WILLIAM THORPE PUT TO DEATH AND BURNT FOR THE FAITH, AT SALTWODEN, IN ENGLAND, A. D. 1407

Now, when the abomination of desolation, through the papists, began to exalt itself more and more over the true faith, it occurred, about A. D. 1397, that a God-fearing, pious man, named William Thorpe, formerly a priest, was sorely perse cuted for the truth of the Gospel, particularly for his belief against the sacrament of the altar, image worship, pilgrimages, the power of the priests, the swearing of oaths, etc.

Of these articles of his accusation, especially of his. belief against the swearing of oaths, and what is alleged against it by opponents, we have already given an explanation in the presentation of his faith.

However, notwithstanding that he was already imprisoned, upon the intercession of some welldisposed persons, and through the fact that the archbishop of Canterbury, who had apprehended him, had fallen into disfavor with the king, he was released after the first persecution. But since this pious witness of God did not cease to preach against the Roman church, particularly against the swearing of oaths, (as divers old writers note), he was eventually, about A. D. 1407, apprehended at Salopia, brought from there to Canterbury, and ultimately imprisoned in the castle of Saltwoden; where the archbishop and the prelates beset him very hard, in order to draw him from his faith.

In the meantime, a number of disorderly persons having crowded into the prison, some demanded that he should immediately be burnt; others, that he should forthwith be thrown into the sea., which was nearby, and drowned. In this dreadful uproar, a priest from their midst fell upon his knees before the archbishop, entreating him, that he might do his utmost for this William Thorpe, to convert him, by the reading of his matins or morning prayers, which he should perform for him, saying, "I venture to promise that after three days he will change so remarkably, that he will not refuse to do anything for the archbishop.";

But the archbishop, filled with anger, raged on with undiminished fury, threatening the martyr, that he would see to it, that he should get his deserts. Thereupon, this pious witness of Jesus, as he refused to apostatize, was most cruelly maltreated in the prison, in the castle of Saltwoden. Some hold that he was burnt soon after that severe examination, in the month of August of said year 1407. See hignier, A. D. 1407, from Guil. Tindal; but Baleus is of the former opinion. Cent. 7, Script. Britt., cap. 42, in Guil. Thorp., page 538.

NOTE. A. D. 1410. At this time a tradesman was condemned as a heretic by the (Roman) bishops, and delivered to the secular judge; because he believed and said that the bread in the Lord's Supper was given for a memorial; thus denying transubstantiation, or the essential change of the bread into the body of Christ. For this he had to suffer the slow and dreadful death by fire. Compare Fasc. Temp., fol. 118. Hist. of the Mart. Adyi., fol. 52, with P. J. Twisck's Chron., page 763.

That all this happened to him, because he, besides opposing the Roman superstitions, also held, that men may not swear at all, has already been stated, and is confirmed by F. H. H., van den Loop