Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen of Unknown London, written by Walter George Bell.
Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by
Speaker 1: Janet Chapter thirteen, The Fires of Smithfield, the Noble Army
Speaker 1: of Martyrs praise thee. The buildings of a great work
Speaker 1: of mercy, Saint Bartholomewle's Hospital enclose Smithfield on one side,
Speaker 1: fronting the dread place, whereon the fires were lighted, and
Speaker 1: upon a wall you may read a tablet which tells
Speaker 1: simply that within a few feet of this spot, John Rogers,
Speaker 1: John Bradford, John Philpott and other servants of God suffered
Speaker 1: death by fire for the faith of Christ in the
Speaker 1: years fifteen fifty five, fifteen fifty six, fifteen fifty seven.
Speaker 1: Three martyrs only are thus commemorated, with with others unnamed.
Speaker 1: It is curious that there is no list accessible of
Speaker 1: those who suffered for faith at Smithfield. No one has
Speaker 1: been at the trouble of collecting the names. Most, but
Speaker 1: not all, may be recovered by research. In Foxes huge
Speaker 1: acts and monuments, known to the living generation by its
Speaker 1: many abridgements, but unfamiliar in its awesome mass. Smithfield has
Speaker 1: much changed. The blue garb of honor of the wounded
Speaker 1: soldier from the wars mixes with the civilian drab seen
Speaker 1: in the hospital squares, the men sitting out to greet
Speaker 1: the sunshine. The open space before was London's cattle market,
Speaker 1: lasting into Victorian times. The pens and buyers covering the ground,
Speaker 1: the horse dealers and drovers, and figures of Bucolic life
Speaker 1: which the market brought together, all have gone today. The drey,
Speaker 1: occasionally lumbering by to the underground stores and ice chambers,
Speaker 1: bring only carcasses. The whole picture of animation dissolved when
Speaker 1: a live stock came no more into the city. There
Speaker 1: is one thing surviving which was there when the faggots
Speaker 1: crackled and burnt, and human life went out in agony
Speaker 1: looking down upon the altered scene, the archway of Great
Speaker 1: Saint Bartholomeules, which is all that the despoilers of the
Speaker 1: Reformation have spared. Of the immense nave and western front
Speaker 1: of that majestic church. An old timber framed house has
Speaker 1: been built around and above it, now, after many years,
Speaker 1: restored to its original picturesqueness. That is a sad little archway,
Speaker 1: for through it have passed many victims to the stake
Speaker 1: and the flame. Seventy years ago there was a square
Speaker 1: space of dark colored cobbled paving, now obliterated, which had
Speaker 1: a tradition set before this gateway, but edged a little
Speaker 1: out into the open Smithfield, which once was London's smooth field.
Speaker 1: In the month of March eighteen forty nine, excavations necessary
Speaker 1: for a new sewer were made at this spot. Three
Speaker 1: feet below the surface. The workmen laid open a mass
Speaker 1: of unhewn stones, blackened as if by fire. Ashes covered them.
Speaker 1: There were two human bones, charred and partially consumed. That
Speaker 1: was proof sufficient that this was the sight of the
Speaker 1: Smithfield burnings. The unhewn stones were the supports of the steak.
Speaker 1: Some of these bones of martyrs people carried away as relics.
Speaker 1: Forty three martyrs men and women suffered death by fire
Speaker 1: here in the Marian persecutions. Let us not forget that
Speaker 1: there were others, Protestant and Catholic. Before the horror of
Speaker 1: Queen Mary's reign has seered deeply the national conscience, and
Speaker 1: with thought of it rousing one's blood to passionate protest
Speaker 1: at such atrocity, these others, one is apt to overlook
Speaker 1: the times were cruel, and men were cruel, not knowing
Speaker 1: tolerance one faith or the other, and with judgment so
Speaker 1: strangely warped with belief, each man in his creed so
Speaker 1: immutably fixed that Christian sent Christian to torment and death,
Speaker 1: believing that thereby a godly work was done, worshiping one
Speaker 1: and the same God. It is a strange and terrible
Speaker 1: chapter in human error. That was the hand that wrote it.
Speaker 1: Therefore it shall suffer first punishment. Said Cranmer in the
Speaker 1: fire at Oxford of his recantation, extending his right arm
Speaker 1: into the flame, and never stirred nor cried. The pathos
Speaker 1: of that scene will always make its appeal. Note one,
Speaker 1: I cannot forbear the pleasure of recalling the fine lines
Speaker 1: of Jeremy Collier on Cranmer's death. He burned to appearance
Speaker 1: without motion or pain. He seemed to repel the force
Speaker 1: of the fire and to overlook the torture by strength
Speaker 1: of thought and Footnote and who remembers that Cranmer had
Speaker 1: himself sent Friar Forrest and Joan Boucher to the flames
Speaker 1: in Smithfield. The goodly Latimer preached the sermon at Forest's
Speaker 1: burning desiring, he wrote to Cromwell that my stage stood
Speaker 1: near unto Forrest, For I would endeavor myself so to
Speaker 1: content the people, that therewith I might also convert forest
Speaker 1: God so helping, or rather altogether working. Pity for an
Speaker 1: erring man one may perhaps find in the letter, but
Speaker 1: of horror at the contemplated act, nothing I will die,
Speaker 1: Forrest gallantly answered, when Latimer turned to ask him if
Speaker 1: he would live or die, do your worst upon me.
Speaker 1: Seven years ago, you durst not for your life have
Speaker 1: preached such words as these. And now if an angel
Speaker 1: from heaven should come down and teach me any other
Speaker 1: doctrine than that which I learned as a child, I
Speaker 1: would not believe him. Take me, cut me to pieces,
Speaker 1: joint from joint, burn, hang, do what you will. I
Speaker 1: will be true henceforth to my faith, and therewith in chains,
Speaker 1: he was swung into the fire. King Henry the Eighth
Speaker 1: martyred Protestants and Catholics, and once late in his persecuting career,
Speaker 1: Smithfield witnessed the dreadful spectacle of three Protestants, Robert Barnes,
Speaker 1: Thomas Garrett and William Jerome burnt at the stake as
Speaker 1: abominable and detestable heretics, and suffering beside them. Three Romanish priests, Featherstone,
Speaker 1: Able and Powell, hanged and quartered as traitors. The last
Speaker 1: were said to have spoken in favor of the Pope.
Speaker 1: These men's fate should teach this terrible lesson. The execution
Speaker 1: of traitors was to imply no indulgence of heresy. The
Speaker 1: punishment of heretics should give no hope to men disloyal
Speaker 1: to their king and country. Fox could allow but grudging
Speaker 1: admission of the Catholic priests to his martyrology, being neither
Speaker 1: good martyrs to God nor good subjects to the King,
Speaker 1: he says of them in a marginal note. The Marian
Speaker 1: persecutions struck at their outset. A noble victim, John Rogers,
Speaker 1: had preached at Paul's Cross three days after Queen Mary's
Speaker 1: arrival in London. There he boldly set forth the reformed doctrine.
Speaker 1: He never preached again. Stripped of his beneficies, he was
Speaker 1: cast into Newgate and in the prison chapel on his
Speaker 1: last day, the fourth February fifteen fifty five. He was
Speaker 1: degraded from the priesthood by having his canonical dress torn
Speaker 1: piecemeal from him, and was immediately after sent out to
Speaker 1: the stake at Smithfield. Rogers had been converted by personal
Speaker 1: intimacy with William Tyndale, and he it was who had
Speaker 1: prepared Tyndale's unfinished Old Testament in English for the press,
Speaker 1: though he did not actually translate himself. He was prebendary
Speaker 1: of Saint Paul's and vicar of Saint Sepulchers outside Newgate.
Speaker 1: On his way he passed by his own church, met
Speaker 1: there by his wife and eleven children, the youngest in arms.
Speaker 1: The sorrowful sight did not shake his resolution. They joined
Speaker 1: the psion. The people in Smithfield were not afraid to
Speaker 1: make him many exclamations to strengthen his courage. Even his
Speaker 1: children assisted at it, comforting him in such manner that
Speaker 1: it seemed as if he had been led to a wedding,
Speaker 1: wrote Count Olly's, the French ambassador. So to his master
Speaker 1: went the first of the Marian martyrs again on the
Speaker 1: thirtieth May. The fires were prepared. There came through sympathisers,
Speaker 1: crowding about them, John Cardmaker, Chancellor of Wells and also
Speaker 1: a preacher at Saint Paul's, and with him John Warn
Speaker 1: an unlettered clothworker. Warren was offered the Queen's pardon if
Speaker 1: he would recant straight he went to the stake. Cardmaker
Speaker 1: dallied in conversation with the sheriffs. The people assembled in Smithfield,
Speaker 1: says Fox, were in a marvelous dump and sadness, thinking
Speaker 1: that card Maker would recant at the burning of Warn.
Speaker 1: At length. Coming towards the stake, he kneeled down in prayer,
Speaker 1: then rose up, put off his clothes onto his shirt,
Speaker 1: and went with bold courage to the stake and kissed
Speaker 1: it sweetly. He took Warn by the hand and comforted
Speaker 1: him heartily, and so gave himself to be also bound,
Speaker 1: most gladly. The people, seeing this so suddenly done, contrary
Speaker 1: to their fearful expectation, as men delivered out of a
Speaker 1: great doubt, cried for joy with so great a shout
Speaker 1: as hath not lightly been heard a greater saying, God
Speaker 1: be praised, the Lord strengthened thee card Maker, the Lord
Speaker 1: Jesus received thy spirit. This continued till the executioner put
Speaker 1: fire to them, and they both passed. Adds Fox in
Speaker 1: trumpet phrases through the fire to the blessed rest and
Speaker 1: peace among God's holy saints and martyrs, to enjoy the
Speaker 1: crown of triumph and victory prepared for the elect soldiers
Speaker 1: and warriors of Jesus Christ in his blest Kingdom, to
Speaker 1: whom be glory and majesty forever Amen. The year had
Speaker 1: other victims, and none of gentler grace than John Bradford.
Speaker 1: Divine rumour had spread that he was to be burnt.
Speaker 1: At dawn of a July morning. In darkness, a vasked
Speaker 1: concourse of people assembled. It was not until nine that
Speaker 1: he was brought to the stake, a great company of
Speaker 1: weaponed men to conduct him thither, as the like was
Speaker 1: seen at no man's burning, For in every corner of
Speaker 1: Smithfield there were some besides those who stood about the stake.
Speaker 1: Mary's counselors had fears that the populace would be stung
Speaker 1: to resistance, spoke to the people. The sheriff brusquely ordered
Speaker 1: that his hands be tied if you would not keep silence,
Speaker 1: John Leif, a young man was his fellow martyr, Bradford
Speaker 1: turned to him, saying, be of good comfort, brother, for
Speaker 1: we shall have a merry supper with the Lord this night.
Speaker 1: So with eyes upcast, he passed. A new year opened
Speaker 1: with the bitter spectacle in Smithfield of seven persons burning
Speaker 1: together the twenty seventh January fifteen fifty six, Thomas Whittell,
Speaker 1: an expelled priest, had gone abroad, preaching to whoever would hear.
Speaker 1: Bartley Greene was a young man of family who had
Speaker 1: been converted to the Reformed Church when at Oxford by
Speaker 1: the lectures of Peter Martyr, and studied law in the temple.
Speaker 1: A man meek, humble, discreet, and of most gentle behavior.
Speaker 1: It is Fox's description. Thomas Brown, when at Bonnard's palace
Speaker 1: at Fulham, required to attend Mass and chapel, went into
Speaker 1: the warren, and there knelt among the trees. John Tudson
Speaker 1: and John Wart were simple artificers. Isabel Foster, the wife
Speaker 1: of a mechanic, Joan Warne, a young maid attending in
Speaker 1: prison her parents, both of whom had gloried at their
Speaker 1: death in the flame, had herself come under suspicion for
Speaker 1: her faith. Together the seven went to the fire in April.
Speaker 1: Six others in one fire in May. Three women their
Speaker 1: name's Catherine Hutt, a widow, Elizabeth Thackfell, and Johan horns
Speaker 1: a maid. All three defiant john horns would yield nothing,
Speaker 1: either to fair promises or to terror. And so says
Speaker 1: Fox indignantly, the Holy Virgin and Martyr, committed to the
Speaker 1: shambles of the secular sword, were offered up with her
Speaker 1: fellows a burnt sacrifice to the Lord in Odorum bones
Speaker 1: for grante in the savior of a sweet and pleasant smell.
Speaker 1: A fourth Margaret Ellis, intended for a like fate, found
Speaker 1: escape by death in Newgate. They were people of small
Speaker 1: standing with them some divines. But the persecution hesitated to
Speaker 1: strike down powerful victims, doing its work in public, yet
Speaker 1: always fearful of consequences, shrinking from rousing. In England, that fierce,
Speaker 1: ungovernable resentment deep in our character, which would have overwhelmed
Speaker 1: in bloodshed ten times, aggravated the whole cursed error. This
Speaker 1: thing was foreign to our soil, in which it could
Speaker 1: never root. The pageantry with which the Holy Inquisition had
Speaker 1: familiarized the continent, the exultant triumph, the banners, the public holiday,
Speaker 1: the horse shout, the fate of death. Smithfield saw none
Speaker 1: of these. Its fires lacked the awful splendors of the
Speaker 1: Spanish otto de fat, the devilment and concomminant horrors of
Speaker 1: the procession of tortured and broken victims to the stake.
Speaker 1: Dark deeds were done darkly, not with the insolence of pride.
Speaker 1: The third year the persecution increased, like rolling thunder, gathering
Speaker 1: volume terrible ominous. Smithfield, on twelfth April fifteen fifty seven
Speaker 1: witnessed three other men and two women burnt. Thereafter, three men,
Speaker 1: then John Ruff, a minister, with Margaret Dearing, a woman
Speaker 1: of his congregation. Again three men. Why continue in pity?
Speaker 1: Let us cut out the awful story. It has been
Speaker 1: written in sorrow and in shame, and the remembrance can
Speaker 1: never be forgotten. Full fed as were the fires of Smithfield,
Speaker 1: they did not suffice. They had their like all over
Speaker 1: the country. On one occasion, at Stratford by Bow, on
Speaker 1: London's Outskirts, thirteen martyrs perished in one fire, eleven men
Speaker 1: in groups of three chained to separate stakes, and the
Speaker 1: remaining two men together at a fourth stake, and two
Speaker 1: women left loose in the ring of flame formed by
Speaker 1: lighted fagots piled high. I hasten to the closing scene.
Speaker 1: Seven martyrs die together. The twenty seventh June fifteen fifty eight.
Speaker 1: They were part of a congregation taken while assembled for
Speaker 1: prayer in the fields at Islington, a company of forty
Speaker 1: men and women, Roger Holland, John Holliday, Henry pond Reinold Eastland,
Speaker 1: Robert Southam, Matthew Ricarby, John Floyd. These were chosen for
Speaker 1: Smithfield others elsewhere. The temper of the populace was evident.
Speaker 1: Mary's officers, an armed guard being with them, read a
Speaker 1: proclamation forbidding any spectator, under pain of imprisonment, to speak
Speaker 1: a word to the approaching martyrs. They replied to the
Speaker 1: Queen's menaces by crowding about them, affectionately, embraced them, and
Speaker 1: brought them in their arms to the place of suffering
Speaker 1: Master Bentham. Afterwards, Elizabeth's Bishop of Lickfield, nothing daunted, spoke
Speaker 1: out with a loud voice. We know that they are
Speaker 1: the people of God, and therefore we cannot choose but
Speaker 1: wish well to them, and say God strengthened them. Almighty God,
Speaker 1: for Christ's sake, strengthen them. The multitude shouted in reply, Amen, Amen, Lord,
Speaker 1: bless thy people, said Holland. As fire was set to
Speaker 1: the faggots, and the flames rose. They were the last
Speaker 1: words recorded spoken from the stake at Smithfield. For soon
Speaker 1: afterwards Mary was released by death. The most hideous reign
Speaker 1: in England had ended. Elizabeth burnt two heretics and made
Speaker 1: many martyrs besides, and the Protestant bigot James first sent
Speaker 1: a man, bartholomewle Legate, to burn for heresy in Smithfield.
Speaker 1: But with the passing of Mary, the dread chapter of
Speaker 1: persecution by fire for faith may be considered closed. That
Speaker 1: was three and a half centuries ago. The tablet on
Speaker 1: the hospital wall, so inconsequential and seen by few, in
Speaker 1: fact almost concealed by its own railing, I suppose must
Speaker 1: be accepted as characteristically English. We are indeed a great
Speaker 1: nation in our neglect. The city does not honor its
Speaker 1: own great debt or outstanding events in its long history,
Speaker 1: and the two or three monumental bronzes in its streets
Speaker 1: are raised to statesmen and kings of small importance. But
Speaker 1: Smithfield still has wide spaces, and I should like to
Speaker 1: see on this sanctified spot a little shrine raised, a
Speaker 1: stone screen with a foulstool or two, to which any
Speaker 1: who have been deeply moved by the glorious spirit tried
Speaker 1: here in death, might if they wish to enter and
Speaker 1: there pray. I cannot but think that to our many
Speaker 1: visitors from the distant dominions, the continued neglect of Smithfield
Speaker 1: must bring a shock of surprise. A monumental brass in
Speaker 1: the Church of Rain in Essex, to the memory of
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Blanco of Theoby Priory, records that she was the
Speaker 1: sixth in lineal descent from William Barber, who narrowly escaped
Speaker 1: the flames of persecution under Queen Mary, having been brought
Speaker 1: to the stake at Smithfield, and his life saved by
Speaker 1: a rival of intelligence of the Queen's death. A belief
Speaker 1: commonly held that fire was the chosen instrument of religious
Speaker 1: persecution because of its extreme torment. As no basis, the
Speaker 1: choice had a deeper significance ecclesia non novit sanguinum, of course,
Speaker 1: but the idea underlying all was that of annihilation soul
Speaker 1: and body. The end, the utter annihilation of the heretic's
Speaker 1: soul was accepted on the teaching of the Church Uppermost
Speaker 1: at the time that of the body should be visible
Speaker 1: to the assembled spectators as the corporeal man was reduced
Speaker 1: before their eyes, and finally, in ashes, was blown into
Speaker 1: nothingness at the sport of the winds. It is a
Speaker 1: befitting act to record the names of the Smithfield Martyrs
Speaker 1: in this place, and some people there will be. I
Speaker 1: feel sure who will value this list. Those who family
Speaker 1: names are the same, cannot but feel honored by this
Speaker 1: association Martyrs by fire at Smithfield, where names are bracketed.
Speaker 1: The victims perished together in one fire, James the First,
Speaker 1: Bartholomew Legate, the Arian Queen, Mary, John Rogers, Thomas Tompkins
Speaker 1: bracketed together, John card Maker, John Warne bracketed together, John Bradford,
Speaker 1: John Leif, John Philpott bracketed together, Robert Drakes, William Timms,
Speaker 1: Robert Spurge, Thomas Spurge, John Cannell, George Ambrose bracketed together,
Speaker 1: John Hollandale, William Sparrow, Richard Gibson bracketed together, John Ruff,
Speaker 1: Margaret Deering bracketed together, Cuthbert Simpson, Hugh Fox, John Devinish
Speaker 1: bracketed together, Thomas Whittle, Bartlett Greene, John Tudson, John Wart,
Speaker 1: Thomas Brown, Isabelle Foster, Joan Warne bracketed together, Katherine Hutt,
Speaker 1: Joan Horns, Elizabeth Thackvelle bracketed together, Thomas Loosely, Henry Ramsay,
Speaker 1: Thomas Thurtle, Margaret Hyde, Agnes Stanley bracketed together, Henry pond
Speaker 1: Reinold Eastland, Robert Southam, Matthew Rickerby, John Floyd, John Holliday,
Speaker 1: Roger Holland, Edward the sixth, Joan Bocher and a Baptist,
Speaker 1: Henry the eighth, John Tewksbury Collins, James Bainham bracketed together,
Speaker 1: John Frith, Andrew Hewitt, Friar Forrest, John Nicholson Alias Lambert
Speaker 1: bracketed together, Robert Barnes, William Jerome, Thomas Garrett bracketed together,
Speaker 1: Annie Askew, John Lesselle's, John Adams, Nicholas Bellinian rogers of
Speaker 1: Norfolk style, Henry the seventh, Johan Boughten, Henry the sixth,
Speaker 1: four Priests, Henry the Fourth, William Sawtrey, Thomas Badbee. End
Speaker 1: of Chapter thirteen