Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 20.djvu/157

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Foxe
151
Foxe

vost of Oriel and precentor of Wells], titular bishop of Tine, as his suffragan; himself, for the most part, as it seems, being detained by his public employments about the court.’ On 28 Nov. of this same year was signed at Edinburgh a treaty between Henry VII and James III, which had been negotiated, on the part of England, by Foxe and Sir Richard Edgcombe, controller of the king's household. This treaty provided for a truce and also for certain intermarriages, including that of the king of Scots to Queen Elizabeth, widow of Edward IV, but the negotiations were afterwards broken off, in consequence, it is said, of Henry's unwillingness to cede Berwick. In the summer of 1491 Foxe was honoured by being asked to baptise the king's second son, Prince Henry, afterwards Henry VIII. [In Foxe's examination before Wolman he is reported as having distinctly stated that he baptised (baptizavit) Prince Henry. This statement is fully confirmed by a document in the College of Arms, of which a copy may be found in the Ashmolean MSS. vol. mcxv. fol. 92. The statement of Harpsfield (Hist. Angl. Eccl.) and others that Foxe was godfather is founded, probably, on a perverted tradition of the baptism.] Shortly afterwards (by papal bull dated 8 Feb. 1491–2) he was translated to the see of Bath and Wells, the episcopal work being, as at Exeter, delegated to the titular bishop of Tine, who already combined the duties of suffragan of this diocese with those of the diocese of Exeter. In the treaty of Estaples (3 Nov. 1492), which terminated the siege of Boulogne and the war recently commenced with Charles VIII of France, Foxe is mentioned first of the English ambassadors, Giles, lord Daubeney, being second, and others following. In 1494 (the temporalities were restored on 8 Dec.). Foxe was translated to Durham, probably not merely for the sake of advancement, but because his diplomatic talents were likely to be useful to the king on the Scottish border. In this diocese he seems to have been resident, and he left a permanent memorial of himself in the alterations which he made in the banqueting hall of the castle. It may be noticed that the woodwork in these alterations, which bears the date of 1499, already exhibits Foxe's device of the pelican in her piety, with his usual motto, ‘Est Deo gracia.’ In April 1496 Foxe acted as first commissioner in settling the important treaty called ‘Intercursus Magnus’ (see Bacon, Henry VII) with Philip, archduke of Austria, regulating divers matters concerning commerce, fishing, and the treatment of rebels, as between England and Flanders. In the summer of 1497, during the troubles connected with Perkin Warbeck, James IV of Scotland invaded England, and besieged the castle of Norham. ‘But,’ says Bacon, ‘Foxe, bishop of Duresme, a wise man, and one that could see through the present to the future, doubting as much before, had caused his castle of Norham to be strongly fortified, and furnished with all kind of munition, and had manned it likewise with a very great number of tall soldiers more than for the proportion of the castle, reckoning rather upon a sharp assault than a long siege. And for the country, likewise, he had caused the people to withdraw their cattle and goods into fast places, that were not of easy approach; and sent in post to the Earl of Surrey (who was not far off in Yorkshire) to come in diligence to the succour. So as the Scottish king both failed of doing good upon the castle, and his men had but a catching harvest of their spoils. And when he understood that the Earl of Surrey was coming on with great forces, he returned back into Scotland.’ This fruitless siege was followed by certain negotiations with the king of Scots carried on by Foxe with the assistance of D'Ayala, the Spanish envoy of Ferdinand and Isabella, who had been interested by Henry in his affairs. The result was that, though James refused to surrender Perkin Warbeck to the king of England, he contrived to facilitate his withdrawal to Ireland, and in December 1497 a long truce was concluded between the two kingdoms. In the following year (probably in November 1498) the peace thus established was in great danger of being again broken through the rough treatment which some Scottish stragglers had received at the hands of the English soldiery quartered in Norham Castle. James was highly indignant at this outrage, but Foxe being appointed by Henry to mediate, and obtaining an interview with the Scottish king at Melrose Abbey, skilfully brought about a reconciliation. The Scottish king appears to have taken advantage of the occasion to propose, or rather revive (for as early as 1496 a commission to treat in this matter had been issued to Foxe and others), a project for a closer connexion between the two kingdoms by means of his own marriage with the Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII. The offer was readily, if not greedily, accepted by Henry, though, on Foxe's advice, he determined to move in the matter slowly. It was not till 11 Sept. 1499 that the second, and more effective, commission was issued to Foxe, empowering him to arrange the preliminaries of this marriage with the Scottish court. The marriage itself, which resulted in the permanent union of the English and Scottish crowns