Biography
Nicholas Ridley was born around 1500, in Unthank Hall, in Northumberland, England, into a family of ancient lineage. His uncle, Robert Ridley, was a scholar and a priest, who took an interest in his education. He was sent to school in Newcastle and then to Cambridge, where he studied at Pembroke Hall. He was a brilliant student and a fellow of his college. He went on to study at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the University of Louvain, in the Netherlands. He returned to Cambridge in about 1529 and took up the post of the university's proctor. He was a man of learning, with a keen mind.
He was ordained as a priest and became a chaplain to Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. He was a man of wide reading, who studied the Bible and the church fathers. In the 1530s and 1540s, he was gradually moving toward the reformed doctrine. A key influence was a work by a monk, Ratramnus, on the Lord's Supper, which led him to reject the teaching of transubstantiation. He also was influenced by the example of Cranmer. In 1547, with the accession of Edward VI, he was made Bishop of Rochester, and in 1550, he became Bishop of London. He was a leader of the Reformation in England.
As Bishop of London, he was an active reformer. He removed the altars from the churches and replaced them with communion tables. He worked with Cranmer on the Book of Common Prayer. He took part in the drawing up of the Forty-Two Articles, the doctrinal standard of the Church of England. He preached often at St. Paul's Cross, where he set out the reformed doctrine. He was a man of careful scholarship and of strong feelings. He was generous to the poor. He established a hospital for the poor at Bridewell and helped to found the royal hospitals of St. Thomas and Christ's Hospital. He cared for the sick and the orphaned.
He took a part in the plot to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne after the death of Edward VI, in 1553. He preached a sermon at St. Paul's Cross against Mary and Elizabeth, claiming that they were illegitimate, which was a serious misjudgment. When Mary came to power, he was arrested and sent to the Tower of London. In 1554, he was moved to Oxford with Cranmer and Latimer, to take part in a disputation on the mass. He defended the reformed view. In April 1554, they were condemned as heretics. He was imprisoned for a year and a half in Oxford.
In October 1555, he was brought out to be burned. On October 16, he and Hugh Latimer were led to a place outside the walls of Balliol College. They were chained to the stake. Ridley's brother-in-law had brought a bag of gunpowder to hang around their necks, to hasten their death. As the fire was lit, Latimer called out to him to be of good comfort, and said that they would that day light such a candle in England as would never be put out. The fire burned slowly, and Ridley suffered terribly. He was heard to cry out for the Lord to have mercy. He was about fifty-five years old.
He was a man of conviction, who sought to follow the truth. He also had his faults. He was a hard man at times, who was severe on those who disagreed with him. He had a hand in the persecution of Catholics in the reign of Edward and in the harsh treatment of Bishop Bonner. He misjudged the political situation and supported the wrong cause in the succession. But he met death with courage. His life shows the cost of the Reformation in England. His fate was linked to that of Latimer, and the two are remembered as the Oxford Martyrs.