Lincolnshire Martyrs ~ Early English Catholic Martyrs
Catholic Martyrs from Lincolnshire
I came across a very interesting list of names yesterday, not only fascinating as a list but also a potential goldmine for further investigation
The list below is of people from the Stuart and Tudor times who gave their lives, or at least were put to death, for their religious views i.e. they were Catholics.
This is a list of which was sent to the Apostolic See of Rome, the Pope if you will, for Holy blessing and to be ‘officially’ considered as martyrs to the Catholic cause.
They are all from Lincolnshire but I’m not sure whether they were all fully fledged martyrs as we’d take the term today but if they passed Papal muster then these martyrs would first be made Venerable, then Blessed, and finally Canonised as Martyrs.
What I find interesting is the history behind some of these people - take a look down the list and you’ll see people hanged and the like.
I think it could be worth looking into some of these people and to see whether they really were Martyrs to the Catholic cause or . . .
I’ve picked on the have a dig who stuck out for me, he’ll be in the first comment, feel free to dig away at any name you fancy, either now or in the future should you read this subsequently it could become an extremely interesting page
-
Anderson, Henry, Secular Priest, Vicar of Morton, Linc, temp. Henry VIII.
Bradley, Thos. Norbertine, sub-prior of Barlings Abbey, temp. Henry VIII.
Brygges, alias Kendal, Wm., Norbertine, of Barlings Abbey, temp. Henry VIII.
Burraby, Wm., alias Moreland, Cistercian, of Louth Park Abbey, temp, Henry VIII,
Catton, alias Warryn, Richard, Norbertine, of Barlings, temp. Henry VIII.
Cooper, Wm., Beneditine, of Bardney Abbey, temp. Henry VIII.
Cotman, Robt., layman (?), of Spilsby, temp. Henry VIII.
Cove, or Coy, Wm. Gregory, Benedictine, of Bardney, temp. Henry VIII.
Francis, John Ambrose, Benedicline, of Bardney, temp, Henry VIII.
Fisher, or Flassher, John, Priest of Scartho, Lincs., temp. Henry VIII.
Foster, Thos., S,J., died in Lincoln prison, 1648.
Grey, Ralph, of Louth, Priest of Croft, Linc., temp. Henry VIII.
Hambleton, Wm., Sec. Priest, died prisoner at Lincoln, 1685.
Harrison, Richard, Cistercian, Abbot of Kirkstead Abbey Lincolnshire., executed at Lincoln, temp. Henry VIII.
Heron, John, Benedictine, of Bardney, temp, Henry VIII. (But, query, was he executed?)
Holme, Wm., Norbertine, of Barlings, temp. Henry VIII.
Holton, Wm., of Louth, Vicar of Cockerington, temp. Henry VIII.
Hudd, John, S.J.. died prisoner at Lincoln, 1649.
Hudson, Robert, of Louth, temp. Henry VIII.
Hunt, Thomas, Secular Priest, hanged at Lincoln, July, 1600.
Hussey, John, Lord, of Sleaford, hanged at Lincoln, July, 1537.
Jenkinson, Henry, Cistercian, of Kirkstead (professed of Vaudey). feudal, Thos., S.T.B., Vicar of Louth.
Kingston, John, cleric, of Louth, Vicar of Tetney. (But, query, executed ?)
Kirbye, or Wade, Reginald, Cistercian, of Kirkstead (professed of Vaudey).
Lansdale, Londysdale, or Lednam, Hugh, Benedictine, Bardney.
Laynton, Richard Philip, Benedictine, Bardney.
Leche Edward, yeoman, of Fullaby, Linc.
Leeche, Robt, husbandman, March zyth, 1537.
Leeche, Wm,, yeoman, of Lincolnshire, executed, July 8th, 1539, at St. Thomas Waterings,
At Louth were put to death over 61 “of all conditions,” temp. Henry VIII.
Lyon, john, Priest, of Blscathorpe, Linc., temp. Henry VIII.
Mackerell, Matthew, Norbertine, Ab. of Barlings and Bp. of Chalcedon, temp, Hen, VIII.
Manbye, John (or Thos,), of Louthe, temp. Henry VIII.
Neve, Roger, saddler, Lincolnshire, executed at Tyburn, 27th March, 1537.
Noble, Thos., of Louth, temp. Henry VIII.
Nixon [Nycson], Wm., of Alford, temp. Henry VIII.
Phelipson, Richard, of Alford, temp. Henry VIII.
Retforthe, or Redforth, Thos., Parson of Snelland, Linc.
Singleton, Robt., clericus, nuper de Stamford, Line.
Smith, Thos.j Vicar of Horbelyn, Linc, (but, query, executed ?), temp. Henry VIII.
Smith, Wm., of Louth, temp. Henry VIII.
Smythe, Wm., Parson of Donnington, Linc., temp. Henry VIII.
Sprott, Thos., Secular Priest, hanged at Lincoln, July, 1600
Swale, alias Ripon, Wm., Cistercian, of Kirkstead.
Tenant, John Jerome, Benedictine, of Bardney} temp. Henry VIII.
Wade, John, of Boston, temp. Henry VIII.
Watson, Thos., Bishop of Lincoln, died a prisoner in Wisbeach Castle, September 2nd, 1584..
Wharton, or Hodgeson, James, Norbertine, Barlings, temp. Henry VIII.
Willson, James, of Alford, Linc, temp. Henry VIII.
Yolk, Thos., of Louth, temp. Henry VIII.
Yours in Regular Martyrdom
Rod
Rod said,
December 5, 2009 @ 8:53 am
Roger Neve, saddler, Lincolnshire, executed at Tyburn, 27th March, 1537
This is one that first caught my eye for further investigation.
He actually comes from Horncastle and took part in the Lincolnshire Uprising !
He was found guilty of High Treason, taken to Tyburn and “hanged, cut down alive, disembowelled and their entrails burnt (while they are still alive), and beheaded”
Anymore for anymore ?
Rod
Amiguru said,
December 5, 2009 @ 11:40 am
Rod,
May I respectfully suggest that you may need to adjust Swale, alias Ripon, Wm., in your list.
I’ll see if I can help with any later.
Regards,
le
N
Amiguru said,
December 5, 2009 @ 12:10 pm
Rod,
First rapid result: John Fysher of Scartho, priest was condemned at Lincoln 6 March 1537.
Care must be taken not to confuse him with John Fisher, Roman Catholic bishop, cardinal and martyr. 1469-1535.
Regards,
le
N
Amiguru said,
December 5, 2009 @ 12:18 pm
Rod,
Apologies for my disjointed contributions to this thread but have just come across this Youtube clip of Cardinal Fisher’s execution. I thought it might add a bit of graphical awe to the theme.
Must head off now and prepare chops for dinner
N
le
Amiguru said,
December 5, 2009 @ 12:20 pm
Sorry, got ahead of myself yet again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGlFPwlRscM
N
le
Rod said,
December 5, 2009 @ 12:46 pm
Neville,
timely pointer re Fisher and a great clip, brings it home !
Best
Rod
Rod said,
December 5, 2009 @ 12:59 pm
Thomas Hunt
He did achieve official martyrdom status and was ‘blessed’.
Educated in Spain and was then ordained at Seville in 1599 but it was short lived as on returning to England to convert people to Catholicism he was arrested at the Saracen’s Head, Lincoln with Thomas Sprott (also on our list) for ‘being a priest’. Although he escaped he was retaken and . . .
Hung, drawn and quartered in Lincoln on 11 July 1600
chris keyworth said,
December 5, 2009 @ 1:04 pm
gutted…..
Rod said,
December 5, 2009 @ 1:08 pm
Blessed Thomas Sprott
Educated in France he came over to England to further the cause and was arrested in Wisbech but escaped only to be arrested with Thomas Hunt (see above) at the Saracen’s Head in Lincoln.
At the trial they did not confess to being priests and no evidence was offered against them, the judge however instructed the jury to find them guilty nonetheless !
The judge, Sir John Glanville, then died 16 days later, intriguingly, “under unusual circumstances”
chris keyworth said,
December 5, 2009 @ 1:32 pm
I lost my head there for a minute…
Rod said,
December 5, 2009 @ 1:42 pm
Chris,
you might do just that yet !
Anybody not worshipping Mithras on 25 December (as you should do historically) will have their heads lopped when I’m King
Rod
chris keyworth said,
December 5, 2009 @ 2:19 pm
goodness greatias great bouls on fire….
Rod said,
December 5, 2009 @ 7:39 pm
Lord John Hussey
This one seems a little more complicated. He and his ancestors had a long history close to royalty.
Lord John Hussey himself was implicated in the Lincolnshire rebellion in 1536 though he took no part and claimed no knowledge. Failing to act on orders from the King to suppress the rebellion and subsequently impart the names of those involved he was charged with treason. With help from his peers he escaped this charge only to fall foul of the same charge after another rebellion known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, organized by Robert Aske.
Eventually he was found guilty of treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Here’s the rub: Some information says he was executed in Tyburn, some in Sleaford. One beheaded another hung.
Another hung or beheaded in Lincoln
the dinosaur said,
December 5, 2009 @ 9:27 pm
Rod,
Thomas Watson, last Catholic Bishop of Lincoln -
He fell into a common trap of the Tudor period, initially a Catholic he conformed to the safety of being an Anglican at the time of the reformation under Henry VIII and Henry’s son Edward VI but then gained advancement rapidly by returning to the Catholic faith under the reign of Queen Mary. When Elizabeth I took the throne, as a Bishop appointed by the Pope, it was impossible for him to survive the overnight return to power of the Protestants unscathed and he was soon arrested. He was kept a prisoner for 25 years in a succession of locations, finally dying of ill health aged 69 and virtually blind whilst in Wisbech Castle. Compared to the violent end of many of his contempories a peaceful death !
Rod said,
December 5, 2009 @ 9:57 pm
Dino,
cracking !
I felt sure this article had ‘legs’ and that there was some interesting information to be drawn out of it.
You see he was a martyr but were those who were rebelling ?
Many thanks Dino
Rod
Rod said,
December 6, 2009 @ 9:17 am
Richard Harrison
The last Abbot of Kirkstead Abbey. After the dissolution he and 3 of his monks were executed for complicity in the Lincolnshire Rebellion though eveidence for this seems less clear than it does against others.
I think his relatives may have emigrated to America ?
Amiguru said,
December 6, 2009 @ 10:28 am
Hi Rod,
Was starting to research John Lyon and came across this link which I must confess I was unaware of:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=ae2eb4b86ce40df2b962ff3c05928d3f&board=23.0
It may be useful for lots of research so thought I aught to pop it in here.
Regards,
le
N
Rod said,
December 6, 2009 @ 4:31 pm
Neville,
that does look good and useful - the Richard Harrison info above started with a trail from something similar.
I’ll work on a few more from it
Best
Rod
Rod said,
December 6, 2009 @ 5:19 pm
Robert Leeche
Executed 1537 in connection with the Pilgrimage of Grace Rebellion 1536 - 1537
Other than being a layman I can find out nothing more - any info appreciated
If like me you were wondering what a ‘husbandman’ was then thanks to the rootschat site Neville listed I can tell you.
It’s a free tenant farmer specialising in livestock !
Rod said,
December 6, 2009 @ 5:33 pm
Henry Jenkinson
Was a “monk and priest of Kirkested [sic] late of the abbey of [Vallis Dei] in Lincolnshire” and was interrogated in Lincoln, 3 Nov 1536 about his part in the rebellion. He denied any knowledge of the initial plans but stated he was later threatened with being ‘burnt out’ if they they “came not forth to the host.”
17 monks agreed to go and werre at the Abbey gates but were pardoned fo rthe night but told to be at Horncastle the next day. All the monks from the abbey went except for the Abbot who claimed to be sick.
Henry jenkinson was executed, probably hung, drawn and quartered, for treason in 1537
Amiguru said,
December 6, 2009 @ 7:11 pm
Rod,
“abbey of [Vallis Dei] in Lincolnshire”……Latin Vallis Dei meaning ‘Valley of God’ is in Norman-French ‘Vaudey’ which is the Cistertian Abbey 6km NW of Bourne in Lincolnshire.
Semper compos mentis….
N
le
Rod said,
December 7, 2009 @ 8:33 am
Neville,
that goes well beyond useful - I wondered what it was exactly so just left it ‘as is’
Many thanks indeed
Cheers
Enlightened Rod - not to be cofused with Lightning Rod
Francis Towndrow said,
December 7, 2009 @ 3:00 pm
Did a little research and found information of a priest from Newark, Notts, (see below) then part of the Lincolnshire diocese. Father Henry Litherland was hung, drawn and quarter at York for resisting the changes that were made to the Ctaholic faith, but for some reason he has not been listed! Maybe we could include Fr Henry. I note this coming week (not sure of the day) Mass is celebrated for the Lincolnshire Martyrs. I hope to attend Mass in Newark for Fr. Henry believe it to be at 930am.
[edit by site owner - content pasted from another site]
From his prison cell he would have seen prisoners taken for execution to a place named Knavesmire just outside the city walls. These prisoners would have been transported in horse drawn carts, sitting on their own coffins, with the noose around their necks. Fr. Henry would have been aware, as he was charged with treason, that his was to be a more humiliating and horrible death. He would not to be given a coffin, but dragged to the scaffold known as the York’s Tyburn. There he would be hung and then, whilst still alive, lowered, boweled and butchered into quarters. His body parts were not to be buried in consecrated ground, but separated and buried apart.
Father Henry Lytherland was executed at York on 2nd August 1538 (R.I.P.).
Francis Towndrow said,
December 7, 2009 @ 3:20 pm
Re my recent comments on Fr. Henry Litherland and the Mass this week. For anyone who might be interested.
Thursday 10th December is the feast day of the Blessed martyrs of Lincolnshire and Mass will be celebrated at 930am at Holy Trinity Catholic Church which is on Boundary Road Newark, Notts. The Church is the strange looking building next to the school close to the Newark to Nottingham Road and to the roundabout. I hope to attend so may see others there. Francis
Rod said,
December 7, 2009 @ 3:35 pm
Hi Francis,
thanks for the contribution and welcome to the site - hope you’ll return
All the best
Rod
Francis said,
January 28, 2010 @ 12:52 pm
Afternoon Rod,
Could you please let me know where you found the list of Lincolnshire Martyrs (re your comments Dec 5 2009). As I think that Fr. Henry of Newark (Litherland) should be included on this list. May have to go to the Vatican for approval of course! Many Thanks Francis
Rod said,
January 28, 2010 @ 2:54 pm
Hi Francis,
the names come from a book published in the 1890s called Lincolnshire Notes & Queries
Best
Rod
Francis said,
January 29, 2010 @ 9:57 pm
Rod, Many Thanks for the information. Francis
Peter Mullins said,
January 30, 2010 @ 11:18 am
Missing from the list is perhaps the most famous name: St Augustine Webster, Prior of the Charterhouse on the Isle of Axholme. Following the Act of Supremacy in 1534, he was one of a small group who went to Thomas Cromwell to try to negotiate a form of words for an oath with which both Henry VIII and they would be satisfied; a different group had had some success with this approach at an earlier stage. They were arrested, and on 4th May became the first to be executed under the terms of the Act. The date continues to be the main Roman Catholic celebration of its English reformation martrs, and both a Catholic Primary School in Scunthorpe and the Catholic Church in Barton on Humber are called ‘St Augustine Webster’s’. The 1980 Church of England calendar commemorated ‘the Saints and Martyrs of the Reformation Era’ (the use of the word ‘Era’ is an ecumenical gesture) on what the Lutherans call Reformation Day in October, but the revised 2000 calendar now uses 4th May as well. Also (inevitably) missing from your list is the closest martyr to you on the western edge of Grimsby (Anne Askew of Stallingborough, burnt to death under Mary I) but then she was a Protestant.
Rod said,
January 30, 2010 @ 2:23 pm
Peter,
that’s a great addition, many thanks indeed - I’m absolutely fascinated by religious history.
I have to do an article on Anne Askew Peter, it first came up when I did Stalingborough church and she’s more than worthy of her own page as it were.
Thanks again for contributing Peter
All the best
Rod
Fr Edward Martin said,
June 10, 2010 @ 1:12 pm
Can anyone point me to any information regarding John Fysher of Scartho, Priest, condemned at Lincoln 6 March 1537? I’m the current Incumbent at Scartho.
Fr Edward Martin
Rod said,
June 10, 2010 @ 1:31 pm
Hi Father Edward (hope that’s right)
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site - I do hope you’ll return.
I’ll do some digging into John Fysher and post anything I can find as perhaps will others who read this either now or in the future
Hope you have more luck than your predecessor
Regards
Rod - off to research now
Rod said,
June 10, 2010 @ 1:47 pm
I’m finding some interesting things, not to mention confusing, about Cardinal John Fisher !
Executed 1535 and a ‘martyr’
Bruce said,
June 13, 2010 @ 8:52 am
Hi
I’m not too conversant with a lot of English history but I thought that I’d share with you a couple of things.
I have some correspondence to my grandfather in NZ from his brother in UK in the 1930s that refers to their sister who had mentioned that she was in possession of a teaspoon with the letter M engraved on it. She was adamant that the M on the spoon related to ‘Bishop Mackerell’ (an ancestor) which she believed had been passed down through the family. The brother was quite skeptical about it and said something to the effect that he’d never heard about it and that though his sister might be losing it!
Quite by coincidence not long after reading this I was browsing through a book that I’d acquired from my grandmother who had died some years before, entitled ‘The History of the Reformation’ (pub. circa 1870). Where the story of the Lincolnshire Rebels was retold, there was a bookmark. It has always intrigued me why the book was in the family and also why this particular page was referenced.
At one stage I tried to find if there was in fact a connection but it appears the name is ‘antique’ and there are few Mackerell connections although I have met one Australian Mackerell who had also tried to find connections.
Regards
Bruce
Rod said,
June 13, 2010 @ 10:57 am
Hi Bruce,
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site - an interesting connection and it sounds like there’s something in it
Best
Rod