ROGERS, JOHN. - Regarded as the “Protestant protomartyr” under Maria Tudor, born at Birmingham in 1500, died in London on 4 February 1555.
A canon of S. Paolo in London, taking advantage of the religious revolution under Enrico VIII, he married and had 10 children. He published, probably at Wittemberg (where he was pastor), under the pseudonym of Tommaso Matthew, the edition of the Bible known as Matthew’s Bible (a skilful combination of the versions of Tyndale and Coverdale). Under Edoardo VI he became Protestant and was considered one of the best theologians in England. Under Maria Tudor, summoned on 22 January 1555 before an ecclesiastical tribunal, Gardiner (v.), having
refused to submit to the Church, he was condemned to the stake under the laws against Lollardy, which had been restored by a recent decree of Parliament.
The enormous circulation of Foxe’s Martyrology succeeded in creating around his name, in the Anglican Church, an aura of martyrdom.