There is one Tudor Queen of England who has became infamous and notorious for her executions.
Mary I is also known as Bloody Mary for the fact she burned many heretics at the stake
during her short reign, and she struck fear into the hearts of thousands of people in
England.
Many left the country in fear of persecution, but Mary wished to bring back Catholicism
as England’s religion.
Previously her father Henry VIII and her brother Edward VI outlawed Catholicism, and promoted
a new brand of Protestantism and religion, following the English Reformation caused by
Henry VIII’s break from Rome and desire to marry Anne Boleyn, and divorce his marriage
to Catherine of Aragon, Mary’s mother.
Mary remained a staunch Catholic even during her brother’s reign, and this was considered
very dangerous, but for those who did not agree with her religion, when she became Queen
she rained hell on them.
She would even accused heretics and the fact she was not punishing them all on the fact
she had a false pregnancy which caused great upset.
But today we look at the execution and killing of one of Mary I’s first victims who was
brutally executed, and John Roger’s was one of the most influential killings of her
reign.
Join us today as we look at the BRUTAL execution of Bloody Mary’s First Victim.
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John Rogers was born around the year 1500 near to Birmingham, and was educated at the
University of Cambridge.
When he left the establishment, he became a rector of a church inside of the City of
London.
But in 1534, he left England to go to Antwerp and he then became a priest to English merchants,
and to begin with acted as a Catholic rector and priest for the group of traders.
But whilst in Europe, he became in contact with some more prominent and influential religious
reformers.
He met William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale, who changed John Rogers’ life.
Tyndale and Coverdale are known today for translating the bible, and their work caused
chaos across England.
They believed that for the bible to be studied well, that it needed to be in the word of
the people, and not in Latin.
With this they began to work heavily to translate the bible, which was considered one of the
greatest heresies.
Both Coverdale and Tyndale had fled England as they believed they’d be persecuted for
their religious beliefs, and Tyndale continued to sit up controversy in England.
But meeting the pair would change Roger’s life, and he abandoned his Catholic Faith
to become a Protestant religious reformer, and it was this that brought him later into
conflict with Bloody Mary I.
Whilst in Antwerp, Rogers also married a woman but then William Tyndale was executed in brutal
fashion.
He was rounded up by heretic hunters, and was then executed in a huge public execution.
Rogers continued to work on Tyndale’s translation of the Old Testament into English, and Rogers
with Coverdale used Tyndale’s manuscripts and prior world to compile a complete and
whole translated Bible in English.
With this they then printed 1500 copies of the new bible and then shipped these in secret
to England.
This was very dangerous, and Roger’s arranged for them to be printed in Antwerp and then
smuggled.
One was even given to Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer who read the book and even
passed it on to Thomas Cromwell with a note that said it was a brilliant translation and
the best he had read so far.
But this was initially treated with suspicion, and England wasn’t at the time ready to
adopt a translated bible.
Coverdale and Rogers wanted the bible to be in English freely, but Tyndale’s reputation
as a heretic who had been criticised by Henry VIII 11 years before affected the initial
success of the translation.
When Tyndale was working in England, Henry VIII had not divorced Catherine of Aragon,
and because of his reputation, the bible translated was published under a different name, with
the name Thomas Matthew credited with it.
The bible then became known as the Matthew Bible, and Cranmer later asked Cromwell to
present the bible to Henry VIII to see if it would get royal assent and approval.
Henry did agree to this on the 30th September 1538, and with this every Parish in England
had to buy and show a copy of Rogers and Coverdale’s translated English Bible for everyone to read.
This meant that people could now read the bible in their own language, opening up the
work of religion and scripture in their own language.
As the Bible’s word spread across England, Rogers taught at the University of Wittenburg
where the Reformation was classed as beginning, and he became a key figure in the Lutheran
Church in Germany.
He eventually went back to England in 1548, and he believed he would be safe but this
would not be the case.
During the reign of Edward VI, he became a divinity lecturer at St Paul’s Cathedral
and he would be outspoken about the greed of Edward’s privy council, who Roger’s
believed were stealing land which was holy.
He continued to teach about God and religion throughout Edward’s reign, but following
Edward VI’s death, John Rogers’ life would change heavily and go downhill.
It was Mary I, Edward’s oldest half sister who became the next monarch.
Mary was staunchly Catholic, and her beliefs went against Rogers’ beliefs and also everything
he had done with translating the Bible into English.
Mary I saw this as a huge heresy, and Rogers preached during her reign and warned people
about Catholicism, and the Pope.
Also there were talks of rebellion against Mary I and leaflets were printed urging Protestants
to take up arms against Mary I, and many prominent people were asked to overthrow the Queen and
also Catholic figures in the Church.
However because of this suspicion, John Rogers was arrested along with other leading Protestants,
and Mary decided to get rid of all possible Protestants out of positions of power from
her church.
John Rogers was accused of being a seditious preacher, and was then put under house arrest
for 5 months.
A number of his fellow Protestants had managed to escape England and head to Europe, but
Rogers remained in London to defend what he had spent years doing.
But on the 7th January 1554 he was sent to Newgate Prison and was imprisoned with many
criminals and religious heretics, in what was a cramped and disease ridden prison.
In December 1554, Parliament and Mary I brought back into law the executions of heretics,
and with this Bloody Mary would execute over 200 heretics by being burned at the stake.
On the 22nd January 1554, John Rogers was brought to trial and was tried by Bishop Stephen
Gardiner, and he was accused of being a heretic and also denying the Pope’s authority over
the church.
Rogers was also denounced for having a wife and being a member of the clergy, and also
for having 11 children.
This was considered against Mary’s beliefs on the church, and John Rogers was then found
guilty of heresy.
He told the trial that he had one request before his execution, and that was that his
wife could visit him and he could bid her farewell one final time.
But this was denied, however he was offered a pardon if he criticised his bible and also
he recanted his faith.
But he refused to do this and wished to die a man of his own faith and beliefs.
He was denounced by Bishop Bonner, and he was also degraded, in which his hands were
scraped by a knife to remove the symbolic holy oil that he was anointed with.
But on the 4th February 1555, John Rogers was taken from his prison cell to Smithfield
to be executed.
As he made his way to the site of execution, he was met by his children and his wife, and
Roger’s still refused to conform to Mary I’s religious beliefs.
What happened next was documented in Foxes’ Book of Martyrs.
It was said that, ‘Mr Woodroofe one of the Sheriffs of London came to Mr Rogers and asked
him if he would revoke his abominable doctrine and the evil opinion of the sacramanet of
the altar.
Roger’s replied, ‘That which I have preached I will seal with my blood,’ and John Rogers
was then denounced as a heretic in front of the crowd.
Then it was said that, ‘‘In the presence of Mr Rochester, Controller of the Queens
Household Sir Richard Southwell, both the sheriffs and a great number of people, John
Rogers was burnt to ashes, washing his hands in the flame as he was burning.
A little before his burning, his pardon was brought, if he would have recanted but he
utterly refused.
Theis sorrowful sight of his own flesh and blood could nothing move him, but that he
constantly and cheerfully took his death with wonderful patience in the defence and quarrel
of the Gospel of Christ.’
Protestants rejoiced in his faithfulness and the decorum that Rogers met when he faced
his death, and even his Catholic opposition noted how heroic he was in his death.’
In front of a huge crowd, John Rogers was burned at the stake.
HE was one of the first victims of Mary I, and during her reign 284 Protestants would
be executed in the same way of burning.
Mary I was adamant to stamp her authority onto the country and the church, and with
this John Rogers was one of her first victims, and many more would continue during the reign
of Bloody Mary.
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