An egg's worth of education

[msmcknittington]

Sixteenth century friends: I'm trying to remember something about the persecutions of Protestants and Anglicans under Mary Tudor in the 1550s. I seem to recall an, uh, anecdote about a pregnant woman being burned for heresy who gave birth to a son in the flames, and the baby was then flung back onto the fire

Comments

[ciorstan]

Only 300 people were executed under Mary's reign. I don't recall reading of that particular atrocity offhand

[lindseyerin37]

That incident is reported as true in "The Children of Henry VIII" by Alison Weir. (page 296)

"...one woman, Perotine Massey of Guernsey, was pregnant. Her baby was born as she was burning, and cast back into the flames by the executioner."

Whether than incident is actually true or not, I have no love for Mary Tudor. Or any other religious fanatic.

[ciorstan]

Ahah, Foxe's Book of Martyrs

[msmcknittington]

Thanks! Foxe's Martyrs is absolutely harrowing to read, isn't it? Makes me very happy for the general attitude in the Western World that religious difference isn't enough reason to burn people at the stake. Or, at least, the intolerance of most of the world for such things.

[ciorstan]

Heh. Alison Weir drives me nuts. Boring writing style, dry recitation of facts.

I like David Starkey better.

[thepurpleempire]

To be honest, the only reference I can think of to this (other than Lindsey's above) was in one of those pseudo-historical novels, although I'm at work and the name completely escapes me. One of those that takes what really happened and makes up the bits that don't suit. Maybe one of Phillipa Gregory's?

[msmcknittington]

It was the one Lindsey remembered. Of course, now I have to figure out what weirdness was happening in France, because there was a strange incident regarding women being executed there, too.