Bartholomew Legate (c. 157518 March 1612) was an English

anti-Trinitarian Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the mainstream Christian doctrine of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence ...

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

. Legate was born in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

and became a dealer in cloth. This also cites: * T. Fuller, ''Church History of Britain'' (1655) *

S. R. Gardiner Samuel Rawson Gardiner (4 March 1829 – 24 February 1902) was an English historian, who specialized in 17th-century English history as a prominent foundational historian of the Puritan revolution and the English Civil War. Life The son of ...

, ''History of England'', vol. ii. (London, 1904) In the 1590s, Bartholomew and his two brothers, Walter and Thomas, began preaching around the London area. Their unorthodox message rejected the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England and their rituals. The brothers' views probably influenced the emergence of the

Seekers The Seekers, or Legatine-Arians as they were sometimes known, were an English dissenting group that emerged around the 1620s, probably inspired by the preaching of three brothers – Walter, Thomas, and Bartholomew Legate. Seekers considered all ...

. Together with his brother Thomas, he was put in prison for

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

in 1611. Thomas died in

Newgate Prison Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...

, London, but Bartholomew's imprisonment was not a rigorous one.

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

argued with him, and on several occasions, he was brought before the

Consistory court A consistory court is a type of ecclesiastical court, especially within the Church of England where they were originally established pursuant to a charter of King William the Conqueror, and still exist today, although since about the middle of th ...

of London, but without any definite result. Eventually, after having threatened to bring an action for wrongful imprisonment, Legate was tried before a full Consistory Court in February 1612, was found guilty of

blasphemous Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...

, and was delivered to the secular authorities for punishment. Refusing to retract his opinions, he was

burnt at the stake Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment ...

at Smithfield on 18 March 1612. Legate was the last person burned in London for his religious opinions, and died just three weeks before

Edward Wightman Edward Wightman (1566 – 11 April 1612) was an English Radical Reformation, radical Anabaptist Minister (Christianity), minister, executed at Lichfield on charges of heresy. He was the last person to be Execution by burning, burned at the stake ...

, who was burned at Lichfield in April 1612, the last to suffer in this way in England. Assessments include:

References

External links

* http://www.antipas.org/books/protesters/prot_14.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Legate, Bartholomew 1570s births 1612 deaths Executed people from Essex People executed for blasphemy People executed for heresy Executed British people People executed by the Kingdom of England by burning People executed by Stuart England Protestant martyrs of England