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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Question from Ann B. - Number of heretics killed in Henry VIII's reign

How many Heretics were killed during Henry VIII's reign??

I'm currently writing a paper on Mary I and i wanted numbers for how many heretics were burned during her father's reign. I know he had a bunch of people killed, such as the Carthusian Monks, but they were not killed for Herecy but left to starve to death for not compiling with the Act of Supremacy.
Everywhere i look it just says 'numious' or 'countless' if you can give me a soild (or approx) number.

IF YOU CAN PLEASE give me a source i would like to look it up myself.
THANKS!! :)

7 comments:

  1. On this website http://www.infobritain.co.uk/queen_mary.htm it says:

    "Jasper Ridley points out that whereas Henry VII ordered the burning of ten heretics in twenty four years, Henry VIII eighty one in thirty eight years, Elizabeth I five in forty four years, Mary ordered the burning of two hundred and eighty people in only five years."

    So if you can track down the right Jasper Ridley book, that should be a good source - here's some info on him with a list of his works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Ridley

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  2. It's worth saying that you have to be very careful about these figures because, particularly in Elizabeth's reign, people were put to death as traitors, but also because of their links to Catholicism. She stopped persuing "heretics" and instead went after traitors - it is a very clever PR tactic.

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  3. The question is loaded.

    You need to define heretic. Good luck!

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  4. Just a reminder that if you do refer to the Carthusians in your paper that not all 18 of them were left to starve. The first group – the priors of the London Charterhouse, Beauvale in Nottinghamshire and Axholme in Lincolnshire - were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, as were the second group a month later. The third group were hanged in chains over the walls at York until they starved to death, and the fourth starved to death chained back-to-back in Newgate prison.

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  5. Thanks everyone for your info, I just define 'heretic' as anyone officially put to death for religion reasons, i understand that Elizabeth and Henry (and even Edward) did kill people on 'other' reasons, and i have some totals but it doesn't say for Henry how many were for heresy only, thanks

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  6. Don't forget the Pilgrimage of Grace, a rebellion that arose as a response to the dissolution of the monasteries, and other religious reasons. Henry's people ruthlessly suppressed this revolt. At that time heresy=treason, so the two really were intermingled.

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  7. It has been estimated that Henry VIII killed over 50,000 people.

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