Many people throughout the reign of Henry VIII would go to their executions for refusing
to support the King’s wishes and laws.
Henry VIII even executed Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, 2 of his own wives and also his closest
friend Thomas Cromwell.
To go against the wishes of the King was very dangerous, and around 70,000 people would
be executed inside of his country.
Around 3% of the population of England were executed during the notorious Tudor King’s
time on the throne.
But one of the biggest changes he brought to religion was to state that he was the Supreme
Head of the Church of England.
Motivated by the need to divorce his first wife Catheirne of Aragon, Henry VIII greatly
wanted to marry and sleep with Anne Boleyn who captivated him.
But she refused to take to the King’s bed until he had sorted out his marriage.
But to do this he had to break from Rome.
One man who incurred the brutal wrath of Henry VIII was John Rochester, who today is considered
a martyr.
But his execution was incredibly sadistic and shocking.
Join us today as we look at the horrific execution of the monk that defied Henry VIII, to support
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John Rochester was born around 1498, and he lived a life devoted to religion.
He was a strong and staunch catholic, but he lived inside of the London Chaterhouse.
He was the brother of Sir Robert Rochester, the Comptroller of the Household and a man
who became a privy councillor during the reign of Bloody Mary I. Inside of the London Chaterhouse,
he lived a very pious and quiet life, and devoted his life to tranquility and religious
study.
He would pray a number of times a day, and lived with many other monks inside of the
Charterhouse.
Henry VIII and his government in particular were anxious about securing the support from
the monks of the royal Chaterhouse regarding the acceptance of Henry VIII’s supremacy
over the church.
They lived a rather prestigious life, and were well thought of all over England and
Europe, and they were a prominent part of Catholic worship.
Henry VIII’s government could not turn the majority of the Carthursian monks as they
believed the only person who had authority over the Church was The Pope in Rome.
So Henry VIII sought then to destroy any resistance that he faced from the monks.
On the 4th May 1535, he sent three leading Carthusian monk to their executions at the
Tyburn Tree.
These men were incredibly religious and pious men and they were brutally hanged, drawn and
quartered for just not supporting Henry VIII’’s change.
The following month 3 more monks from the London Charterhouse were executed at Tyburn,
and the Carthusian monastery was destroyed and its numbers were decimated with more being
locked up in Newgate Prison, and they were then starved and died there.
Inside of the monastery, John Rochester was a choir monk and he also opposed the act of
supremacy and the King’s supremacy over the church.
Four more monks from the London house were arrested, two were taken to the Carthusian
house in Nottinghamshire, whilst John Rochester and James Walworth was taken to the Charterhouse
in Hull.
However around the time, the government had successfully managed to put down an uprising
in Lincolnshire, but on the 13th October 1536 a serious threat arose against Henry VIII
and Thomas Cromwell.
The Pilgrimage of Grace broke out and the rebels led by Robert Aske rose up against
the Dissolutions of the Monasteries, and also the changes the King had made to the church.
This was popular, and the King faced his most serious threat.
Thousands of rebels got together and managed to occupy and seize control of the city of
York.
But the government now believed they had to strongly deal with resistance and any dissent
as they were worried that this would spread and serve as a more serious threat to the
King’s authority and leadership.
York itself and Yorkshire became a centre of unrest and John Rochester found himself
inside of this country.
However to teach a lesson to York, John Rochester was used as a scapegoat by Henry VIII’s
government to put the people of York off rebelling and joining uprising.
As he had been taken to York, he was then brought to York where he was presented in
front of the lord President of the North, Thomas Howard the Duke of Norfolk.
He was accused of treason charges linked to rebellions which was in fact false, and it’s
believed his trial was held to send a message to people of the city not to rise up and to
keep them down and scare them.
Howard quickly condemned John Rochester and another man to death, and he organised a terrifying
death sentence for them.
It was stated that the pair should be hanged from the city’s battlements in chains until
their remains rotted and they then fell into pieces.
This took place on the 11th May 1537, and John Rochester was then hanged, and his body
was hung in chains on what it’s believed today is Cliffords Tower.
Thousands of people would pass under Joh Rochester’s decaying corpse each day, and would be reminded
to fall into line.
This is a similar fate that happened to Robert Aske, the leader of the pilgrimage of grace
who from Clifford’s tower was also hanged in chains.
Rochester’s remains were later then picked at by the birds that hung around the city.
Ultimately John Rochester the monk from the London Chaterhouse was killed by the fact
he could not support Henry VIII in his wishes to be known as the Supreme Head of the Church
of England.
There were many others such as Thomas More, and John Fisher who would go to their executions
for this lack of support, and many across England were furious that the King would force
them to change their religious beliefs and ideas that were so important.
Henry VIII’s changes to religion caused thousands of people to be killed or to leave
their country and homes, as they feared persecution.
The pilgrimage of grace rose up in defiance of those monks and nuns who were forced out
of their hones, and were forced to leave their livelihoods and ways of life behind.
It was this which also resulted in the death of John Rochester and the King’s government
wanted a scapegoat to punish to ensure that people thought twice about rebelling against
the Tudor King.
Ultimately the sorry sight ofJohn Rochester, the peaceful monks remains and body hanging
rotting from the top of a battlement in York would have been a strong sight and one which
would have made people distance themselves from resisting.
It was the reign of terror that Henry VIII wanted, and John Rochester was one of his
victims.
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