Richard Woodman
RICHARD WOODMAN
Woodman’s parish priest, a man named Fairbank, had tried without success to convince Woodman to attend church services. Annoyed by his failure, Fairbank preferred charges of heresy against Woodman and had him brought before the justices of the peace for the county of Sussex, who committed him to the King’s Bench Prison for a considerable amount of time.
At length Woodman and four others were brought to be examined by Bishop Bonner of London, who advised them that they should become members of the true church. They answered that they considered themselves members of the church, and Bonner, satisfied with their replies, set all five men free.
Not long after Woodman returned home, the rumor was spread that he had joined the Catholic Church. He denied this so often and so publicly that a warrant was issued for his arrest. Three men approached Woodman one day as he worked in his father’s warehouse, telling him he had to go with them before the Lord Chamberlain. Surprised and alarmed at this sudden attack, Woodman begged to be allowed to go home to tell his wife of the arrest and dress properly for court. The officers agreed to this and accompanied Woodman to his home. Once there, Woodman asked to see their warrant.
“It’s not here,” one of them replied. “It’s at my house. The most you can do is make me go get it.”
“If you have a warrant, fetch it,” Woodman demanded. “Until you do have it, leave my house.” He then shut the door in their faces. Knowing they would soon return, Woodman ran to a window in the rear of the house and escaped to a nearby forest, where he hid himself. The officers soon came back with the warrant and searched the house from top to bottom, but Woodman was safe in the woods.
Woodman knew they would search the whole country for him, including the seacoast, and it would be impossible for him to leave the country, so he decided the best thing to do would be to stay close to home, which no one would even think of. Bringing out his Bible, pen, ink, and other necessities, Woodman hid under a tree in the nearby woods for six or seven weeks. His wife brought him food every day. At last there was a report that he had been seen in Flanders, and the local search was given up. Woodman took the opportunity to escape to Flanders and France, but he missed his home and family too much to stay and sneaked back into the country. Within three weeks, another warrant was issued for his arrest, and his house was searched as often as twice a week for the next two months.
In the end, Woodman was betrayed by his own brother, who told the authorities that he left his hiding place in the evening to sleep at home. When the authorities came to his house, Woodman hid in a secret loft that had never been discovered in all of the previous searches. Although they knew he had to be somewhere in the house, the officers couldn’t find him anywhere. Woodman’s brother knew the loft existed, but he didn’t know exactly where it was, so the search was renewed until one of them finally spotted the loft, forcing Woodman to make a run for it.
“As soon as I found myself on the ground, I started and ran down a lane that was full of sharp cinders, and the men came running after me,” Woodman said. “I turned about hastily to go on, when I stepped on a sharp stone with one foot, and in trying to save it, I slipped into a great miry hole and fell down, and before I could arise and get away, they were upon me. Then they bound me and took me away.”
Woodman was taken to London and examined by several church officials but refused to yield to anything that was not founded on the Bible’s authority. About two weeks after being sentenced, Woodman was taken to the town of Lewes, in Sussex, with nine other prisoners. On July 22, 1557, the ten men were led to the place of execution. There they were chained to several stakes and consumed in one great fire. It is recorded that they all went to their deaths with wonderful courage and resignation, with their last words committing their souls to that blessed Redeemer who was to be their final judge.