General Notes

[Joanne's Tree.1 GED.GED]

2  SOUR S332582
3  DATA
4  TEXT Date of Import: 14 Jan 2004


[daveanthes.FTW]

Educated Cambridge, Class of 1525
Martyred, burned at the stake during Queen M ary's Reign

Wrote under the pseudonym of Thomas Matthews and wrote the first  English Protestant translation of the Bible, Matthews Bible, for which he was burned at the stake in Smithfield, England in 1555, with his eleven children wa tching. Took Roman Catholic Orders 1526 after leaving Cambridge - before becomi ng involved in the Protestant Reformation.

In the genealogical part of the a ddress the point of departure for the family was John Rogers the martyr who was  burned at the stake, in the reign of Queen Mary, Feb. 4, 1555.-Three hundred a nd nine years have elapsed since then, but the memory of that epoch is yet frag rant in the history of freedom and truth.  The martyr, was born in Lancashire, England, and was educated in Cambridge where he attained great Proficiency in C lassical and Hebrew literature. He soon became widely known as a thorough bibli cal student and a powerful preacher of the Gospel. He was an ardent friend of t he devoted scholar and martyr, William Tyndale, and it is affirmed that in conn ection with him and Miles Coverdale, he entered upon a critical examination of the Scriptures, and assisted in translating them into the English language.
Th is led to the printing, publishing and introduction into England of the folio B ible in 1537. The Bible was the first complete edition of the old and new Testa ments in English, and it was afterwards revised and
published by John Rogers a lone, under the assumed name of Thomas Mathews.

His knowledge of language, t heology, society and men, eminently fitted him for this work. He had traveled m uch, and had gathered an abundance of information for his task. On leaving Camb ridge he went to Antwerp, and from Antwerp to Wittenburg, at which place his ma stery of the Dutch language enabled him to officiate as a Pastor. In the reign of Edward 6th, he was called home by Bishop Ridley and made Divinity lecturer a t St. Paul's, and the duties of this office he discharged with zeal and efficie ncy. But on the accession of Queen Mary to the throne, he became obnoxious to t he government through his eloquence in behalf of Protestantism-was confined for  six months in his own house-then during a long period in Newgate-passing throu gh three examinations in which he defended himself manfully, but was finally co ndemned and burned at the stake in Smithfield. Soon after his death, one of his  friends found a
dark, dirty looking scroll, rolled up in a corner of his pris on cell. That scroll contained a memorandum of his experiences in prison, of hi s attempts to obtain a visit from his wife, of his conversations with his
jail er, and of the calm, beautiful Christian hope and fortitude that sustained him under every hardship and trial