Dyed in the Wool Trivia Quiz

Answer: He would die within months if he married Anne Boleyn

Barton became known as a visionary and was also called 'The Holy Maid of Kent', among other names. When some of her prophesies came true, she was endorsed by leading churchmen and met Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and even the king himself. Matters went wrong for her when the king wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn - Barton claimed he would die if he did so, in itself an act of treason. Barton claimed that God himself had told her that He no longer saw Henry as the rightful monarch and she was accused of being part of a conspiracy to oust the king.

She was, inevitably, found guilty of treason and was hanged in 1534.

Answer: Canterbury

The Canterbury Martyrs were condemned for heresy during the reign of Mary I, who had returned England to the Catholic faith. They are the last recorded victims of Mary's reign, and their names live on thanks to a book by John Foxe published in 1563. Its title is 'Acts and Monuments' but it is better known as 'Foxe's Book of Martyrs'.

The executions took place in batches in 1555 - four separate burnings, 1556 - one burning, 1557 - two burnings and 1558 - one burning. Each execution had several victims. Canterbury is the main religious settlement in England, with the Archbishop of Canterbury being the leader of the Church.

Answer: Hugh Latimer

Edward VI succeeded Henry VIII in 1547 and died in 1553, aged only fifteen. Latimer had been a staunch Catholic, but by 1521 came to be a strong supporter of the Reformation, particularly the changes put forward by Martin Luther. This was a dangerous move as England was still, at this time, a Catholic country. He spent time in prison for his beliefs, but found favour with Henry VIII following the monarch's split from Rome. Mary's ascension meant a reversion to the Catholic faith and Latimer became one of the many (nearly 300) Protestants to die during her five year reign.

Tyndale, who had made the first translations of the Bible into English, died in 1536, Wolsey in 1530 and Knox was in conflict with another Mary - Queen of Scots.

Answer: Transubstantiation

Anne Askew held fast to her views despite being married to a Catholic man. In fact, she is said to have made history by seeking a divorce due to her husband's brutality. Her Bible studies convinced her that the Catholic belief in transubstantiation (the literal changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ) was a misunderstanding.

Her preaching brought her to the attention of the authorities and she was arrested and taken to the Tower of London. Unusually, she was tortured on the rack (only two women are known to have undergone torture, which was used regularly on men) but refused to name any of her associates.

In 1546 she was burned at the stake, having had to be carried there due to her injuries from the torture.

Answer: Catholic

Fisher was a Catholic bishop who supported Catherine of Aragon against Henry VIII while the monarch was trying to free himself from his marriage. Fisher even acted as Catherine's advocate in the legal courts, thus incurring Henry's enmity. In 1535, Fisher was charged with treason having refused to acknowledge Henry as the Supreme Head of the Church of England and was initially sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered - an agonising and long death.

The outcry this caused made even Henry reconsider and the sentence was changed to death by beheading.

This was carried out in June 1535. Fisher was canonised by the Catholic Church in 1935.

Answer: Plantagenet

Margaret was the daughter of George, Duke of Clarence and therefore niece to two former kings of England - Edward IV and Richard III. The Plantagenet claim to England's throne was stronger than that of the Tudors, and Henry VIII kept Margaret close to him by appointing her as one of the Ladies in Waiting to Catherine of Aragon.

Her Catholic faith also made her a target, especially when her son, Reginald, safely in Italy, denounced Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn. Margaret was accused of being in communication with her son and a supporter of the Catholic claim to the throne through Henry's daughter Mary, later to be Mary I. Margaret was executed and Reginald became England's last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury.

He died the same day as Mary I, from natural causes.

Answer: Archbishop of Canterbury

Cranmer had been one of the men who put the case for Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon to be annulled, which included him becoming the Ambassador at the court of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. He was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury mainly, it seems, as a reward for his efforts on behalf of the king.

He remained in post from 1533 throughout the remainder of Henry's reign (he died in 1547) and the whole of that of Edward VI. Edward's death in 1553 brought Mary I to the throne and she was not going to forgive the man who had done so much to end her mother's marriage. Cranmer was accused of heresy and treason and was executed by burning in 1556.

Answer: Northumberland

The hint was in the choices as only Northumberland is in the north of England. The Earl of Northumberland was known to be a Catholic, but had managed to avoid the persecution that others of his faith had undergone. As matters were becoming worse for Catholics, Northumberland and another northern Earl (Westmorland) led an uprising in support of Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic, to replace Elizabeth.

The rebellion failed, Westmorland fled to the continent while Northumberland, who had sought sanctuary in Scotland, was sold to England for a considerable sum of money. Having refused to renounce his faith, he was beheaded in York in August 1572.

Answer: Pressing

Margaret Clitherow was born in York in 1556 and died there in 1586. She was not born into the Catholic faith but converted to it in 1574. By this time Elizabeth I was queen and England had made its final change of religion to Protestant, meaning that Margaret was now acting against the established religion.

She used her home and another property as 'safe houses' for Catholic priests, which was an offence punishable by death. When arrested, she refused to enter a plea so that others, including her own family, would not have to testify.

The punishment for this was pressing, meaning that she was crushed to death by her own front door weighed down by stones and rocks being laid on top of it. A rock placed under her body meant that her back was broken, and this caused her death rather than suffocation.

Answer: Thomas More

Sir Thomas More is probably England's most famous martyr. He was Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII and a staunch Catholic who considered the English Reformation as heresy. When the king broke with Rome and established himself as Supreme Head of the Church of England, More refused to take the Oath of Supremacy, which would have recognised Henry as head of the Church. This was an act of treason and More refused to abandon his beliefs. He was beheaded in 1535. He was declared as a Saint of the Catholic Church in 1935.