In sixteenth-century England
people were expected to follow the religious beliefs of the reigning
monarch. When Edward
VI was
king they were told they had to be Protestants. However, when Mary
Tudor became queen they had to change to being Catholics. After
Elizabeth came to the throne they had to be Protestants again.
Those who refused to follow
the religious beliefs of
their monarch were accused of heresy. During their trials, defendants
were given every opportunity to recant (confess their religious errors).
If they did this they would be sentenced to a spell in prison. However,
if they refused to recant and were found guilty of heresy, they were
burnt to death.
During the reign of Henry
VIII, people had to agree that the king, rather than the Pope
in Rome, was the head of the English church. Those Roman
Catholics that refused to accept this were executed.
In the reign of Mary,
Protestants were executed for refusing to accept that the Pope was
the head of the church. Others were executed for reading the English
Bible. However, the most common cause of heresy concerned something
called transubstantiation. Catholics believed that the bread and wine
used at communion
became the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Protestants who refused
to believe this miracle happened during communion were in danger of
being executed.
Number
of people executed for heresy in England and Wales.
Heretics were always burned
in public. These executions usually took place on market day so they
would be seen by the largest number of people possible. Supporters
of the condemned heretic would also attend the execution. In some
cases people demonstrated against the idea of killing heretics. If
caught, these people would be taken away and flogged.
The condemned heretic
was tied to a stake surrounded by faggots (bundles of sticks). Friends
of the heretic were allowed to hang a small bag of gunpowder around
the neck of the condemned man or woman. The idea was that the gunpowder
would explode soon after the faggots were lit. When this happened
the heretic died fairly quickly. However, sometimes the gunpowder
was defective and failed to explode. If the faggots were damp, the
fire would burn very slowly and these people suffered in agony for
as long as an hour before they died.
When Elizabeth
became queen some of her ministers wanted her to execute Catholics
who refused to accept Protestant beliefs. Elizabeth refused and was
only willing to execute heretics who tried to overthrow her.
Although heretics were
rarely executed during the reign of Elizabeth, people were still persecuted
for their religious beliefs. Elizabeth wanted her subjects to be moderate
Protestants (Anglicans). As well as Catholics, extreme Protestants
called Puritans were also punished by
Elizabeth.
Woodcut
of an heretic being tortured on the rack in the Tower of London.
(1)
John Gerard was a Catholic priest who was tortured in the Tower
of London on 14 April
1597.
The torture chamber was
under- ground and dark... every device and instrument of torture was
there... They left me hanging by my hands and arms fastened above
my head... a gripping pain came over me... All the blood in my body
seemed to rush up into my arms and hands and I thought the blood was
oozing out from the ends of my fingers and the pores of my skin. But
was only a sensation caused by my flesh swelling above the irons holding
them... The warder went on and on, begging and imploring me to pity
myself and tell the gentleman what they wanted to know... More than
once I interrupted him, "Stop this talk, for heaven's sake. Do
you think I'm going to throw my soul away to save my life?"
(2)
On 21 March 1556, Thomas
Cranmer, the first Protestant Archbishop
of Canterbury was executed for heresy.
An eyewitness in the crowd described his death.
Coming to
the stake... he put off his garments with haste, and stood upright
in his shirt The fire was lit... he stretched out his right hand,
and thrust it into the flame, and held it there before the flame came
to any other part of the body... As soon as the fire got up, he was
very soon dead, never stirring or crying all the while.
(3)
Rowland Lea worked in the Tower
of London during Lady
Jane Grey's imprisonment. In his diary, Rowland Lea described the
execution of Lady
Jane Grey on the green within the
walls of the Tower of London.
Lady Jane was calm, although . Elizabeth and Ellen wept...
The executioner kneeled
down and asked for forgiveness, which she gave most willingly... she
said: "I pray you dispatch me quickly." She tied a handkerchief
over her eyes; then feeling for the block, she said, "What shall
I do? Where is it?" One of the bystanders guided her... She laid
down her head upon the block, and stretched forth her body.
(4)
While she was in the Tower
of London,
the Protestant, Anne
Askew, wrote her own account of being
tortured. A copy of this account was then smuggled out to her friends.
(29 June, 1546)
Then they
did put me on the rack, because I confessed no ladies or gentlemen,
to be of my opinion... the Lord Chancellor and Master Rich took pains
to rack me with their own hands, till I was nearly dead. I fainted...
and then they recovered me again. After that I sat two long hours
arguing with the Lord Chancellor, upon the bare floor... With many
flattering words, he tried to persuade me to leave my opinion... I
said that I would rather die than break my faith.
(5)
John Foxe, Book of Martyrs (1563)
The Lord Chancellor sent
to Anne Askew letters offering her the king's pardon if she would
recant.. she refused... and thus the good Anne Askew ended the course
of her long agonies and was burnt at the stake.
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