Foxe's

As John Foxe's Book of Martyrs and Sir Henry Bedingfield's correspondence with Privy Council make clear, the formidable group identity, revealed in this letter, was both a source of strength (emotionally and politically) for the princess and a source of worry.

From Heads of Household to Heads of State: The Preaccession Households of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, 1516-1558 2008

As the example of Foxe's account of Elizabeth's grocer, Laurence Sheriff, illustrates, Mary's servants surely would have been similarly (although hopefully not quite so violently) impressed with Mary receiving the homage of dukes, cardinals and foreign ambassadors.

From Heads of Household to Heads of State: The Preaccession Households of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, 1516-1558 2008

For the purposes of this study, it is Foxe's concern with how Elizabeth's servants campaigned to see that their mistress received service due to an heir to the throne that makes it worth quoting at length here:

From Heads of Household to Heads of State: The Preaccession Households of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, 1516-1558 2008

This begins immediately for Foxe when Elizabeth is arrested. 168 In Foxe's melodramatic depiction, Queen Mary's commissioners arrived at Elizabeth's residence in the middle of the night, barged their way past the "aghast" servants and told the princess that they had orders to bring her to court "either quick or dead."

From Heads of Household to Heads of State: The Preaccession Households of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, 1516-1558 2008

Although there is evidence that Foxe's narrative of Elizabeth's tribulations did include exaggerations (which are detailed in the footnotes), his account does at least preserve the impressions and ideals of Elizabeth's servants of the period.

From Heads of Household to Heads of State: The Preaccession Households of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, 1516-1558 2008

Moreover, Foxe's narrative did not appear until, at the earliest, almost a decade after the alleged incidents took place.

From Heads of Household to Heads of State: The Preaccession Households of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, 1516-1558 2008

Foxe's methodology favored eyewitness accounts and studies of state papers to which he could gain access.

From Heads of Household to Heads of State: The Preaccession Households of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, 1516-1558 2008

As it is illustrative of Foxe's overall depiction of the relationship between Elizabeth and her servants, it is worth quoting at length:

From Heads of Household to Heads of State: The Preaccession Households of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, 1516-1558 2008

Foxe's sources may have led him to exaggerate the role of Elizabeth's servants.

From Heads of Household to Heads of State: The Preaccession Households of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, 1516-1558 2008

Even Foxe's narrative of Elizabeth's servant asking Lord Thame if there were any sinister designs on his mistress depicts the same servant as declaring what action the household as a whole — "I and my fellows" — will take to defend her.

From Heads of Household to Heads of State: The Preaccession Households of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, 1516-1558 2008