Taylor's 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 January 22, 1555, Rowland Taylor (Vicar or Rector of Hadleigh), and several other clergy, including John Hooper, were examined by a commission of leading bishops and lawyers. The Lord Chancellor presided at the hearings. Just two days previously, January 20, Parliament had revived the old statute of burning convicted heretics.
One of the men, Crome, recanted and was thus pardoned. Barlow equivocated and was sent to the Tower of London, but not executed. Rowland Taylor, who remained committed, was probably taken to Compter Prison in London after his examination by Stephen Gardiner. Taylor gave a fervent defence of clerical marriage which put him at odds with the Roman Catholic Church.
On January 29, 1555, Taylor was brought before Gardiner again at St. Mary's. The next day he was excommunicated and sentenced to death. He was degraded, that is, stripped of his clerical garments in a symbolic manner, and was offered his last supper with his family.
His reaction to his accusers revealed Taylor's belief that truth was on his side:
"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 doings."
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