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 Anglo-Saxon and means a ...

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 department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded ...

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 diplo ...

, unless within the 40 days they swore an

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

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 res ...

. He and Dominican friar

Robert Nutter Robert Nutter (c. 155026 July 1600) was an English Catholic priest, Dominican friar and martyr. He was beatified in 1987. Life Throughout the religious upheavals following the English Reformation, the vast majority of English Catholics, many ...

were sent to

Wisbech Castle Wisbech Castle was a stone to 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 earlier ...

, 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 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 Lancaster Castle is a medieval castle and former prison in Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire. Its early history is unclear, but it may have been founded in the 11th century on the site of a Roman fort overlooking a crossing of ...

, 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 assassinate ...

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 Samuel (1610� ...

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

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

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 Thwing, Edward Year of birth uncertain

Life

See also

References