June 19, 1535: The Carthusian Martyrs Executed for Defying Henry VIII
On June 19, 1535, three monks of the London Charterhouse—Sebastian Newdigate, William Exmew, and Humphrey Middlemore—were brutally executed at Tyburn after refusing to acknowledge King Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the Church in England. Their deaths came during one of the most turbulent periods of the English Reformation, as Henry sought to break from papal authority and establish royal control over religious affairs. The Carthusians, renowned for their strict devotion and contemplative way of life, became some of the most determined opponents of the king’s religious policies.
The monks had been arrested after declining to swear the oath required by the Act of Supremacy. To Henry VIII and his government, their refusal amounted to treason. Despite imprisonment and pressure to submit, Newdigate, Exmew, and Middlemore remained steadfast in their loyalty to the Pope and their religious convictions. As a result, they were sentenced to the horrific punishment reserved for traitors: hanging, drawing, and quartering. Their execution was intended to serve as a warning to others who might challenge the king’s authority.
Instead, the deaths of the three Carthusians helped turn them into symbols of religious conscience and resistance. Additional monks from the London Charterhouse would suffer similar fates in the years that followed, demonstrating the high human cost of England’s break with Rome. Today, Sebastian Newdigate, William Exmew, and Humphrey Middlemore are remembered among the Martyrs of the English Reformation, honored for their willingness to die rather than abandon their beliefs.
