John Lambert (martyr)

John Lambert (d. 1538) was a protestant martyr burnt to death on November 22 at Smithfield, London.

He was born John Nicholson in Norwich and educated at Queens' College, Cambridge. He was made a fellow there on the nomination of Catherine of Aragon. After theological disputes he changed his name and went to Antwerp where he served as priest to the English factory. Here he became friends with Frith and William Tyndale. Upon his return in 1531, he came under the scrutiny of Archibishop William Warham, but Warham died in 1532. He then earned his living teaching Greek and Latin near the Stock markets. In 1536 he was accused of heresy by the Duke of Norfolk, but escaped until 1538 when he was put on trial for denying the real presence of Jesus in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer condemned these views even though he was later to adopt them. John Foxe suggests that Thomas Cromwell, who as vice-regent condemned him, also asked his pardon before he was consigned to the flames as a Marian martyr.