The Confession and Execution of John Slade and John Bodye

Unfortunately, the BL's copy of The Confeſsion and Execvtion of Iohn Slade and Iohn Bodye lacks its illustrated title page. That title page, as I saw in a photo from Jones' Print in Early Modern England, reprises a trope in early modern English visual culture: two men, tortured and executed back-to-back against a single stake. This trope also appeared in Massinger's Roman Actor during the torture and execution of Sura and Rustica, two stoic Senators.

John Slade appears as a "Venerable" in an old edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia, along with one John Bodlye, whose name is probably corrupted in either that secondary source or this primary source. That edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia states that these martyrs' lives were too obscure to warrant beatification. Because the Catholic Encyclopedia acknowledges the obscurity of its own sources, that suggests to me that it is more likely to have mis-printed the name of John Bodye. Nevertheless, the Catholic Encyclopedia informs me that Slade & Bodye were executed in the same (relatively quiet) year as the executions of the York Martyrs. I doubt that there's an unknown connection between these southern English martyrs and the York Martyrs.

The story of John Slade's execution is narrated by Robert White, the Sheriff of Winchester, and an unlisted witness "Bennet," who may be the "R.B." who authored the letter to "Maiſter H.S." He, along with other justices of the peace, question Slade on his rejection of Elizabeth's authority. Slade says that temporal and ecclesiastical authority belongs to the seat of Peter, that he is suffering the death of the Maccabees (Vulgate: "Parati ſumus mori, magis qua[m] patrias Dei leges praeuaricari" [Douai-Rheims: "we are ready to die rather than to transgress the laws of God, received from our fathers."]), that Peter and Paul refused to recognize princes. Before going to his death, Bennet offers to pray for Slade, who rejects his faith and asks that God's blessed people pray for him.

The story of John Bodye's execution is less straightforward. Bodye begins by praising the devices of his execution, such as by kissing the chain that runs around his neck. Then, he rejects the charge of treason. Bodye argues that the Pope should not have excommunicated Elizabeth, and that he has committed no treason. His only crime, he says, was saying Mass and the Ave Maria. He asks for the Queen's forgiveness for playing games and for wearing excessive clothes. Bodye asks only Catholics to pray for him, and advises them to never rebel against their queen.

The octavo pamphlet has six extant leaves. Obviously it lost its illustrated title page somewhere along the way; the other leaf would be attached by octavo folding.