Group   

Stratford Martyrs

Categories: Execution, Religion

The church website has done a very thorough job on the history not just of the memorial but the church and the area so we quote them here on the background to the martyrs: "In 1553 Queen Mary Tudor came to the throne of England. She was a devout Roman Catholic and longed to bring her people back to the church of Rome. This made her unpopular with English noblemen who had acquired wealth and lands when Henry VIII confiscated the Catholic monasteries, and also with Parliament. In 1554 an unsuccessful Protestant insurrection broke out under the leadership of Sir Thomas Wyat. Wyat was defeated and executed. Mary married the Catholic King Philip II of Spain, she restored the Catholic creed, and revived the laws against heresy. For three years rebel bodies dangled from gibbets, and heretics were relentlessly executed, some 300 being burned at the stake. The queen, now known as Bloody Mary, was hated. She died in 1558, in London, and with her died the persecutions."

Garry at St John's also kindly gave us permission to use two of their pictures, this one and Bolton.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Stratford Martyrs

Commemorated ati

Stratford Martyrs

The event on 27 June 1556 was a big draw: "These 11 men and 2 women were brou...

Read More

Other Subjects

Carthusian Martyrs

Carthusian Martyrs

18 Carthusians were executed for refusing to accept Henry VIII as the head of the church of England. 16 were from London Charterhouse, including the prior John Houghton, and 2 from other English Ch...

Group, Execution, Religion

2 memorials
Corporal Malcolm MacPhearson

Corporal Malcolm MacPhearson

See Farquar Shaw for the story of the Black Watch mutiny.

Person, Armed Forces, Execution, Scotland

1 memorial
Guy Fawkes

Guy Fawkes

Born a protestant in York but became a Catholic when his widowed mother married a Catholic. A professional soldier, he fought for Spain but when he realised that Spain would not invade Britain and ...

Person, Execution, Nationalism, Seriously Famous

1 memorial
John Denley

John Denley

Protestant martyr. He was believed to have been a Baptist, which was rather dangerous in the reign of Mary I. Whilst returning from a visit to Maidstone, he was stopped by Edmund Tyrell, a justice ...

Person, Execution, Religion

1 memorial
Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury

Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England.  In the latter role he was associated with the taxes against which the Peasants Revolted and so, along with Robert Hales, he was dragged fro...

Person, Execution, Politics & Administration, Religion

1 memorial