Archdeacon Rowland Taylor & Margaret Tyndale

10528. Archdeacon Rowland Taylor & 10529. Margaret Tyndale    

11/6/1510, Rowland born in Rothbury, Northumberland, England, s/o 21056. John Taylor & 21057. Susan Rowland.

~1526, Margaret born in England. [Margaret is usually given as d/o John Tyndale & Amphillis Coningsby, as cited in both Weiss and Langston. However, in John Tyndal’s will of 1538, 8 children are listed, none of which could be identified as this Margaret. She is likely related to this family – but the relationship is unknown.]

1530, Rowland received his LLB degree from Cambridge.

1531-1538 Rowland Taylor was Principal of Borden Hostel.

1534, Rowland received his LLD degree from Cambridge.

~1541, Rowland married Margaret. [9 known children.]

4/16/1544, Rowland presented to the living of Hadleigh, Suffolk; becoming their spiritual leader and Rector.

1547, Rowland was employed as a preacher for the royal visitation within the dioceses of Lincoln.

8/15/1547, Rowland became canon of Rochester.

1550, Rowland called to serve on a commission against Anabaptists. The same year he also helped to administer the vacant diocese of Norwich.

1551, Rowland made Archdeacon of Cornwall in the Diocese of Exeter, appointed one of six preachers of Canterbury, Kent, and appointed chancellor to Bishop Nicholas Ridley. His leadership was expanded by serving on a commission to revise the ecclesiastical laws.

William Foster “a secrete favourer of all Romish idolatry”, together with John Clerke, arranged to have mass celebrated in the church at Hadleigh after Queen Mary’s accession. Rowland interrupted the service and was forcibly ejected from the church. Foster and Clerke denounced Rowland to Stephen Gardiner, and this led to his arrest.

7/25/1553, Rowland arrested 6 days after the new Queen Mary I ascended the throne; charged with probable heresy from having preached a sermon in Bury St. Edmunds. Rowland did not support the Roman Catholic position of clerical celibacy, which stated that a Priest must be unmarried. He also disagreed with the doctrine of transubstantiation. It did not help matters that Rowland apparently supported Lady Jane Grey’s cause, a rival of Mary I to the throne.

1/22/1555, Rowland, and several other clergy, were examined by a commission of leading bishops and lawyers. Just two days prior Parliament revived the old statute of burning convicted heretics.

1/30/1555, Rowland excommunicated and sentenced to death. Rowland would become Queen Bloody Mary’s 3^rd Protestant martyr to be burned at the stake.

2/9/1555, Rowland’s execution took place in Aldham Common in Hadleigh. Wife Margaret, 2 daughters, and son Thomas were present.

Margaret remarried to ? Wright.

(S) Dictionary of National Biography, 1898, Stephen, P464.  (S) Foxe’s Book of Martyr’s.  (S) Bloody Mary’s Martyrs: The Story of England’s Terror.

Children of Rowland and Margaret:

i. Thomas Taylor (5764), born 9/15/1548 in England.

ii. Anna Taylor, born ~1542 in England.

Anna married William Palmer.