Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales
Encyclopedia
The Eighty-five Martyrs of England and Wales are a group of men who were executed on charges of treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England
between 1584 and 1679. They are considered martyrs
in the Roman Catholic Church
and were beatified
on 22 November 1987 by Pope John Paul II
.
and laymen executed between 1584 and 1679. Their names were:
who hold the rank of saint; the Forty Martyrs were honoured separately on 25 October until the liturgical calendar for England was revised in the year 2000.
In Wales, 4 May specifically commemorates these beatified martyrs, of which at least two - William Davies and Charles Mahoney
- have Welsh connections. In the Welsh calendar, 25 October is still kept as a distinct feast of the 'Six Welsh Martyrs and their companions', as the Forty canonised Martyrs
are known in Wales.
was excommunicated by Pope Pius V
, on 25 February 1570, creating a situation full of perplexity for English Roman Catholics. Once this declaration was made, a number of Catholics acted on it, and a number, under the influence of Bernardino de Mendoza
and others, were implicated in plots against Elizabeth which were undoubtedly treasonable from the English Government's point of view. That a certain party of English Catholics was in rebellion against Elizabeth is not disputed. Thus William Allen, with many of the exiles of Douai
and Louvain
, and Robert Persons, with many of the Jesuits
, saw in the rule of Elizabeth a greater danger to the highest interests of England than had previously been threatened in cases where history had justified the deposition of kings. And the supreme authority had sanctioned this view.
In the eyes of Elizabeth and her ministers, such opposition was nothing less than high treason
. But a large number of English Catholics refused to go so far as rebellion. As John Lingard
writes:
The next pope, Gregory XIII, on 14 April 1580 issued a declaration that although Elizabeth and her abettors remained subject to the excommunication, it was not to be binding on Catholics to their detriment. The majority of English Roman Catholics then did not give the royal government grounds for suspecting their loyalty, but they persisted in the practice of their religion, which was made possible only by the coming of the seminary priests. After the Northern Rising, Parliament had passed a statute (13 Eliz. c. 2) declaring it to be high treason to put into effect any papal Bull of absolution to absolve or reconcile any person to the Church of Rome, to be absolved or reconciled, or to procure or publish any papal Bull or writing whatsoever. Purely religious acts were declared by Parliament to be treasonable.
Elizabeth's government, for its own purposes, refused to make any distinction between Catholics who had been engaged in open opposition to the Queen and those who were forced by conscience to ignore the provisions of this statute of 1571. All were purposely identified by the government and treated as one for controversial purposes.
This view was put forward officially in a pamphlet by William Cecil, Lord Burghley
:
Under the Act of 1585, it became high treason for any seminary priest
, or any Jesuit, simply to come to England; and felony
for any person to harbour or relieve them. Burghley insists that before the excommunication no one had been charged with capital crimes on the ground of religion, and brings everything back to the question of the Bull. The pamphlet ends by proposing six questions or tests by which traitors might be distinguished from simple scholars (the so-called "bloody questions").
and the other martyrs from the imputation of treason.
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
between 1584 and 1679. They are considered martyrs
Christian martyrs
A Christian martyr is one who is killed for following Christianity, through stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake or other forms of torture and capital punishment. The word "martyr" comes from the Greek word μάρτυς, mártys, which means "witness."...
in the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and were beatified
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
on 22 November 1987 by Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
.
List of individual names
They were chosen from a number of priestsPriesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
and laymen executed between 1584 and 1679. Their names were:
- John AdamsJohn Adams (martyr)John Adams was a Catholic priest and martyr.He was born at Winterborne St Martin in Dorset at an unknown date and became a Protestant minister. He later entered the Catholic Church and travelled to the English College then at Rheims, arriving on December 7, 1579. He was ordained a priest at...
- Thomas Atkinson
- Edward BamberEdward BamberEdward Bamber was an English Roman Catholic priest. He was beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- George BeesleyGeorge BeesleyGeorge Beesley was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- Arthur Bell
- Thomas BelsonThomas BelsonBlessed Thomas Belson was an English Roman Catholic layman. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- Robert BickerdikeRobert Bickerdike (martyr)Robert Bickerdike was an English Roman Catholic layman, executed on a treason charge. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- Alexander Blake
- Marmaduke Bowes
- John Bretton
- Thomas BullakerThomas BullakerThomas Bullaker was an English Franciscan Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- Edward Burden
- Roger CadwalladorRoger CadwalladorRoger Cadwallador was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- William Carter
- Alexander Crowe
- William Davies
- Robert DibdaleRobert DibdaleRobert Dibdale, or Debdale, was a Catholic priest and martyr.He was born the son of John Dibdale of Shottery, in the parish of Stratford-upon-Avon and the birthplace of William Shakespeare's wife Anne Hathaway at a date unknown. He had a brother Richard and sisters Joan and Agnes. It would seem...
- George Douglas
- Robert Drury
- Edmund DukeEdmund Duke (martyr)Edmund Duke is the name of:*Edmund Duke , English priest and Catholic martyr*Edmund Duke , a fictional general in the StarCraft series...
- George ErringtonGeorge Errington (martyr)Blessed George Errington of Hurst Castle - from the minor gentry branch of Bingfield, St John Lee, Northumberland - was a Roman Catholic martyr who was hanged, drawn and quartered at York, on 29 November 1596. Two years before his own death, Errington had ridden with Father John Boste on his last...
- Roger FilcockRoger Filcock (Blessed)Blessed Roger Filcock was an English Jesuit priest. He was beatified as a Catholic martyr by Pope John Paul II on 22 November 1987.-Life:...
- John Fingley
- Matthew Flathers
- Richard Flower
- Nicholas GarlickNicholas GarlickBlessed Nicholas Garlick was an English catholic priest, martyred in Derby in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.- Early life :...
- William GibsonWilliam Gibson (martyr)Blessed William Gibson was martyred by Anglicans at York for professing the Roman Catholic faith. He was from Ripon, in Yorkshire....
- Ralph Grimston
- Robert GrissoldRobert GrissoldBlessed Robert Grissold was an accomplice of John Sugar, Roman Catholic priest co-martyred at Warwick in 1604. His name is also given as Greswold or Griswold. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987 by Pope John Paul II.-External links:*...
- John HambleyJohn Hambley (martyr)The Venerable John Hambley was an English Catholic and martyr, who died during the reign of Elizabeth I.Born and educated in Cornwall, Hambley was converted to Catholicism by reading one of Robert Persons' books in 1582. He studied at Rheims from 1583 to 1585 and then returned and worked in the...
- Robert Hardesty
- George HaydockGeorge HaydockGeorge Haydock was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- Henry Heath
- Richard HillRichard Hill (martyr)Richard Hill, Richard Holiday, John Hogg and Edmund Duke were English Roman Catholic priests and martyrs.Not much is known of their early lives. Duke was born in Kent in 1563. The other three came from Yorkshire but their dates of birth are unknown...
- John Hogg
- Richard Holiday
- Nicholas HornerNicholas HornerNicholas Horner was an English Roman Catholiclayman, hanged, drawn and quartered because he had relieved and assisted Christopher Bales, a seminary priest...
- Thomas HuntThomas SprottBlessed Thomas Sprott, also spelled Thomas Spratt, was an English martyr.-Biography:He was born at Skelsmergh, near Kendal in Westmorland; suffered at Lincoln with Thomas Hunt on 11 July 1600...
- Thurstan Hunt
- Francis InglebyFrancis InglebyBlessed Francis Ingleby was a Roman Catholic martyr executed in York, England during the reign of Elizabeth I.He has been described as short but well-made, fair-complexioned, with a chestnut beard, and a slight cast in his eyes. He was the fourth son of Sir William Ingleby and Anne Malory...
- William KnightWilliam Knight (martyr)The Blessed William Knight was an Englishman put to death for his Roman Catholic faith at York, England. With him also suffered the Venerable George Errington of Herst, Northumberland; the Venerable William Gibson of Ripon; and the Venerable William Abbot of Howden, Yorkshire.Knight was the son of...
- Joseph LambtonJoseph LambtonJoseph Lambton was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- William LampleyWilliam LampleyWilliam Jerome Lampley was a provincial politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1935 to 1940 sitting with the governing Social Credit caucus.-Political career:...
- John Lowe
- Robert LudlamRobert LudlamBlessed Robert Ludlam was an English priest, martyred in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was born around 1551, in Derbyshire. His father was a yeoman. He matriculated at St John's College, Oxford, in 1575, and remained there for two or three years, but left without taking a degree...
- Charles MahoneyCharles MahoneyCharles Mahoney was an Irish Franciscan. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:The documentary evidence is scanty...
- Robert Middleton
- George Nichols
- John Norton
- Robert NutterRobert NutterRobert Nutter was an English Catholic martyr. He was beatified in 1987....
- Edward OsbaldestonEdward OsbaldestonBlessed Edward Osbaldeston was an English martyr, born about 1560. Не was hanged, drawn, and quartered at York, 16 November 1594.Son of Thomas Osbaldeston, and nephew of Edward Osbaldeston, of Osbaldeston Hall, near Blackburn, Lancashire, he went to the English College of Douai, then at Reims,...
- Anthony PageAnthony Page (priest)Anthony Page was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- Thomas PalasorThomas PalasorThomas Palasor was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:Palasor was born at Ellerton-on-Swale, parish of Catterick, North Riding of Yorkshire. He arrived at Reims on 24 July 1592, and set out for the English College, Valladolid on 24 August 1592...
- William PikeWilliam PikeBlessed William Pike was an English Roman Catholic martyr who was beatified in 1987.Several sources state that William was born in Dorset. In 'A History of Dorset' A. Lindsay Clegg, former Town Clerk of Bournemouth, claims that Pike lived at Moordown, now within modern Bournemouth, then part of...
- Thomas Pilcher
- Thomas PormortThomas PormortThomas Pormort was an English Roman Catholic priest. He was beatified in 1987.-Life:He was probably related to the family of Pormort of Great Grimsby and Saltfletby, Lincolnshire...
- Nicholas PostgateNicholas PostgateBlessed Nicholas Postgate was an English, Catholic priest. He is one of the 85 English Catholic Martyrs of England and Wales, beatified by Blessed Pope John Paul II, in November 1987....
- Humphrey Pritchard
- Christopher Robinson
- Stephen RowshamStephen RowshamStephen Rowsham was an English Catholic priest, executed on 3 April 1587. He is a Catholic martyr, and was beatified by Pope John Paul in 1987.-Life:A native of Oxfordshire, born c. 1555, he entered Oriel College, Oxford, in 1572...
- John SandysJohn SandysJohn Sandys was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:He studied at the University of Oxford, and Douai College....
- Montford ScottMontford ScottMontford Scott was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- Richard SergeantRichard SergeantRichard Sergeant was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- Richard SimpsonRichard Simpson (martyr)Blessed Richard Simpson was an English priest, martyred in the reign of Elizabeth I. He was born in Well, in Yorkshire. Little is known of his early life, but according to Challoner's Memoirs of Missionary Priests, he became an Anglican priest, but later converted to Catholicism...
- Peter SnowPeter Snow (priest)Peter Snow was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, along with Ralph Grimston who died with him, beatified in 1987. Liturgical celebration is on 15 June.-Life:...
- William SoutherneWilliam SoutherneWilliam Southerne was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- William SpenserWilliam SpenserWilliam Spenser was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- Thomas SprottThomas SprottBlessed Thomas Sprott, also spelled Thomas Spratt, was an English martyr.-Biography:He was born at Skelsmergh, near Kendal in Westmorland; suffered at Lincoln with Thomas Hunt on 11 July 1600...
- John SugarJohn SugarJohn Sugar was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- Robert Sutton
- Edmund SykesEdmund SykesEdmund Sykes was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- John Talbot
- Hugh Taylor
- William Thomson
- Robert Thorpe
- John Thules
- Edward Thwing
- Thomas Watkinson
- Henry Webley
- Christopher WhartonChristopher WhartonChristopher Wharton was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:...
- Thomas Whittaker
- John Woodcock
- Nicholas Woodfen
- Roger Wrenno
- Richard Yaxley
Liturgical Feast Day
In England, these martyrs are commemorated by a feast day on 4 May. This day also honours the Forty Martyrs of England and WalesForty Martyrs of England and Wales
The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales are a group of men and women who were executed for treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England between 1535 and 1679...
who hold the rank of saint; the Forty Martyrs were honoured separately on 25 October until the liturgical calendar for England was revised in the year 2000.
In Wales, 4 May specifically commemorates these beatified martyrs, of which at least two - William Davies and Charles Mahoney
Charles Mahoney
Charles Mahoney was an Irish Franciscan. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.-Life:The documentary evidence is scanty...
- have Welsh connections. In the Welsh calendar, 25 October is still kept as a distinct feast of the 'Six Welsh Martyrs and their companions', as the Forty canonised Martyrs
Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales are a group of men and women who were executed for treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England between 1535 and 1679...
are known in Wales.
Historical context and treason accusations
Queen Elizabeth IElizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
was excommunicated by Pope Pius V
Pope Pius V
Pope Saint Pius V , born Antonio Ghislieri , was Pope from 1566 to 1572 and is a saint of the Catholic Church. He is chiefly notable for his role in the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation, and the standardization of the Roman liturgy within the Latin Church...
, on 25 February 1570, creating a situation full of perplexity for English Roman Catholics. Once this declaration was made, a number of Catholics acted on it, and a number, under the influence of Bernardino de Mendoza
Bernardino de Mendoza
Bernardino de Mendoza was a Spanish military commander, a diplomat and a writer on military history and politics.- Life and works :Bernardino de Mendoza was born in Guadalajara, Spain around 1540...
and others, were implicated in plots against Elizabeth which were undoubtedly treasonable from the English Government's point of view. That a certain party of English Catholics was in rebellion against Elizabeth is not disputed. Thus William Allen, with many of the exiles of Douai
Douai
-Main sights:Douai's ornate Gothic style belfry was begun in 1380, on the site of an earlier tower. The 80 m high structure includes an impressive carillon, consisting of 62 bells spanning 5 octaves. The originals, some dating from 1391 were removed in 1917 during World War I by the occupying...
and Louvain
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
, and Robert Persons, with many of the Jesuits
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, saw in the rule of Elizabeth a greater danger to the highest interests of England than had previously been threatened in cases where history had justified the deposition of kings. And the supreme authority had sanctioned this view.
In the eyes of Elizabeth and her ministers, such opposition was nothing less than high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
. But a large number of English Catholics refused to go so far as rebellion. As John Lingard
John Lingard
Dr. John Lingard was an English Catholic priest, born in St Thomas Street in Central Winchester to recusant parents and the author of The History Of England, From the First Invasion by the Romans to the Accession of Henry VIII, an 8-volume work published in 1819...
writes:
The next pope, Gregory XIII, on 14 April 1580 issued a declaration that although Elizabeth and her abettors remained subject to the excommunication, it was not to be binding on Catholics to their detriment. The majority of English Roman Catholics then did not give the royal government grounds for suspecting their loyalty, but they persisted in the practice of their religion, which was made possible only by the coming of the seminary priests. After the Northern Rising, Parliament had passed a statute (13 Eliz. c. 2) declaring it to be high treason to put into effect any papal Bull of absolution to absolve or reconcile any person to the Church of Rome, to be absolved or reconciled, or to procure or publish any papal Bull or writing whatsoever. Purely religious acts were declared by Parliament to be treasonable.
Elizabeth's government, for its own purposes, refused to make any distinction between Catholics who had been engaged in open opposition to the Queen and those who were forced by conscience to ignore the provisions of this statute of 1571. All were purposely identified by the government and treated as one for controversial purposes.
This view was put forward officially in a pamphlet by William Cecil, Lord Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572...
:
Under the Act of 1585, it became high treason for any seminary priest
Seminary priest
Seminary priests were Roman Catholic priests who were trained in English seminaries or houses of study on the European Continent after the introduction of laws forbidding Roman Catholicism in Britain. Such Seminaries included that at Douay, from 1568, and others at Rome from 1579, Valladolid from...
, or any Jesuit, simply to come to England; and felony
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
for any person to harbour or relieve them. Burghley insists that before the excommunication no one had been charged with capital crimes on the ground of religion, and brings everything back to the question of the Bull. The pamphlet ends by proposing six questions or tests by which traitors might be distinguished from simple scholars (the so-called "bloody questions").
Contemporary controversy
William Allen, in his Answer to the Libel of English Justice published in 1584, joined issue on all points, stating "that many priests and other Catholics in England have been persecuted, condemned and executed for mere matter of religion and for transgression only of new statutes which make cases of conscience to be treason without all pretence or surmise of any old treasons or statutes for the same". He defended Edmund CampionEdmund Campion
Saint Edmund Campion, S.J. was an English Roman Catholic martyr and Jesuit priest. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Protestant England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason by a kangaroo court, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn...
and the other martyrs from the imputation of treason.
See also
- Forty Martyrs of England and WalesForty Martyrs of England and WalesThe Forty Martyrs of England and Wales are a group of men and women who were executed for treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England between 1535 and 1679...
- List of Catholic martyrs of the English Reformation
- Catholic Church in England and Wales
- Marian PersecutionsMarian PersecutionsThe Marian Persecutions were carried out against religious reformers, Protestants, and other dissenters for their heretical beliefs during the reign of Mary I of England. The excesses of this period were mythologized in the historical record of Foxe's Book of Martyrs...
- Oxford MartyrsOxford MartyrsThe Oxford Martyrs were tried for heresy in 1555 and subsequently burnt at the stake in Oxford, England, for their religious beliefs and teachings....
Further reading
- Bowden, Henry Sebastian. Mementoes of the Martyrs and Confessors of England & Wales [1910]. New edition revised by Donald Attwater. London. Burns & OatesBurns & OatesBurns & Oates is a British Roman Catholic publishing house which now exists as an imprint of Continuum. It was founded by James Burns in 1835, originally as a bookseller...
, 1962. - Challoner, RichardRichard ChallonerRichard Challoner was an English Roman Catholic bishop, a leading figure of English Catholicism during the greater part of the 18th century. He is perhaps most famous for his revision of the Douay Rheims translation of the Bible.-Early life:Challoner was born in the Protestant town of Lewes,...
. Memoirs of Missionary Priests, [1741]. New edition revised by J.H. Pollen. London. Burns Oates and Washbourne, 1924. - Connelly, Roland. The Eighty-five Martyrs. Essex. McCrimmons Publishing Company, 1987.
- Foley, B.C. The Eighty-five Blessed Martyrs. London. Incorporated Catholic Truth SocietyCatholic Truth SocietyCatholic Truth Society is a body that prints and publishes Catholic literature, including apologetics but also prayerbooks, spiritual reading, lives of saints and so forth...
. 1987. - Usherwood, Stephen and Elizabeth. We die for the Old Religion. London. Sheed & Ward. 1987.