Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
John Fisher
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Biography== ===Early life=== John Fisher was born at [[Beverley]], [[Yorkshire]] in 1469,<ref name="huddleston">{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08462b.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. John Fisher|website=newadvent.org|access-date=12 December 2018}}</ref> the son of Robert Fisher, a prosperous [[Mercery|mercer]] of Beverley, and Agnes, his wife, with whom he had four children. Robert Fisher died in 1477, and was buried in St. Mary's, the parish church; in his will, he made bequests to his children and various poorhouses, churches, and priests, as well as providing Mass stipends.<ref>To "a number of churches and almshouses and to two priests. To a monastery at Hagnaby in Lincolnshire he left ten shillings for a trental of Masses for the repose of his soul, and to a church at Holtoft not far away in the same county, he left a small sum for the upkeep of the fabric. Robert senior may have been a native of that part of Lincolnshire. Four children are referred to in the will but not named. We know the names of two, John and his brother Robert who was later steward at Rochester. One of the other children was a daughter who married an Edward White. The fourth child may have been the Ralph Fisher whose name comes in a list of debts owing to John Fisher at his attainder. An early manuscript version of John Fisher's life says that he was the eldest son, but this, too, lacks confirmation."{{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=E.E. |title=St. John Fisher |publisher=Mediatrix Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0692546772 |pages=9–10}}</ref> John was then eight years old. His widowed mother subsequently married a man named White, to whom she bore four further children.<ref>Neither White's Christian name nor his occupation is known. Of his children by Agnes, John and Thomas became merchants; the third, Richard, became a priest and Elizabeth White entered the Dominican nunnery at Dartford, Kent.</ref> Fisher's early education was probably at the school attached to the collegiate church in his home town. He seems to have had close contacts with his extended family all his life. === University of Cambridge === Acknowledging Fisher's aptitude for learning, and being financially comfortable, his mother assented to his admission to the University of Cambridge, in 1482, at the age of twelve or thirteen. The University of Cambridge had regressed and stagnated academically. In an oration delivered before [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] in 1506, Fisher recalled: {{Blockquote|text="At the time when your majesty first showed your concern for us, learning had begun to decline among us—this may have been the result of constant litigation with the town, or of the frequent plagues that beset us so that we lost many of our leading scholars, or of the lack of patrons of learning.<ref>Some [[St Scholastica Day riot#Background|similar forces]] had also affected the University of Oxford.</ref> Whatever the cause, we should indeed have been reduced to despair had not your majesty shone down upon us like the rising sun itself."<ref>{{cite web |title=Martyr-in-Waiting – Martyrs of Henry VIII: Repression, Defiance, Sacrifice |url=https://erenow.org/biographies/martyrs-henry-viii-repression-defiance-dacrifice/3.php |access-date=2023-10-26 |website=erenow.org }}</ref>}} Fisher studied at the [[University of Cambridge]] from 1484, where at [[Michaelhouse, Cambridge|Michaelhouse]] he came under the influence of [[William Melton (clergyman)|William Melton]], a pastorally-minded theologian open to the new current of reform in studies arising from the [[Renaissance]]. Fisher received the [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in 1487. In 1491 he proceeded to a [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)|Master of Arts]] degree and was elected a [[fellow]] of his college.<ref>{{acad|id= FSR487J|name=Fisher, John}}</ref> Also in 1491 Fisher received a papal dispensation to be ordained to the priesthood despite being under the canonical age.<ref>{{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Ernest Edwin |title=Saint John Fisher|page=6|publisher=Anthony Clarke Books|year=1955}}</ref> On 17 December 1491 he was ordained into the priesthood, and appointed (nominal) Vicar of [[Northallerton]], Yorkshire.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Saywell |first1=Joseph Lemuel |title=The history and annals of Northallerton, Yorkshire |date=1885 |publisher=Simpkin and Marshall |location=London |page=xliv (298) |chapter=Appendix|oclc=1045936128}}</ref> In 1494 he resigned this [[benefice]] to become [[proctor]] of the University and three years later was appointed master debater and about the same time he was also appointed chaplain and confessor to [[Lady Margaret Beaufort|Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby]], mother of [[Henry VII of England|King Henry VII]]. On 5 July 1501, he received the degree of [[doctor of sacred theology]] and 10 days later was elected [[List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge|Vice-Chancellor of the university]]. Under Fisher's guidance, his patroness Lady Margaret founded [[St John's College, Cambridge|St John's]] and [[Christ's College, Cambridge|Christ's Colleges]] at Cambridge, and a Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity at each of the two universities at [[Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity|Oxford]] and [[Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity|Cambridge]]. Fisher himself becoming the first occupant of the Cambridge chair. From 1505 to 1508 he was also the President of [[Queens' College, Cambridge|Queens' College]]. At the end of July 1516 he was at Cambridge for the opening of St John's College and consecrated the chapel. Fisher's strategy was to assemble funds and attract to Cambridge leading scholars from Europe, promoting the study not only of [[Classical Latin]] and [[Greek literature|Greek]] authors, but of [[Hebrew literature|Hebrew]]. He placed great weight upon pastoral commitment, above all popular preaching, on the part of the endowed fellows. Fisher had a vision to which he dedicated all his personal resources and energies. Despite occasional opposition, he managed to administer the entire university, one of only two in England, conceiving and seeing through long-term projects. Fisher's foundations were also dedicated to prayer for the dead, especially through [[chantry]] foundations. A stern and austere man, Fisher was known to place a human skull on the altar during Mass and on the table during meals.<ref>{{cite book |last=Seward |first=Desmond |title=The Wars of the Roses|page=437|publisher=Constable and Robinson|year=2007}}</ref> [[File:Bishop John Fisher MET DP242652.jpg|thumb|John Fisher as a young man by Pietro Torrigiano.]] Erasmus said of John Fisher: "He is the one man at this time who is incomparable for uprightness of life, for learning and for greatness of soul."<ref name=foley/> ===Bishop=== By [[papal bull]] dated 14 October 1504, Fisher was appointed [[bishop of Rochester]], at the personal insistence of Henry VII.<ref name=CatholicCulture>{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=7604|title=Catholic Culture Library: Bishop John Fisher |access-date=3 July 2016}}</ref> Rochester was then the poorest diocese in England and usually seen as a first step on an episcopal career. Nonetheless, Fisher stayed there, presumably by his own choice, for the remaining 31 years of his life. At the same time, like any English bishop of his day, Fisher had certain state duties. These included in particular, his role regarding the University of Cambridge, in which he maintained a passionate interest. In 1504 he was elected the university's chancellor. Re-elected annually for 10 years, Fisher ultimately received a lifetime appointment. At this date he is also said to have acted as tutor to the future king, [[Henry VIII]]. As a preacher, his reputation was so great that he was appointed to preach the funeral oration for King Henry VII and the Lady Margaret, both of whom died in 1509, the texts being extant. Besides the part he played in the Lady Margaret's foundations, Fisher gave further proof of his zeal for learning by inducing [[Erasmus]] to visit Cambridge. The latter attributes it (''"Epistulae"'' 6:2) to Fisher's protection that the study of Greek was allowed to proceed at Cambridge without the active molestation that it encountered at Oxford.<ref name=huddleston/> Despite his fame and eloquence, it was not long before Fisher came into conflict with the new King, his former pupil. The dispute arose over funds left by the Lady Margaret, the King's grandmother, for financing foundations at Cambridge. In 1512 Fisher was nominated as one of the English representatives at the [[Fifth Council of the Lateran]], then sitting, but his journey to Rome was postponed, and finally abandoned.<ref name=huddleston/> ===Opposition to Lutheranism=== John Fisher was "the first theologian to diagnose justification through faith alone as the founding dogma of the Protestant Reformation."<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of Eramus' Defence of his De libero arbitrio |first=Germain |last=Marc’hadour |journal=Moreana |date=December 2010 |volume=47 |issue=181–182 |page=299 |doi=10.3366/more.2010.47.3-4.17 |url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/pdf/10.3366/more.2010.47.3-4.17}}</ref> Fisher has also been named, though without any convincing proof, as the true author of the royal treatise against [[Martin Luther]] entitled ''"Assertio septem sacramentorum"'' (''[[Defence of the Seven Sacraments]]''), published in 1521, which won for King Henry VIII the title ''"Fidei Defensor"'' (''[[Fidei defensor|Defender of the Faith]]''). Prior to this date Fisher had denounced various [[Counter-Reformation|abuses in the Church]], urging the need for disciplinary reforms. In 1523, Fisher published a 200,000 word response to Martin Luther's {{langx|la|Assertio Omnium Articulor}} (Assertions): {{langx|la|Assertionis Lutheranae Confutatio}} (Confutation of the Lutheran Assertions). Luther omitted some of the more provocative material from his German version, allowing the view that Fisher (and, the next year, [[Erasmus#Dispute on free will|Erasmus]]) had misunderstood Luther.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scheck |first1=Thomas P. |title=Bishop John Fisher's Response To Martin Luther |journal=Franciscan Studies |date=2013 |volume=71 |pages=463–509 |jstor=43855981 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43855981 |issn=0080-5459}}</ref> Luther did not respond to Fisher. On about 11 February 1526, at the King's command, he preached a famous sermon against Luther at [[St Paul's Cross]], the open-air pulpit outside [[St Paul's Cathedral]] in London, as part of a spectacle where some Lutherans would publicly abjure and confiscated Lutheran books would be burnt. In the preface to the printed English version of the sermon, Fisher offered to meet secretly with any Lutheran to "to hear the bottom of his mind, and he shall hear mine again, if it so please him: and I trust in our lord, that finally we shall so agree, that either he shall make me a Lutheran, or else I shall induce him to be a Catholic, and to follow the doctrine of Christ's church."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=D'Alton |first1=Craig W. |title=The Suppression of Lutheran Heretics in England, 1526–1529 |journal=The Journal of Ecclesiastical History |date=April 2003 |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=228–253 |doi=10.1017/S0022046902005675}}</ref> The battle against heterodox teachings increasingly occupied Fisher's later years. In 1529 Fisher was called to confirm with [[Thomas Hitton]], a follower of [[William Tyndale]] arrested for suspected heresy, that the records of his interviews and forthright admissions to Archbishop [[William Warham]] were correct and to convince Hitton to abjure.<ref name=foxe>{{cite book |last1=Foxe |first1=John |title=Fox's Book of Martyrs: The Acts and Monuments of the Church |date=1851 |publisher=G. Virtue |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1idOAAAAYAAJ&dq=Thomas+hitton&pg=PA1150 }}</ref>{{rp|1149–1151}} Failing this, Hitton was handed to the secular authorities and executed at the stake for heresy. [[William Tyndale]], then living overseas, claimed that Hitton had been [[Inquisition#Methods of torture used|tortured]] by the archbishops,<ref>Brian Moynahan, God's Messenger</ref> however Protestant historian [[John Foxe]] who was diligent in passing on this kind of claim, does not claim this.<ref name=foxe /> ===Defence of Catherine of Aragon=== When Henry tried to annul his marriage to [[Catherine of Aragon]], Fisher became the Queen's chief supporter.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeblessedjohn00bridgoog|title=Life of Blessed John Fisher: Bishop of Rochester, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and Martyr Under Henry VIII|last=Bridgett|first=Thomas Edward|date=1890|publisher=Burns & Oates|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifeblessedjohn00bridgoog/page/n186 165]}}</ref> As such, he appeared on the Queen's behalf in the legates' court, where he startled the audience by the directness of his language and by declaring that, like St [[John the Baptist]], he was ready to die on behalf of the indissolubility of marriage.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeblessedjohn00bridgoog|title=Life of Blessed John Fisher: Bishop of Rochester, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and Martyr Under Henry VIII|last=Bridgett|first=Thomas Edward|date=1890|publisher=Burns & Oates|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifeblessedjohn00bridgoog/page/n191 170]}}</ref> Henry VIII, upon hearing this, grew so enraged by it that he composed a long Latin address to the legates in answer to the bishop's speech. Fisher's copy of this still exists, with his manuscript annotations in the margin which show how little he feared the royal anger.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeblessedjohn00bridgoog|title=Life of Blessed John Fisher: Bishop of Rochester, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and Martyr Under Henry VIII|last=Bridgett|first=Thomas Edward|date=1890|publisher=Burns & Oates|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifeblessedjohn00bridgoog/page/n193 172]}}</ref> The removal of the cause to Rome brought Fisher's personal involvement to an end, but the King never forgave him for what he had done. ===Henry's attack on church prerogatives=== {{More citations needed section|date=October 2023}} In November 1529, the "Long Parliament" of Henry's reign began encroaching on the Catholic Church's prerogatives. Fisher, as a member of the upper house, the [[House of Lords]], at once warned [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] that such acts could only end in the utter destruction of the Catholic Church in England. The [[House of Commons of England|Commons]], through their speaker, complained to the King that Fisher had disparaged [[Parliament of England|Parliament]], presumably with Henry prompting them behind the scenes.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge Modern History, Volume 2, Ch 13 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Cambridge_Modern_History/Volume_II/Chapter_XIII |chapter=Chapter XIII: Henry VIII.}}</ref>{{rp|433}} Henry summoned Fisher before him, demanding an explanation. This being given, Henry declared himself satisfied, leaving it to the Commons to declare that the explanation was inadequate, so that he appeared as a magnanimous sovereign, instead of Fisher's enemy.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} A year later, in 1530, the continued encroachments on the Church moved Fisher, as bishop of Rochester, along with the [[John Clerk (bishop)|bishops of Bath]] and [[Nicholas West|Ely]], to appeal to the Holy See. This gave the King his opportunity and an edict forbidding such appeals was immediately issued, and the three bishops were arrested. Their imprisonment, however, must have lasted only a few months for in February 1531, [[Convocations of Canterbury and York|Convocation]] met, and Fisher was present. This was the occasion when the clergy were forced, at a cost of 100,000 pounds, to purchase the King's pardon for having recognized [[Cardinal Wolsey]]'s authority as legate of the pope; and at the same time to acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church in England, to which phrase the addition of the clause "so far as God's law permits" was made through Fisher's efforts. {{Quote box|align=right|width=50%|This yere was a coke boylyd in a cauderne in [[Smithfield, London|Smythfeld]] for he wolde a powsyned the bishop of Rochester Fycher with dyvers of hys servanttes, and he was lockyd in a chayne and pullyd up and downe with a [[gibbet|gybbyt]] at dyvers tymes tyll he was dede.|source={{citation |title=Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London|url=https://archive.org/stream/chronicleofgreyf00londrich#page/34/mode/2up|year=1531}}}} ====Poisoned porridge and cannonball==== A few days later, several of Fisher's household were taken ill after eating some porridge served to the household and two died: however Fisher was fasting that day. [[Henry VIII]] had parliament enact a retroactive bill that allowed the cook, [[Richard Roose]], without a public trial, to be executed by the state by [[Death by boiling|being boiled alive]] for the crime of poisoning. On another occasion in 1530, a cannonball fired from across the Thames hit Fisher's house, narrowly missing his study.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coleridge |first1=Hartley |title=Lady Anne Clifford. Roger Ascham. John Fisher. The Rev. William Mason. Sir Richard Arkwright |date=1852 |publisher=E. Moxon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QflsP25NPXcC&dq=John+fisher+canon+ball&pg=PA218 }}</ref>{{rp|218}} This was rumoured to be a warning or assassination attempt from the [[Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire|Boleyn family]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moore |first1=James |title=The Tudor Murder Files |date=31 October 2016 |publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=978-1-4738-5704-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UiVDDQAAQBAJ&dq=James+Moore%E2%80%99s+The+Tudor+Murder+Files++%22fisher%22&pg=PT68 }}</ref> ===Intrigues with the Holy Roman Emperor=== Fisher also engaged in secret activities to overthrow Henry. As early as 1531 he began secretly communicating with foreign diplomats. In September 1533 communicating secretly through the imperial ambassador [[Eustace Chapuys]] he encouraged [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] to invade England and depose Henry in combination with a domestic uprising.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oOk8AAAAIAAJ&q=chapuys+%22john+fisher%22+treason&pg=PA157|title=Humanism, Reform and the Reformation: The Career of Bishop John Fisher|first=Brendan |last=Bradshaw|date=26 January 1989|pages=156–7|publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=9780521340342}}</ref> ==="The King's Great Matter"=== {{Main|The King's Great Matter}} [[File:John Fisher by Gerard Valck, after Adriaen van der Werff.jpg|thumb|upright|John Fisher by [[Gerard Valck]], after [[Adriaen van der Werff]], 1697.]] Matters now moved rapidly. In May 1532, Sir [[Thomas More]] resigned the chancellorship and, in June, Fisher preached publicly against the annulment. In August, [[William Warham]], Archbishop of Canterbury, died and [[Thomas Cranmer]] was at once proposed by Henry to the Pope as his successor. In January of the next year, Henry secretly went through a form of marriage with [[Anne Boleyn]]. Cranmer's consecration as a bishop took place in March 1533, and, a week later, Fisher was arrested. It seems that the purpose of this arrest was to prevent him from opposing the annulment which Cranmer pronounced in May, or the coronation of Anne Boleyn which followed on 1 June, for Fisher was set at liberty again within a fortnight of the latter event, no charge being made against him. In the autumn of 1533, various arrests were made in connection with the so-called revelations of the Holy Maid of Kent, [[Elizabeth Barton]], but as Fisher was taken seriously ill in December, proceedings against him were postponed for a time. However, in March 1534, a special [[Bill of Attainder]] against Fisher and others for complicity in the matter of the Maid of Kent was introduced in [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] and passed. By this, Fisher was condemned to forfeit all his personal estate and to be imprisoned during the King's pleasure. Subsequently, a pardon was granted him on payment of a fine of 300 pounds. ===Succession and supremacy=== The same session of Parliament passed the [[First Succession Act]], by which all who should be called upon to do so were compelled to take an oath of succession, acknowledging the issue of Henry and Anne as legitimate heirs to the throne, under pain of being guilty of [[misprision of treason]]. Fisher refused the oath and was imprisoned in the [[Tower of London]] on 26 April 1534.<ref name=CatholicCulture /> Several efforts were made to induce him to submit, but without effect, and in November he was attained of misprision of treason a second time, his goods being forfeited as from the previous 1 March, and the See of Rochester being declared vacant as of 2 June following. He was to remain in the Tower for over a year, and while he was allowed food and drink sent by friends, and a servant, he was not allowed a priest, even to the very end. A long letter exists, written from the Tower by Fisher to [[Thomas Cromwell]], speaking of the severity of his conditions of imprisonment. Like Thomas More, Bishop Fisher believed that, because the statute condemned only those speaking maliciously against the King's new title, there was safety in silence. However, on 7 May he fell into a trap laid for him by [[Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich|Richard Rich]], who was to perjure himself to obtain Thomas More's conviction. Rich told Fisher that for his own conscience's sake the King wished to know, in strict secrecy, Fisher's real opinion. Fisher, once again, declared that the King was not Supreme Head of the Church of England.<ref name=foley>[https://books.google.com/books?id=_qzIPgAACAAJ Foley OFM, Leonard, "St. John Fisher", ''Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons, and Feast'', (revised by Pat McCloskey OFM), Franciscan Media] {{ISBN|978-0-86716-887-7}}</ref> ===Cardinalate and martyrdom=== [[File:London 01 2013 Tower Hill scaffold 5211.JPG|thumb|right|Memorial space at the [[Tower Hill]] public execution site]] In May 1535, the newly elected [[Pope Paul III]] created Fisher [[Cardinal Priest]] of ''[[Basilica of San Vitale (Rome)|San Vitale]]'', apparently in the hope of inducing Henry to ease Fisher's treatment. The effect was precisely the reverse:<ref name=foley/> Henry forbade the cardinal's hat to be brought into England, declaring that he would send the head to Rome instead. In June a special commission for Fisher's trial was issued, and on Thursday, 17 June, he was arraigned in [[Westminster Hall]] before a court of seventeen, including [[Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex|Thomas Cromwell]], [[Anne Boleyn]]'s [[Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire|father]], and ten justices. The charge was [[treason]], in that he denied that the King was the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Since he had been deprived of his position of [[Bishop of Rochester]] by the [[Act of Attainder]], he was treated as a commoner, and tried by jury. The only testimony was that of Richard Rich. John Fisher was found guilty and condemned to be [[hanged, drawn and quartered]] at [[Tyburn]]. [[File:London bell tower 08.03.2013 12-32-17.JPG|thumb|left|The Bell Tower, where John Fisher was held during his prison time together with [[Thomas More]], though imprisoned separately therein.]] However, a public outcry was brewing among the London populace who saw a sinister irony in the parallels between the conviction of Fisher and that of his patronal namesake, [[John the Baptist|Saint John the Baptist]], who was executed by King [[Herod Antipas]] for challenging the validity of Herod's marriage to his brother's divorcée [[Herodias]]. For fear of John Fisher's living through his patronal [[feast day]], that of the [[Nativity of St. John the Baptist]] on 24 June, and of attracting too much public sympathy, the king commuted the sentence to that of [[decapitation|beheading]], to be accomplished before 23 June, the Vigil of the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. He was executed on [[Tower Hill]] on 22 June 1535.<ref name=FULLER>Fuller, Thomas. The Church History of Britain, Vol 2. London: Thomas Tegg, 1842. pp. 61-63.</ref> The execution had the opposite effect from that which Henry VIII intended, as it created yet another parallel with that of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, who was also beheaded; his death also happened on the feast day of [[Saint Alban]], the first martyr of Britain.<ref name=FULLER /> Fisher met death with a calm dignified courage which profoundly impressed those present. His body was treated with particular rancour, apparently on Henry's orders, being stripped and left on the scaffold until the evening,<ref name=foley/> when it was taken on pikes and thrown naked into a rough grave in the churchyard of All Hallows' Barking, also known as [[All Hallows-by-the-Tower]]. There was no funeral prayer. A fortnight later, his body was laid beside that of Sir [[Thomas More]] in the chapel of [[Church of St Peter ad Vincula|St Peter ad Vincula]] within the [[Tower of London]]. Fisher's head was [[head on a spike|stuck upon a pole]] on [[London Bridge]] but its ruddy and lifelike appearance excited so much attention that, after a fortnight, it was thrown into the [[Thames]], its place being taken by that of Sir Thomas More, whose execution, also at Tower Hill, occurred on 6 July.<ref name="huddleston"/> {{Blockquote|text="Catholic piety conventionally explains the scarlet robes that Cardinals wear as a sign of their readiness to shed their blood for the sake of the Christian gospel. This is an edifying thought: but as a matter of fact, in the whole millenium-long history of the cardinalate, only one member of the Sacred College has actually ever suffered martyrdom. That man was John Fisher. (...) |source=Eamon Duffy<ref>{{cite book |last1=Duffy |first1=Eamon |title=Saints, sacrilege and sedition: religion and conflict in the Tudor reformations |date=2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London |isbn=978-1441181176}}</ref>{{rp|150}}}}
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
John Fisher
(section)
Add topic