‘The tribunals of Christ and of man’: law and the making of martyrs in early modern England

Abstract

The drama of martyrdom places emphasis on the moment of death, but equally important is the judicial interrogation or trial that precedes the martyr’s final, living moment on earth. In the case of early modern England, the examination of the martyr was an essential forum in which the martyr could prove the validity of the cause for which he or she was dying. Subsequent martyrological writers well knew this, and exploited the dramatic potential of the tribunal or courtroom to convey the kind of complex theological truths unavailable in simple descriptions of stoic deaths. This essay will use the example of England to argue that martyrdom was above all constituted by a legal rhetoric, in a judicial drama that involved different claims on and visions of the law. The martyrs themselves, and the martyrologists who shaped their stories, were able to emphasise the importance of the law by continually hearkening back, throughout the proceedings, to scripture and the early church, and to ideas – of witness, testimony, and the true and false law – that were established alongside Christianity itself. By exploring the parallels between Protestant and Catholic martyrs under Mary I and Elizabeth I, and their forerunners in scripture and the early church, one may better understand the deeper layers at work in episodes of interrogation that have been entirely overshadowed by the death scene and, as such, largely overlooked by early modern scholars.

Keywords:

• martyrdom
• law
• England
• martyrologies
• rhetoric
• reformation