The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
Their death locations and the Monarchs they died under
From 1535 to 1679, perhaps 300 Catholics were martyred in England. In 1970, 40 of these lay and religious figures were canonized by the Catholic Church.
The following heat map shows the locations of the deaths of these 40 martyrs. Note the strong concentration in London, where the majority of executions took place.
40 Martyrs Death Locations
However, the 40 martyrs cover a long time period. There are several ways to divide them for further study, but one of the most interesting is studying what monarchs they died under.
Monarch of 40 Martyrs Death Locations
As you can see using the legend and the map, many of the locations outside of London took place under Charles II and Elizabeth I. This makes sense, because Elizabeth dealt with several Catholic revolutions in the North, accounting for the red dots, and Charles II worked to tax Catholics out of existence throughout his kingdom, so this persecution was more widespread.
It must be noted, however, that these deaths cover only the canonized martyrs. There were several Catholics who died who were not recognized by the Catholic Church. This affects the data. For example, priests were more likely to be canonized, and also more likely to be executed in London (due to the political nature of this type of execution, many of them were held in the Tower of London in an effort to convert them to Protestantism). This means that this dataset is limited to truly understand the Catholic experience in England at this time period.
Elizabeth also has the most points. This is unsurprising, because of her long rule. Furthermore, Elizabeth specifically sought to execute priests, who are more likely to be canonized by the Catholic Church.
Use the following StoryMap to see the locations, names, and date of death of the martyrs.
While there are many ways to study the Catholic History of England at this time, this story map is one way to examine the patterns of the executions of these martyrs.
Works Cited:
Catholic Forum. “Patron Saints Index Definition: Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.” Wayback Machine, https://web.archive.org/web/20130313083422/http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/martyr02.htm . Accessed 6 Mar. 2021.