The Heretic’s Wife (73 page)

T
he historical record deals with John Frith less fully than with his friend William Tyndale, whose sixteenth-century translation of the Bible into the English language helped provoke the Protestant Reformation in England and later formed the foundational document for the King James Bible. History records the martyrdom of this exceptional young scholar before he reached his thirtieth birthday and the circumstances surrounding his career and execution for heresy. The historical mention that he had a wife, about whom nothing beyond the fact of her existence is known, is the basis for the fictional character of Kate Frith. History also records that a bookseller and printer named John Gough was caught in the sweep that began the most intense persecution of Protestants in England outside the reign of Mary Tudor.

Sir Thomas More’s role in all stages of that persecution is part of the historical record, and the story of his struggle with Henry VIII concerning the king’s marriage to Anne Boleyn and subsequent break with Rome is also well documented. On July 6, 1535, two years and two days after John Frith went to the stake, More was executed for treason. He was charged with denying the
validity of the Act of Succession because it denied the authority of the pope in matters relating to religion in England. Margaret Roper is said to have bribed the constable of the Tower to remove the boiled head of her father from its exhibition pole on Tower Bridge, and to have hidden it so that his memory could not be further dishonored. More’s last days in the Tower were made more bearable with the knowledge that his nemesis William Tyndale, who had been betrayed by Henry Phillips and arrested in May of that same year, also languished in prison in a castle in Vilvoorde, eighteen miles from Antwerp. William Tyndale was executed by strangulation and burning in October 1536.

Queen Anne Boleyn was beheaded on Tower Green, May 19, 1536, after she failed to produce a male heir. She was charged with committing incest with her brother George, adultery (treason) with a music master, and even practicing witchcraft to bewitch the king. Shortly after Anne’s execution, Jane Seymour became the third wife of Henry VIII.

Thomas Cromwell, who succeeded Thomas More as chancellor, is best known in history for carrying out the king’s orders for the dismantling and pillaging of the monasteries in England. Within a year of Tyndale’s death, Cromwell had convinced the king to approve distribution of the English Bible. (It was Tyndale’s Bible, but it did not bear his name.) Cromwell was beheaded for treason in 1540. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury and the author of the Book of Common Prayer, was burned at Smithfield as a heretic in 1556 under the rule of Queen Mary, Henry’s daughter by Katherine of Aragon, also known as Bloody Mary.

In 1543 Catherine Massys (sometimes spelled Matsys), sister of the painter Quentin Massys, was burned at the stake in Leuven for reading the Bible.

Martin Luther died of illness in 1546. His wife Katharina von Bora survived him by many years, living and raising her children in poverty.

The Illuminator

The Mercy Seller

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2010 by Brenda Rick-man Vantrease.

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

For permissions information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

www.stmartins.com

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Vantrease, Brenda Rickman.
The heretic’s wife / Brenda Rickman Vantrease. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-0312386993
1. Great Britain—History—16th century—Fiction. 2. Illumination of books and manuscripts—Fiction. 3. Bible—Translating—Great Britain—Fiction. 4. Heretics—Fiction. 5. Wives—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3622.A675H37 2010
813’.6—dc22
2009045299
First Edition: April 2010
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

I
am grateful for the scholarship of several historians upon whose work I relied in finding my story. Their understanding, erudition, and insight into the religious strife of pre-Reformation and Reformation England proved invaluable to me. They are as follows: Peter Ackroyd in
The Life of Thomas More,
Benson Bobrick in
Wide as the Waters,
G. R. Elton in
England under the Tudors,
Carolly Erickson in her biography
Great Harry,
John Guy in
Tudor England,
and Brian Moynahan in
God’s Bestseller.
Reading their works inspired and enabled my search for the individuals, both celebrated and uncelebrated, who participated in the struggle for religious freedom.

I wish to express my appreciation to my publisher, St. Martin’s Press, and the fine people who work there. I am especially grateful to my editor, Hope Dellon, who acts as midwife to my books and holds my hand during their birthing. Like any good midwife, she knows when to say “push a little harder” and when to say “well done.” Much appreciation is also due my agent, Harvey Klinger. His efforts on my behalf have far exceeded any reasonable expectations. And of course, I wish to thank my readers. What a joy
it has been to hear from people near and far and know that together we have created a work of shared imagination.

I have been blessed with supportive family and friends, too many to name. I love them all and wish them to know their words of encouragement are like pearls to me. My ongoing friendship with my writing pal for more than a decade, Meg Waite Clayton, author of
The Wednesday Sisters,
remains a professional and personal resource even though she now lives a continent away. Most of all I wish to acknowledge publicly the tireless and enthusiastic support of my husband, Don, for this and all my efforts. Finally, I thank my God for putting all these people in my life.