Ridley, Nicholas

Ridley, Nicholas, Protestant martyr, was born about 1500, of good Northumbrian stock. From the grammar-school of Newcastle-upon-Tyne he passed to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, became fellow in 1524, and master in 1540. The spirit of the Reformation had already begun to penetrate both universities; Tyndale and Bilney had taught the new doctrines at Cambridge, and Ridley, no less than Cranmer and Latimer, Cambridge students about the same period, had early caught something of their spirit. Ridley went next to Paris and to Louvain, and, having encountered some of the most active Reformers abroad, after a three years' absence returned firmly grounded in the new doctrines. He was made proctor to the university of Cambridge in 1533, became domestic chaplain to Cranmer, afterwards to the king, and had already been made vicar of Herne, canon, first of Canterbury, then of Westminster, and rector of Rochester. An ardent and outspoken Reformer, yet without either bigotry or intolerance, he brought great learning and admirable preaching power to the cause, and quickly made himself one of the foremost leaders of the church. On the deprivation of Bonner, Bishop of London, in 1550, Ridley became his successor. In this high position he distinguished himself by his moderation, his learning, and his munificence, prompted Edward VI. to the foundation of Christ's, St Bartholomew's, and St Thomas' hospitals, and assisted Cranmer in the preparation of the Forty-one Articles, afterwards reduced to thirty-nine. In 1552 he visited the Princess Mary at Hunsdon, but failed to shake her adherence to her mother's faith. Thereupon, after the death of Edward VI., he warmly espoused the cause of Lady Jane Grey, and at St Paul's Cross declared both Mary and Elizabeth to be illegitimate, July 16, 1553. As soon, however, as Mary was proclaimed he repaired to Framingham to make his peace, but was coldly received, and soon stripped of his dignities and sent to the Tower. Once at least he attended mass, but his spirit soon returned to him. In March 1554 he was sent to Oxford, together with Latimer and Cranmer, to be tried by a committee of convocation, and after a profitless disputation all three were adjudged defeated and obstinate heretics, and condemned to suffer at the stake. As England was not yet formally reconciled to Rome, the sentence could not be carried out, and accordingly Ridley lay in Bocard's gaol at Oxford for eighteen months, writing the while a noble and touching farewell letter to his friends. After the formality of a second trial he was led forth to execution, along with Latimer, 16th October 1555. The stake was placed in front of Balliol College, and here Ridley played the man in the midst of awful torments of a smouldering fire that burned him slowly to death. His writings were collected in a volume of the Parker Society series (1841), with a life by Rev. H. Christmas. See his Life by Dr Gloucester Ridley (1763).