James Bainham (died 30 April 1532) was an English lawyer and Protestant reformer who was burned as a heretic in 1532.

Life

According to

John Foxe John Foxe (1516/1517 – 18 April 1587) was an English clergyman, theologian, and historian, notable for his martyrology '' Foxe's Book of Martyrs'', telling of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, but particularly the sufferings of En ...

he was a son of Sir Alexander Bainham, who was sheriff of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

in 1497, 1501, and 1516; and a nephew of

William Tracy William Tracy (December 1, 1917 – July 18, 1967) was an American character actor. Early life and career Tracy was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is perhaps best known for the role of Pepi Katona, the delivery boy, in '' The Shop Ar ...

. He was a member of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

, and practised as a lawyer. He married the widow of

Simon Fish Simon Fish (died 1531) was a 16th-century Protestant rebel and English propagandist. He is best known for helping to spread William Tyndale's New Testament and for writing the vehemently anti-clerical pamphlet ''Supplication for the Beggars'' (' ...

, author of the ''Supplication of Beggars.'' In 1531 he was allegedly accused of heresy to

Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry V ...

, then

Lord Chancellor of England The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-r ...

. John Foxe alleges that More imprisoned and flogged Bainham in his house at Chelsea, and then sent him to the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

to be

racked Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company founded in Washington, D.C. with operational headquarters in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by CEO Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB ...

, in the hope of making him name names. This, however, is doubted by later historians. On 15 December he was examined before

John Stokesley John Stokesley (8 September 1475 – 8 September 1539) was an English clergyman who was Bishop of London during the reign of Henry VIII. Life Stokesley was born at Collyweston in Northamptonshire, and became a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford ...

, Bishop of London, concerning his belief in

purgatory In Christianity, Purgatory (, borrowed into English language, English via Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman and Old French) is a passing Intermediate state (Christianity), intermediate state after physical death for purifying or purging a soul ...

confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of people – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information that ...

extreme unction In the Catholic Church, the anointing of the sick, also known as Extreme Unction, is a Catholic sacrament that is administered to a Catholic "who, having reached the age of reason, begins to be in danger due to sickness or old age", except in ...

, and other points. His answers were couched in words of Scripture, but were not satisfactory to the court, who believed that his approval of the works of

William Tyndale William Tyndale (; sometimes spelled ''Tynsdale'', ''Tindall'', ''Tindill'', ''Tyndall''; – October 1536) was an English Biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestantism, Protestant Reformation in the year ...

and

John Frith John Frith may refer to: * John Frith (assailant) (fl. 1760–1791), English petitioner and asylum inmate * John Frith (cartoonist) (), Australian cartoonist, at ''The Herald'' in Melbourne in the 1950s and 1960s * John Frith (martyr) (1503–1533 ...

(whose books he possessedG. W. Bernard, ''The King's Reformation'' (2007), p. 279.) was evident. The following day, being threatened with sentence, he partially submitted, pleading ignorance, and was again committed to prison. In the following February he was brought before the bishop's chancellor to be examined as to his fitness for readmission to the church, and after considerable hesitation abjured all his errors, and, having paid a fine and performed penance by standing with a

faggot ''Faggot'', often shortened to ''fag'', is a Pejorative, slur in the English language that was used to refer to gay men but its meaning has expanded to other members of the queer community. In American youth culture around the turn of the 21s ...

on his shoulder during the sermon at

Paul's Cross Paul's Cross (alternatively "Powles Crosse") was a preaching cross and open-air pulpit in St Paul's Churchyard, the grounds of Old St Paul's Cathedral, City of London. It was the most important public pulpit in Tudor and early Stuart England, ...

, was released. Within a month, however, he openly withdrew his recantation during Mass at St. Austin's Church. He was apprehended and brought before the bishop's vicar-general on 19 and 20 April. One of the articles alleged against him was that he asserted

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...

to be a thief and murderer. He was sentenced as a relapsed heretic and burned at Smithfield on 30 April 1532. In the ''Calendar of State Papers of Henry VIII'' there is a contemporary account of an interview between him and

Hugh Latimer Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the ...

, the day before his death. Robert Demaus records that conversation. He writes that Bainham informed Latimer of the articles for which he was dying.

In modern fiction

Bainham was a character in the "

Anna Regina Anna Regina is the capital of the Pomeroon-Supenaam Region of Guyana. Anna Regina stands on the Atlantic coast, northwest of the mouth of the Essequibo River, 19 km north of Adventure, and was established as a town in 1970. Its population ...

" episode of the ''

Wolf Hall ''Wolf Hall'' is a 2009 historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, ''Wolf Hall'' is a sym ...

'' miniseries made in 2014, and was played by

Jonathan Aris Jonathan Aris is an English actor who has appeared in films, television, and theatre. He is known for his roles as the irascible policeman Anderson in the BBC series '' Sherlock'', the angelic quartermaster in the Amazon Prime series '' Good O ...

Notes

References

External links

Account from Foxe's ''Acts and Monuments''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bainham, James Year of birth missing 1532 deaths English Protestants People executed for heresy Executed English people People executed under Henry VIII 16th-century Protestant martyrs People executed by the Kingdom of England by burning Members of the Middle Temple Protestant martyrs of England