Blessed John Story

John Story (or Storey) (1504 – 1 June 1571) was an English Roman Catholic martyr and Member of Parliament. Story escaped to Flanders in 1563, but seven years later he was lured aboard a boat in Antwerp and abducted to England, where he was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and subsequently executed at Tyburn on a charge of treason. He was born in 1504, the son of Nicholas and Joan Story of Salisbury. He became a Franciscan tertiary. Story was educated at Hinxsey Hall, University of Oxford, where he became lecturer on civil law in 1535, and two years later became principal of Broadgates Hall, afterwards Pembroke College. He received his D.C.L. in 1538, and the following year resigned his position at Broadgates and was admitted as an advocate at Doctors' Commons. He married Joan Watts. He appears to have temporarily abjured his Roman Catholic beliefs and took the Oath of Supremacy. In 1544, in recognition of legal services performed in Boulogne for the crown, King Henry VIII confirmed Story in the position of Regius Professor of civil law at Oxford. Having been chosen Member of Parliament for Salisbury in 1545 and Hindon in Wiltshire. Just after the accession of King Edward VI in 1547, Story gained notoriety by his opposition to the Act of Uniformity in 1548. For crying out "Woe unto thee, O land, when thy king is a child," Story was imprisoned by the House of Commons, but he was soon released and went into exile with his family to Louvain, where he became a member of the University. After the accession of Queen Mary he returned to England in August 1553. His patent as Regius Professor was renewed but he resigned his interest in his position at Oxford, and was made chancellor of the dioceses of London and of Oxford and dean of arches. Queen Mary being now on the throne, Story was one of the officials in prosecuting heresy, and one of her proctors at the trial of Thomas Cranmer at Oxford in 1555.