The Oxford Martyrs were Protestants tried for heresy in 1555 and burnt at the stake in Oxford, England, for their religious beliefs and teachings, during the Marian persecution in England. The three martyrs were the Church of England bishops Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley and Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

History

The three were tried at University Church of St Mary the Virgin, the official church of the University of Oxford on the High Street, Oxford. The men were imprisoned at the former Bocardo Prison near the extant St Michael at the North Gate church (at the north gate of the city walls) in Cornmarket Street. The door of their cell is on display in the tower of the church. The men were burnt at the stake just outside the city walls to the north, where Broad Street is now located. Latimer and Ridley were burnt on 16 October 1555 for denying the Roman Catholic dogma of Transubstantiation. Cranmer was burnt five months later on 21 March 1556. A small area paved with granite setts forming a cross in the centre of the road outside the front of Balliol College marks the site. The Victorian spire-like Martyrs' Memorial, at the south end of St Giles' nearby, commemorates the events.

In literature

Lydia Sigourney's poem was published in her 1827 collection of poetry.

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