The Colchester Martyrs were 16th-century

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Protestant 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 ...

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. They were executed 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 ...

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

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 Grea ...

, during the reigns of Henry VIII and

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...

. Their 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 ...

''.

1545 or 1546

" e Henry" and his servant were

burned 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 f ...

.Foxe's Book of Martyrs: 207. John Athy, John Heywood, Kerby, and Roger Clarke
/ref>

29 March 1555

John Lawrence, a priest and former Blackfriar at

Sudbury, Suffolk Sudbury (, ) is a market town in the south west of Suffolk, England, on the River Stour near the Essex border, north-east of London. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 13,063. It is the largest town in the Babergh local government d ...

was

.Foxe's Book of Martyrs: 275. William Pygot, Stephen Knight, and John Laurence
Exclassics.com; retrieved 17 May 2013.

14 June 1555

Nicholas Chamberlain (or Chamberlaine), a weaver from

Coggeshall Coggeshall ( or ) is a small town in Essex, England, between Colchester and Braintree on the Roman road Stane Street and the River Blackwater. It has almost 300 listed buildings and a market whose charter was granted in 1256 by Henry III. ...

was

.Thomas Bryce, "The Regester" in Edward Farr, ed.
''Select Poetry of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth''
(1845).
Exclassics.com; retrieved 17 May 2013.

28 April 1556

Christopher Lister, a husbandman from Dagenham, Essex, John Mace, an apothecary from

, Essex, John Spencer, a weaver from

, Essex, Simon Joyne, a sawyer, Richard Nicol, a weaver from

, Essex and John Hamond, a tanner from

, Essex were

.Foxe's Book of Martyrs 338. Christopher Lyster, John Mace, John Spencer, Simon Joyne, Richard Nichols and John Hamond.
Exclassics.com; retrieved 22 May 2013.

2 August 1557

William Bongeor, Thomas Benhote, William Purchase, Agnes Silverside, Helen Ewring, Elizabeth Folk, William Munt, John Johnson, Alice Munt and Rose Allen were taken to

Colchester Castle Colchester Castle is a Norman castle in Colchester, Essex, England, dating from the second half of the eleventh century. The keep of the castle is mostly intact and is the largest example of its kind anywhere in Europe, due to its being bui ...

and

17 September 1557

Agnes Bongeor, wife of Richard Bongeor, John Kurde, and Margaret (Widow) Thurston were

26 May 1558

William Harris, Richard Day and Christian George (female) were

.Foxe's Book of Martyrs: 378. Three Colchester Martyrs.
Exclassics.com; retrieved 30 May 2013.

Those who died in prison

James Gore died on 7 December 1555 in Colchester prisonFoxe's Book of Martyrs: 325. John Webbe, George Roper, Gregory Parke, William Wiseman, and James Gore
Exclassics.com. Retrieved on 2013-05-19. and John Thurston, who had been taken at Much Bentley, Essex, died in May 1557 in

.Foxe's Book of Martyrs: 362. Ten Colchester Martyrs
Exclassics.com; retrieved 29 May 2013.

Monuments

A monument to these victims of the

Marian persecutions 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 (1547–155 ...

is in St Peter's Church on North Hill; another is in the Colchester Town Hall.Virtual Tour of Colchester's Town Hall
camulos.com; accessed 31 July 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colchester Martyrs 16th-century Protestant martyrs People executed under Mary I of England People executed for heresy People from Colchester Executed British people 16th-century English people Year of birth unknown Martyred groups People executed by the Kingdom of England by burning Protestant martyrs of England Lists of Christian martyrs