John Lambert (died 1538) was an English Protestant martyr burnt to death on 22 November 1538 at Smithfield, London.
Lambert was born John Nicholson in Norwich and educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he became a friend and a colleague of Thomas Cromwell. [1] He was made a fellow there on the nomination of Catherine of Aragon. After theological disputes he changed his name and went to Antwerp, where he served as priest to the English factory. Here he became friends with John Frith and William Tyndale, and became a member of the group of humanist theologians that met at the White Horse Tavern—a group that included Edward Fox and Robert Barnes, and the arch-conservative Stephen Gardiner.[ citation needed ]
Upon his return in 1531, Lambert came under the scrutiny of Archbishop William Warham, but Warham died in 1532. Lambert then earned his living teaching Greek and Latin near the Stock markets. In 1536 he was accused of heresy by the Duke of Norfolk, but escaped until 1538, when he was put on trial for denying the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine of the Eucharist, the doctrine of transubstantiation. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer condemned these views, even though he was later to adopt them himself. [2]
Lambert was eventually burned at the stake, whilst Thomas Cromwell purportedly watched and cried for the duration. Lambert is well known for his words spoken while the flames leapt from his raised hands: "None but Christ, none but Christ!" [3]
Ben Price portrayed Lambert in season 3 of Showtime's television show The Tudors . [4]
Lollardy, also known as Lollardism or the Lollard movement, was a proto-Protestant Christian religious movement that existed from the mid-14th century until the 16th-century English Reformation. It was initially led by John Wycliffe, a Catholic theologian who was dismissed from the University of Oxford in 1381 for criticism of the Roman Catholic Church. The Lollards' demands were primarily for reform of Western Christianity. They formulated their beliefs in the Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards.
Thomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which was one of the causes of the separation of the English Church from union with the Holy See. Along with Thomas Cromwell, he supported the principle of royal supremacy, in which the king was considered sovereign over the Church within his realm.
Myles Coverdale, first name also spelt Miles, was an English ecclesiastical reformer chiefly known as a Bible translator, preacher and, briefly, Bishop of Exeter (1551–1553). In 1535, Coverdale produced the first complete printed translation of the Bible into English. His theological development is a paradigm of the progress of the English Reformation from 1530 to 1552. By the time of his death, he had transitioned into an early Puritan, affiliated to Calvin, yet still advocating the teachings of Augustine.
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William Warham was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1503 to his death.
Robert Barnes was an English reformer and martyr.
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Thomas Bilney was an English Christian martyr.
Nicholas Shaxton was an English Reformer and Bishop of Salisbury.
Events from the 1530s in England.
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John Hilsey was an English Dominican, prior provincial of his order, then an agent of Henry VIII and the English Reformation, and Bishop of Rochester.
John Cottisford was an English churchman and academic, Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, from 1518.
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John London, DCL was Warden of New College, Oxford, and a prominent figure in the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII of England.