The Venerable Sir Adrian Fortescue - Knight of the Bath, Knight of St. John, Martyr #270170

Amongst the Martyrs of the time of Henry the Eighth, who were not depicted on the walls of the English College Church and who are therefore not included in the Decree that gave to fifty-four Martyrs the honours of the Blessed, are three Knights of the Order. Of St. John of Jerusalem. These are Sir Adrian Fortescue and Sir Thomas Dingley, who were beheaded on Tower Hill on the 8th or loth of July, 1539, and Sir David Gunston, who was hanged, drawn, and quartered at St. Thomas Waterings in Southwark on July I, 1541. Of these three Martyrs hardly a word has been published by Catholic writers, excepting that Fortescue and Dingley were attainted by Act of Parliament for denyingthe King's Supremacy and that Gunston was tried and found guilty of high treason for the same cause, Of Sir Thomas Dingley and Sir David Gunston there is little more, as yet, that can be said but fortunately modern research, and more especially the labours of Thomas (fortescue) Lord Clermont, the historian of his family, have put us in possession of a considerable body of information respecting Sir Adrian Fortescue. He comes of an interesting family, of which Lord Clermont modestly says that it is a fair example of a knightly and noble house of England, and it will be well for us under his guidance to learn something, not only of our Martyr, but of those who went before him and followed after him of his blood and name.