# Did Protestants burn Catholics at the Stake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 17, 2016, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-protestants-burn-catholics-at-the-stake/766138 "2016-09-17T05:15:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-protestants-burn-catholics-at-the-stake/766138/21 "2016-09-20T01:37:11Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > For those who wonder what TriPolar is referring to, see Wikipedia’s entry on the [Boston Martyrs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_martyrs). The martyrs were Quakers who were banished from the colony under a 1648 law. They were hanged for either refusing to leave or for returning. Since I posted the above, I have learned that there was an earlier law (1647) that applied to members of the Jesuit order, but not to Catholics in general. No Jesuits were actually executed under this law. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-protestants-burn-catholics-at-the-stake/766138/22 "2016-09-20T04:15:42Z")
I have also found some references to people who were put in front of fires, and not burned, but “roasted.” It takes longer to die that way. Nasty business. “Can’t we all just get along?” ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-protestants-burn-catholics-at-the-stake/766138/23 "2016-09-20T04:22:23Z")
> [@Corporal\_Nobbs](#): > > Could you provide some evidence of this as outside of sectarian violence (which as I stated is from both sides) Who is documenting these crimes? > **[Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Catholicism_in_the_United_Kingdom#Scotland)** > > Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom dates back to the martyrdom of Saint Alban in Roman times. Attacks on the Church from a Protestant angle mostly began with the English and Irish Reformations which were launched by King Henry VIII and the Scottish Reformation which was led by John Knox. Within England, the Act of Supremacy 1534 declared the English crown to be "the only supreme head on earth of the Church in England" in place of the Pope. Any act of allegiance to the latter was considered... ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-protestants-burn-catholics-at-the-stake/766138/24 "2016-09-20T04:29:38Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > Most protestants of the time still adhered to the main beliefs of the Roman Catholic church. They rejected some of the practices, but not the beliefs. King Henry the 8th remained, in his own mind, a Catholic. He just rejected the rule of Rome. Protestants did not regard Catholics as apostate or heretics. Anglicans are sometimes excluded from the “Protestant” category. Sometimes they are included, it really depends on context. Oddly, Methodists usually _are_, despite being a CoE offshoot. And similar to as you note, the Wesleys didn’t intend to start their own religion. > [@Trinopus](#): > > But since merely being a witch was an act of heresy, there isn’t any real difference. Not really. The Cathars, for one, were accused of both, while a guy going around selling charms wasn’t preaching heresy. But from what I’ve read, e.g. even the Inquisition (bet you didn’t expect that!) tended to require a higher degree of evidence than Ye Olde Protestante Wychfinder General. For example, [this guy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonso_de_Salazar_Fr%C3%ADas). I think **Corporal\_Nobbs** is referring to the fact that although “Catholic” and “Protestant” make convenient, if not always 100% accurate, shorthands for "Nationalist/Republican"and “Unionist/Loyalist.” But the Troubles were never about religion. They weren’t fighting over transubstantiation or how to baptise, but that didn’t stop people [using religious imagery in invective](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillibullero) ---
**Author:** ![Corporal\_Nobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Corporal\_Nobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corporal_Nobbs)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-protestants-burn-catholics-at-the-stake/766138/25 "2016-09-20T04:40:29Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > [Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Catholicism_in_the_United_Kingdom#Scotland) Which states it happens on both sides and isn’t just anti-catholic… You also seemed to imply it happens across the UK. It happens in Scotland and NI where there is a strong sectarian divide. You may remember the troubles, whereby terrorists from both sides committed heinous crimes. Your quoted article also has data that is over 12 year out of date… ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-protestants-burn-catholics-at-the-stake/766138/26 "2016-09-20T05:33:30Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Anglicans are sometimes excluded from the “Protestant” category. Sometimes they are included, it really depends on context. Probably depending upon whether there was a stake and fire involved 😃 > [@](#): > > Oddly, Methodists usually _are_, despite being a CoE offshoot. And similar to as you note, the Wesleys didn’t intend to start their own religion. Which is part explains why in the UK Methodists/Wesleyans are often referred to as “non-conformists”. The divide often being one of social class, where the lower classes would attend “Chapel” rather than “Church”. The manner in which the CoE was embedded in the social and power hierarchy of England is part of what makes it different to the other forms of protestantism. Wesley was in part _protesting_ about the trappings and effect of just this. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-protestants-burn-catholics-at-the-stake/766138/27 "2016-09-20T06:08:34Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > Probably depending upon whether there was a stake and fire involved :D. More like claret and cucumber sandwiches. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-protestants-burn-catholics-at-the-stake/766138/28 "2016-09-20T06:26:48Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > More like claret and cucumber sandwiches. 😃 Very true. But not at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2016, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-protestants-burn-catholics-at-the-stake/766138/29 "2016-09-20T07:22:36Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Traditional “burn at the stake” involved the person tied to a pole and the firewood bundled around their feet - or standing on a raised platform, tied to a stake. Either way, this reinforced the learning experience for the last few minutes of the person’s life, as their lower regions would typically burn progressively before they lost consciousness. Joan of Arc was allegedly fricasseed this way. > > The English implication of “pyre” does not involve a stake (although I can see how it could). I assume the Spanish edition typically did include a stake also? Not necessarily, engravings sometimes do and sometimes do not but it’s imagery, not actual reality. For starters and as I said, other methods of execution were a lot more common but this particular one was so gross and unusual that it’s what stuck as the shorthand for all those other hangings (by the neck or by other parts), beheadings, quarterings, stakings, cagings… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-protestants-burn-catholics-at-the-stake/766138.md?page=1)