The Amersham Martyrs - The Lollards

A friend of mine recenty posted this image on Instagram.

He was in Chesham, a town not very far from me (about 8 miles away). The plaque relates to a terrible incident that occured in the 16th century in Chesham and its neighbouring town, Amersham.

By coincidence, I had to go to Amersham today (about six miles away) and I knew that there is a monument to the group now known as The Amersham Martyrs. So I thought I'd seek it out. 

The Amersham Martyrs were burned at the stake in the early 1500s. They were Lollards - followers of John Wycliffe of Oxford - who translated the Bible into English in the 1300s. The Lollards, who were given that nickname because they didn't have academic backgrounds (the word means 'to mumble or doze'), denounced the wealth of the Catholic Church, devoted themselves to the care of the sick and poor, and did not believe that bread and wine changed into the body and blood of Christ at Communion. However, their main demand was the right to read the Bible in English. 

In 1511, Bishop Smith started an enquiry into religious dissent in Amersham and William Tylsworth was burned to death. Ten years later, trials under Bishop Longland ended in the burning of one woman and five more men.

The Memorial lists the Lollards who died: 

WILLIAM TYLESWORTH  - BURNED 1506 (JOAN CLARKE, HIS MARRIED DAUGHTER, WAS COMPELLED TO LIGHT THE FAGGOTS TO BURN HER FATHER) 

THOMAS BARNARD - BURNED 1521 

JAMES MORDEN  - BURNED 1521 

JOHN SCRIVENER - BURNED 1521 (HIS CHILDREN WERE COMPELLED TO LIGHT THEIR FATHER'S PYRE) 

ROBERT RAVE - BURNED 1521 

THOMAS HOLMES - BURNED 1521 

JOAN NORMAN - BURNED 1521 

It also lists other local people identified as Lollards who were kiled elsewhere: 

ROBERT COSIN OF GREAT MISSENDEN - BURNED BUCKINGHAM 1506 

THOMAS CHASE  - STRANGLED AT WOBURN BUCKS (HIS BODY WAS BURIED AT NORLAND WOODS 1514) 

THOMAS MAN - BURNED AT SMITHFIELD 1518 

THOMAS HARDING - BURNED AT CHESHAM 1532 

The monument was erected in 1931 by The Protestant Alliance and was unveiled by a Mrs L R Raine, a direct descendant of martyr Thomas Harding. 

At the unveiling of the memorial the assembled crowd was exhorted by a speaker to maintain 'a Protestant King on a Protestant throne and be ruled by a Protestant parliament'. 

There's also a memorial - a slate plaque - in Market Square, Old Amersham which was created to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the death of the first Amersham martyr. 

It was created by Annet Stirling, a local stone-carver. The use of the same text in Latin and English is to remind the reader that the martyrs died because they were determined to worship in English.