Oxford Martyrs

The Oxford Martyrs were tried for heresy in 1555 and subsequently burnt at the stake in Oxford, England, for their religious beliefs and teachings.
The three martyrs were the bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, and the Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. 
==History==
The three were tried at University Church of St Mary the Virgin, the official church of Oxford University on the High Street. The martyrs were imprisoned at the former Bocardo Prison near the still extant St Michael at the Northgate 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 martyrs 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. Cranmer was burnt five months later on 21 March 1556.
A small area cobbled with stones 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. It is claimed that the scorch marks from the flames can still be seen on the doors of Balliol College (now rehung between the first and second quads). 
 http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/england/thames-valley-with-oxford/review-98281.html 
==Legacy==
There has been an attempt to connect the Oxford Martyrs with the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice.The Annotated Mother Goose, Bramhall House (1962) It has been speculated that the rhyme refers to Queen Mary I of England blinding and executing the three Oxford Martyrs.Espoused by Albert Jack, Pop Goes the Weasel: The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes, Allen Lane (2008). ISBN 978-1846141447 However, Ridley, Hugh Latimer, and Thomas Cranmer were burned, but not blinded.The Annotated Mother Goose, Bramhall House (1962) 
==Gallery==
	
==Notes and references==
 
== See also ==
* Christian martyrs
* Religion in the United Kingdom
* James Brooks, one of the papal sub-delegates in the Royal Commission for the trial 
== External links ==
* The Oxford Guide information
* The Oxford Martyrs article
* The martyrs' cross, Broad Street, Oxford
Category:1555 in England
Category:1556 in England
Category:Anglican saints
Martyrs
Martyrs
Category:16th-century Christian saints
Category:16th-century Protestant martyrs