ABSTRACT
Edmund Campion and his fellow prisoners, who were summoned to dispute with no warning, no knowledge of the agenda and no books, sat on simple stools in the middle of the room, surrounded by armed soldiers. Campion turned what looked like a disadvantage into a triumph of the oppressed individual over the authority of the state. Campion is a 'Golias' who, in the 'impunity' of his 'lurking-places' has dared to 'chalenge all the English Divines, to public combat', and now is finally brought 'at last into the light, & upon the public stage'. Campion had succeeded in bringing onto 'the public stage', not his treason, but his torture for religion. Campion's reaction shows him perfectly able to handle a crowd, meet their objections, and explain the issue in simple terms. Campion tries to change the order of proceedings and challenges Fulke to justify what he has written in his 'booke against Mr Doctor Bristowe'.
