Person and Place Index   *   Close
John Bent

(d. 1532) [Fines]

of Urchfont, Wiltshire; tailor; martyr burnt at Devizes

John Bent was burnt for denying transubstantiation. 1570, p. 1172; 1576, p. 1102; 1583, p. 1030.

 
Person and Place Index   *   Close
Nicholas Marsh

(d. 1534) of Dedham, Essex [Fines]

Hanged at Dovercourt

Nicholas Marsh was involved in the burning of the rood of Dovercourt in 1532. He was charged with felony and hanged.1563, p. 496; 1570, pp. 1172-73; 1576, p. 1003; 1583, pp. 1030-31.

 
Person and Place Index   *   Close
Richard Bayfield (alias Somersam)

(d. 1531) [ODNB]

born Hadleigh; Benedictine monk of Bury St Edmund's and protestant martyr

Robert Barnes, Lawrence Maxwell and John Stacy visited Bury Abbey and during the course of their visit converted Richard Bayfield. Bayfield was imprisoned in the abbey, whipped and stocked. Barnes and Edmund eventually secured his release, and he went with Barnes to Cambridge. When Barnes was arrested, Bayfield went to London, where Maxwell and Stacy kept him secretly and helped him leave the country. 1563, p. 484; 1570, p. 1161; 1576, p. 993; 1583, p. 1021.

[Back to Top]

While abroad, Bayfield met William Tyndale and John Frith and sold their books and those of the German reformers in France and in England. He returned to England, was arrested, tried by Cuthbert Tunstall and abjured. He was told to return to Bury and wear his monk's habit, but fled abroad again. 1563, p. 484; 1570, p. 1161; 1576, p. 993; 1583, p. 1021.

[Back to Top]

Upon his return to England, he stayed at the house of Mr Smith, where he was betrayed and arrested. He was imprisoned in Lollards' Tower, but was moved to the Coalhouse to keep him away from another imprisoned suspect, Thomas Patmore. He was severely shackled in an attempt to make him reveal the buyers of his books, but he refused. He was tried before John Stokesley, assisted by Stephen Gardiner and others. 1563, pp. 484-88; 1570, pp. 1161-64; 1576, pp. 993-995; 1583, pp. 1021-1023.

[Back to Top]

Edmund Peerson presented a list of charges against Richard Bayfield, especially concerning Bayfield's praise for Thomas Arthur and Thomas Bilney. 1570, p. 1191; 1576, p. 1020; 1583, p. 1048.

William Smith was charged in London in 1531 with harbouring Richard Bayfield and other good men in his house and reading illicit books. 1570, p. 1189; 1576, p. 1017; 1583, p. 1046.

About four days before Bayfield was arrested, a boy of Colchester was charged in London with bringing books to him. The boy was imprisoned by Sir Thomas More and died there. 1570, p. 1189; 1576, p. 1017; 1583, p. 1046.

Bayfield was condemned as a heretic and suffered a lengthy burning. 1563, pp. 488-89; 1570, pp. 1164-65; 1576, pp. 995-96; 1583, pp. 1023-24.

The example of Bayfield inspired John Tewkesbury after he had abjured. 1570, p. 1167; 1576, p. 998; 1583, p. 1026.

 
Person and Place Index   *   Close
Robert Debnam

(d. 1532) of East Bergholt, Suffolk [Fines]

Hanged at Cattawade Causey

Robert Debnam was involved in the burning of the rood of Dovercourt in 1532. He was charged with felony and hanged.1563, p. 496; 1570, pp. 1172-73; 1576, p. 1003; 1583, pp. 1030-31.

 
Person and Place Index   *   Close
Robert Gardiner

of Dedham, Essex [Fines]

Robert Gardiner was involved in the burning of the rood of Dovercourt in 1532. He was sought, but escaped.1563, p. 496; 1570, pp. 1172-73; 1576, p. 1003; 1583, pp. 1030-31.

 
Person and Place Index   *   Close
Robert King

(d. 1532) of Dedham, Essex [Fines]

Hanged at Burchet in Dedham

Robert King was involved in the burning of the rood of Dovercourt in 1532. He was charged with felony and hanged.1563, p. 496; 1570, pp. 1172-73; 1576, p. 1003; 1583, pp. 1030-31.

 
Person and Place Index   *   Close
Trapnel

(d. c. 1532) [Fines]

Martyr burnt at Bradford-on-Avon

Trapnel was burnt about the same time as John Bent. 1570, p. 1172; 1576, p. 1003; 1583, p. 1030.

 
Person and Place Index   *   Close
Bradford-on-Avon

Wiltshire

OS grid ref: ST 825 615

 
Person and Place Index   *   Close
Dedham
Dedham
NGR: TM 057 331

A parish in the Colchester division of the hundred of Lexden, county of Essex. 4 miles west by north from Manningtree. The living is a vicarage in the Archdeaconry of Colchester, diocese of London

English information from Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of England (S. Lewis & Co: London, 1831)

Scottish information from Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (S. Lewis & Co: London, 1846)

Welsh information taken from Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales(Lewis & Co: London, 1840)

The reason for the use of these works of reference is that they present the jurisdictional and ecclesiastical position as it was before the major Victorian changes. The descriptions therefore approximate to those applying in the sixteenth century, after the major changes of 1535-42. Except for the physical locations, which have not changed, the reader should not therefore take these references as being accurate in the twenty-first century.

[Back to Top]
 
Person and Place Index   *   Close
Devizes
NGR: SU 005 615

A borough and market town having separate jurisdiction, locally in the hundred of Potteme and Cannings, county of Wilts. 22 miles north-west by north from Salisbury, 19 miles east by south from Bath. Devizes comprises the parishes of St John and St Mary the Virgin, the livings of which form a united rectory, not in charge, in the Archdeaconry and diocese of Salisbury, and in the patronage of the Crown.

[Back to Top]

English information from Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of England (S. Lewis & Co: London, 1831)

Welsh information taken from Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales(Lewis & Co: London, 1840)

The reason for the use of these works of reference is that they present the jurisdictional and ecclesiastical position as it was before the major Victorian changes. The descriptions therefore approximate to those applying in the sixteenth century, after the major changes of 1535-42. Except for the physical locations, which have not changed, the reader should not therefore take these references as being accurate in the twenty-first century.

[Back to Top]
 
Person and Place Index   *   Close
Devizes

[Deuises]

Wiltshire

OS grid ref: SU 003 613

 
Person and Place Index   *   Close
Dovercourt
Douercorte, Douercourt
NGR: TM 253 310

A parish within the borough of Harwich, 42 miles north-east by east from Chelmsford. The living is a vicarage, with the perpetual curacy of St. Nicholas annexed, in the Archdeaconry of Colchester, diocese of London, and in the patronage of the Crown

English information from Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of England (S. Lewis & Co: London, 1831)

Scottish information from Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (S. Lewis & Co: London, 1846)

Welsh information taken from Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Wales(Lewis & Co: London, 1840)

The reason for the use of these works of reference is that they present the jurisdictional and ecclesiastical position as it was before the major Victorian changes. The descriptions therefore approximate to those applying in the sixteenth century, after the major changes of 1535-42. Except for the physical locations, which have not changed, the reader should not therefore take these references as being accurate in the twenty-first century.

[Back to Top]
 
Person and Place Index   *   Close
East Bergholt

Suffolk

OS grid ref: TM 075 355

 
Person and Place Index   *   Close
Ur of the Chaldees (Ur Kaśdim) [Orchoe

Vrchoa, Hurchaldeoram], Mesopotamia

1054 [1030]

K. Hen. 8. The Martyrdome of Iames Baynham. Iohn Bente. Douer Court Roode.

was nought, & that he did it by ignorance, & did not ouersee his letters. MarginaliaThe sacrament of the aultar.Thē M. Nicholas Wilson amongest other talke as touching the sacrament of the alter, declared vnto him that the church did beleue the very body of Christ to be in the Sacrament of the alter. Bainham aunswered: The bread is not Iesus Christ, for Christes body is not chewed with teeth, therefore it is but bread. Being further demaunded whether in the sacrament of the altar, is the very body of Christ God and man in flesh and bloud: after diuers doubtfull aunsweres, Bainham aunswered thus: He is there very God and man in forme of bread.

[Back to Top]

This done, the Officiall declared vnto him the depositions of the witnesses which were come in agaynst him, & obiected vnto him, that a litle before Easter he had abiured all heresies, as well particularly as generally. Then the sayd vicar generall, after he had takē deliberation & aduise with the learned his assistantes, did proceed to the reading of the definitiue sentence agaynst him, & also published the same in writing: MarginaliaSentence read against Baynhā.wherby amongest other thinges besides his abiuration, he pronounced & condemned him as a relapsed hereticke, damnably fallen into sundry heresies, & so to be left vnto the secular power, that is to say, to one of þe Sherifs being there presēt. After the pronoūcing of which sentence, M. Nicolas Wilson counselled & admonished the said Iames, þt he would conforme himself vnto the church. To whō he aunswered, that he trusted that he is the very childe of God, which ye blinde Asses (sayd he) doe not perceiue. And last of al, departing frō his iudgement, he spake these wordes: MarginaliaThe wordes of Iames Baynham to M. Wilson.M. Wilson, nor you my Lord Chauncellor, shall not proue by scripture, that there is any Purgatorye. Then the sentence of condemnation was geuen agaynste him, the which here to repeat word for word, is not necessary, for so much as the tenour thereof is all one with that which passed before in the story of Bayfeld, aliâs Somersam. Here also should ensue the letter of the Bishop of Lōdon, directed vnto the Maior and Sheriffes of the same city, for the receiuing of him into their power, & that putting of him to death, the tenor wherof is also of like effect to that before written in the story of Bayfeld. After this sentence geuen, Iames Bainham was deliuered into the handes of Syr Richarde Gresham Sheriffe, then being present, who caused him by his Officers to be caryed vnto Newegate, & the said Iames Baynham was burned in Smithfielde the last day of Aprill, in the yeare aforesayd, at three a clocke at afternoone.

[Back to Top]

MarginaliaThe cruel handling of Baynhā.This M. Bainham during  

Commentary   *   Close

This account of Bainham's further mistreatment probably came from his wife Joan (the account of More's treatment of Bainham ends with a description of her imprisonment. For Joan Bainham as a source for other accounts in Foxe see Thomas S. Freeman, 'The importance of dying earnestly: the metamorphosis of the account of James Bainham in "Foxe's Book of Martyrs" in The Church Retrospective, ed. R. N. Swanson, Studies in Church History 33 (Woodbridge, 1997), pp. 272-3.) Whether Bainham was physically tortured is doubtful, but the account of his movements is interesting. The trip to Chelsea and then Fulham indicates that both More and Stokesley made further efforts to induce Bainham not to relapse.

[Back to Top]
his imprisonment was very cruelly handled. For almost the space of a fourtnight he lay in the bishops colehouse in the stockes, with yrons vpon his legs. Thē he was caryed to the Lord Chaūcellors, and there chayned to a post 2. nightes. Thē he was caryed to Fulham, where he was cruelly handled by þe space of a seuennighte. Thē to the Tower, where he lay a fourtnight scourged with whips, to make him reuoke his opinions. Frō thence he was caryed to Barking, thē to Chelsey, and there condemned, and so to Newgate to be burned.

[Back to Top]

MarginaliaThe death and Martirdome of M. Iames Baynham.
Iames Baynham.
Anno. 1532.
¶ The burning of Iames Baynham.
woodcut [View a larger version]
Commentary on the Woodcuts   *   Close
James Bainham, a Middle Temple lawyer, whose misbeliefs included denial of the sainthood of St Thomas Becket, was visited in prison before his death by Latimer and others, who did not think this a cause worth dying for. Bainham, however, having gone back on his earlier recantation, also held other beliefs (denying purgatory and auricular confession) and remained steadfast. He was burned at Smithfield on 30 April 1532. This small woodcut in the series introduced in 1570 had previously been used in a work published by John Day in 1569: Gonsalvius Reginaldus Montanus, De heylighe Spaensche inquisitie.

MarginaliaA myracle and a wondrous worke of God to beholde.At whose burning here is notoriously to be obserued,  

Commentary   *   Close

This account of Bainham's execution and last words was added to an appendix in the 1563 edition, which means that it reached Foxe after the account of Bainham was printed. It also means that the account did not come from Joan Banham. For a discussion of the reasons why this version of Bainham's death is fictitious see Thomas S. Freeman, 'The importance of dying earnestly: the metamorphosis of the account of James Bainham in "Foxe's Book of Martyrs"' in The Church Retrospective, ed. R. N. Swanson, Sudies in Church History 33 (Woodbridge, 1997), pp. 278-81.

[Back to Top]
that as he was at the stake in the midst of the flaming fyre which fire had halfe consumed his armes & legs, he spake these wordes: O ye Papistes, behold, ye looke for miracles, and here now you may see a myracle, for in this fire I feele no more paine, then if I were in a bed of Downe: but it is to me as sweet as a bed of roses. These words spake he in the middest of the flaminge fire, when his legges and hys armes (as I sayd) were halfe consumed.

[Back to Top]
¶ Iohn Bent Martyr.

MarginaliaIoh. Bent, Martyr.AT the writing  

Commentary   *   Close
Wiltshire martyrs

Information about Benet and Trapnel must have been sent to Foxe by an informant between 1563 and 1570. There is no other existing record of these two martyrs.

hereof, came to our hands a certeyn notice of one Iohn Bent, who about this present time or not long before, being a Tailor, & dwelled in a village called Vrcheuaunt, was burnt in the Towne of the Deuises

MarginaliaIoh. Bent. burnt at Deuise.¶ Iohn Bent Martyr.
woodcut [View a larger version]

within the country of Wilkeshire, for the denying of the sacrament of the altar, as they terme it.

¶ One Trapnel Martyr.

MarginaliaTrapnell Martir, burnt at Brodford.ALso much about the same tyme, was one Trapnell burned in a Towne called Brodford, within the same County.

The History of three men hanged for the burning of the Rood of Douercourt, collected out of a letter of Robert Gardner, which was one of the doers of the same.

MarginaliaOut of a letter of Robert Gardner, written to Chapman Londoner, and yet aliue.IN the same yeare of our Lord 1532. there was an Idoll named the Roode of Douercourt,MarginaliaThe Roode of Douercourt. whereunto was much and greate resorte of people. For at that time there was great rumour blowne abroad amonges the ignorant sort, that the power of the Idoll of Douercourt was so greate, that no man had power to shutte the Church doore where he stood, and therefore they lette the Churche doore bothe nyght and daye continually stand open, for the more credite vnto theyr blinde rumour. Which once beyng conceyued in the heades of the vulgare sort, seemed a great maruell vnto many men, but to many agayne, whom God had blessed with his spirite, was greatly suspected, especially vnto these, whose names here folow, MarginaliaRob. king, Rob., Debnam, Nicholas Marsh, Martyrs.as Robert King of Dedham, Robert Debnam of Estbergholt, Nicholas Marshe of Dedham, and Robert Gardner of Dedham, whose consciences were sore burdened to see the honor and power of the almighty liuing God so to be blasphemed by such an Idoll. Wherefore they were moued by the spirit of God, to trauell out of Dedham in a woondrous goodlye night, both hard frost and fayre moone shine, although the nighe before, and the night after were exceeding foule and rayny. It was from the towne of Dedham, to the place where the filthy Roode stood x. miles. Notwtstanding they were so willing in that theyr enterprise, that they went these x. myles without payne, and found the Church doore open, according to the blinde talke of the ignorant people:MarginaliaThe blinde opinions of the people. for there durst no vnfaithful body shut it. Which happened

[Back to Top]
well