Hugh Latimer

Hugh Latimer was a farmer's son from Leicestershire who argued against the reformers at Cambridge until a quiet conversation with Thomas Bilney changed his mind, and then he argued for them for the rest of his life. He was not a systematic theologian; he was a preacher, and the best in England. His sermons used pictures anyone could see — the plough, the cards, the market — and he used them to attack greed, dishonest judges, landlords who squeezed tenants, and bishops who did not preach.

He said these things to Henry VIII's face and to Edward VI's court, resigned his bishopric rather than sign what he did not believe, and spent time in the Tower for it. Under Mary I he was arrested again, tried at Oxford with Cranmer and Ridley, and burned. Foxe records his words to Ridley as the fire was lit: 'Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.'