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BARTON, ELIZABETH (c. 1506–1534)

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 453 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BARTON, See also:ELIZABETH (c. 1506–1534) , " the maid of See also:Kent," was, according to her own statement, See also:born in 1506 at Aldington, Kent. She appears to have been a neurotic girl, subject to See also:epilepsy, and an illness in her nineteenth See also:year resulted in See also:hysteria and religious See also:mania. She was at the See also:time a servant in the See also:house of See also:Thomas See also:Cobb, steward of an See also:estate near Aldington owned by See also:William See also:Warham, See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury. During her convalescence she passed into trances lasting for days at a time, and in this See also:state her ravings were of such " marvellous holiness in rebuke of See also:sin and See also:vice " that the See also:country folk believed her to be inspired. Cobb reported the See also:matter to See also:Richard Masters, the See also:parish See also:priest, who in turn acquainted Archbishop Warham. The girl having recovered, and finding herself the See also:object of See also:local admiration, was cunning enough, as she confessed at her trial, to feign trances, during which she continued her prophecies. Her fame steadily growing, the archbishop in 1526 instructed the See also:prior of See also:Christ See also:Church, Canterbury, to send two of his monks to hold an inquiry into the See also:case. One of these latter, See also:Edward Bocking, obtained her See also:admission as a See also:nun to St See also:Sepulchre's See also:convent, Canterbury. Under Bocking's instruction Barton's prophecies became still more remarkable, and attracted many pilgrims, who believed her to be, as she asserted, in See also:direct communication with the Virgin See also:Mary. Her utterances were cunningly directed towards See also:political matters, and a profound and widespread sensation was caused by her See also:declaration that should See also:Henry persist in his intention of divorcing See also:Catherine he " should no longer be See also:king of this See also:realm . . . and should See also:die a villain's See also:death." Even such men as See also:Fisher, See also:bishop of See also:Rochester, and See also:Sir Thomas More, corresponded with Barton.

On his return from See also:

France in 1532 Henry passed through Canterbury and is said to have allowed the nun to force herself into his presence, when she made an See also:attempt to terrify him into abandoning his See also:marriage. After its solemnization in May 1533. her utterances becoming still more treasonable, she was examined before See also:Cranmer (who had in See also:March succeeded to the archbishopric on Warham's death) and confessed. On the 25th of See also:September Bocking and another See also:monk, See also:Hadley, were arrested, and in See also:November, Masters and others were implicated. The maid and her See also:fellow prisoners were examined before the See also:Star Chamber, and were by its See also:order publicly exposed at St See also:Paul's See also:Cross, where they each read a See also:confession. In See also:January 1534 by a See also:bill of See also:attainder the maid and her See also:chief accomplices were condemned to death, and were executed at See also:Tyburn on the 20th of See also:April. It has been held that her confession was extracted by force, and therefore valueless, but the See also:evidence of her imposture seems conclusive. See See also:Fronde, See also:History of See also:England; See also:Burnet, History of the See also:Reformation ; See also:Lingard, History of England ; F. A. Gasquet, Henry VIII. and the See also:English Monasteries (ch. iii. 1899 ed.) ; T. E.

See also:

Bridgett, See also:Life of Blessed See also:John Fisher (1888); vols. vi. and vii. of Letters and Papers of Henry VIII.; See also:James See also:Gairdner, The English Church in the 16th See also:Century (1899) ; See also:Strype, Memorials, I. i. 271, and Cranmer; a detailed See also:account of the case is contained in the published See also:Act of Attainder 25 Henry VIII. c. 12.

End of Article: BARTON, ELIZABETH (c. 1506–1534)

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