{{Short description|16th-century Protestants executed for heresy in Colchester, Essex, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Rose Allin 1557.png|thumb|right|A 17th century woodcut showing Rose Allin or Allen, being arrested together with her stepfather and mother, William and Alice Mount or Munt on 7 March 1557 for their Protestant beliefs. They, along with seven others, were burnt at the stake at Colchester on 2 August 1557; some of the Colchester Martyrs.]] The '''Colchester Martyrs''' were 16th-century English Protestant martyrs. They were executed for heresy in Colchester, Essex, during the reigns of Henry VIII and Mary I. Their story is recorded in ''Foxe's Book of Martyrs''.
==1545 or 1546== "[O]ne Henry" and his servant were burned at the stake.<ref name="exclassics207">[http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe207.htm Foxe's Book of Martyrs: 207. John Athy, John Heywood, Kerby, and Roger Clarke]</ref>
==29 March 1555== John Lawrence, a priest and former Blackfriar at Sudbury, Suffolk<ref name="johnfoxeJ">{{Cite web |url=http://www.johnfoxe.org/index.php?realm=more&gototype=modern&type=person&letter=J |title=Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Glossary of People |access-date=2014-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231000430/http://www.johnfoxe.org/index.php?realm=more&gototype=modern&type=person&letter=J |archive-date=2013-12-31 |url-status=dead }}</ref> was burned at the stake.<ref name="exclassics277">[http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe277.htm Foxe's Book of Martyrs: 275. William Pygot, Stephen Knight, and John Laurence]. Exclassics.com; retrieved 17 May 2013.</ref>
==14 June 1555== Nicholas Chamberlain (or Chamberlaine), a weaver from Coggeshall, Essex was burned at the stake.<ref name="Farr">Thomas Bryce, "The Regester" in Edward Farr, ed., [http://www.bartleby.com/261/101.html ''Select Poetry of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth''] (1845).</ref><ref name="exclassics293">[http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe293.htm Foxe's Book of Martyrs: 291. Thomas Osmond, William Bamford, Thomas Osborne and others].Exclassics.com; retrieved 17 May 2013.</ref>
==28 April 1556== Christopher Lister, a husbandman from Dagenham, Essex, John Mace, an apothecary from Colchester, Essex, John Spencer, a weaver from Colchester, Essex, Simon Joyne, a sawyer, Richard Nicol, a weaver from Colchester, Essex and John Hamond, a tanner from Colchester, Essex were burned at the stake.<ref name="Farr"/><ref name="exclassics341">[http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe341.htm Foxe's Book of Martyrs 338. Christopher Lyster, John Mace, John Spencer, Simon Joyne, Richard Nichols and John Hamond.] Exclassics.com; retrieved 22 May 2013.</ref>
==2 August 1557== William Bongeor, Thomas Benhote, William Purchase, Agnes Silverside, Helen Ewring, Elizabeth Folk, William Munt, John Johnson, Alice Munt and Rose Allen were taken to Colchester Castle and burned at the stake.<ref>[http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe365.htm The Ex-Classics Web Site - THE ACTS AND MONUMENTS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH by JOHN FOXE: 362. TEN COLCHESTER MARTYRS], exclassics.com; accessed 31 July 2015.</ref>
==17 September 1557== Agnes Bongeor, wife of Richard Bongeor, John Kurde, and Margaret (Widow) Thurston were burned at the stake<ref name="exclassics6">{{cite web|url=http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe370.htm|title=Foxe's Book of Martyrs - 367. Agnes Bongeor, Margaret Thurston and John Kurde|publisher=Exclassics.com|accessdate=1 September 2012}}</ref><ref name="Farr"/>
==26 May 1558== William Harris, Richard Day and Christian George (female) were burned at the stake.<ref name="Farr"/><ref name="exclassics381">[http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe381.htm Foxe's Book of Martyrs: 378. Three Colchester Martyrs.] Exclassics.com; retrieved 30 May 2013.</ref>
==Those who died in prison== James Gore died on 7 December 1555 in Colchester prison<ref name="Farr"/><ref name="exclassics327">[http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe327.htm Foxe's Book of Martyrs: 325. John Webbe, George Roper, Gregory Parke, William Wiseman, and James Gore]. Exclassics.com. Retrieved on 2013-05-19.</ref> and John Thurston, who had been taken at Much Bentley, Essex, died in May 1557 in Colchester Castle.<ref name="exclassics365">[http://www.exclassics.com/foxe/foxe365.htm Foxe's Book of Martyrs: 362. Ten Colchester Martyrs], Exclassics.com; retrieved 29 May 2013.</ref>
==Monuments== A monument to these victims of the Marian persecutions is in St Peter's Church on North Hill;<ref>[http://www.stpeterscol.org.uk/mems1.html St Peter's Colchester: Memorials - part 1]</ref> another is in the Colchester Town Hall.<ref>[http://www.camulos.com/virtual/townhall.htm Virtual Tour of Colchester's Town Hall] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228022746/http://www.camulos.com/virtual/townhall.htm |date=28 February 2012 }}, camulos.com; accessed 31 July 2015.</ref>
==See also== * List of Protestant martyrs of the English Reformation
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colchester Martyrs}} Category:16th-century Protestant martyrs Category:People executed under Mary I of England Category:People executed for heresy Category:People from Colchester Category:Executed British people Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Groups of Christian martyrs of the Early Modern era Category:People executed by the Kingdom of England by burning Category:Protestant martyrs of England Category:Lists of Christian martyrs