Corage

The Cok of kynde ha[thorn]e a crest rede Shape lyke a crowne, token of gret noblesse, By whyche he ha[thorn]e, whyle hit stont on hys hede, As clerkis seyn, corage & hardynes, And of hys berde melancolyk felnes : Aboute hys nek by mercyall apparayll Nature ha[thorn]e yeue hym a stately auentayll.

Courage thinks, but above all feels-from the heart, the old French, corage for 'heart, the innermost feelings.'

No forse, I have lost but a lytyll swete That I have taken upon this hete, My colde corage to abate.

No lengthe of tyme or deeth may this deface, Ne chaunge my corage to another place."

De mun pere ne sai si vus fist onc damage, Kar il fist en meint liu a muz homes utrage, Pur joe crem ke trop ai descovert mun corage (ll.

His chaunged powres at first them selves not felt, Till crudled cold his corage gan assaile, And cheareful bloud in faintnesse chill did melt, Which like a fever fit through all his body swell.

Hall repeatedly asserts the masculine nature of Margaret's character: a "manly woman, using to rule and not to be ruled" (Bullough 176); she "excelled all other, as well in beauty and favor, as in wit and pollicie, and was of stomack and corage, more like to a man, then a woman" (102).

Bale's comparison between Askew and Blandina in particular highlights some of the combative and feisty qualities he admires in Askew: successive comparisons underscore Bale's approbation of Askew as 'ferventlye faythfull' (10), 'most lustye in corage', 'lyvelye and quyck' (11), 'hygh stomacked' (12), 'stowte, myghtye and ernest' (12).