The Death of Elizabeth Barton

The Death of Elizabeth Barton

On this day in 1534, a 28-year-old woman by the name of Elizabeth Barton met her end by hanging at Tyburn, accused and convicted of treason against King Henry VIII. Her crime? Opposing his annulment from Catherine of Aragon and desire to remarry Anne Boleyn. But the details of her opposition go further than a mere disagreement. Elizabeth's story is a fascinating one, because she claimed to receive visions from God, and prophesied about future events and some of which proved true. Her reputation as both the recipient of heavenly miracles and her knowledge of future events (granted from God) earned her the monikers of the "Nun of Kent" and the "Holy Maid of London". Certain others who found her ravings a bit loony instead referred to her as the "Mad Maid of Kent". Her execution on this day 487 years ago is one worth discussion. Just what did the "Nun of Kent" do to inspire such anger in the king. Sister Elizabeth Barton (1506 – 20 April 1534), known as "The Barefoot Nun of Kent",was an English Catholic nun. She was executed as a result of her prophecies in protest against the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn. She appears to have come from a poor background. She was working as a servant when her miraculous visions began in 1525. Thousands believed in her prophecies and both Archbishop William Warham and Bishop John Fisher attested to her pious life. In 1528, she held a private meeting with Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the second most powerful man in England after Henry VIII, and she soon thereafter met twice with Henry himself. Henry accepted Barton because her prophecies then still supported the existing order. Her prophecies warned against heresy and condemned rebellion at a time when Henry was attempting to stamp out Lutheranism and was afraid of possible uprising or even assassination by his enemies. However, when the King began the process of obtaining an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and seizing control of the Church in England from Rome, she turned against him. Barton strongly opposed the English Reformation and, in around 1532, began prophesying that if Henry remarried, he would die within a few months. She said that she had even seen the place in Hell to which he would go. Remarkably, probably because of her popularity, Barton went unpunished for nearly a year. The King's agents spread rumors that she was engaged in sexual relationships with priests and that she suffered from mental illness. With her reputation undermined, the Crown arrested Barton in 1533 along with several of her faithful allies and forced her to confess that she had fabricated her revelations. She was condemned by a bill of attainder; an Act of Parliament authorising punishment without trial. She was hanged and beheaded for treason at Tyburn, along with five of her chief supporters: She was 28 at the time of her death. After her hanging, Barton's body was buried at Greyfriars Church in Newgate, but her head was struck off parboiled and put on a spike on London Bridge for all to see where it remained until it decomposed, the only woman in (English) history accorded that dishonor.

Thank you for reading. Bookmarks us for more info.

All What's You Should Know Dig into history, fact, science, true crime, and beyond with All What's you should know — where you'll discover the most interesting things that you Should know Click Here For more trending stories