Bilney, THOMAS

Bilney, THOMAS, martyr, born about 1495, probably at Norwich, studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and was ordained in 1519. He was opposed to the formal 'good works' of the schoolmen, and denounced saint and relic worship; and to these mild Protestant views he converted Hugh Latimer and other young Cambridge men. In 1527 he was arraigned before Wolsey, and on recanting, absolved, but was confined in the Tower for over a year. Stung by remorse, after two years of suffering, he began to preach in the fields of Norfolk, but was soon apprehended and condemned; and although allowed to receive the sacraments of the church from which he differed so little, he was burned as a heretic at Norwich, 19th August 1531.