On 19 June 1535, three monks, Sebastian Newdigate, William Exmew and Humphrey Middlemore, of the Carthusian Order of London Charterhouse, were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. Their executions were witnessed by George Boleyn and Thomas Boleyn, Queen Anne Boleyn’s brother and father; Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk; Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset, and the King’s illegitimate son, and Sir Henry Norris, the King’s Groom of the Stool.
The three monks were executed after refusing to accept King Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the Church. Between May 1535 and August 1540, 18 Carthusian monks were put to death for this crime, some being hanged, drawn and quartered, some being hanged in chains and others being starved to death. All 18 are recognised as martyrs by the Catholic Church.
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