Oct 4, 2026 · 25 min · 8 segments
Mary is intent on ridding England of Protestant heretics once and for all, Thomas Cranmer faces a trial by fire, and Mary and Philip's marriage is on the rocks. **NOTE:** This episode deals with some…
Kate TaylorHost
On February 4th, 1555, A Protestant clergyman at St. Paul's Cathedral named John Rogers was taken to Smithfield, condemned as a heretic, and tied to a stake.
Before the pyre was lit, he was offered a pardon if he recanted his religious views.
He addressed the crowd, which included his wife and 11 children, and begged them to stand firm in the face of God.
As the fire consumed him, he washed his hands in the flames and prayed for his soul.
A few days later, two parsons and the former bishop of Worcester, John Hooper, were condemned to die as heretics, for rejecting papal authority.
Hooper, like the others, refused to recant and he was burned before a crowd of about a thousand people.
Someone had done the bishop a kindness and tied a bladder of gunpowder around his waist to hasten his suffering.
As his body melted away and his screams died out, one witness reported that in the end, one of his arms fell off and the other was dripping with fat and blood oozing off of his fingers.
One, a man, a priest named John Lawrence from Colchester, had been imprisoned with heavy chains for so long that he could no longer walk and had to be burned while tied to a chair.
He had told his friends who were afraid of the pain that he would suffer, you know, they were afraid for their friends, he said, If the pain is tolerable, I will raise my hands over my head.
On February 4th, 1555, A Protestant clergyman at St. Paul's Cathedral named John Rogers was taken to Smithfield, condemned as a heretic, and tied to a stake.
Before the pyre was lit, he was offered a pardon if he recanted his religious views.
He addressed the crowd, which included his wife and 11 children, and begged them to stand firm in the face of God.
As the fire consumed him, he washed his hands in the flames and prayed for his soul.
A few days later, two parsons and the former bishop of Worcester, John Hooper, were condemned to die as heretics, for rejecting papal authority.
Hooper, like the others, refused to recant and he was burned before a crowd of about a thousand people.
Someone had done the bishop a kindness and tied a bladder of gunpowder around his waist to hasten his suffering.
As his body melted away and his screams died out, one witness reported that in the end, one of his arms fell off and the other was dripping with fat and blood oozing off of his fingers.
One, a man, a priest named John Lawrence from Colchester, had been imprisoned with heavy chains for so long that he could no longer walk and had to be burned while tied to a chair.
He had told his friends who were afraid of the pain that he would suffer, you know, they were afraid for their friends, he said, If the pain is tolerable, I will raise my hands over my head.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
