In a time when there was great religious tension in England, Henry VIII broke away from the Roman Catholic Church to form the Church of England. His son, Edward VI followed his father in supporting the new church. However, when his eldest sister Mary, a Roman Catholic married to the King of Spain, came to the throne she immediately sought to close down the English Church.
On a recent trip to Oxford I saw the place where three prominent bishops of the Church of England were burnt for heresy because they refused to renounce their Anglican faith. In October 1555 Bishops Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer were tried for heresy in St Mary the Virgin Church in Oxford and found guilty. Latimer and Ridley were executed on 16th October 1555 whilst Cranmer had to wait until March of the following year for his execution. The executions took place in what is now Broad St and a cross in the road marks the spot.
Nearby a tablet in the wall records the event.
It is said that the flames were so fierce that the original doors of Balliol college (since replaced) carried the scorce marks. In nearby St Giles a memorial to the memory of the 3 martyrs was erected in 1838.
Pete's Favourite Things 