Roman Catholic nun, mystic, and martyr
In the early 1530s, Henry VIII’s decision to divorce Catherine of Aragon and leave the spiritual authority of the pope was unpopular among conservative religious groups and individuals in England, including William Warham, archbishop of Canterbury, Sir Thomas More, John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, and many religious houses such as the Benedictine community of Saint Sepulchre. A member of the convent since 1526, Elizabeth Barton became a participant in the complaints against Henry, when the visions and revelations that she had received since she was sixteen turned political in nature.
Barton served on an estate belonging to Archbishop Warham when she first began receiving visions and communication from the Virgin Mary. Warham, always the careful churchman, established a commission to investigate the truthfulness of Barton’s claims, the results of which were favorable according to the chief examiner, Dr. Edward Bocking. After joining the convent, Barton’s reputation for holiness and special access to the divine will spread throughout England and soon she began speaking out against the king’s policies.
In 1533 with the divorce secured, Henry began a full assault upon Roman Catholicism, and Barton and her followers became a political liability. Barton’s own rhetoric against her king had increased in its vehemence, now openly predicting that Henry would lose the throne and that he would die a villain’s death. In November 1533, authorities arrested Barton and soon she confessed that her revelations were fraudulent. Barton and some of her more politically important supporters had to endure a public humiliation at St. Paul’s Cross on 23 November 1533. Additionally, authorities spread their nets farther and arrested Fisher and More, implicating both as supporters of Barton. Eventually, Barton and five others, including Dr. Bocking, were convicted of treason and executed at Tyburn field 21 April 1534, while More and Fisher faced the axe a year later on additional charges.
The events surrounding Elizabeth Barton point to Henry’s fear that Barton and people like her could stir up rebellion. While she spoke out in one of the only mediums available to women at the time, her political prophecies were too threatening to a monarch who thought constantly of securing his dynasty at any cost.
Timothy G. Elston
See also Religious Reform and Women.
Bibliography
Rex, Richard. Henry VIII and the English Reformation. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993.
Scarisbrick, J. J. Henry VIII. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968.
Watt, Diane. Secretaries of God: Women Prophets in Late Medieval and Early Modern England. Woodbridge, UK and Rochester, NY: D. S. Brewer, 1997.
World History
