Edward Thwing ( - 26 July 1600) was an English Catholic priest and martyr.

Life

Edward Thwing was born about 1565, the second son of Thomas Thwing of

Heworth, York Heworth ( ) is part of the city of York in North Yorkshire, England, about north-east of the centre. No longer in general referred to as a village, "Heworth Village" is now the name of a specific road. The name "Heworth" is Old English languag ...

and Jane (née Kellet, of York), his wife. He was related to the 14th-century saint John Thwing of Bridlington. Thwing went to the English College at

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

in the summer of 1583. Then he spent some time with the Jesuits at Pont-à-Mousson. He returned to Reims in July, 1585, where he remained until September 1587. He then went to Rome to complete his studies. He returned to Reims because of ill health and became a reader of Greek and Hebrew, and a professor of rhetoric and logic. He was ordained priest at Laon on 20 December 1590. In November 1592, he went to Spa suffering from an ulcer in the knee. He returned to the English College, which had in the meantime been transferred from Reims to Douai. He was sent on the English mission in 1597. He seems to have been immediately arrested and charged under the Jesuits, etc. Act 1584, ("An act against Jesuits, seminary priests, and such other like disobedient persons") (27 Eliz.1, c. 2). The Act commanded all Roman Catholic priests to leave the country in 40 days or they would be punished for

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

, unless within the 40 days they swore an

oath Traditionally, an oath (from Old English, Anglo-Saxon ', also a plight) is a utterance, statement of fact or a promise taken by a Sacred, sacrality as a sign of Truth, verity. A common legal substitute for those who object to making sacred oaths ...

to obey the Queen. Those who harboured them, and all those who knew of their presence and failed to inform the authorities would be fined and imprisoned for

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "''félonie''") to describe an offense that r ...

. He and Dominican friar Robert Nutter were sent to

Wisbech Castle The Castle at Wisbech was a stone motte-and-bailey castle built to fortify Wisbech (historically in the Isle of Ely and now also in the Fenland District of Cambridgeshire, England) on the orders of William I in 1072, it probably replaced an e ...

, a state ecclesiastical prison. The area of Wisbech was an important centre for English Catholicism. The castle's residents were supported by Catholic alms and were relatively comfortable.

Henry Garnet Henry Garnet (July 1555 – 3 May 1606), sometimes Henry Garnett, was an English Jesuit priest executed for high treason in the United Kingdom, high treason, based solely on having had advance knowledge of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot and having ...

reported that the keeper would allow detainees permission to move within a five-mile radius. Thwing and Nutter escaped to Lancashire and eluded capture for three years. They were arrested again in May 1600 and were committed to Lancaster Castle, tried at the next assizes and condemned for being priests.Wainewright, John. "Vens. Robert Nutter and Edward Thwing." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 2 February 2018 Thwing was hung, drawn, and quartered at Lancaster, along with Robert Nutter on 26 July 1600. Thwing's grand-nephew, Thomas Thwing suffered the same fate in 1680 for his supposed part in the Barnbow Plot, an offshoot of the fabricated

Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinat ...

invented by

Titus Oates Titus Oates (15 September 1649 – 12/13 July 1705) was an English priest who fabricated the "Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II. Early life Titus Oates was born at Oakham in Rutland. His father was the Baptis ...

. Thomas Thwing was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929. Edward Thwing was beatified by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

in 1982 as one of the

Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales The Eighty-five Martyrs of England and Wales, also known as George Haydock and Eighty-four Companion Martyrs, are a group of men who were executed on charges of treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England between 1584 and 1679. Of the e ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thwing, Edward 1600 deaths English College, Reims alumni 16th-century Roman Catholic martyrs People executed under Elizabeth I 1565 births Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales

Life

See also

References