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St. Edward King and Martyr Church, Cambridge, England

St Edward King and Martyr is a church located on Peas Hill in central Cambridge, England. It is dedicated to Edward the Martyr, King of England from 975 until his murder in 978. It was at St Edward's in 1525 that what is said to have been the first sermon of the English Reformation took place, and the church is sometimes labelled the "Cradle of the Reformation". Source: Wikipedia

The present church was founded in the thirteenth century on what is believed to be the site of an earlier Anglo-Saxon church. In around 1400 the church was rebuilt, creating the present chancel and arches of the nave, though the arch at the base of the tower dates from the original building. There are some pictures and a description at the Cambridgeshire Churches website.

When Henry VI ordered the clearing of land in order to create King's College, the church of St. John Zachary that was used by both Trinity Hall and Clare was demolished. In 1445, by way of recompense, the living of St. Edward's church was granted to Trinity Hall, and the chaplain is still appointed by the college. Two fifteenth century side-chapels were built in St Edward's, with the North chapel used by Trinity Hall, and the South by Clare.

St. Edward's played a pivotal role in the English Reformation. During the 1520s a group of evangelicals led by Thomas Bilney had been meeting to discuss the preachings of Martin Luther and Erasmus's translation of the New Testament.

At the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve 1525, one of the group, Robert Barnes, gave what is believed to be the first openly evangelical sermon in any English church, and accused the Catholic Church of heresy. Over the next decade many of the great reformers preached at St. Edward's, including Hugh Latimer, who was a regular preacher until he left Cambridge in 1531. These events have led to St Edward's being referred to as the "Cradle of the Reformation". Source: Wikipedia

View of the rear of the church:

Tucked away behind King's Parade is the little church of St Edward. It sits in St Edward's passage, and has a leafy little churchyard full of mock-orange bushes, splendid with blossom in the spring. Overlooking the churchyard is one of Cambridge's finest bookshops, G. Davids. Above it is the flat where John Maynard Keynes lived while he was Bursar of King's.

It's also an unusual dedication. Edward son of Edgar was crowned King of England in 975 at the age of only 13. He didn't last long, though. The usual story is that his stepmother Elfrida, favouring her own son Aethelred (Edward's half-brother), had Edward murdered in 979 when he was visiting Corfe Castle in Dorset. Like many murdered kings, Edward became the object of a popular cult and was acclaimed as a saint, though dedications to him are rather rare. There are some more details on the entry for St Bene't, just around the corner from St Edward's, which was built around the time of Athelred's unfortunate reign.

The west tower is Early English and has a fine west window - it is rendered in ochre stucco, and has a brick parapet, which is quite unusual. The interior is a late 14th century affair. The guide book (which is, incidentally, very good) proudly states that the nave is "unquestionably one of the finest in Cambridge. One cannot but be struck by its great beauty."

It's certainly true that the piers are particularly slender and shapely, but I don't know that I'd eulogise it quite so much. The church is very dark - indeed, I'd almost say gloomy - and I found it a little oppressive.

Unusually, the aisles stretch all the way to the east end - the chancel aisles were added in 1446 to provide chapel space for Trinity Hall and Clare College. Previously those two colleges had worshipped at the church of St John Zachary, which was in the part of Cambridge that was razed to make way for King's College. Their respective chapels here contain memorials to various academics associated with each college, including four Masters of Clare. The chancel didn't grab my attention much (though the ever-cheery guide marvels at how there are 'no choir stalls or altar rails to mar its beauty'), though the north wall leans rather a lot, and the north pier of the chancel arch is nerve-wrackingly lopsided. Still, it seems to have stood the test of time so far.

St Edward proudly proclaims that it was the birth-place of the English Reformation. The usual caveats aside, it has a claim to an important place in the history of that period. Cambridge in the mid-16th century was the scene of many debates between traditionalists and reformers, both radical and moderate.

Erasmus was at Queens' College for a while, and closely connected with St Edward's were some of the most active of the English reformers: Thomas Bilney, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer. These four - and others - discussed theology at the White Horse Inn, a site now underneath the 19th century buildings at King's. All of them worshipped at St Edwards, and Cranmer is supposed to have preached regularly from the lovely 1510 pulpit.

Their later doings hardly need recounting here, of course - all were eventually martyred (most famously, of course, Ridley and Latimer, who were burned in 1555 at Oxford). The next generation, though, included various people who had also been at Cambridge and had, presumably, been infected by the Protestant enthusiasm stirred up by Bilney and his colleagues. They had been briefly in power during the reign of Edward VI, and those that survived the reign of Mary resurfaced under Elizabeth. One - William Cecil - effectively ruled England for Elizabeth until his death, and others had important positions within the establishment.

So, is St Edward's the birthplace of the English Reformation? Of course not - one cannot tie the Reformation down to any one sermon, or motive, or church. But here - in Cambridge generally, and in St Edward's more specifically - some of the most influential men of those turbulent years tempered their thoughts. Their legacy can be seen, to a greater or lesser extent, in every church in the country. Source: Cambridgeshire Churches website: http://www.druidic.org/camchurch/churches/camedward.htm

View of the Tower:

View of the outside of the Church:

View of the outside of the Church:

View of the alter inside the church:

View looking from the South Chancel across to the North Chancel and the main doorway:

View of the South Chancel where Elizabeth Cropley Botwright and several of her children are buried underneath the floor:

URL: http://www.boatwrightgenealogy.com

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