City of York, England. The St Margaret Clitherow shrine in York’s Shambles.

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City of York, England. The St Margaret Clitherow shrine in York’s Shambles. Born in the middle of the 16th century, St Margaret Clitherow married a wealthy butcher and resided in York’s Shambles. Also known as ‘The Pearl of York’ and ‘The Martyr of York’ Margaret’s life, and fate, are well documented. During this era of Catholic persecution under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Margaret allowed her house to be used as a shelter for priests. This commitment to her Catholic Christian faith ensured that she suffered long periods of imprisonment. Despite Margaret’s attempt to keep her Christian beliefs reasonably covert, she was arrested for the final time in March 1586. A refusal to plead to the crime of harbouring priests and hearing Mass – any plead may have incriminated her children - resulted in the sentence of ‘peine forte et dure’ or death by crushing. At Ouse Bridge tollbooth on the Good Friday of 1586, Margaret Clitherow endured a slow and painful end to her life by being crushed to death by a heavy weight.

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Size: 3347px × 5020px
Location: England Yorkshire York Shambles
Photo credit: © UK City Images York / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: britain, britannia, british, city, clitherow, england, english, gb, great, images, kingdom, margaret, saint, shambles, shrine, st, uk, united, york, yorkshire