On this day in Tudor history, 28th March, the Renaissance artist Raphael was born; Anne Boleyn’s former chaplain and almoner John Skip, Bishop of Hereford, died; and five Protestants were burnt at the stake for heresy…
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#OTD in Tudor history – 28 March
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Monday Martyrs – Five Canterbury Martyrs
This week’s #MondayMartyrs are Protestants George Catmer and Robert Streater of Hythe, in Kent; Anthony Burward of “Calete” (Calais?); George Brodbridge (Broadbridge, Bradbridge) of Bromfield, in Kent, and James Tutty of Brenchley, in Kent.
All five men were burnt at the stake as heretics in Canterbury in September 1555, in the reign of Queen Mary I.
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Monday Martyrs – William Allen, Roger Coe and Thomas Cob
This week’s Monday Martyrs are Protestants William Allen, Roger Coe and Thomas Cob, who were burnt at the stake at the beginning of September 1555, in the reign of Queen Mary I after being condemned together by John Hopton, Bishop of Norwich, for heresy on 12th August.
William Allen was burnt at Walsingham in Norfolk, Roger Coe was burnt at Yoxford in Suffolk, and butcher Thomas Cob was burnt at Thetford in Norfolk.
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March 28 – The burnings of Protestants Stephen Knight, William Pygot and William Dighel
On this day in Tudor history, 28th March 1555, Protestants Stephen Knight and William Pygot were burnt at the stake for heresy in Essex, at Maldon and Braintree, respectively.
In his Book of Martyrs, martyrologist John Foxe writes of how Stephen Knight and William Pygot were first examined regarding their views on the eucharist, to which they answered that the body and blood of Christ were only in heaven and nowhere else. After being examined regarding other beliefs, according to Foxe, they “were exhorted to recant and revoke their doctrine, and receive the faith” but refused, and when Bishop Bonner realised “that neither his fair flatterings, nor yet his cruel threatenings, would prevail”, he condemned them for heresy.
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January 27 – The burning of Bartlet Green and six other Protestants
On this day in Tudor history, 27th January 1556, in the reign of Queen Mary I, Protestant Bartlet or Bartholomew Green was burnt at the stake at Smithfield, with six other Protestants.
Green, who martyrologist John Foxe describes as a gentleman and lawyer, “saw the true light of God’s gospel” when listening to lectures given by Peter the Martyr while studying at Oxford. Foxe writes that “Whereof when he had once tasted, it became unto him as the fountain of lively water, that our Saviour Christ spake of to the woman of Samaria, so as he never thirsted any more, but had a well springing unto everlasting life”. Green studied law at the Inner Temple at London.
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December 22 – The burnings of Protestant Martyrs John Rough and Margaret Mearing
On this day in Tudor history, 22nd December 1557, in the reign of Queen Mary I, Protestants John Rough and Margaret Mearing were burnt at the stake at Smithfield for heresy.
Scot John Rough had excommunicated Margaret Mearing from his congregation, believing her to be a spy. She wasn’t, and she ended up being arrested after she tried to confront the real spy.
Find out about John Rough’s life, his link to John Knox, what brought him to England, how he came to be arrested, and what happened with Margaret Mearing…
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October 16 – The burnings of Latimer and Ridley
On this day in Tudor history, 16th October 1555, in the reign of Queen Mary I, two of the Oxford Martyrs, Protestant bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, were burnt at the stake in Oxford for heresy.
In the video below, I give an overview of Latimer and Ridley’s careers, and then share an account of their burnings from John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Warning: John Foxe’s account is pretty horrible.
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12 July – True soldiers of Jesus Christ get burnt
On this day in Tudor history, 12th July 1555, in the reign of Queen Mary I, men who were described as "true soldiers of Jesus Christ", were burnt at the stake at Canterbury.
Find out about John Bland, John Frankesh, Nicholas Sheterden and Humphrey Middleton, and their fates, in this edition of TudorHistoryShorts... [Read More...]
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Walter Raleigh’s colonisation, war over vestments, an earl who saved the day, and some burnings
In part two of this week in Tudor history, I talk about Walter Raleigh (Ralegh) being given permission to colonise foreign lands in 1584; a disagreement over the wearing of vestments in 1566 which led to a pamphlet war, protests and ministers losing their parishes; a Tudor earl who saved the day for Henry VIII during the 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion, and the burnings of three Protestant martyrs in Essex in 1555.
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15 July – The Newbury Martyrs
On this day in Tudor history, 15th July 1556, the trial of Julins Palmer, John Gwyn and Thomas Robyns, men now known as the Newbury Martyrs, opened at St Nicholas Church in Newbury. The men were accused of sedition and heresy.
But how did Julins Palmer, a formerly staunch Catholic end up being executed for heresy in Mary I’s reign?
Find out more about Palmer, his trial and the executions of the Newbury Martyrs in today’s talk.
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30 July – Reformers and Catholics executed on the same day!
What a confusing day it must have been for the citizens of London on 30th July 1540! For it was on this day in history, in the reign of King Henry VIII, that both Catholics and men of the reformed faith were executed in London. Crazy times indeed!
Find out more about why Thomas Abell, Edward Powell and Richard Fetherston, and Robert Barnes, William Jerome and Thomas Garrard, were executed in today’s talk.
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17 July 1555 – The burnings of Margaret Polley and Christopher Wade
On this day in history, 17th July 1555, Protestants Margaret (Margery) Polley and Christopher Wade (Waid) were burned for heresy. Wade was a linen-weaver from Dartford and Polley was a widow from Pepenbury, Tunbridge Wells.
Martyrologist John Foxe described Margaret Polley as being “in the prime of her life, pious, charitable, humane, learned in the Scriptures, and beloved by all who knew her” and “the first female martyr in England”, although surely that title actually belongs to Anne Askew, who was burned for heresy in 1546.
Here is John Foxe’s account of the condemnations and burnings of Polley and Wade:
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9 February 1555 – The burnings of Bishop John Hooper and Archdeacon Rowland Taylor
On this day in history, 9th February 1555, the burnings of two prominent Protestant churchmen took place.
John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester and Worcester, was burned at the stake in Gloucester. He had been deprived of his bishopric in March 1554, due to his marriage. Rowland Taylor, Rector of Hadleigh in Suffolk, Canon of Rochester Cathedral, Archdeacon of Bury St Edmunds, Archdeacon of Cornwall and former chaplain to Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, was burned on Aldham Common, near Hadleigh. Both men were executed as part of Queen Mary I’s persecution of Protestants.
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16 October 1555 – The Burnings of Bishops Ridley and Latimer
he burnings of two of the Oxford martyrs: Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, and Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London took place on this day in 1555, in the reign of the Catholic Mary I. The two men, along with Thomas Cranmer, who was burnt at the stake on the 21st March 1556, are known as the Oxford Martyrs and their lives and deaths are commemorated in Oxford by Martyrs’ Memorial, a stone monument just outside Balliol College and near to the execution site, which was completed in 1843. A cross of stones set into the road in Broad Street marks the site of their burnings.
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The Martyrdom of Robert Samuel, Preacher, suffering for the true defence of Christ’s Gospel
“The Martyrdom of Robert Samuel, Preacher, suffering for the true defence of Christ’s Gospel” is the title of the chapter of martyrologist John Foxe’s account of the imprisonment and death of Robert Samuel, former minister of East Bergholt Church in Suffolk, who was burned at the stake on 31st August 1555. Samuel was one of the Ipswich Martyrs, one of nine people who were executed between 1515 and 1558 for their Lollard or Protestant beliefs.
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