| Persecution of the Protestants
in the 16th century Biography of Queen Mary
1 "Mary I or Mary Tudor. Often called Bloody Mary. 1516-1558. Queen of England and Ireland (1553-58), of house of Tudor. Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon; succeeded to throne on death of her half-brother Edward VI and after deposition of Lady Jane Grey; m. Philip II of Spain (1554); repealed laws establishing Protestantism in England and re-established Roman Catholicism (1555); persecuted Protestants, total number martyred about 300; accepted Cardinal Pole as chief adviser; lost Calais (1558), last English foothold on the Continent. " |
36 of
those martyred were from Suffolk, including John Noyes
from Laxfield who was the brother-in-law of Nicholas
ffyske (71). He was burned at the stake on Sept 21, 1557. FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS Persecutions in England During the Reign of Queen Mary. "John Noyes, a shoemaker, of Laxfield, Suffolk, was taken to Eye, and at midnight, September 21, 1557, he was brought from Eye to Laxfield to be burned. On the following morning he was led to the stake, prepared for the horrid sacrifice. Mr. Noyes, on coming to the fatal spot, knelt down, prayed, and rehearsed the Fiftieth Psalm. When the chain enveloped him, he said, "Fear not them that kill the body, but fear him that can kill both body and soul, and cast it into everlasting fire!" As one Cadman placed a fagot against him, he blessed the hour in which he was born to die for the truth; and while trusting only upon the all-sufficient merits of the Redeemer, fire was set to the pile, and the blazing fagots in a short time stifled his last words, "Lord, have mercy on me! Christ, have mercy upon me!" The ashes of the body were buried in a pit, and with them one of his feet, whole to the ankle, with the stocking on." |