The Padley Martyrs

"Venite, benedicti Dei".

These were the last words to be spoken by Richard Simpson, the last of the three priests to be executed in Derby on 24 July, 1588 - three men who would later come to be known as "The Padley Martyrs". So, who were these men and what brought them to their fate? To understand this, we have to backtrack to the events of Elizabethan England in the years prior to and leading up to their arrests.

Prior to 1582 although there has undoubtedly been severe penalties imposed upon Catholics in some parts of England, there had been no notable degree of persecution in the North, remote as it was from the affairs of London and the influence of the small minority of Calvinistic protestants who were calling for the total elimination of Catholicism in England. In fact, England had been fairly tranquil in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I who often spoke against any blood-lust, promising Catholics their freedom as long as they behaved as good citizens. So, life in Derbyshire continued more or less as normal under the assurances of the Queen and the natural tendency to regard anything from the South as "foreign" and having little to do with them. Few attended the mandatory Anglican services and even fewer were penalized for it.

Years of relative peace began to give way to change as Parliament, responding to a Papal Bull in 1571, which appeared to tell Catholics in England that they owed no allegiance to the Queen, passed an Act against the spreading of Papal Bulls - but, to quote Garret Sweeney in his history of the Martyrs, "as Derbyshire priests were not in the habit of carrying Papal Bulls round with them in their pockets, the new legislation meant nothing in the Peak". In fact, it would seem that there were only three priests executed in England over the following ten years. Then, as a series of events came together, everything began to change.

Rome was unwittingly beginning to make things more difficult for English Catholics by increasingly open support for Philip II of Spain and his claims to the English throne. In 1579, Gregory XIII sent a token force of supporters from Italy and Spain to assist in the Fitzmaurice-Desmond insurrection in Ireland. Two years later, he appointed William Allen, an avid supporter of Philip's claims, as Prefect to the English Mission. The English Parliament responded with an Act which made it High Treason to reconcile an Englishman to the Catholic faith. And even yet, Elizabeth insisted on adding the proviso that this could only be regarded as treasonable if such reconciliation was done with the intent of withdrawing people from their allegiance to her as their Queen.

Mary Queen Of Scots had been enjoying relative freedom in the High Peak area in the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury, riding the Moors, moving between the castles at Sheffield, Chatsworth and South Wingfield, and going down to Buxton to take the waters during this entire time, but as possible insurrection became seemingly probable, she was removed to Fotheringay Castle where she could be kept under closer confinement. Amid hysterical fears of a Catholic insurrection which would overthrow Elizabeth and install Mary as queen, calls increased for her execution until she was finally beheaded in February of 1587.

Philip II received the news of Mary's execution and after brooding on what to do for another three weeks, he called together a fleet to invade England and overthrow Elizabeth once and for all. Elizabeth's thoughts were to first send Drake to intercept, and second to be non provocative, but when false news reached England that the Armada was headed for the Bay of Biscay, a fleet was sent out to meet them, while the Privy Council issued letters to the Lord Lieutenants of each county ordering them to arrest the "most obstinate" of the recusants and to place the not so obstinate in the custody of Anglican clergy or other well disposed people. This effectively meant that Catholic leaders were to be arrested on suspicion of promoting Spanish claims to the throne and so it was that the drama began to move into Derbyshire.

Even yet, there was no taste for blood in the High Peak. The Lord Lieutenant, George Talbot, was not noted for his persecutions and apart from the apprehension of the priest Richard Simpson, for which he was not responsible, nothing had been done to implement the instructions. He was unsure what to do about this priest and wrote off to London for further instruction. He knew that to kill a priest would be unpopular in Derbyshire so he sat back to await a reply which, when it came, simply told him to institute proceedings under the Act of 1585.

Meanwhile, Lord Shrewsbury was dragging his heels when it came to arrests. He couldn't view any of the Derbyshire Catholics as any threat to the Crown and eventually came up with two names for internment, including John Fitzherbert of Padley, who was to be lodged with a preacher in Derby. No-one showed any enthusiasm for the arrest of Catholics and certainly not for any executions, and so things continued through the early months of 1588. Nothing more was done until news that a force was indeed on its way to invade England prompted the Earl of Shrewsbury that it was indeed time to act, when, on the morning of July 12 he personally led a party of men to raid the Manor at Padley and to arrest Fitzherbert. On his arrival, he found not only John Fitzherbert, but also two Catholic priests, Nicholas Garlick and Robert Ludlam.

NICHOLAS GARLICK

Nicholas Garlick was born around 1555 in one of the little farmsteads close to Dinting, near Glossop. In January 1575 he was matriculated by Gloucester Hall (Worcester College, Oxford) where he was described as "well seen in poetry, rhetoric and philosophy". We next hear of him back in Derbyshire where he took over the schoolhouse at Tideswell, which became known by the simple title of "Mr Garlick's School". Notable amongst his pupils were Blessed Christopher Buxton, martyred in Canterbury in 1588, and Robert Bagshaw who later became President of the English Benedictine Congregation.

Next time we hear of Nicholas Garlick is when he enters the College at Rheims in June of 1581 when martyrdom is far from his mind. He was ordained in 1582 and returned to England in January of 1583 where he made his way, for reasons unknown, to Staffordshire where a spy reported of him:

"Ere it be long to have all things in the old order, for the whole country about them were Catholics, as he said, and very desirous of priests, whereof there are a great store in the High Peak."

Two years later, Nicholas was arrested and deported to France. He reached Rheims on 17 October 1585 and then had to make the decision. He knew that to return to England would be to risk his life. Two days later, he was on his way home. All that is know of him for the next couple of years is from one spy's report which put him in Hampshire and Dorset. Beyond that, nothing is known of his activities or why he was to be found in Padley on 12 July 1588.

ROBERT LUDLAM

This quiet man was born around 1551 to a yeoman farmer close to Derby. He matriculated at St. John's College, Oxford in 1575 and remained there for three years without obtaining a degree, probably because, as with other Catholics, he didn't want to have to take the Oath of Supremacy which accompanied the receipt of a degree. He is known to have been a tutor for a "gentlewoman" but details are vague.

On 25 November 1580 he entered the College at Rheims, was ordained the following year, and then in 1582 made his way back to England where he remained, his activities unknown, until we next hear of him at his arrest in Padley.
RICHARD SIMPSON

Not much is known of his life except that he was born in Sheffield, raised as an Anglican and converted to Catholicism, for which it is said he suffered a long term of imprisonment in York. In 1577 he travelled to France where he studied at the English College in Douai and after his ordination in the same year, he returned to England and was next heard of in Lancashire in 1581. Four years later, he is known to have been in Derbyshire where he would later be arrested..

It seems from records that Richard Simpson was travelling in the Peak District when he met up with someone who managed to convince Simpson that he was Catholic and to whom Simpson revealed himself as a priest. At the next town, this informer turned him in - probably in January of 1588. He was condemned to death but managed to obtain a stay of execution. He met Nicholas Garlick and Robert Ludlam when they joined him in Derby Goal in July.

It is said that during this term of imprisonment he led a very austere life, wearing a hair shirt and spending very little on food. However, he did keep his servant with him until the end.

ARREST AND TRIAL

Almost nothing is known of the events of 12 July 1588. All that is known is that what was intended to be the apprehension and internment of John Fitzherbert ended in trials for High Treason as Nicholas Garlick and Robert Ludlam were found at Padley Hall. The two priests were liable under the 1585 Act to be tried and brutally executed while those who had given them refuge were liable for imprisonment and/or death by hanging. John Fitzherbert, his son, three of his daughters and ten male servants were arrested. Two of the daughters were placed in the custody of Anglican Rectors and the rest were imprisoned in Derby Gaol.

While in gaol, the two priests met the third, Richard Simpson and it is said that they helped him to remain unwavering right up to his death, and it is also known that during their final night before their executions, the priests consoled a woman found guilty of murder and that she was reconciled to God and the Church before she, too, faced execution.

At the trial, on 23 July, it seems that Nicholas Garlick did all the talking. He objected strongly to the accusation that he had entered the Realm to "seduce her majesty's people". He repudiated accusations based on the Papal Bull of Pius V and Cardinal Allen's support of Philip of Spain and insisted that he had returned to England "not to seduce but to induce" people to return to the Catholic faith. He continued that this was the sole reason for his priesthood and that he would continue to do this as long as he lived.

Nicholas then took issue when he was asked if he would prefer trial by jury or whether he wished to be tried by the Justices of the Assizes. Knowing that he would be found guilty, he stated that he did not want his blood on the hands of poor men and therefore didn't want a jury, but he was persuaded to give way and was tried by jury. Both priests were then found guilty of High Treason and were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. It has been noted that Nicholas insisted on having the last word, however, as he said on his way out from court that "Cain would never be satisfied until he had the blood of Abel."

EXECUTIONS

On 24 July, the three were taken to St Mary's Bridge, Derby where they were to be executed along with the murderess they had reconciled the night before. It seems that Nicholas' exuberance was not diminished in the face of death. While being dragged on a hurdle to the place of execution,a passer-by reminded him of how they had hunted together in the past. "True," answered Nicholas, "but now I am to shoot such a shot as I have never shot in my life."

On their arrival at St Mary's Bridge, it was found that the cauldron in which the entrails of the newly hanged would be boiled was not ready - fairly typical of provincial executions where people didn't know what they were doing. Nicholas Garlick used the time to give a sermon to the people gathered, exhorting them to take care of their souls and refusing to be silenced.

Nicholas was the first to be taken to the gallows. He kissed the ladder then ascended to the gallows where he was hanged until half-dead. However, it was then realized that they had forgotten to remove his doublet and by the time this was done, he had come completely to his senses before being disembowelled. Simpson went next, dying slowly but with grace. Robert Ludlam, meanwhile, looked on with a smile on his face and then, just as he was about to be turned off the ladder, cried out as if beholding a beatific vision, those words "Venite, benedicti Dei."

CONCLUSION

In 1888, the three Padley Martyrs were declared Venerable and were later beatified by Pope John Paul II. Derbyshire gave rise to many remarkable men and women who risked their lives to adhere to their faith and to shelter priests during times of persecution as well as producing a number of notable priests and martyrs. However, we should be wary of imagining that it was somehow easier for them in their times. They knew fear and they experienced pain and suffering no less then than do we, some 400 years later. But their eyes were on a higher goal and, with the help of the Holy Spirit they would rather have forfeited their lives than their faith.

PADLEY

Padley Chapel is situated near Grindleford in the Peak District National Park and is accessible on foot from Grindleford railway station. It is well worth a visit, but for full details on times, schedules, etc. it is necessary to contact the Catholic church in Hathersage.

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