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Marian Marytr's Monument
- St Bartholomew's Hospital - Marian Martyrs. EC1, West Smithfield, London, England.
- Here more than 60 Protestants were burned at the stake, mainly in the reign of Queen Mary. All their names are recorded on a panel at St James Church, Clerkenwell.
Plaque inscription:
{In gilded letters around and below the granite arch:}
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. The noble army of martyrs praise Thee!
{On the main tablet:}
- Within a few feet of this spot,
- John Rogers,
- John Bradford,
- John Philpot,
- and other servants of God, suffered death by fire for the faith of Christ, in the years 1555, 1556, 1557.
{On the small brass plaque below:}
Erected 1870 by the Protestant Alliance London.
From The Reformation
A week of Martyrdoms took place 4-9 February 1555. First to face this English Inquisition (in form if not in title) was John Rogers, prebendary of St Paul's and friend of William Tyndale. Arraigned with him were Bishop Hooper, Laurence Saunders Rector of All Hallows Church; John Bradford a popular preacher; Rowland Taylor Rector of Hadleigh, and six others. Five were deemed to be obstinate heretics to be burnt , and this to be at the places where each had ministered. The object was to strike fear and terror on the widest possible scale. The disposal, for that was what it became, was : Rogers - London; Saunders - Coventry; Hooper - Gloucester; Taylor - Hadleigh. The fifth, John Bradford, was deferred for some months.
Rogers was refused permission to see his German wife and only did see her and their ten children while on the way to the stake. The French ambassador reputedly wrote that "He went to be burnt as if he had been going to a marriage". Of his death it can be said that the first of the Marian martyrs was a triumph for Protestantism , rather than a defeat desired and expected by the Catholics. ...
Many of the deaths are dealt with in Foxe's Acts and Monuments, and need not be repeated here. The carnage continued more or less unabated through Mary's thankfully short reign during which (at least) 277 persons were burnt, including - five bishops, twenty one clergymen, eight gentlemen, eighty four tradesmen, one hundred husband-men and servants, fifty five women, and four children. The aged Bishop Gardiner withdrew from the Commission after the condemnation of six martyrs in Essex; thereafter the focus fell in Bonner's diocese, which included London and much of Essex.
In London itself, Smithfield was the popular place for burnings when as many as seven were burnt at one time.
resources
- Wikipedia
- London Remembers
- FindAGrave
- Open Access - List of Protestant martyrs of the English Reformation
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