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The Oxford Martyrs were
The three were tried at
File:Joseph Martin Kronheim - Foxe's Book of Martyrs Plate V - Latimer before the Council.jpg, " Latimer before the Council", from an 1887 edition of ''
The Oxford Guide information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxford Martyrs 1555 in England 1556 in England Groups of Anglican saints History of Oxford Christianity in Oxford 16th-century Christian saints 16th-century Protestant martyrs 1555 deaths People executed under Mary I of England Martyred groups Executed British people People executed for heresy 16th-century English people People executed by the Kingdom of England by burning Executed English people Protestant martyrs of England
Protestants
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
tried 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 1555 and 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 ...
in Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, England, for their religious beliefs and teachings, during the Marian persecution in England.
The three 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 ...
s were 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 ...
bishop
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 ...
s 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 ...
, Nicholas Ridley and 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' ...
, the 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 ...
.
History
The three were tried at University Church of St Mary the Virgin
The University Church of St Mary the Virgin (St Mary's or SMV for short) is an Oxford church situated on the north side of the High Street. It is the centre from which the University of Oxford grew and its parish consists almost exclusively of un ...
, the official church of the University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
on the High Street, Oxford
The High Street in Oxford, England, known locally as the High, runs between Carfax, generally seen as the centre of the city, and Magdalen Bridge to the east.
Overview
The street has been described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "''one of the world' ...
. The men were imprisoned at the former Bocardo Prison
The Bocardo Prison in Oxford, England existed until 1771. Its origins were medieval, and its most famous prisoners were the Protestant Oxford martyrs (Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley) in 1555. Other prisoners included a number of ...
near the extant St Michael at the North Gate
__NOTOC__
St Michael at the North Gate is a church in Cornmarket Street, at the junction with Ship Street, in central Oxford, England. The name derives from the church's location on the site of the north gate of Oxford when it was surrounded b ...
church (at the north gate of the city walls) in Cornmarket Street
Cornmarket Street (colloquially referred to as Cornmarket or historically The Corn) is a major shopping street and pedestrian precinct in Oxford, England that runs north to south between Magdalen Street and Carfax Tower.
To the east is the Gold ...
. The door of their cell is on display in the tower of the church.
The men were burnt at the stake just outside the city walls to the north, where Broad Street is now located. Latimer and Ridley were burnt on 16 October 1555 for denying the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist
The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way.
There are a number of Christian denomina ...
. Cranmer was burnt five months later on 21 March 1556.
A small area paved with granite setts
A sett, also known as a block or Belgian block, is a broadly rectangular quarried stone used in paving roads and walkways. Formerly in widespread use, particularly on steeper streets because setts provided horses' hooves with better grip tha ...
forming a cross in the centre of the road outside the front of Balliol College
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 ...
marks the site. The Victorian spire-like Martyrs' Memorial
The Martyrs' Memorial is a stone monument positioned at the intersection of St Giles' Street, Oxford, St Giles', Magdalen Street and Beaumont Street, to the west of Balliol College, Oxford, England. It commemorates the 16th-century Oxford Mar ...
, at the south end of St Giles' nearby, commemorates the events.
In literature
Lydia Sigourney
Lydia Huntley Sigourney (September 1, 1791 – June 10, 1865), ''née'' Lydia Howard Huntley, was an American poet, author, and publisher during the early and mid 19th century. She was commonly known as the "Sweet Singer of Hartford." She had a ...
's poem was published in her 1827 collection of poetry.
Gallery
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 ...
'' illustrated by Kronheim.
File:Joseph Martin Kronheim - Foxe's Book of Martyrs Plate VII - Death of Cranmer.jpg, "Death of Cranmer", from the same.
File:Christ Church (Episcopal), Little Rock - window.jpg, Stained-glass window depicting the Oxford Martyrs. Located in Christ Church, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
File:Oxford Martyrs plaque 20170803.jpg, A memorial plaque, installed in 2008, to the Martyrs of the Reformation both Catholic and Protestant who lived in Oxfordshire, taught at the University of Oxford, or were brought to Oxford for execution. Northern wall of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford.
File:St Michael at the North Gate cell door.jpg, The cell door from the Bocardo Prison
The Bocardo Prison in Oxford, England existed until 1771. Its origins were medieval, and its most famous prisoners were the Protestant Oxford martyrs (Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley) in 1555. Other prisoners included a number of ...
preserved in the tower of St Michael at the North Gate
__NOTOC__
St Michael at the North Gate is a church in Cornmarket Street, at the junction with Ship Street, in central Oxford, England. The name derives from the church's location on the site of the north gate of Oxford when it was surrounded b ...
, Oxford.
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 ...
* James Brooks, one of the papal sub-delegates in the Royal Commission for the trial
* List of Protestant martyrs of the English Reformation
Protestants were executed in England under heresy laws during the reigns of Henry VIII (1509–1547) and Mary I (1553–1558). Radical Christians also were executed, though in much smaller numbers, during the reigns of Edward VI (1547–1553), ...
* Martyrs' Memorial, Oxford
The Martyrs' Memorial is a stone monument positioned at the intersection of St Giles', Magdalen Street and Beaumont Street
Beaumont Street is a street in the centre of Oxford, England.
The street was laid out from 1828 to 1837 with el ...
* 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 ...
* 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 ...
External links
The Oxford Guide information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxford Martyrs 1555 in England 1556 in England Groups of Anglican saints History of Oxford Christianity in Oxford 16th-century Christian saints 16th-century Protestant martyrs 1555 deaths People executed under Mary I of England Martyred groups Executed British people People executed for heresy 16th-century English people People executed by the Kingdom of England by burning Executed English people Protestant martyrs of England