The Martyrs' Memorial is a stone monument positioned at the intersection of
St Giles',
Magdalen Street
Magdalen Street is a short shopping street in central Oxford, England, just north of the original north gate in the city walls. Traditionally, the name of the street is pronounced and not as the name of the Magdalen College, which is always ...
and
Beaumont Street
Beaumont Street is a street in the centre of Oxford, England.
The street was laid out from 1828 to 1837 with elegant terraced houses in the Regency style. Before that, it was the location of Beaumont Palace, now noted by a plaque near the ju ...
, to the west of
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
, England. It commemorates the 16th-century
Oxford Martyrs
The Oxford Martyrs were Protestants tried for heresy in 1555 and burnt at the stake in Oxford, England, for their religious beliefs and teachings, during the Marian persecution in England.
The three martyrs were the Church of England bishop ...
.
History
The monument was built 300 years after the events of the
English Reformation
The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...
and commemorates the
Bishop of Worcester
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
,
Hugh Latimer
Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the s ...
, and
Bishop of London
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
,
Nicholas Ridley, who were burned nearby on 16 October 1555 after having been convicted for heresy because of their Protestant beliefs after a quick trial. It also commemorates the former
archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
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' ...
, who was similarly executed (after having watched his colleagues' painful deaths while imprisoned in a nearby tower and the Vatican having permitted his degradation from holy orders in February) on 21 March 1556. The Rev.
Charles Pourtales Golightly
Charles Pourtales Golightly (1807–1885) was an Anglican clergyman and religious writer.
Life
Golightly was born on 23 May 1807, the second son of William Golightly of Ham, Surrey, gentleman, by his wife, Frances Dodd. His mother's mother, Aldeg ...
(a descendant of
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
s who fled to England in that earlier era) and other Anglican clergy raised the funds to erect the monument during the Victorian era. They opposed the 19th-century
Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...
(also known as the Tractarian Movement), led by
John Keble
John Keble (25 April 1792 – 29 March 1866) was an English Anglican priest and poet who was one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Keble College, Oxford, was named after him.
Early life
Keble was born on 25 April 1792 in Fairford, Glouces ...
,
John Henry Newman
John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...
and others. Golightly and his colleagues were alarmed at the
Anglo-Catholic
Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches.
The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...
realignment the movement was bringing into the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
, and wanted the memorial to reflect the university's
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 ...
profession and anti-Catholic tradition.
Description
Designed by
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...
, the monument was completed in 1843 after two years' work, having replaced "a picturesque but tottering old house". The
Victorian Gothic
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
memorial, whose design dates from 1838, has been likened to the steeple of a cathedral, though it was consciously patterned on the
Eleanor crosses
Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
The name was introd ...
erected by King Edward I between 1290 and 1294 to the memory of his wife, Queen Eleanor of Castile (1241–1290).
Henry Weekes
Henry Weekes (14 January 1807 – 28 May 1877) was an English sculptor, best known for his portraiture. He was among the most successful British sculptors of the mid- Victorian period.
Personal life
Weekes was born at Canterbury, Kent, to Capo ...
sculpted the three statues of Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley.
The monument is listed at
Grade II*
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
The inscription on the base of the Martyrs' Memorial reads:
To the Glory of God, and in grateful commemoration of His servants, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer, Prelates of the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
, who near this spot yielded their bodies to be burned, bearing witness to the sacred truths which they had affirmed and maintained against the errors of the Church of Rome, and rejoicing that to them it was given not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for His sake; this monument was erected by public subscription in the year of our Lord God, MDCCCXLI 841
__NOTOC__
Year 841 ( DCCCXLI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place Europe
* June 25 – Battle of Fontenay: Frankish forces of Emperor Lothair I, and ...
Cuthbert Bede
Edward Bradley (25 March 1827 – 12 December 1889) was an English clergyman and novelist. He was born in Kidderminster and educated at Durham University from which he took his pen name Cuthbert Bede, B.A. His most popular book was '' The Adve ...
(in his novel ''
The Adventures of Mr Verdant Green
''The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green'' is a novel by Cuthbert Bede, a pen name of Edward Bradley (1827–1889). It covers the exploits of Verdant Green, a first-year student at Oxford University. Green is an undergraduate at the fictional B ...
'') wrote about the setting of the Martyrs' Memorial thus in 1853:
He who enters the city, as Mr Green did, from the Woodstock Road, and rolls down the shady avenue of St Giles', between St John's College and the Taylor Buildings, and past the graceful Martyrs' Memorial, will receive impressions such as probably no other city in the world could convey.
The actual execution site is close by in
Broad Street, just outside the line of the old city walls. The site is marked by an iron cross sunk in the road.
Current condition
The Memorial deteriorated during the 20th century, but underwent a full restoration in 2002, as part of the 75th anniversary of the
Oxford Preservation Trust
The Oxford Preservation Trust was founded in 1927 to preserve the city of Oxford, England. The Trust seeks to enhance Oxford by encouraging thoughtful development and new design, while protecting historic buildings and green open spaces.
The T ...
. The Oxford Preservation Trust opened a public fundraising campaign in April 2001, and subsequently cleaned the memorial, repainted the heraldic shields, and reshaped and replaced the incomplete and missing statues. The restored monument was unveiled in January 2003.
Popular rumour is that in the past students have misled foreign tourists about the nature of the Memorial and convinced them it was the spire of an underground church, which could be toured for a modest fee. This would result in the tourists venturing down a nearby flight of stairs which actually led to the public toilets.
See also
*
Christian martyrs
In Christianity, a martyr is a person considered to have died because of their testimony for Jesus or faith in Jesus. In years of the early church, stories depict this often occurring through death by sawing, stoning, crucifixion, burning at th ...
*
Religion in the United Kingdom
Religion in the United Kingdom, and in the countries that preceded it, has been dominated for over 1,000 years by various forms of Christianity, replacing Romano-British religions, Celtic and Anglo-Saxon paganism as the primary religion. Rel ...
*
Oxford Spanish Civil War memorial
The Oxford Spanish Civil War memorial is a monument in Oxford dedicated to the 31 known local residents who fought in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) against Nationalist forces. Erected and unveiled in 2017, the memorial is located close to ...
References
{{reflist
Buildings and structures completed in 1843
History of Oxford
Tourist attractions in Oxford
Monuments and memorials in Oxfordshire
Buildings and structures in Oxford
Christianity in Oxford
Martyrs' monuments and memorials
1843 establishments in England