Rowland Taylor

Rowland Taylor (October 6, 1510 - February 9, 1555) was a Protestant martyr of the Tudor period.

Taylor's troubles (circa 1553)

Rowland's troubles with ecclesiastical authorities first blossomed in 1553 when he was arrested on July 25th, just six days after the new Queen Mary I ascended the throne. Aside from the fact that Taylor probably supported Lady Jane Grey, Mary's rival, he was also charged with probable heresy from having preached a sermon in Bury St. Edmunds. Taylor did not support the Roman Catholic position of clerical celibacy, which stated that a Priest must be unmarried. Remaining unmarried was part of a Priest's holy orders according to Roman Catholic teaching and tradition. Taylor, an Anglican, not a Roman Catholic, believed it was acceptable for a vicar/rector to be married.

Related Topics:
1553 - Lady Jane Grey - Heresy - Sermon - Bury St. Edmunds - Clerical celibacy - Priest - Holy orders

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Taylor also did not hold to the Roman Catholic view known as transubstantiation which is the belief that the two elements (bread and wine) taken during Holy Communion, or the Eucharist, actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Since the Roman Catholic position is that the Eucharist (and the miracle of transubstantiation) is a sacrament commanded by God, anyone not agreeing with it, particularly a cleric or pastor, was a heretic and thus guilty of heresy.

Related Topics:
Transubstantiation - Holy Communion - Eucharist - Jesus - Sacrament - Heretic - Heresy

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Not only did Taylor take issue with clerical celibacy and the doctrine of transubstantiation, he took issue with the Roman Catholic manner of Mass. Taylor received apparent strong local support from the villagers of Hadleigh.

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His troubles were compounded by the fact that Edward VI died (July 6, 1553) and was eventually replaced by Queen "Bloody" Mary I in 1553 as well. In 1554 Mary I began reversing the reforms of the prior Edward VI and began strictly enforcing Roman Catholicism in England. It did not help matters that Taylor apparently supported Lady Jane Grey's cause, a rival of Mary I to the throne.

Related Topics:
1554 - Roman Catholicism

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On March 26 1554 the Privy Council ordered the arrest of Rowland Taylor and he thus appeared before Stephen Gardiner. The proceedings against Taylor were several and took place over a long period of time, perhaps nearly two years. During this time he was kept in the King's Bench prison. While in prison he befriended many inmates and was instrumental in their religious conversion to Christianity as well.

Related Topics:
March 26 - 1554 - Privy Council - Stephen Gardiner - King's Bench - Religious - Christianity

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