The Newgate Calendar
The Newgate Calendar, subtitled The Malefactors' Bloody Register, was a popular work of improving literature in the 18th and 19th centuries. A monthly bulletin of executions, produced by the Keeper of Newgate Prison in London, the Calendar's title was appropriated by other publishers, who put out biographical chapbooks about notorious criminals such as Sawney Bean, Dick Turpin, John Wilkes and Moll Cutpurse. Collected editions of these stories began to appear in the mid-18th century, in 1774 a five-volume bound edition became the standard version. While many of its accounts are embellished and/or drawn uncritically from other sources, they are lively and full of incident, refer to contemporary events and social issues. Along with the Bible and John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, the Calendar was famously in the top three works most to be found in the average home; the entries editorialise against their subjects, The Protectorate and Commonwealth, any political enemies of Britain, prostitution, gambling, "dissipation" in general and other "vices" while eulogising Protestantism, the Church of England, the English monarchy and legal system, the Common Law and Bloody Code, with some rare exceptions.
One edition contained an introduction suggesting that swindling be made capital offence. A new edition was published in 1824 by Andrew Knapp and William Baldwin, two lawyers, a further edition in 1826, under the title, The New Newgate Calendar. A penny dreadful edition of The New Newgate Calendar appeared between 1863 and 1866; the Newgate Calendar Online reading and multiple ebook formats at Ex-classics. Versions from the Internet Archive Searchable database of the Calendar
William Blackstone
Sir William Blackstone was an English jurist and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. He is most noted for writing the Commentaries on the Laws of England. Born into a middle-class family in London, Blackstone was educated at Charterhouse School before matriculating at Pembroke College, Oxford in 1738. After switching to and completing a Bachelor of Civil Law degree, he was made a Fellow of All Souls, Oxford on 2 November 1743, admitted to Middle Temple, called to the Bar there in 1746. Following a slow start to his career as a barrister, Blackstone became involved in university administration, becoming accountant and bursar on 28 November 1746 and Senior Bursar in 1750. Blackstone is considered responsible for completing the Codrington Library and Warton Building, simplifying the complex accounting system used by the college. On 3 July 1753 he formally gave up his practice as a barrister and instead embarked on a series of lectures on English law, the first of their kind; these were massively successful, earning him a total of £453, led to the publication of An Analysis of the Laws of England in 1756, which sold out and was used to preface his works.
On 20 October 1758 Blackstone was confirmed as the first Vinerian Professor of English Law embarking on another series of lectures and publishing a successful second treatise, titled A Discourse on the Study of the Law. With his growing fame, Blackstone returned to the bar and maintained a good practice securing election as Tory Member of Parliament for the rotten borough of Hindon on 30 March 1761. In November 1765 he published the first of four volumes of Commentaries on the Laws of England, considered his magnum opus. After repeated failures, he gained appointment to the judiciary as a Justice of the Court of King's Bench on 16 February 1770, leaving to replace Edward Clive as a Justice of the Common Pleas on 25 June, he remained in this position until his death, on 14 February 1780. Blackstone's legacy and main work of note is his Commentaries. Designed to provide a complete overview of English law, the four-volume treatise was republished in 1770, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1778 and in a posthumous edition in 1783.
Reprints of the first edition, intended for practical use rather than antiquary interest, were published until the 1870s in England and Wales, a working version by Henry John Stephen, first published in 1841, was reprinted until after the Second World War. Legal education in England had stalled. William Searle Holdsworth, one of Blackstone's successors as Vinerian Professor, argued that "If the Commentaries had not been written when they were written, I think it doubtful that the United States, other English speaking countries would have so universally adopted the common law." In the United States, the Commentaries influenced Alexander Hamilton, John Marshall, James Wilson, John Jay, John Adams, James Kent and Abraham Lincoln, remain cited in Supreme Court decisions. William's father, Charles Blackstone, was a silk mercer from Cheapside, the son of a wealthy apothecary, he became firm friends with Thomas Bigg, a surgeon and the son of Lovelace Bigg, a gentleman from Wiltshire. After Bigg's sister Mary came to London, Charles persuaded her to marry him in 1718.
This was not seen as a good match for her, but the couple lived and had four sons, three of whom lived into adulthood. Charles and Henry, both became fellows of New College and took holy orders, their last son, was born on 10 July 1723, five months after Charles' death in February. Although Charles and Mary Blackstone were members of the middle class rather than landed gentry, they were prosperous. Tax records show Charles Blackstone to have been the second most prosperous man in the parish in 1722, death registers show that the family had several servants. This, along with Thomas Bigg's assistance to the family following Charles' death, helps explain the educational upbringing of the children. William Blackstone was sent to Charterhouse School in 1730, nominated by Charles Wither, a relative of Mary Blackstone. William did well there, became head of the school by age 15. However, after Charles' death the family fortunes declined, after Mary died the family's resources went to meet unpaid bills.
William was able to remain at Charterhouse as a "poor scholar", having been named to that position in June 1735 after being nominated by Sir Robert Walpole. Blackstone revelled in Charterhouse's academic curriculum the Latin poetry of Ovid and Virgil, he began to attract note as a poet at school, writing a 30-line set of rhyming couplets to celebrate the wedding of James Hotchkis, the headmaster. He won a silver medal for his Latin verses on John Milton, gave the annual Latin oration in 1738, was noted as having been the favourite student of his masters. On 1 October 1738, taking advantage of a new scholarship available to Charterhouse students, Blackstone matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford. There are few surviving records of Blackstone's undergraduate term at Oxford, but the curriculum of Pembroke College had been set out in 1624, Prest notes that it was still followed in 1738, so Blackstone would have studied Greek, logic, philosophy, mathematics and poetry. Blackstone was good at Greek and poetry, with his notes on William Shakespeare being included in George Steevens' 1781 edition of Shakespeare's plays.
Many of B
Commentaries on the Laws of England
The Commentaries on the Laws of England are an influential 18th-century treatise on the common law of England by Sir William Blackstone published by the Clarendon Press at Oxford, 1765–1769. The work is divided into four volumes, on the rights of persons, the rights of things, of private wrongs and of public wrongs; the Commentaries were long regarded as the leading work on the development of English law and played a role in the development of the American legal system. They were in fact the first methodical treatise on the common law suitable for a lay readership since at least the Middle Ages; the common law of England has relied on precedent more than statute and codifications and has been far less amenable than the civil law, developed from the Roman law, to the needs of a treatise. The Commentaries were influential because they were in fact readable, because they met a need; the Commentaries are quoted as the definitive pre-Revolutionary source of common law by United States courts. Opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States quote from Blackstone's work whenever they wish to engage in historical discussion that goes back that far, or farther.
The book was famously used as the key in Benedict Arnold's book cipher, which he used to communicate secretly with his conspirator John André during their plot to betray the Continental Army during the American Revolution. The Rights of Persons is the first chapter in the four part series, the Commentaries. Divided into 18 chapters, it is concerned with the rights of individuals; the Rights of Things, Blackstone's longest volume, deals with property. The vast majority of the text is devoted to real property, this being the most valuable sort in the feudal law upon which the English law of land was founded. Property in chattels was beginning to overshadow property in land, but its law lacked the complex feudal background of the common law of land, was not dealt with nearly as extensively by Blackstone. Of Private Wrongs dealt with torts; the various methods of trial that existed at civil law were dealt with in this volume, as were the jurisdictions of the several courts, from the lowest to the highest.
As an afterthought, Blackstone adds a brief chapter on equity, the parallel legal system that existed in English law at the time, seeking to address wrongs that the common law did not handle. Of Public Wrongs is Blackstone's treatise on criminal law. Here, Blackstone the apologist takes centre stage, he does however accept that "It is a melancholy truth, that among the variety of actions which men are daily liable to commit, no less than an hundred and sixty have been declared by Act of Parliament to be felonious without benefit of clergy. Blackstone resorted to assuring his reader that the laws as written were not always enforced, that the King's power of pardon could be exercised to correct any hardships or injustices. Blackstone for the first time made the common law understandable by non-lawyers. At first, his Commentaries were hotly contested, some seeing in them an evil or covert attempt to reduce or codify the common law, anathema to common law purists. For decades, a study of the Commentaries was required reading for all first year law students.
Lord Avonmore said of Blackstone: "He it was. He found it a skeleton and clothed it with life and complexion, he embraced the cold statue and by his touch, it grew into youth and beauty." Jeremy Bentham, a critic of the Commentaries when they were first published, credits Blackstone with having: "... taught jurisprudence to speak the language of the scholar and the gentleman. There is a lot of what would be called "Whig history" in the Commentaries, but Blackstone's chief contribution was to create a succinct and above all handy epitome of the common law tradition. While useful in England, Blackstone's text answered an urgent need in the developing United States and Canada. In the United States, the common law tradition was being spread into frontier areas, but it was not feasible for lawyers and judges to carry around th
Giles Corey
Giles Corey was an English-born American farmer, accused of witchcraft along with his wife Martha Corey during the Salem witch trials. After being arrested, Corey refused to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty, he was subjected to pressing in an effort to force him to plead—the only example of such a sanction in American history—and died after three days of this torture. Corey is believed to have died in the field adjacent to the prison that had held him, in what became the Howard Street Cemetery in Salem, which opened in 1801, his exact grave location in the cemetery is unknown. There is a memorial plaque to him in the nearby Charter Street Cemetery. Giles Corey was born in Northampton, sometime before 16 August 1611, the date on which he was baptized in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Giles was the son of Elizabeth Corey, his birth is recorded in the parish records. His name is quite spelled "Corey", but the baptismal record is "Cory", it is not certain when he arrived in North America, but there is evidence he was living in Salem Town as early as 1640.
He lived in Salem Town but moved to nearby Salem Village to work as a farmer. There are quite a few entries in the court documents as to his behavior, not good, but in those times, any accusation was an offense against the state. Giles Corey married three times, he is believed to have married Margaret, in England. Margaret was the mother of his four children: Martha, Margaret and Elizabeth, his second wife was Mary Bright. In 1676, at age 65, Corey was brought to trial in Essex County, for beating to death one of his indentured farm workers, Jacob Goodale, son of Robert and Catherine Goodale and brother to Isaac Goodale. According to witnesses, Corey had beaten Goodale with a stick after he was caught stealing apples from Corey's brother-in-law, though Corey sent him to receive medical attention ten days Goodale died shortly thereafter. Since corporal punishment was permitted against indentured servants, Corey was exempt from the charge of murder and instead was charged with using "unreasonable" force.
Numerous witnesses and eyewitnesses testified against Corey, as well as the local coroner, he was found guilty and fined. Mary Bright died at age 63 on 27 August 1684, according to her gravestone in Salem. Corey married his third wife, Martha Rich. Martha was admitted to the church at Salem Village. At the time of the witch trials, Corey was 80 years old and living with Martha in the southwest corner of Salem Village, in what is now Peabody. Martha Corey was arrested for witchcraft on 19 March 1692. Corey was so swept up by the trials that he believed the accusations against his wife, until he himself was arrested based on the same charge on 18 April, along with Mary Warren, Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop; the following day, they were examined by the authorities, during which Abigail Hobbs accused Giles of being a wizard. Corey denied the accusations and refused to plead, was sentenced to prison, subsequently arraigned at the September sitting of the court; the records of the Court of Oyer and Terminer on September 9, 1692, contain a deposition by one of the people who accused Giles of witchcraft in Mercy Lewis v. Giles Corey: I saw the apparition of Giles Corey come and afflict me urging me to write in his book and so he continued most dreadfully to hurt me by times beating me and breaking my back till the day of his examination being the 19th April and also during the time of his examination he did afflict and torture me most grievously and several times since urging me vehemently to write in his book and I verily believe in my heart that Giles Corey is a dreadful wizard for since he had been in prison he or his appearance has come and most grievously tormented me.
Again, in this court, Corey refused to plead. According to the law at the time, a person who refused to plead could not be tried. To avoid persons cheating justice, the legal remedy for refusing to plead was "peine forte et dure". In this process, prisoners were stripped naked, heavy boards was laid on their bodies. Rocks or boulders were laid on the plank of wood; this was the process of being pressed:... remanded to the prison from whence he came and put into a low dark chamber, there be laid on his back on the bare floor, unless when decency forbids. As a result of his refusal to plead, on 17 September, Corey was subjected to the procedure by Sheriff George Corwin, but he was steadfast in that refusal, nor did he cry out in pain as the rocks were placed on the boards. After two days, Corey was asked three times to enter a plea, but each time he replied, "More weight," and the sheriff complied. Corwin would stand on the stones himself. Robert Calef, a witness along with other townsfolk said, "In the pressing, Giles Corey's tongue was pressed out of his mouth.
There are several accounts of Corey's last words. The most told one is that he repeated his request for "more weight", as this was how it was dramatized in The Crucible, but it may have been "Mor
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death on 24 March 1603. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the last of the five monarchs of the House of Tudor. Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, executed two-and-a-half years after Elizabeth's birth. Anne's marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, Elizabeth was declared illegitimate, her half-brother, Edward VI, ruled until his death in 1553, bequeathing the crown to Lady Jane Grey and ignoring the claims of his two half-sisters and the Roman Catholic Mary, in spite of statute law to the contrary. Edward's will was set aside and Mary became queen, deposing Lady Jane Grey. During Mary's reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels. In 1558 upon Mary's death, Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel, she depended on a group of trusted advisers, led by William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley.
One of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement was to evolve into the Church of England, it was expected that Elizabeth would produce an heir. She was succeeded by her first cousin twice removed, James VI of Scotland, she had earlier been responsible for the imprisonment and execution of James's mother, Queen of Scots. In government, Elizabeth was more moderate. One of her mottoes was "video et taceo". In religion, she was tolerant and avoided systematic persecution. After the pope declared her illegitimate in 1570 and released her subjects from obedience to her, several conspiracies threatened her life, all of which were defeated with the help of her ministers' secret service. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, manoeuvring between the major powers of Spain, she only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands and Ireland.
By the mid-1580s, England could no longer avoid war with Spain. England's defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 associated Elizabeth with one of the greatest military victories in English history; as she grew older, Elizabeth became celebrated for her virginity. A cult grew around her, celebrated in the portraits and literature of the day. Elizabeth's reign became known as the Elizabethan era; the period is famous for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, for the seafaring prowess of English adventurers such as Francis Drake. Some historians depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler, who enjoyed more than her share of luck. Towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity. Elizabeth is acknowledged as a charismatic performer and a dogged survivor in an era when government was ramshackle and limited, when monarchs in neighbouring countries faced internal problems that jeopardised their thrones.
After the short reigns of her half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity. Elizabeth was born at Greenwich Palace and was named after her grandmothers, Elizabeth of York and Elizabeth Howard, she was the second child of Henry VIII of England born in wedlock to survive infancy. Her mother was Anne Boleyn. At birth, Elizabeth was the heir presumptive to the throne of England, her older half-sister, had lost her position as a legitimate heir when Henry annulled his marriage to Mary's mother, Catherine of Aragon, to marry Anne, with the intent to sire a male heir and ensure the Tudor succession. She was baptised on 10 September 1533. A canopy was carried at the ceremony over the three-day old child by her uncle Viscount Rochford, Lord Hussey, Lord Thomas Howard, Lord Howard of Effingham. Elizabeth was two years and eight months old when her mother was beheaded on 19 May 1536, four months after Catherine of Aragon's death from natural causes.
Elizabeth was deprived of her place in the royal succession. Eleven days after Anne Boleyn's execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, who died shortly after the birth of their son, Edward, in 1537. From his birth, Edward was undisputed heir apparent to the throne. Elizabeth was placed in his household and carried the chrisom, or baptismal cloth, at his christening. Elizabeth's first governess, Margaret Bryan, wrote that she was "as toward a child and as gentle of conditions as I knew any in my life". Catherine Champernowne, better known by her married name of Catherine "Kat" Ashley, was appointed as Elizabeth's governess in 1537, she remained Elizabeth's friend until her death in 1565. Champernowne taught Elizabeth four languages: French, Flemish and Spanish. By the time William Grindal became her tutor in 1544, Elizabeth could write English and Italian. Under Grindal, a talented and skilful tutor, she progressed in French and Greek. After Grindal died in 1548, Elizabeth received her education under Roger Ascham, a sympathetic teacher who believed that learning should be engaging.
By the time her formal education ended in 1550, Elizabeth was one of the best educated women of her generation. At the end of her life, Elizabeth was believed to speak Welsh, Cornish and Irish in addition to the languages men
Torture
Torture is the act of deliberately inflicting severe physical or psychological suffering on someone by another as a punishment or in order to fulfill some desire of the torturer or force some action from the victim. Torture, by definition, is a knowing and intentional act. Torture has been carried out or sanctioned by individuals and states throughout history from ancient times to modern day, forms of torture can vary in duration from only a few minutes to several days or longer. Reasons for torture can include punishment, extortion, political re-education, coercion of the victim or a third party, interrogation to extract information or a confession irrespective of whether it is false, or the sadistic gratification of those carrying out or observing the torture. Alternatively, some forms of torture are designed to inflict psychological pain or leave as little physical injury or evidence as possible while achieving the same psychological devastation; the torturer may or may not kill or injure the victim, but torture may result in a deliberate death and serves as a form of capital punishment.
Depending on the aim a form of torture, intentionally fatal may be prolonged to allow the victim to suffer as long as possible. In other cases, the torturer may be indifferent to the condition of the victim. Although torture is sanctioned by some states, it is prohibited under international law and the domestic laws of most countries. Although illegal and reviled, there is an ongoing debate as to what is and is not defined as torture, it is a serious violation of human rights, is declared to be unacceptable by Article 5 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Signatories of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols I and II of 8 June 1977 agree not to torture captured persons in armed conflicts, whether international or internal. Torture is prohibited for the signatories of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which has 163 state parties. National and international legal prohibitions on torture derive from a consensus that torture and similar ill-treatment are immoral, as well as impractical, information obtained by torture is far less reliable than that obtained by other techniques.
Despite these findings and international conventions, organizations that monitor abuses of human rights report widespread use condoned by states in many regions of the world. Amnesty International estimates that at least 81 world governments practice torture, some of them openly; the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, in force since 26 June 1987, provides a broad definition of torture. Article 1.1 of the UN Convention Against Torture reads: For the purpose of this Convention, the term "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.
It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to, lawful sanctions. This definition was restricted to apply only to nations and to government-sponsored torture and limits the torture to that perpetrated, directly or indirectly, by those acting in an official capacity, such as government personnel, law enforcement personnel, medical personnel, military personnel, or politicians, it appears to exclude: torture perpetrated by gangs, hate groups, rebels, or terrorists who ignore national or international mandates. Some professionals in the torture rehabilitation field believe that this definition is too restrictive and that the definition of politically motivated torture should be broadened to include all acts of organized violence. An broader definition was used in the 1975 Declaration of Tokyo regarding the participation of medical professionals in acts of torture: For the purpose of this Declaration, torture is defined as the deliberate, systematic or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons acting alone or on the orders of any authority, to force another person to yield information, to make a confession, or for any other reason.
This definition includes torture as part of domestic violence or ritualistic abuse, as well as in criminal activities. The Rome Statute is the treaty; the treaty was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome on 17 July 1998 and went into effect on 1 July 2002. The Rome Statute provides a simplest definition of torture regarding the prosecution of war criminals by the International Criminal Court. Paragraph 1 under Article 7 of the Rome Statute provides that: "Torture" means the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, upon a person in the custody or
Martyr
A martyr is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, refusing to renounce, or refusing to advocate a belief or cause as demanded by an external party. This refusal to comply with the presented demands results in the punishment or execution of the martyr by the oppressor. Applied only to those who suffered for their religious beliefs, the term has come to be used in connection with people killed for a political cause. Most martyrs are considered holy or are respected by their followers, becoming symbols of exceptional leadership and heroism in the face of difficult circumstances. Martyrs play significant roles in religions. Martyrs have had notable effects in secular life, including such figures as Socrates, among other political and cultural examples. In its original meaning, the word martyr, meaning witness, was used in the secular sphere as well as in the New Testament of the Bible; the process of bearing witness was not intended to lead to the death of the witness, although it is known from ancient writers and from the New Testament that witnesses died for their testimonies.
During the early Christian centuries, the term acquired the extended meaning of believers who are called to witness for their religious belief, on account of this witness, endures suffering or death. The term, in this sense, entered the English language as a loanword; the death of a martyr or the value attributed. The early Christians who first began to use the term martyr in its new sense saw Jesus as the first and greatest martyr, on account of his crucifixion; the early Christians appear to have seen Jesus as the archetypal martyr. The word martyr is used in English to describe a wide variety of people. However, the following table presents a general outline of common features present in stereotypical martyrdoms. In the Bahá'í Faith, martyrs are those who sacrifice their lives serving humanity in the name of God. However, Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, discouraged the literal meaning of sacrificing one's life. Instead, he explained. Martyrdom was extensively promoted by the Kuomintang party in modern China.
Revolutionaries who died fighting against the Qing dynasty in the Xinhai Revolution and throughout the Republic of China period, furthering the cause of the revolution, were recognized as martyrs. In Christianity, a martyr, in accordance with the meaning of the original Greek martys in the New Testament, is one who brings a testimony written or verbal. In particular, the testimony is that of the Christian Gospel, or more the Word of God. A Christian witness is a biblical witness. However, over time many Christian testimonies were rejected, the witnesses put to death, the word martyr developed its present sense. Where death ensues, the witnesses follow the example of Jesus in offering up their lives for truth; the concept of Jesus as a martyr has received greater attention. Analyses of the Gospel passion narratives have led many scholars to conclude that they are martyrdom accounts in terms of genre and style. Several scholars have concluded that Paul the Apostle understood Jesus' death as a martyrdom.
In light of such conclusions, some have argued that the Christians of the first few centuries would have interpreted the crucifixion of Jesus as a martyrdom. In the context of church history, from the time of the persecution of early Christians in the Roman Empire, it developed that a martyr was one, killed for maintaining a religious belief, knowing that this will certainly result in imminent death; this definition of martyr is not restricted to the Christian faith. Though Christianity recognizes certain Old Testament Jewish figures, like Abel and the Maccabees, as holy, the New Testament mentions the imprisonment and beheading of John the Baptist, Jesus's possible cousin and his prophet and forerunner, the first Christian witness, after the establishment of the Christian faith, to be killed for his testimony was Saint Stephen, those who suffer martyrdom are said to have been "crowned." From the time of Constantine, Christianity was decriminalized, under Theodosius I, became the state religion, which diminished persecution.
As some wondered how they could most follow Christ there was a development of desert spirituality, desert monks, self-mortification, following Christ by separation from the world. This was a kind of white martyrdom, dying to oneself every day, as opposed to a red martyrdom, the giving of one's life in a violent death. In Christianity, death in sectarian persecution can be viewed as martyrdom. For example, there were martyrs recognised on both sides of the schism between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England after 1534, with two hundred and eighty Christians martyred for their faith by public burning between 1553 and 1558 by the Roman Catholic Queen Mary I in England leading to the reversion to the Church of England under Queen Elizabeth I in 1559 and three hundred Roman Catholics martyred by the Church authorities in England over the following hundred and fifty years in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. More modern day accounts of martyrdom for Christ exist, depicted in books such as Jesus Freaks though the numbers are disputed.
There are claims that the numbers of Christians killed for their faith annually are exaggerated. Despite the promotion of ahimsa within Sanatana Dharma
