayal of Tyndale, reveal his desperate poverty, fawning entreaties, and bitter complaints. Evidence shows that he was easy to dislike.

When Phillips showed up in Louvain, a Catholic stronghold near Antwerp, he no longer had money problems. Because Louvain had a university, Phillips could claim scholarly interests to cover his motives. He found supporters in England with a lot of money
willing to finance a betrayal. He intended to veil the watchful eyes looking after Tyndale in the English House, gain his trust, and then arrange for his delivery to the procurer-general of Brussels. We do not know how he discovered Tyndale’s location, but by feigning interest in the English Bible among the merchants, he hoped to eventually come in contact with his prey. To accomplish his plan, Phillips had to appear respectable and interested in Tyndale’s work.

The Mysterious Patron

Who backed Phillips’s scheme? We can rule out the English government. Cromwell saw Phillips as an enemy to England. Without exception, official correspondence condemned Phillips as a traitor who spoke loathingly of Henry VIII. Phillips was a strong advocate of Catholicism and was hostile to Henry’s threat to church unity.

Phillips claimed to have church patronage in England, and Foxe indicated that the entrapment “was not done with small charges and expenses, from whomsoever it came.”⁶ An assessment of the leading bishops active in the persecution who had access to large sums of money points the finger at Bishop Stokesley of London. He had collaborated with More in several arrests and executions and had fiercely condemned Tyndale’s writings, and he remained proud of his cruel treatment of heretics, even on his deathbed. His servant John Tisen, one of Tyndale’s former pupils, just happened to be in Antwerp in 1533 on unknown business.

Phillips was in desperate financial stress in London, Stokesley’s territory. He was known as an enemy to the new ideas coming from the Continent, and he had a reputation conducive to unsavory dealings. He was educated and could pass himself off, without suspicion, as interested in the scholarship of Tyndale’s work. All Phillips needed to do was convince authorities in Brussels that he could deliver on his promise to catch the three leading reformers of the day, which he apparently accomplished, as Collins’s letter indicates and subsequent events prove.

Suspicion also falls on Sir Thomas More, although he was in prison at the time of Tyndale’s capture. Early in his imprisonment, he was indifferently watched, allowed visitors, and could have made necessary arrangements. His hatred for the reformers, particularly Tyndale, was venomous. His efforts led to the death of Tyndale’s friend John Frith, and More continued to write against Tyndale even after his fall from Henry’s favor. More had the finances to back Phillips, the contacts in Brussels, and the international influence needed to bring Phillips into contact with the authorities of the Low Countries. Later, while in Rome, Phillips claimed a special friendship with More.

It was Sir Thomas who earlier had probed deeply into Tyndale’s personal habits. Who were his friends and supporters? Where was he living? How tall was he? How did he dress? What were his daily habits? More asked these questions of every captured heretic. He could have pieced together enough evidence to guess Tyndale’s location with some accuracy.

Stokesley gave in to Cromwell’s pressure and accepted Henry as head of the church in England. More did not. Stokesley hated heretics, but he never claimed a part in Tyndale’s burning. More was beheaded before Tyndale came to trial. Perhaps More and Stokesley worked in concert. Without doubt, Sir Thomas was the more intelligent. He had used spies and informers before with great effectiveness, and he nursed the greater hatred. To capture Tyndale would have been the crowning achievement of his heresy hunting. Regardless of who provided the funding, the plan worked smoothly.

Cautious Inquiries

“Master Tyndale divers times was desired forth to dinner and supper amongst merchants; by means whereof this Henry Phillips became acquainted with him, so that within a short space Master Tyndale had a great confidence in him, and brought him to his lodging, to the house of Thomas Poyntz; and had him also once or twice with him to dinner and supper, and further entered such friendship with him, that through his procurement he lay in the same house of the said Poyntz; to whom he showed moreover his books, and other secrets of his study, so little did Tyndale then mistrust this traitor.”⁷

But Thomas Poyntz was a practical businessman dedicated to the protection of his guest and accustomed to assessing men’s characters. There was something about Phillips that aroused his anxiety.

“Poyntz, having no great confidence in the fellow, asked Master Tyndale how he came acquainted with this Phillips. Master Tyndale answered, that he was an honest man, handsomely learned, and very conformable [to reform beliefs]. Then Poyntz, perceiving that he bare such favour to him, said no more, thinking that he was brought acquainted with him by some friend of his.”⁸

Phillips initially tried to sound out Poyntz’s dedication to Tyndale. Perhaps with enough bribe money, Poyntz could be convinced to help with the scheme. It would certainly be easier to lure Tyndale into a trap if the merchant he trusted so completely could be engaged as Phillips’s ally. And if Phillips could not persuade Poyntz, perhaps he could gain enough information from him to approach other English merchants. Tyndale dined with and taught these men. The possibility needed exploring.

“The said Phillips, being in the town three or four days, upon a time desired Poyntz to walk with him forth of the town . . . and in walking together without the town, had communication of divers things . . . by which talk Poyntz as yet suspected nothing, but after, by the sequel of the matter, he perceived more what he intended. . . . But after, when the time was past, Poyntz perceived this to be his mind, to feel if he could perceive by him, whether he might break with him in the matter, for lucre of money, to help him to his purpose, for he perceived before that he was monied, and would that Poyntz should think no less.”⁹

His suggested hints not finding a ready ear, the cautious Phillips felt that bribes would not move the English merchants. On the contrary, if they suspected him they would surely warn Tyndale. Regrettably, Poyntz did not put the pieces together earlier or realize that anyone with connections to the Catholic university at Louvain could not be the reformer’s ally.

Phillips soon learned that he could expect no help from the Antwerp authorities; nor should he risk asking for it. Any movement in that direction would result in a whispered warning in the back of a church or a discreet letter passed during a business transaction. “So it was to be suspected, that Phillips was in doubt to move this matter for his purpose, to any of the rulers or officers of the town of Antwerp, for doubt it should come to the knowledge of some Englishmen, and by the means thereof Master Tyndale should have had warning.”¹⁰

The Trap

In Brussels, however, Phillips could find the allies he needed. “So Phillips went from Antwerp to the court of Brussels, which is from thence twenty-four English miles. . . . To make short, the said Phillips did so much there, that he procured to bring from thence with him to Antwerp, the procuror-general, who is the emperor’s attorney, with certain other officers, as after followeth.”¹¹

Having procured his arresting party, Phillips now needed the right moment. Fearing the loyal and suspicious Poyntz, Phillips sent his servant to inquire if Tyndale was at the house. Poyntz was sitting by the door as the servant approached. For Phillips to catch his man, there must be no friend nearby to warn or protect him. Unfortunately for Tyndale, Poyntz soon needed to leave to attend to affairs in Barrois, a town eighteen miles away. He would be gone a number of weeks. Phillips’s opportunity had arrived.

“In the time of his [Poyntz’s] absence Henry Phillips came again . . . to the house of Poyntz, and coming in, spake with his wife, asking her for Master Tyndale. . . . Then went he forth again (as it is thought) to . . . set the officers whom he brought with him from Brussels, in the street, and about the door. Then about noon he came again, and went to Master Tyndale, and desired him to lend him forty shillings; ‘for,’ said he, ‘I lost my purse this morning, coming over at the passage.’ . . . So Master Tyndale took him forty shillings, which was easy to be had of him, if he had it; for in the wily subtleties of this world he was simple and inexpert.”¹²

Calmly and in the sincerest of voices, Phillips asked for money from the man whom he was about to betray. He had lost his purse but still desired to treat Tyndale to dinner. Could his generous friend not lend him enough for the day? Blood money from England, apparently, was not enough. Phillips would have the purse of Tyndale himself! Foxe’s account continues to its inevitable conclusion:

“Then said Phillips, ‘Master Tyndale! You shall be my guest here this day.’ ‘No,’ said Master Tyndale, ‘I go forth this day to dinner, and you shall go with me, and be my guest, where you shall be welcome.’ So when it was dinner-time, Master Tyndale went forth with Phillips, and at the going forth of Poyntz’s house, was a long narrow entry, so that two could not go in a front. Master Tyndale would have put Phillips before him, but Phillips would in no wise, but put Master Tyndale before, for that he pretended to show great humanity. So Master Tyndale, being a man of no great stature, went before, and Phillips, a tall comely person, followed behind him; who had set officers on either side of the door upon two seats, who, being there, might see who came in the entry; and coming through the same entry, Phillips pointed with his finger over Master Tyndale’s head down to him, that the officers who sat at the door might see that it was he whom they should take.”¹³

There was no Poyntz sitting at the door to save him, but Tyndale noticed the officers at the last minute. Suspecting a trap, he tried to back down the narrow entrance and return to the house. Phillips had foreseen that possibility and insisted that Tyndale go first. “Nay, said Phillips, by your leave you shall go forth; and by force bare him forward upon the officers.”¹⁴

And so William Tyndale was taken on May 21, 1535.

Precious Rescued Manuscripts

For a decade, Tyndale had eluded his enemies. Now, betrayed by a perceived friend, he gave up without a struggle. Seeing his resignation, his captors were touched by his innocence. Speaking later to Poyntz, the officers indicated “that they pitied to see his simplicity when they took him.” Regardless of their emotions, they “brought him to the emperor’s attorney, or procuror-general. . . . Then came the procuror-general to the house of Poyntz, and sent away all that was there of Master Tyndale’s, as well his books as other things; and from thence Tyndale was had to the castle of Filford [Vilvorde], eighteen English miles from Antwerp, and there he remained until he was put to death.”¹⁵

Fortunately, a period of time intervened between Tyndale’s arrest and the confiscation of his books. He was working on the Old Testament, and his friend John Rogers later used his manuscript in publishing Matthew’s Bible. Several treatises were also published after Tyndale’s death, one on the sacrament that paralleled Frith’s views. Were these precious manuscripts already hidden, or did Poyntz’s wife quickly hide them before the searchers returned to gather evidence? Tyndale had shown Phillips “his books, and other secrets of his study,” so he knew where to send the searchers and what to look for. There is some satisfaction in visualizing Phillips’s disappointment in not finding Tyndale’s manuscripts. We do not know who saved Joshua through Chronicles, but John Rogers made ready use of them. Soon they were circulating freely in England. The man was snared, but his work continued.

Notes

^1. Mozley, William Tyndale, 307.

^2. Ibid., 307—8.

^3. Spelled Philips in some sources but standardized here as Phillips.

^4. Spelled Pointz in some sources but standardized here as Poyntz.

^5. Foxe, Acts and Monuments,5:121—22.

^11. Ibid., 5:122—23.

^12. Ibid., 5:123.

^13. Ibid.

^14. Foxe’s preface to Daye’s folio, as quoted in Mozley, 297 n.

^15. Foxe, Acts and Monuments,5:123.