Editing Edward Foxe

{{similar names|Edward Fox (disambiguation)}}
{{short description|16th-century English bishop}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Reverend]]
| name = Edward Foxe
| honorific-suffix = 
| title = [[Bishop of Hereford]]
| image = 
| image_size = 
| alt = 
| caption = 
| church = [[Church of England]]
| diocese = [[Diocese of Hereford]]
| see = 
| elected = 
| appointed = 
| term = 1535–1538
| term_start = 
| quashed = 
| term_end = 
| predecessor = [[Charles Booth (bishop)|Charles Booth]]
| opposed = 
| successor = [[Edmund Bonner]]
| other_post = [[Archdeacon of Leicester]], [[Archdeacon of Dorset]], [[Dean of Salisbury]]
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = 1496
| birth_place = [[Dursley]] [[Gloucestershire]]
| death_date = 8 May 1538 (age 41–42)
| death_place = 
| buried = [[St Mary Mounthaw]] [[London]]
| nationality = 
| religion = 
| residence = 
| parents = 
| spouse = <!-- or | partner = -->
| children = 
| occupation = 
| profession = 
| previous_post = 
| alma_mater = [[King's College, Cambridge|King's College]] [[Cambridge University|Cambridge]]
| motto = 
| signature = 
| signature_alt = 
| coat_of_arms = 
| coat_of_arms_alt = 
| education = [[Eton College]]
}}
'''Edward Foxe''' (c. 1496 – 8 May 1538) was an [[England|English]] churchman, [[Bishop of Hereford]]. He played a major role in [[Henry VIII]]'s divorce from [[Catherine of Aragon]], and he assisted in drafting the ''[[Ten Articles]]'' of 1536.

==Early life==
He was born at [[Dursley]] in [[Gloucestershire]], and may have been related to [[Richard Fox, Bishop of Exeter|Richard Fox]], [[Bishop of Exeter]] and [[Lord Privy Seal]] under King [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]].<ref name=BritannicaCite>{{EB1911|wstitle= Fox, Edward | volume= 10 |last1= Pollard |first1= Albert Frederick |author1-link= Albert Pollard | page = 765 |short=1}}</ref> Foxe was educated at [[Eton College]] and at [[King's College, Cambridge]].<ref>{{acad|id=FS512E|name=Fox, Edward}}</ref> After graduating in 1520, he was made secretary to [[Cardinal Wolsey]] in 1527. In 1528 he was sent with Bishop [[Stephen Gardiner]] to [[Rome]] to obtain from [[Pope Clement VII]] a [[Decretal|decretal commission]] for the trial and decision of the case between King [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] and his first wife, [[Catherine of Aragon]].<ref name=BritannicaCite/>

==Academic career==
Foxe served as [[provost (education)|Provost]] of King's College from 22 September 1528 until 8 May 1538, and in August 1529 was the means of conveying to the king [[Thomas Cranmer]]'s historic advice that he should apply to the universities of Europe rather than to the pope.<ref>Andrew A. Chibi, 'Fox, Edward (1496–1538)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com.proxy.library.vanderbilt.edu/view/article/10027, accessed 24 March 2017]</ref> After a brief mission to [[Paris]] in October 1529, Foxe in January 1530 befriended [[Hugh Latimer]] at Cambridge and took an active part in persuading the English universities to decide in the king's favour. He was sent to employ similar methods of persuasion at the French universities in 1530–1531, and was also engaged in negotiating a closer league between England and France.<ref name=BritannicaCite/>

==Clerical career==
Foxe served as the king's [[almoner]] c. 1532 – 1537, and as [[prolocutor]] of [[Convocations of Canterbury and York|convocation]] in April 1533 when it decided against the validity of Henry's marriage with Catherine. In 1534 he published his treatise ''De vera differentia regiae potestatis et ecclesiae,'' defending the [[Royal Supremacy]] by use of the documents collated in the ''[[Collectanea satis copiosa]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Haigh|first1=Christopher|title=English reformations : religion, politics, and society under the Tudors|date=1993|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|isbn=0198221622|page=122|edition=Reprinted.}}</ref> Various ecclesiastical preferments were now granted him, including the [[List of Archdeacons of Leicester|archdeaconry of Leicester]] (1531–1535), the [[Archdeacon of Dorset|archdeaconry of Dorset]] (1533–1535), the [[Dean of Salisbury|deanery of Salisbury]] (1533) and the bishopric of [[Hereford]] (1535). He was nominated to the See of Hereford on 20 August 1535, [[canonical election|elected]] by the [[Hereford Cathedral|college of Hereford]] on 25 August, [[confirmation of bishops|confirmed]] on 15 September, and ordained a [[bishop]] on 26 September 1535; he received the [[temporalities]] on 7 September and the [[spiritualities]] on 14 October 1535.<ref>{{FEA|period=1300–1541|volume=2|pages=1–3|editor-first=Joyce M.|editor-last=Horn|date=1962}}</ref>

In 1535–36 he was sent to [[Germany]] to discuss the basis of a political and theological understanding with the [[Lutheran]] princes and divines, and had several interviews with [[Martin Luther]], who could not be persuaded of the justice of Henry VIII's divorce.<ref name=BritannicaCite/> Henry was unwilling to endorse the [[Augsburg Confession]] and, in 1536, the Wittenberg articles were drafted by Foxe and Lutheran clergymen as a compromise. The articles met strong opposition within convocation in June of the same year, leading Henry to personally intervene to bring about an agreement. This led to the drafting and passing of the [[Ten Articles]] by convocation.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Haigh|first1=Christopher|title=English reformations : religion, politics, and society under the Tudors|date=1993|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|isbn=0198221622|pages=126–28|edition=Reprinted.}}</ref> In 1536, [[Martin Bucer]] dedicated his ''Commentaries on the Gospels'' to Foxe.

==Death and legacy==
Foxe died on 8 May 1538 and was buried in the church of [[St Mary Mounthaw]], [[London]]. Foxe is credited with the authorship of several proverbial sayings, such as "the surest way to peace is a constant preparedness for war" and "time and I will challenge any two in the world." However, the former is a paraphrase of ''[[si vis pacem, para bellum]]'', while the latter is more usually ascribed to [[Philip II of Spain]].<ref name=BritannicaCite/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-aca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Robert Hacomblen]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[King's College, Cambridge|Provost of King's College, Cambridge]]|years =1528–1538}}
{{s-aft|after =[[George Day (bishop)|George Day]]}}
{{s-rel|en}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Charles Booth (bishop)|Charles Booth]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Hereford]]|years=1535–1538}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Edmund Bonner]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Archdeacons of Leicester}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foxe, Edward}}
[[Category:1490s births]]
[[Category:1538 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:People from Dursley]]
[[Category:Bishops of Hereford]]
[[Category:Archdeacons of Leicester]]
[[Category:Archdeacons of Dorset]]
[[Category:16th-century Church of England bishops]]
[[Category:Provosts of King's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:16th-century Anglican theologians]]