Copyright © 2001-2005, Tim Dowling
email: tdowling_53223@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2001-2005, Tim Dowling
email: tdowling_53223@yahoo.com
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OCCU
Contributed by Anne Lyle on June 7, 1999: Thomas Taylor bMarch 15,1573/74 d. 1618 m. October 9, 1599 Margaret Swinderby b. 1578 Copenhagen,Copenhagen, Denmark d. bef. 1672 Hadleigh, Suffolk Co., England. Both areburied at Hadleigh Cemetary, Hadleigh, Middlesex Co., England.
Added to my file Vetty Decker b. 1959 on June 7, 1999.WFT # 2834 on July 21, 1999: Thomas Taylor b. March 15, 1573/1574 d. 1618m. October 9, 1599 Margaret Swinderly, daughter of Andrew Swinderly b.1578 d. WFT Est. 1613-1673. Children: (1) Robert Taylor b. November 7,1601 d. 1699 m. June 1, 1627 Patience Margaret Palmer; (2) MargaretTaylor b. 1603 England d. WFT Est. 1604-1697; (3) William Taylor b. July8, 1605 England d. WFT Est. 1606-1695;
(4) John Taylor I b. August 10, 1607 England d. WFT Est. 1652-1699 m. WFTEst. 1638-1672 Elizabeth Taylor; (5) James Taylor b. February 12,1609/1610 England d. 1655 VA m. WFT Est. 1641-1653 Elizabeth Underwood.
Added to my file Vetty Decker b. 1959 on July 23, 1999.Carla Bauer: Child of Thomas Taylor, Jr. is John Taylor III, born 1607.(Marilyn Cain on July 29, 1999)
Added to my file Vetty Decker b. 1959 on July 29, 1999.WFT # (unknown): Thomas Taylor b. March 15, 1572/1573 Carlisle,Cumberland Co, England d. 1618 m. October 9, 1599 Margaret Swinderly,daughter of Andrew Swinderly, b. 1578 Copenhagan, Copenhagen, Denmark d.bef. 1672 Hadleigh, Suffolk County, England Children: (1) Robert Taylorb. November 7, 1601 Carlisle, Cumberland County, England d. 1699 EssexCounty, Virginia m. June 1, 1627 Patience Margaret Palmer; (2) MargaretTaylor b. September 10, 1603 Carlisle, Cumberland County, England; (3)William Taylor b. July 8, 1605 Rothbury, Northcumberland, England d. Aft.1650 Rothbury, Northcumberland, England; (4) John Taylor, immigrant b.August 10, 1607 England d. January 1651/1652 Lancaster, Virginia m.Elizabeth Horton; (5) James Taylor b. February 12, 1609/1610 England d.1655 Virginia m. Elizabeth Underwood.
Added to my file Vetty Decker b. 1959 on August 1, 1999.Chrisbry's Family Tree on July 29, 1999: Thomas Taylor b. March 15, 1574Hadley, Middle sex Co, England d. 1618 Hadleigh, Suffolk Co, England m.October 9, 1599 England Margaret Swinderly, daughter of AndrewSwindberry, b. Abt. 1578 Copenhagen, Denmark d. Lancastershire, CarlisleCo, England Children: (1) John Taylor b. August 10, 1607 Carlisle,England d. abt 1700 m. Abt 1624 Carlisle, Eng Elizabeth ?; (2) WilliamTaylor b. Abt 1605; (3) Richard Taylor; (4) James Taylor II b. February12, 1615 Lancastershire, Carlisle Co, England d. May 1, 1655 Surry, VA m.Lancastershire, Carlisle Co, England Ann ?
Added to my file Vetty Decker b. 1959 on August 4, 1999.
Contributed by Katherine K. Embry on July 29, 1999: Thomas Taylor b.1573/1574 m. Margaret Swinderly Child: John Taylor b. August d. 1652 m.Elizabeth Taylor.
Added to my file Vetty Decker b. 1959 on August 4, 1999.
Line in Record @I4983@ (RIN 369546) from GEDCOM file not recognized:
CREMLine in Record @I4983@ (RIN 369546) from GEDCOM file not recognized:
RESI
b Rothbury, Northumberland, England
martyred-burned at the stake by "Bloody Mary" Hadleigh, Suffolk, EnglanThe Popular History of England of Society and Government from the Earliest Period to Our Own Times, Volume III
Chapter LXVI.
"The act of 1555, for the renewing of the statutes for the punishment of heretics, which statutes had been repealed in 1547, was not to sleep... "With exquisite candor we are told, "One knows perfectly, and is tiredof being told over and over again, that the law for burning heretics was a very bad law, and ought never to have existed. But, in fact, it didexist, and it was the law of the country."† On the 19th of January, 1555, that law was not in force. On the 20th of January it came into full operation. On the 4th of February John Rogers was burned in Smithfield under the act for the renewal of the statutes "concerning punishment and reformation of heretics and Lollards. "On the 8th of February Laurence Saunders was burned at Coventry. On the 9th John Hooper was burned at Gloucester. On the same day Rowland Taylor was burned at Hadleigh. Previous to the enactment which came into force on the 20th of January, the Ordinaries had "wanted authority to proceed" against those who were infected with "errors and heresies which of late have arisen, grown, and much increased within this realm;"‡ and thus these four of the first Protestant martyrs could not have been burned until a new law was passed. The meaning of the law was made perfectly intelligible to all England from the 4thof February, 1555, to the 10th of November,1558, that crowning offeringof five heretics at Canterbury, of whom two were women, having taken place one week before the death of Queen Mary. .. In 1555,seventy-one heretics were executed; in 1556, eighty-three;ʹ in 1557,eighty-eight; in 1558, forty... Strype makes a total of the burnings to be 288; Speed, 277;and he classifies them as five bishops, twenty-one divines, eight gentlemen, eighty-four artificers, a hundred husbandmen, servants, and laborers, twenty-six wives, twenty widows, nine unmarried women, two boys, andtwo infants. No selection could have been more impartial."
The Popular History of England of Society and Government from the Earlisest Period to Our Own Times, Volume III
Chapter LXVI.
"They sat again on the 29th and 30th. On these occasions there were nolong scholastic disputations, as in the cases of Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, at Oxford. The mode of proceeding with Dr. Rowland Taylor, whichhe has himself recorded, was probably nearly the same with all. "First,my lord chancellor said, 'You among others are at this present time sentfor, to enjoy the king's and queen's majesties' favor and mercy, if youwill now rise again with us from the fall which we, generally, have received in this realm; from the which, God be thanked, we are now clearlydelivered miraculously. If you will not rise with us now, and receive mercy now offered, you shall have judgment according to your demerit.’ Tothis I answered, that so to rise should be the greatest fall that ever Icould receive; for I should so fall from my dear Savior Christ to Antichrist." There were then exhortations to submit, assuming various forms of reproach or solicitation, which were refused in no very measured terms... The boldness of such resolved men was a dangerous example. The commissioners abruptly terminated their immediate work in the condemnation of Hooper, Rogers, Taylor, Saunders, and Bradford, who at the same time were excommunicated. The sentence upon Bradford was not executed till July. The fate of the other four was more quickly decided."
The Popular History of England of Society and Government from the Earliest Period to Our Own Times, Volume III
Chapter LXVI.
"Of all the heroes of the Reformation, Rowland Taylor is, to our minds,the most interesting, because the most natural. Of a hearty, bluff English nature, full of kindliness and pleasantry, he is perfectly unconscious of playing a great part in this terrible drama, and goes to his deathas gayly as to a marriage-feast. Fuller says that those "who admire thetemper of Sir Thomas More jesting with the axe of the executioner, willexcuse our Taylor making himself merry with the stake." He has been compared to Socrates in his simplicity and jocularity, his affection for his friends, and his resolution to shrink from no danger rather than compromise the goodness of his cause.*The account which Fox has given of Rowland Taylor is held to be only inferior to the eloquence and dignity of the Phædon of Plato.†It is difficult to give the spirit of such a narrative without impairing its force; but we may select one or two of its moreremarkable points. Taylor had been chaplain to archbishop Cranmer; buthaving been appointed rector of Hadleigh, in Suffolk, he devoted himselfmost zealously to the duties of his parish. He was married, and had nine children. Soon after the accession of Mary some zealous papists took forcible possession of his church, and brought a priest to perform mass.Taylor remonstrated, with more wrath than worldly prudence, against whathe called popish idolatry; and he was cited to appear in London beforethe chancellor. He was strongly urged to fly; and his faithful servant,John Hull, who rode with him to London, entreated him to shun the impending danger, and declared that he would follow him in all perils. He camebefore Gardiner, with whom his long conference ended by the overpowering argument,” Carry him to prison." He remained in confinement for abouta year and three quarters, when he was brought before the commissionersand condemned as a heretic. His degradation was performed by Bonner; theusual mode being to put the garments of a Roman Catholic priest on theclerk-convict, and then to strip them off. Taylor refused to put them on, and was forcibly robed by another.” And when he was thoroughly furnished therewith, he set his hands to his sides, and said, 'How say you, mylord, am I not a goodly fool? How say you, my masters, if I were in Cheap should I not have boys enough to laugh at these apish toys?'" The final ceremony was for the bishop to give the heretic a blow on his breast with his crosier-staff. "The bishop's chaplain said, 'My lord, strike himnot, for he will sure strike again.' 'Yes, by St. Peter, will I,' quotaDr. Taylor, 'the cause is Christ's, and I were no good Christian if I would not fight in my Master's quarrel.' So the bishop laid his curse onhim, and struck him not." When he went back to his fellow prisoner, Bradford, he told him the chaplain had said he would strike again; "and by my troth," said he, rubbing his hands, "I made him believe I would do soindeed." We give the scene as we find it, as an exhibition of characterand of manners. What Heber calls "the coarse vigor of his pleasantry" may justly appear to some as foolish irreverence. But under this rough contempt of an authority which he despised there was in this parish priesta tenderness and love most truly Christian. At two o'clock on a Februarymorning one of the sheriffs of London led Taylor out of his prison, todeliver him to the sheriff of Essex, in Aldgate, "Now when the sheriff and his company came against St. Boto??h Church, Elizabeth, his daughter,cried, saying, 'O my dear father! Mother, mother, here is my father ledaway.' Then cried his wife, 'Rowland, Rowland, where art thou?' for itwas a very dark morning, that the one could not see the other. Dr. Taylor answered, 'Dear wife, I am here,' and stayed. The sheriff's men wouldhave led him forth, but the sheriff said, 'Stay a little, masters, I pray you, and let him speak to his wife;' and so they stayed. Then came sheto him; and he took his daughter Mary in his arms, and he, his wife, and Elizabeth kneeled down and said the Lord's Prayer: at which sight thesheriff wept apace, and so did divers other of the company. After they had prayed, he rose up and kissed his wife, and shook her by the hand, and said, 'Farewell, my dear wife, be of good comfort, for I am quiet in my conscience. God shall stir up a father for my children.' And then he kissed his daughter Mary, and said, 'God bless thee, and make thee his servant:' and kissing Elizabeth, he said, 'God bless thee, I pray you allstand strong and stedfast unto Christ, and his words, and keep you fromidolatry.' Then said his wife, 'God be with thee, dear Rowland. I will with God's grace meet thee at Hadleigh.' And so he was led forth to the Woolsack [an inn], and at his coming out, John Hull, before spoken of,stood at the rails with Dr. Taylor's son. When Dr. Taylor saw them, he called them, saying, 'Come hither, my son Thomas;' and John Hull lifted up the child and set him on the horse, before his father. Then lifted he uphis eyes towards heaven, and prayed for his son; laid his hand on the child's head, and blessed him; and so delivered the child to John Hull, whom he took by the hand and said, 'Farewell, John Hull, the faith fullestservant that ever man had.' And so they rode forth; the sheriff of Essex, with four yeomen of the guard, and the sheriff's men leading him." The narrative of Fox conducts the condemned man by slow steps to his beloved Hadleigh. He is placid and even merry to the last. He jests upon hisburly and corpulent frame, and holds that the worms in Hadleigh churchyard will be deceived, for the carcass that should have been theirs will be burned to ashes. He asks to be taken through Hadleigh. The streets arelined with his old parishioners. He could see them, but they could notlook upon his face, which had been covered through his journey with a hood, having holes for the eyes and mouth. In Hadleigh there still stand some almshouses, built by William Pykeham, the rector, at the end of thefifteenth century. Taylor, "stopping by the almshouses, cast out of a glove to the inmates of them such money as remained of what charitable persons had given for his support in prison, his benefices being sequestrated; and missing two of them he asked, 'Is the blind man and the blind woman that dwelt here alive?' He was answered, 'Yea, they are there within.' Then threw the glove and all into the window, and so rode forth." When he came to Aldham Common, where he was to suffer, he said, "Thanked beGod, I am even at home;" and lighting from his horse he tore the hood from his head. "When the people saw his reverend and ancient face, and long white beard they burst out with weeping tears, and cried, saying, 'God save thee, good Dr. Taylor.'" He would have spoken to them; but a guard thrust a tipstaff into his mouth. As they were piling the fagots a brutal man cast a fagot at him, which wounded him so that the blood ran down his face. "O friend," said he, "I have harm enough; what needed that?"Let us draw a veil over his sufferings, and see only the poor woman whoknelt at the stake to join in his prayers, and would not be driven away."
The Popular History of England of Society and Government from the Earliest Period to Our Own Times, Volume III
Chapter LXVI.
"In the persecution of the Protestant divines there was one distinct evidence of their secession from the principles of the Church of Rome, which marked them out as victims. The greater number of them were married... Rowland Taylor, kneeling with his wife and daughters on the dark February morning in the porch of St. Botolph, is the crowning example of theholiness of the family affections. Of such men it has been touchingly said that "during this persecution the married clergy were observed to suffer with most alacrity. They were bearing testimony to the validity andsanctity of their marriage, against the foul and unchristian aspersionsof the Romish persecutors. The honor of their wives and children was atstake. The desire of leaving them an unsullied name and a virtuous example combined with the sense of religious duty; and thus the heart derivedstrength from the very ties which, in other circumstances, might have weakened it."*
Rowland was born in Rothbury, England in 1509. He was educated atCambridge as a Doctor of Civil and Canon Law. He lived in Hadleigh wherethe Catholic Bishop of Winshester burned him at the stake in 1555.(Although sometimes spelled the same, Hadleigh, east of London, shouldnot be confused with Hadley, northwest of Birmingham. Hadleigh was in theportion of Suffolk County that is now Essex County).
"The Taylor Family Directory" 2000/Third Millenium Edition - edited byLynette and Bill Everson.
*********************************************
A stone marker lies still at the site of his burning that simply says (inModern English) "1555: Dr. Taylor, in defending that which was good, atthis place left his blood"**********************************************
Rowland was educated at Cambridge as a Doctor of Civil and Canon Law. Helived in Hadleigh where the Catholic Bishop of Winchester burned him atthe stake in 1555. (Although sometimes spelled the same, Hadleigh shouldnot be confused with Hadley, northwest of Birmingham). James Taylor I wasa lawyer from Carlisle when he emigrated to the American Colonies.William Taylor, the brother of James I, died from wounds received in theBattle of Naseby in the English Civil War.
Source: The Taylor Family Ancestry, May 1997, Edited by William F.Everson, Sr.**********************************
Contributed by William Arthur Taylor on July 27, 1999:
Dr. Rowland Taylor was beaten and burned at the stake in Hadleigh,England 9 Feb 1555 for his religious beliefs.
LDS data shows Rowland Taylor had more than one wife. His mother wasSusan Data Rowland. His father was John Taylor.
Children: (1) Susan b. 1535; (2) Ellen b. 1537; (3) Robert b. 1543; (4)Zachary b. 1545 (5) George b. 1546;
(6) Thomas b. 1548.*************************************
The Life and Family of Rowland Taylor, L.L.D.
In his book, The Life of Rowland Taylor, Rev. William James Brown saidthe Taylor name was not common in England at the time of Dr. RowlandTaylor. It has been established by many sources that Taylors were inEngland from the time of William the Conquoror 1066, being decendants ofBaron William Taillerfer, who accompanied the King of England and died inthe Battle of Hastings. For his heroic deeds in battle William Taillerferand his brother, Foulques, also in battle, received large lands andestates in County Kent, England. The name Taillerfer changed over theyears so by 1400 it was Tailor or Taylor.***********************************
From the 1911 Edition Encycopedia:
TAYLOR, ROWLAND (d. 1555), English Protestant martyr, was born atRothbury, Northumberland; he took minor orders at Norwich in 1528 andgraduated LL.B. at Cambridge in 1530 and LL.D. in 1534. Adopting reformedviews he was made chaplain by Cranmer in 1540 and presented to the livingof Hadleigh, Suffolk, in 1544. In Whitsun week, 1547, he preached a "notable sermon " at St Paul's Cross, and was given the third stall inRochester cathedral. In 1549 he was placed on a commission to examineAnabaptists, and in 1551 he was appointed chancellor to Bishop Ridley,select preacher at Canterbury, and a commissioner for the reform of thecanon law; in 1552 Coverdale made him archdeacon of Exeter. Apparently headvocated the cause of Lady Jane Grey, for on the 25th of July 1553, onlysix days after Mary's proclamation as queen, he was committed to thecustody of the sheriff of Essex. He was released not long afterwards, andwith the support of his parishioners offered strenuous resistance to therestoration of the Mass. He was consequently imprisoned in the King'sBench prison on the 26th of March 1554. The sturdy protestantism ofTaylor and his flock, who seem to have caused various commotions, markedhim out for the special enmity of Mary's government; and he was one ofthe first to suffer when in January 1555 parliament had once more giventhe clerical courts liberty of jurisdiction. He was sentenced.Dr. Rowland Taylor was educated at Cambridge University where hespecialized in ecclesiastical and civil law. He received an LL.B degreein 1530 and an LL.D in 1534. In 1544 he was appointed Rector of Hadleighin County Suffolk at a time when England was still in religious turmoilover Henry VIII's break with the Church of Rome. Dr. Taylor wasenthusiastic in support of the Protestant cause. He was active in supportof the Church of England, serving as a member of many church bodies suchas a commission for the reformation of ecclesiastical laws.
Following Henry's death in 1547, his sickly, only son held the throneuntil his death in 1553. Then his daughter Mary Tudor, a ferventCatholic, succeeded to the throne and set about restoring Catholicism toEngland. Rowland Taylor, by his active opposition to the Catholic church,must have made himself peculiarly obnoxious to Mary for he was arrestedby the sheriff of Essex on July 25, 1553, only six days after herproclamation as Queen. He was later released and allowed to resume hisministry at Hadleigh. Perhaps the final breaking point came when hestrenuously objected to a Catholic priest performing mass in his church.On March 26, 1554, he was again arrested and sent to up to London wherehe was imprisoned in the king's bench. The following January he wascondemned to death, excommunicated and sent back to Hadleigh. On February9, 1555, he was burned at the stake on Aldham Common outside Hadleighwhere there is a stone memorial to commemorate the event. Anothermemorial to his martyrdom is a stall in the choir of the Cathedral atBury St. Edmunds. The "Dictionary of National Biography" related that"Taylor was a man of ability and learning .. the beau-ideal of a parishpriest, and his unblemished and attractive character has made him one ofthe most famous of the martyrs who suffered in Mary's reign. He iscommemorated in many popular poems."
Dr. Taylor and his wife, Margaret, had nine children, four of whomsurvived him. He is buried in the Hadleigh Cemetery.