The Protestant martyrs, 1555–8.The burnings of the Protestant martyrs began early in 1555, and, in less than three years, nearly three hundred persons were burned at the stake. The burnings were nearly all in the south-eastern counties, which shows us that Protestantism had got the strongest hold on what were then the richest and most Intelligent parts of England; the north and west long remained Catholic. The four great Protestant Bishops, Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer and Hooper, were among the victims; but three-fourths of these victims were persons in quite humble life. The people of those days were well used to look on at all sorts of cruel tortures at executions, and were quite unfeeling on the subject; but the high courage with which these martyrs met their terrible deaths made an impression that has never been forgotten. So it was the reign of ‘Bloody Mary’, not that of Edward VI, that was the true birthday of Protestantism in England.
A ‘Spanish job’; hatred of Englishmen for Spain.And no great Englishman approved of the burnings; it was only the Spanish councillors and the Queen herself who urged them on. It was felt to be ‘a foreigners’ job’, and the hatred for Spain and all its works soon came to outweigh the old hatred for France.
Loss of Calais, 1558.This hatred became much more fierce when Philip dragged England into one of his frequent wars with France, and when the cunning Frenchmen seized the opportunity to make a spring upon Calais (which we had held since Edward Ill), and captured it. The loss of Calais seemed an indelible shame. All the last two years of Mary’s reign, revolts were on the point of breaking out. French ships full of English Protestant exiles prowled in the Channel and harried Spanish and English trade. No heir was born to the throne, though Mary, who was