John Lassells (also Lascelles; died 1546) was an English sixteenth-century courtier and

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

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 ...

. His report to Archbishop

Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...

initiated the investigation which led to the execution of Queen

Catherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542), also spelled Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the s ...

Life

Lassells was the son of Richard, or George, Lassells of

Gateford Gateford is an estate in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located 1 mile north-west of Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Notti ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

(d. 1522), gentleman, and his wife Dorothy, the daughter of Sir Brian Sandford. The exact date or place of his birth is unknown. He entered the household of

Sir Francis Bryan Sir Francis Bryan (about 1490 – 2 February 1550) was an English courtier and diplomat during the reign of Henry VIII. He was Chief Gentleman of the Privy chamber and Lord Justice of Ireland. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Bryan always reta ...

in the 1530s after studying law at

Furnival's Inn Furnival's Inn was an Inn of Chancery which formerly stood on the site of the present Holborn Bars building (the former Prudential Assurance Company building) in Holborn, London, England. History Furnival's Inn was founded about 1383 when Wil ...

, but was dismissed in 1538 because of his advocacy of religious reform. He was in the service of Henry VIII's chief minister,

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charge ...

, an advocate of religious reform, as a messenger in 1538–9. In late 1539 Lassells, a client-friend of the Earl of Surrey, was appointed as a Sewer in the King's

Privy Chamber A privy chamber was the private apartment of a royal residence in England. The Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were noble-born servants to the Crown who would wait and attend on the King in private, as well as during various court activities, f ...

. After Cromwell's execution on 28 July 1540, Lassells is recorded as having advised his fellow reformers in September of that year that although Bishop

Stephen Gardiner Stephen Gardiner (27 July 1483 – 12 November 1555) was an English Catholic bishop and politician during the English Reformation period who served as Lord Chancellor during the reign of Queen Mary I and King Philip. Early life Gardiner was b ...

and

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, (1473 – 25 August 1554) was a prominent English politician and nobleman of the Tudor era. He was an uncle of two of the wives of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both of whom were beheade ...

, the principal members of the conservative faction at court, were obstacles to further religious reform, they would eventually overthrow themselves if left alone. Despite this advice to his co-religionists to let matters take their own course, Lassells was personally involved in the following year in the downfall of Norfolk's niece, Queen

. Before her marriage to John Hall, Lassells' sister

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

had been in the household of Norfolk's stepmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk at Lambeth while Catherine was a young girl under the lax guardianship of the Duchess, her step-grandmother. When Catherine became Queen, Lassells, an ardent reformist, had suggested to his sister that she should seek a place in Catherine's household, but Mary refused, giving as her reason that she knew Catherine to be 'light both in living and in ’, and describing the Queen's several sexual indiscretions before her marriage. They included that with her music master, Henry Manox, and a Howard kinsman,

Francis Dereham Francis Dereham (c. 1506/09 – executed ) was a Tudor courtier whose involvement with Henry VIII's fifth Queen, Catherine Howard, in her youth, prior to engagement with the king was eventually found out and led to his arrest. The information ...

, in the Dowager Duchess's household. Lassells immediately reported Mary's words to Archbishop

, setting in motion a process which ended with the Queen's execution. According to Ryrie, Lassells 'maintained that he revealed the information to avert a charge of misprision of treason, which may well be true, but he can hardly have regretted the destruction of so prominent a Howard'. By 1546 Lassells was dissatisfied with the pace of religious reform, and about 11 May of that year he was arrested and sent to the

Tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

. He was denounced as a patron of Richard Laynam, 'a London prophet who predicted the imminent overthrow of the King', is described by

John Bale John Bale (21 November 1495 – November 1563) was an English churchman, historian and controversialist, and Bishop of Ossory in Ireland. He wrote the oldest known historical verse drama in English (on the subject of King John), and developed ...

as the '' of his friend, the

sacramentarian The Sacramentarians were Christians during the Protestant Reformation who denied not only the Roman Catholic transubstantiation but also the Lutheran sacramental union (as well as similar doctrines such as consubstantiation). During the turbule ...

Anne Askew Anne Askew (sometimes spelled Ayscough or Ascue) married name Anne Kyme, (152116 July 1546) was an English writer, poet, and Anabaptist preacher who was condemned as a heretic during the reign of Henry VIII of England. She and Margaret Chey ...

, and is considered by a modern historian, A.G. Dickens, to have been the 'leading spirit' of the radical group at court. Lascells was arraigned 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 ...

on 12 July, refused to recant, and on 16 July 1546 was burned at Smithfield with Anne Askew and two others. While in prison he wrote a Protestation which was printed after his death.. His story is recorded in ''

Foxe's Book of Martyrs The ''Actes and Monuments'' (full title: ''Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, Touching Matters of the Church''), popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, is a work of Protestant history and martyrology by Protestant Engli ...

''.

Footnotes

References

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External links

Account of the martyrdom of John Lassells
from ''Foxe's Book of Martyrs'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Lascelles, John 1546 deaths 16th-century Protestant martyrs People executed under Henry VIII People executed for heresy Executed British people People executed by the Kingdom of England by burning Year of birth unknown People from Bassetlaw District Protestant martyrs of England