The Tudor Period was a very brutal time to have lived in.
During the reign of Henry VIII, the King executed around 70,000 people inside of his kingdom,
and some of his closest friends including Thomas Cromwell and Sir Thomas More went to
their executions on Tower Hill.
But his daughter Mary, who later became known as Bloody Mary I continued the killing inside
of the kingdom following the death of her half brother Edward VI.
To punish heretics who she deemed were damaging England with their protestant ideas she burned
hundreds of people at the stake inside of the lands she oversaw.
Many believed that the Queen sent people to be burned due to the fact she believed god
was punishing her for allowing heretics inside of England.
But there was one high up member of the Church who was the Bishop of Worcester and Gloucester
who was executed in brutal fashion.
Today Bishop John Hooper is the forgotten Bishop executed by Bloody Mary.
Join us today as we look at his execution, remember to support our channel please make
sure to subscribe.
Bishop John Hooper was born around 1495, and little is known about his early life except
the fact he became a priest.In 1538 his name appeared as a man who surrendered his house
to the King, and with this he was considered a monk who during the dissolutions of the
monasteries handed over his priory to Henry VIII.
He was not accused of being in breach of his monk’s vows, but following this he then
became employed in the household of the Earl of Arundell.
In this, he believed he was serving very much as a courtier, and he may have been involved
in the King’s royal court.
Hooper however left England in 1§544 and went to Strasbourg two years later.
He moved to Zurich, but returned to England to claim his inheritance, however was imprisoned
twice.
He sought shelter on the continent but in May 1549 returned yet again to England.
When he returned he became a key preacher of Swiss calvinism against Lutherans and Catholics,
and he became the personal Chaplain of the most senior figure in the country.
He became a personal priest to Edward Seymour the 1st Duke of Somerset, the Lord Protector
who was overseeing Edward VI’s regency council, and Seymour was practically ruling England
as King whilst Edward was too young.
Hooper rubbed shoulders with other key Protestant officials, but his master would fall from
grace.
Seymour was accused of betraying England and treason, and following his fall from grace,
Hooper’s position was also dangerous.
He had spoken out against other key Bishops such as Bishop Gardiner and Bonner who wanted
to dig their laws in.
But Hooper then became John Dudley the Earl of Warwick’s personal chaplain who continued
the Protestant reforms began by Edward Seymour.
John Hooper was then offered to become the Bishop of Gloucester, and in this role Hooper
spoke out against oaths taken by saints, and he refused to be consecrated initially.
Other Archbishops and Bishops such as Thomas Cranmer and Nicholas Ridley told him to fall
into line, and he was then imprisoned for being obstinate in his beliefs, and he was
actually imprisoned by the King.
He was held for a number of weeks in Fleet Prison, however Hooper then agreed to be officially
consecrated and this took place on the 8th March 1551.
John Hooper did not think too much of Bishops on the church, and he looked at the public
in his diocese and he believed most of them did not know anything about the church.
Most of the clergy could not repeat the 10 commandments, and many priests he was overseeing
had no clue about the Bible and in particular parts of the scriptures.
Hooper then said that his priests and clergy ‘were to teach the Parishoners the 10 commandments,
the Creed and the Lords’ Prayer, word for word as they be written,’ and that ‘every
parson teach the 10 commandments out of the 12th chapter of Exodus as they stand there,
and no otherwise not taking one word, letter or syllable from them.’
He ensured those bishops and priests under his control were doing their job and spreading
the word of god exactly how it was written in the Bible.
This was impressive and standards did increase, but then a year later he was also made the
Bishop of Worcester also.
As a bishop he believed they should be in poverty and adhere to a simple life, and he
gave any profits from Gloucester to the King.
Hooper also was a fair man, and he spoke out about problems with society at the time including
issues with finances and money that were plaguing England.
There was a large rise in the price of essential goods, and he said ‘for all things here
be so dear that the most part of people lack… their little livings and poor cottages decay
daily.’
But following the death of King Edward VI, there was a huge change in England coming.
John Dudley tried to instil his daughter in law, Lady Jane Grey as the Queen of England
and he managed to do this.
Jane was instilled as the Queen and her husband Guildford Dudley wanted so much to be King.
The hope with Jane as Queen was that the strong protestant reforms would continue under a
strongly protestant monarch.
However Lady Jane Grey was then overthrown by Princess Mary, the eldest daughter of Henry
VIII.
But as soon as Mary I came onto the throne, she made huge changes to religion declaring
that Catholicism was the religion of the nation once again and she reverted everything that
had gone before in the following decades with religion.
She returned the country back to more traditional methods of worship, but this meant that large
amounts of protestant officials and powerful Protestant figures were caught in the crossfire.
They had reformed the church, and Mary deemed them heretics who needed to pay.
John Hooper had initially opposed the plan to put Lady Jane on the throne, but Mary I
did not take any pity on him.
He was seen as a very radical protestant, and was hated by the Queen.
Because of this, he was the first bishop attacked by the Queen, and he was then sent back to
Fleet Prison on the 1st September 1553.
He was held initially on a charge of unpaid debts, but as the changes to the church were
reverted, Hooper lost his titles of bishop and lands, and as he was a married man this
was seen as unlawful in the Queen’s eyes.
He was held in prison, and following the return of the heresy acts, he was condemned to die
by Bishop Gardiner.
He was to be burned at the stake, and was degraded with his hands being scraped with
knives by Bishop Bonner.
It was said of his execution, ‘About eight o'clock, on February 9, 1555, he was led forth,
and many thousand persons were collected, as it was market-day.
All the way, being straitly charged not to speak, and beholding the people, who mourned
bitterly for him, he would sometimes lift up his eyes towards heaven, and look very
cheerfully upon such as he knew.’
He was attached to the stake before the fire was lit.
It was said, ‘Command was now given that the fire should be kindled.
it kindled not speedily, and was a pretty while also before it took the reeds upon the
fagots.
At length it burned about him, but the wind having full strength at that place, and being
a lowering cold morning, it blew the flame from him, so that he was in a manner little
more than touched by the fire.’
A new fire was then made, ‘and those burned at the nether parts, but had small power above,
because of the wind, saving that it burnt his hair and scorched his skin a little.
In the time of which fire, even as at the first flame, he prayed, saying mildly, and
not very loud, but as one without pain, "O Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon me, and
receive my soul!"
After the second fire was spent, he wiped both his eyes with his hands, and beholding
the people, he said with an indifferent, loud voice, "For God's love, good people, let me
have more fire!" and all this while his nether parts did burn; but the fagots were so few
that the flame only singed his upper parts.
The third fire was kindled within a while after, which was more extreme than the other
two.
In this fire he prayed with a loud voice, "Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me!
Lord Jesus receive my spirit!"
And these were the last words he was heard to utter.
But when he was black in the mouth, and his tongue so swollen that he could not speak,
yet his lips went until they were shrunk to the gums: and he knocked his breast with his
hands until one of his arms fell off, and then knocked still with the other, while the
fat, water, and blood dropped out at his fingers' ends, until by renewing the fire, his strength
was gone, and his hand clave fast in knocking to the iron upon his breast.
Then immediately bowing forwards, he yielded up his spirit.
Thus was he three quarters of an hour or more in the fire.’
So Bishop John Hooper’s execution was incredibly painful.
He was burned at the stake and 3 fires were needed to take his life, and it took around
45 minutes for him to die.
His execution showed the brutality of Mary I’s reign.
Thanks for watching
To support please subscribe
Once again thanks for watching