Rowland Taylor 'the Martyr' 13th great-grandfather

Written by Wikipedia

Rowland Taylor (sometimes spelled "Tayler") (about 1510 – 9 February 1555) was an English Protestant martyr during the Marian Persecutions. 

At the time of his death, he was Rector of Hadleigh in Sulfork. He was Burnt at the stake at the stake at nearby Aldham Common.

Left - Dr. Taylor teaching: "To the the Glory of God and in pious Memory ot" / 

Center - his martyrdom:" Rowland Tayor D D Rector of Hadleigh Who" / 

Right - trial before Stephen Gardiner: "Suffered Martyrdum for Christ Sake 9th Feb 1555"

Religious Career

• • In the late 1530s Taylor served as Hugh Latimer’s chaplain and commissary general of the  Diocese of Winchester.

  • In March 1538 Taylor was collated by Latimer to the St Mary’s parish church of Hanbury, Worchestershire.

  • When Latimer resigned, Taylor was taken under the wing of Thomas Crammer, living with him and (1539) serving as his chaplain. He was ordained by Cranmer and admitted to the parish church of St Swithin's in Worcester. He was thus given his licence to preach and did so in the diocese of London.

  • On 16 April 1544, he was presented to the living of Hadleigh, Suffolk.

  • In 1543 the English Parliament banned Tyndale's English version and all public reading of the Bible by laymen. Religious persecution of Protestant clergy, especially by Roman Catholics, intensified in Britain at this time.

  • In 1546 the Council of Trent, an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, decreed that the Latin Vulgate was the authoritative version of the Bible.

  • In the summer of 1547, Taylor was employed as a preacher for the royal visitation within the dioceses of Lincoln, Oxford, Lichfield and Coventry.

  • On 15 August 1547, he became canon of Rochester, the same year during which King Henry VIII had died in January.

  • In 1548, Taylor was appointed archdeacon of Bury St Edmunds and preached at the request of the Lord Mayor at Whitsuntide or Pentecost.

  • Edward VI who reigned from 1547 to 1553, followed Henry VIII, and in 1549 the Book of Common Prayer became the Protestant liturgical text in England.

  • In 1550, Taylor was called to serve on a commission against Anabaptists. The same year, he also helped to administer the vacant diocese of Norwich.

  • In 1551, at age 41, Taylor was made archdeacon of Exeter in the diocese of Exeter, was also appointed one of the Six Preachers of Canterbury Cathedral appointed chancellor to Bishop Nicholas Ridley. His leadership was expanded by serving on a commission to revise the ecclesiastical laws.

  • In 1552, he helped administer the vacant diocese of Worcester.

Political troubles from 1553

Taylor's troubles began on 25 July 1553. He was arrested just six days after the new queen, Mary I, ascended the throne. Aside from the fact that Taylor had supported Lady Jane Grey, Mary's rival, he was also charged with heresy for having preached a sermon in Bury St. Edmunds denouncing the Roman Catholic practice of clerical celibacy, which required that a priest in holy orders be unmarried. Many English clergymen, including Taylor, had abandoned this teaching since the 1530s as a token of the English Reformation.

Taylor also denounced the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, which is the belief that the two elements (bread and wine) taken during Holy Communion, or the Eucharist, actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ....

...

Trial and martyrdom

January 1555 was an ominous month for Anglican clergy in England. After several years of separation from Roman worship and governance, the accession of Mary I in 1553 and her immediate reversion to Roman Catholic rule in obedience to the Pope (an attempt to turn back the Reformation of the English church) led her to unleash her wrath upon those whom she defined as treasonably minded heretics. On 22 January 1555, Rowland Taylor (rector of Hadleigh in Suffolk) and several other clergy, including John Hooper, were examined by a commission of leading bishops and lawyers. As Lord Chancellor, Gardiner presided at the hearings. Just two days previously, on 20 January, Parliament had revived the old statute for burning convicted heretics.

One of the men, Edward Crome, recanted and was thus pardoned. William Barlow equivocated and was sent to the Tower of London, but not executed. Rowland Taylor, who remained committed, was probably taken to Poultry Compter Prison in London after his examination by Gardiner. Taylor gave a fervent defence of clerical marriage, which put him at odds with the Roman Catholic Church.

On 29 January 1555, Taylor was brought before Gardiner again at St Mary's. The next day he was excommunicated and sentenced to death. He was stripped of his clerical garments in a symbolic manner, and offered a last supper with his family.

His reaction to his accusers, as recorded by the martyrologist John Foxe,, was this:

And although I know, that there is neither justice nor truth to be looked for at my adversaries hands, but rather imprisonment and cruel death: yet know my cause to be so good and righteous, and the truth so strong upon my side, that I will by God's grace go and appear before them and to their beards resist their false doing

Final words

His wife awaited him in the early morning hours at St. Botolph's Aldgate churchyard in London; they exchanged a few last brief words and Margaret promised to be present for his burning in a couple of days. That same day, Taylor was handed over to the sheriff of Essex at Chelmsford. Before he was handed over, he spoke these words to his family:

I say to my wife, and to my children, The Lord gave you unto me, and the Lord hath taken me from you, and you from me: blessed be the name of the Lord! I believe that they are blessed which die in the Lord. God careth for sparrows, and for the hairs of our heads. I have ever found Him more faithful and favourable, than is any father or husband. Trust ye therefore in Him by the means of our dear Saviour Christ's merits: believe, love, fear, and obey Him: pray to Him, for He hath promised to help. Count me not dead, for I shall certainly live, and never die. I go before, and you shall follow after, to our long home.

Taylor was taken from London back to Hadleigh, and was held in the cellar of Lawenham Guildhall. Following [first] John Rogers on 4 February and Lawrence Saunders on 8 February, Taylor became Mary's third Protestant to be burned at the stake. His execution took place on 9 February 1555, at Aldham Common just north of Hadleigh. His wife, two daughters, and his son Thomas were present that day.

His final words to his son Thomas, as reported by Foxe:

Almighty God bless thee, and give you his Holy Spirit, to be a true servant of Christ, to learn his word, and constantly to stand by his truth all the life long. And my son, see that thou fear God always. Fly from all sin and wicked living. Be virtuous, serve God daily with prayer, and apply thy boke. In anywise see thou be obedient to thy mother, love her, and serve her. Be ruled by her now in thy youth, and follow her good counsel in all things. Beware of lewd company of young men, that fear not God, but followeth their lewd lusts and vain appetites. Flee from whoredom, and hate all filthy lying, remembering that I thy father do die in the defense of holy marriage. And another day when God shall bless thee, love and cherish the poor people, and count that thy chief riches to be rich in alms. And when thy mother is waxed old, forsake her not, but provide for her to thy power, and see that she lacks nothing. For so will God bless thee, give thee long life upon earth, and prosperity, which I pray God to grant thee.

A local butcher was ordered to set a torch to the wood but resisted. A couple of bystanders finally threw a lighted torch onto the wood. A perhaps sympathetic guard, named Warwick, struck Taylor's head with a halberd, which apparently killed him instantly. The fire consumed his body shortly thereafter. That same day, John Hooper was burned at the stake in Gloucester. 

• 
• 
  
• Ancestral chain . . 13th great-grandfather 

• George Ensign SMITH 1898-1967 / Harriet Camilla ENSIGN / Martin Luther ENSIGN / Mary Bronson / Sylvanus Bronson / David Bronson / David Bronson / John (3) Taylor / John (Immigrant) (2) Taylor / John (I) Taylor / George William Taylor III / George Jr Taylor / Capt. Thomas Taylor Sr Taylor / Rev. Dr. Rowland "The Martyr" Taylor * Arch Deacon of Exeter, Canon of Rochester, Chancellor of London 1510-1555

• See Also: 

  15th great-grandfather John Rogers 'the Martyr'

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Monuments and Markers- John Rogers the Martyr

 

St Bartholomew's Hospital - Marian Martyrs

Inscription

{In gilded letters around and below the granite arch:}
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.
The noble army of martyrs praise Thee!

On the main tablet: 

Within a few feet of this spot,
John Rogers,
John Bradford,
John Philpot,
and other servants of God, suffered death by fire for the faith of Christ, in the years 1555, 1556, 1557.

On the small brass plaque below:
Erected 1870 by the Protestant Alliance London.

(See: London Remembers)

Being just outside the city walls this was considered a suitable spot for executions. Here more than 60 Protestants were burned at the stake, mainly in the reign of Queen Mary (1553-1558) hence they are known as the Marian Martyrs. All their names are recorded on a panel at St James Church, Clerkenwell.

 Royal Chaplain John Rogers His wife and Children

(See: Matthew's Bible > Britannica Article)
John Rogers: the compiler of the first authorised English Bible, the pioneer of the English Reformation, and its first martyr.

(See: WikiTree)

Following the accession of Mary I, he was ordered to stay confined to his house as a "seditious preacher". He was deprived of the Prebend of St Pancras, and of the income from his living at St Sepulchre.

Although he had opportunities to flee to continental Europe, he did not take advantage of them. After five months of house arrest, he was sent to Newgate. After the re-enactment of laws allowing the execution of heretics, he was tried as a heretic in January 1555, and condemned on 29 January 1555. He asked to be allowed to speak to his wife but this request was denied. John Rogers [15th  Great Grandfather] was burnt at the stake at Smithfield, London on 4 February 1555, becoming the first of the Protestant martyrs of the reign of Mary I. His wife and all his children were present  at his execution. Henry Machyn’s diary states that there was a ”grett compene [company] of the gard” at his execution.

John Rogers' wife and his oldest son Daniel retrieved letters and papers from his prison cell after his death.

Birmingham Civic Society

Ancestral Chain: John ROGERS martyr- b.1507, John ROGERS- b.1538, Richard ROGERS- b., John R. ROGERS Immigrant- b.1617, Ann ROGERS- b.Abt 1628, Mary HUDSON- b.1644, Katherine HODGES- b.1664, Mary DELAND-b.1683, Robert ROUNDY- b.1704, John ROUNDY- b.1726, Uriah ROUNDY- b.1756, Shadrach ROUNDY- b.1789, Almeda Sophia ROUNDY- b.1829, Charles PARKER- b.1853, Laura Elizabeth PARKER- b.1889, Kirt DeMar WOOD- b.1923, Lark, TR.

First Christian Kings of Sweden

Erik Segersäll the Victorious King of Sweden (c. 975-c.995)

Eric praying to Odin [a major god in Norse mythology] before the Battle of Fýrisvellir, as envisioned by 20th century artist Jenny Nyström

Eric won the Battle of Fýrisvellir at Old Uppsala, according to Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa after sacrificing to Odin and promising that if victorious, he would give himself to Odin in ten years.

Adam of Bremen relates that Eric was baptised in Denmark but that he forgot about the Christian faith after he returned to Sweden. Erik's son Olaf became a Christian martyr. 

Ancestry Chain: Ancestral Quest relationship calculator shows Erik as our grandfather 100 times as 33rd, 34th, 35th, 36th, 37th, 38th and 39th great grandfather.
As 33th great grandfather Erik Segersäll “the Victorious” King of Sweden b.975, Olaf III Skötkonung King of Sweden b.950, Astrid of Norway b.999, Ulfhild OLAFSDATTER Princess of Norway b.1020, Magnus Billung, Duke of Saxony b.1045, Ulfhide (Wolfhildis) Princess Of Saxony b.1079, Judith of Bavaria, Duchess of Swabia b.1103, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I b.1122, Philip of Swabia King of Germany 1250 and 1254 Duke b.1176, Marie Of Hohenstaufen b.1201, Henry III, Duke of Brabant b.1233, Marie DE BRABANT b.1254, Marguerite Queen of England of France b.1279, Edmund PLANTAGENET of Woodstock, Earl of Kent I b.1301, Joan of Kent PLANTAGENET Princess of Wales b.1328, John DE HOLLAND Duke of Exeter b.1355, John HOLLAND 2nd Duke Of Exeter b.1395, Anne HOLLAND b.1428, Ralph (I) NEVILLE 3rd Earl of Westmorland b.1456, Lord Ralph NEVILLE II b.1472, Lord Ralph (III) NEVILLE 4th Earl of Westmorland b.1497, Lady Margaret NEVILLE b.1520, George GARDNER b.1535, Sir Thomas GARDNER b.1565, Rachel GARDNER Immigrant b.1608, Thomas NOBLE Emigrant b.1632, Sgt. Luke NOBLE b.1675, Samuel NOBLE b.1722, Lydia NOBLE b.1768, Horace Datus ENSIGN b.1797, Martin Luther ENSIGN b.1831, Harriett Camilla ENSIGN b.1859, George Ensign SMITH b.1898, Camilla SMITH b.1926, Lark, JR.

"Saint" Olaf III Skotkonung Sweden Eriksson "the Tax King"

Birth: 950 in Uppsala, Sweden
Death: Nov 1022 in Kronoberg, Orebro, Sweden / Stockholm, Sweden

He was the first Swedish king to remain Christian until his death. However, according to Adam of Bremen, the fact that the vast majority of the Swedes were still pagan forced him to limit Christian activities to the already Christian border province of Väs.

According to a legend he was martyred at Stockholm after refusing to sacrifice to pagan gods. He's venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.

Ancestry Chain: Ancestral Quest relationship calculator shows Olaf III as our grandfather 100 times as 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th, 35th, 36th, 37th, and 38th great grandfather.
As 38th great grandfather Olaf III Skötkonung King of Sweden b.950, Ingigerd Olafsdottir Princess of Sweden b.1001, Anastasia of Kiev Queen of Hungary b.1023, Adelaide princess of Hungary Duchess of Bohemia b.1041, Judith of Bohemia princess b.abt 1059, Bolesław III Wrymouth b.1085, King Władysław II the Exile High Duke of Poland and Ruler of Silesia b.1105, Ryksa (Richeza) of Poland Queen of Castile b.1140, Sancha of Castile and Leon b.1154, Alfonso II Count Province & Forcalquier b.1174, Raymond Berenger V Count of Provence b.1198, Marguerite DeProvence b.1221, Philip III 'the Bold' of France b.1245, Charles Of Valois b.1270, Jeanne 'Joan' of Valois CALPET Countess of Hainaut-Hainault b.1294, Philippa of Hainault Countess of Savoy- Queen consort of England b.1311, *Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence PLANTAGENET b.1338, Philippa 5th Countess of Ulster suo jure PLANTAGENET b.1355, Roger DE MORTIMER 4th Earl of March b.1374, Anne DE MORTIMER Of March b.1390, Richard PLANTAGENET 3rd Duke of York b.1411, Edward IV PLANTAGENET King of England b.1441, Prince Cecily PLANTAGENET of York b.1469, Robert DE WELLES b.1484, Thomas DE WELLES b.1501, Robert WELLES b.1540, Jane Sarah WELLS b.1572, Sylvester BALDWIN b.1590, Mary BALDWIN b.1625, Deborah PLUMB b.1655, John ROUNDY b.1681, Robert ROUNDY b.1704, John ROUNDY b.1726, Uriah ROUNDY b.1756, Shadrach ROUNDY b.1789, Almeda Sophia ROUNDY b.1829, Charles PARKER b.1853, Laura Elizabeth PARKER b.1889, Kirt DeMar WOOD b.1923, Lark, TR.

15th great-grandfather John Rogers 'the Martyr'

John Rogers

A minister, Bible translator and commentator of "Matthew" Bible
and the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I of England.

John Rogers was born in 1500 in the parish of Aston, near Birmingham. He was a minister, Bible translator and commentator. John Rogers was the first English Protestant martyr to be executed by Mary I of England, a.k.a. “Queen Bloody Mary”. He was burned at the stake on February 4, 1555 at Smithfield.

Early Years of John Rogers

John Rogers, was educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge University, where he graduated with a B.A. in 1526. Six years later he was rector of Holy Trinity, Queenhithe, London, and in 1534 went to Antwerp as chaplain to the English merchants of the Company of the Merchant Adventurers. Here he met William Tyndale, under whose influence he abandoned the Roman Catholic faith. Rogers took a wife named Adriana, a native of Antwerp, who eventually bore him ten children.

John Rogers / Thomas Matthew and the 1537 Bible

After Tyndale's death Rogers pushed on with his predecessor's English version of the Old Testament, which he used as far as Second Chronicles, employing Myles Coverdale's
translation of 1535 for the remainder and for the Apocrypha. The complete Bible was put out under the pseudonym of Thomas Matthew in 1537. John Rogers used the assumed name “Thomas Matthew” to avoid persecution and prosecution by the authorities who continued to forbid under penalty of death, the printing of the scriptures in the English language. As the work could obviously not be done safely in England, the Bible was printed in Paris and Antwerp by his wife Adriana's uncle, Sir Jacobus van Meteren.
John Rogers had little to do with the translation, but he contributed some valuable prefaces and marginal notes -- often cited as the first original English language commentary on the Bible. Rogers also contributed the Song of Manasses in the Apocrypha which he found in a French Bible printed in 1535. His work was largely used by those who prepared the Great Bible of1539-40, out of which in turn came the Bishops' Bible of 1568 and the Authorized Version of King James in 1611.
After taking charge of a Protestant congregation in Wittenberg for some years, John Rogers returned to England in 1548, where he published a translation of Philipp Melanchthon's Considerations of the Augsburg Interim. In 1551, John Rogers was made a prebendary of St. Paul's Church, where the Dean and Chapter soon appointed him as the divinity lecturer. He courageously denounced the greed shown by certain courtiers with reference to the property of the suppressed monasteries, and defended himself before the privy council. He also declined to wear the prescribed vestments, donning instead a simple round cap.

John Rogers Preaches boldly Against Catholicism

As Queen Mary took the throne, John Rogers preached at Paul's Cross commending the "true doctrine taught in King Edward's days," and warning his hearers against the "pestilent Popery, idolatry and superstition." Of the Roman Catholic Church. Ten days after this bold public display, on August 16, 1553, John Rogers was summoned before the council and bidden to keep within his own house. In January 1554 Bonner, the new bishop of London, sent him to Newgate Prison, where he lay with John Hooper, Laurence Saunders, John Bradford and others for a year, where their petitions were disregarded. In December 1554 parliament re-enacted the penal statutes against Lollards, and on January 22, 1555, two days after they took effect, Rogers with ten others came before the council at Gardiner's house in Southwark, and held his own in the examination that took place. On January 28 & 29, he came before the commission appointed by Cardinal Pole, and was sentenced to death by Gardiner for heretically denying the Christian character of the Church of Rome and the physical presence of the body of Christ in the sacrament of communion.


The Death of John Rogers

When the time came that he should be brought out of Newgate Prison to Smithfield, the place of his execution, Mr. Woodroofe, one of the sheriffs, first came to John Rogers, and asked him if he would revoke his abominable doctrine, and the evil opinion of the Sacrament of the altar. Rogers answered, "That which I have preached I will seal with my blood." Then Mr. Woodroofe said, "Thou art an heretic." Rogers replied "That shall be known at the Day of Judgment." Mr. Woodroofe added, "I will never pray for thee." Though Rogers responded "But I will pray for you.”
John Rogers awaited and met death on the 4th of February 1555 at Smithfield cheerfully, though he was denied even a last moment with his wife. Rogers stands as the first blood on the hands of Queen “Bloody” Mary… and the first of hundreds more to come. Noailles, the French ambassador, speaks of the support given to John Rogers by the majority of the people commenting, "even his children assisted at it, comforting him in such a manner that it seemed as if he had been led to a wedding rather than an execution."
History from: English Bible History
@ http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/john-rogers.html

Matthew's Bible > Britannica Article:
John Rogers: the compiler of the first authorised English Bible, the pioneer of the English Reformation, and its first martyr.
...sentenced to death by Gardiner for heretically denying the Christian character of the Church of Rome and the real presence in the sacrament. He awaited and met death (on the 4th of February 1555 at Smithfield) cheerfully, though denied even an interview with his wife. Noailles, the French ambassador, speaks of the support given to Rogers by the greatest part of the people: "even his children assisted at it, comforting him in such a manner that it seemed as if he had been led to a wedding." He was the first Protestant martyr of Mary's reign, and his friend Bradford wrote that "he broke the ice valiantly."

..."Truely and purely translated into English by Thomas Matthew." Thomas Matthew, is, however, in all probability, an alias for John Rogers, a friend and fellow-worker of Tyndale, and the volume is in reality no new translation at all, but a compilation from the renderings of Tyndale and Coverdale. Thus the Pentateuch and the New Testament were reprinted from Tyndale's translations of 1530 and 1535 respectively, with very slight variations; the books from Joshua to the end of Chronicles are traditionally, and lately also by external evidence, ⁽¹⁾ assigned to Tyndale and were probably left by him in the hands of Rogers....
1. Westcott, History of the English Bible (3rd ed.), revised by W. Aldis Wright (London, 1905), p. 172 note.

Ancestral Chain: John ROGERS martyr- b.1507, John ROGERS- b.1538, Richard ROGERS- b., John R. ROGERS Immigrant- b.1617, Ann ROGERS- b.Abt 1628, Mary HUDSON- b.1644, Katherine HODGES- b.1664, Mary DELAND-b.1683, Robert ROUNDY- b.1704, John ROUNDY- b.1726, Uriah ROUNDY- b.1756, Shadrach ROUNDY- b.1789, Almeda Sophia ROUNDY- b.1829, Charles PARKER- b.1853, Laura Elizabeth PARKER- b.1889, Kirt DeMar WOOD- b.1923, Lark, TR.

See Also:  

Rowland Taylor 'Martyr' 13th great-grandfather