Edward Foxe

Who was Edward Foxe?

Edward Foxe was an English churchman, Bishop of Hereford. He was the most Lutheran of Henry VIII's bishops, and assisted in drafting the Ten Articles of 1536.

He was born at Dursley in Gloucestershire, and may have been related to Richard Fox, Bishop of Exeter and Lord of the Privy Seal under Henry VII. Foxe was educated at Eton College and at King's College, Cambridge. 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 commission for the trial and decision of the case between King Henry VIII of England and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

On his return Foxe was elected Provost of King's College, 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. This introduction led eventually to Cranmer's promotion over Foxe's head to the archbishopric of Canterbury. 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. In April 1533 he was prolocutor of convocation when it decided against the validity of Henry's marriage with Catherine, and in 1534 published his treatise De vera differentia regiae potestatis et ecclesiae.