This story is one that is famously known as The Guernsey Martyrs in which three women from England were burned alive for their Protestant beliefs. The three women were Gillemine Gilbert and Perotine Massey (sisters) along with their mother Catherine Cauches.
Initially, the trio was brought to court to face charges of receiving a stolen goblet. They were not found guilty of the charge but things were to take a turn. It came to light that their religious views didnt go in line with those the church authorities considered to be right. They were thrown back to jail and later found guilty of heresy by an Ecclesiastical court and death was the penalty.
The day of reckoning finally came on 18 July, 1556. They were all burnt on the same fire, and was customary to strangle a person before burning, but their rope broke and they were thrown into the fire alive. Historian and martyrologist John Foxe recorded that one of the women,
Perotine, was ‘great with child’ and that ‘the belly of the woman burst asunder by the vehemence of the flame, the infant, being a fair man-child, fell into the fire’. The man-child in question was rescued but the bailiff ordered that ‘it should be carried back again, and cast into the fire’Source: Seriousfacts
No comments:
Post a Comment