St Edward King and Martyr is a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

located on

Peas Hill Peas Hill is a street in central Cambridge, England.Peas Hill
, Cambridge City Council. I ...

in central

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, England. It is dedicated to

Edward the Martyr Edward ( ang, Eadweard, ; 18 March 978), often called the Martyr, was King of the English from 975 until he was murdered in 978. Edward was the eldest son of King Edgar, but was not his father's acknowledged heir. On Edgar's death, the leader ...

, who was King of England from 975 until his murder in 978. In 1525 it was at St Edward's that what is said to have been perhaps the first "openly evangelical" sermon of the English Reformation was delivered, and the church is sometimes labelled the "Cradle of the Reformation". It has been considered a

royal peculiar A royal peculiar is a Church of England parish or church exempt from the jurisdiction of the diocese and the province in which it lies, and subject to the direct jurisdiction of the monarch, or in Cornwall by the duke. Definition The church par ...

, not belonging to a diocese, but this is disputed.

History

Foundation

The present church was founded in the 13th century on what is believed to be the site of an earlier Anglo-Saxon church. In around 1400 the church was rebuilt, creating the present

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

and arches of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, though the arch at the base of the tower dates from the original building. There are some pictures and a description at the Cambridgeshire Churches website. When Henry VI ordered the clearing of land in order to create King's College, the church of

St John Zachary St John Zachary (meaning "St John, son of St Zachary", i.e. John the Baptist) was a church, first mentioned in official records in 1181, within the City of London, England, on the north side of Gresham Street, Aldersgate. Its vicar from 25 May ...

that was used by both Trinity Hall and Clare was demolished. In 1445, by way of recompense, the living of St Edward's Church was granted to Trinity Hall, and the Chaplain is still appointed by the College. Two 15th-century side-chapels were built in St Edward's, the north chapel used by Trinity Hall, and the south by Clare. Latimer's Pulpit 01

Reformation

St Edward's played a pivotal role in the English Reformation. During the 1520s a group of evangelicals led by

Thomas Bilney Thomas Bilney ( 149519 August 1531) was an English Christian martyr. Early life Thomas Bilney was born around 1495 in Norfolk, most likely in Norwich. Nothing is known of his parents except that they outlived him. He entered Trinity Hall, ...

had been meeting to discuss the preachings of

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

and

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

's translation of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

. At the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve 1525, one of the group, Robert Barnes, gave what is believed to be the first openly evangelical sermon in any English church, and accused the Catholic Church of

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 ...

. Over the next decade many of the great reformers preached at St Edward's, including the Oxford Martyr

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 ...

, who was a regular preacher until he left Cambridge in 1531. These events have led to St Edward's being referred to as the "Cradle of the Reformation".

Recent history

The buildings of central Cambridge have led to St Edward's becoming somewhat hidden away from view in its location on the west side of the

Cambridge Guildhall Cambridge Guildhall is a civic building in the centre of the historic city of Cambridge, England. It includes two halls, ''The Large Hall'' and ''The Small Hall'', and is used for many disparate events such as comedy acts, conferences, craft fai ...

. It is surrounded on three sides by its namesake pedestrian alleyway, St Edward's Passage, whose 'Y-shaped' form has remained unchanged since at least the 16th century: there is only a tiny churchyard. It holds Grade II* listed status. During the 1930s, St Edward's served as the

Toc H Toc H (also TH) is an international Christian movement. The name is an abbreviation for Talbot House, "Toc" signifying the letter T in the signals spelling alphabet used by the British Army in World War I. A soldiers' rest and recreation centre ...

church for the east of England, and became popular with students, who referred to it as "Teddy's". The present east window was designed by George Gilbert Scott and was added during the restorations of 1858–60. The theologian

F. D. Maurice John Frederick Denison Maurice (1805–1872), known as F. D. Maurice, was an English Anglican theologian, a prolific author, and one of the founders of Christian socialism. Since the Second World War, interest in Maurice has expanded."Fre ...

was chaplain at St Edward's from 1870–72. The acting vicar-chaplain is Reverend Dr Mark Scarlata, who is also Old Testament lecturer and tutor at

St Mellitus College St Mellitus College is an English theological college established in 2007 by the Diocese of London and the Diocese of Chelmsford of the Church of England. It has campuses in Earl's Court, Chelmsford, Liverpool and Plymouth, with growing links wit ...

, London.

References

External links

St Edward King and Martyr church website
{{coord, 52.20465, N, 0.1186, E, type:edu_region:GB, display=title

Edward King and Martyr Grade II* listed buildings in Cambridge History of Cambridge