On this day in Tudor history, 31st August 1555, in the reign of Queen Mary I, the queen who has gone down in history as "Bloody Mary", Robert Samuel, a former minister, was burned at the stake in Ipswich, Suffolk.
Robert Samuel was burned as a heretic, a Protestant martyr. He had continued to minister privately, after being deprived of his living, and he had refused to leave his wife. He stayed firm to his Protestant faith and became one of the Ipswich Martyrs as a result.
In today's talk, I give some details about this Tudor man, his visions, his death, and the women who became connected with him and who also died as a result.
Also on this day in history:
- 1545 – A contagious disease known as the 'Bloody flux' hit Portsmouth, killing many men serving on the ships stationed there.
- 1580 – Death of Wiliam Llŷn, the Welsh language poet and elegist, at Oswestry.
- 1613 – Death of Matthew Baker, shipwright and first man to record ship designs on paper. His papers were catalogued by Samuel Pepys as “Fragments of ancient English shipwrightry”.