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 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 ...

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. Colches ...

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 ...

, during the reigns of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

and Mary I. Their story is recorded in '' Foxe's Book of Martyrs''.

1545 or 1546

" e Henry" and his servant were burned at the stake.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 The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and Mysticism, mystic Saint ...

at Sudbury, Suffolk was burned at the stake.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,

was burned at the stake.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 Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

, 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 burned at the stake.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 built ...

and burned at the stake.

17 September 1557

Agnes Bongeor, wife of Richard Bongeor, John Kurde, and Margaret (Widow) Thurston were burned at the stake

26 May 1558

William Harris, Richard Day and Christian George (female) were burned at the stake.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 is in St Peter's Church on North Hill; another is in the

Colchester Town Hall Colchester Town Hall is a municipal building in the High Street in Colchester, Essex, England. The town hall, which is the headquarters of Borough of Colchester, Colchester Borough Council, is a Grade I listed building. History The first buil ...

.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