Early life John Fisher was born at
Beverley,
Yorkshire in 1469, the son of Robert Fisher, a prosperous
mercer of Beverley, and Agnes, his wife, with whom he had four children. Robert Fisher died in 1477, and was buried in St. Mary's, the parish church; in his will, he made bequests to his children and various poorhouses, churches, and priests, as well as providing Mass stipends. John was then eight years old. His widowed mother subsequently married a man named White, to whom she bore four further children. Fisher's early education was probably at the school attached to the collegiate church in his home town. He seems to have had close contacts with his extended family all his life.
University of Cambridge Acknowledging Fisher's aptitude for learning, and being financially comfortable, his mother assented to his admission to the University of Cambridge, in 1482, at the age of twelve or thirteen. The University of Cambridge had regressed and stagnated academically. In an oration delivered before
Henry VII in 1506, Fisher recalled: Fisher studied at the
University of Cambridge from 1484, where at
Michaelhouse he came under the influence of
William Melton, a pastorally-minded theologian open to the new current of reform in studies arising from the
Renaissance. Fisher received the
Bachelor of Arts degree in 1487. In 1491 he proceeded to a
Master of Arts degree and was elected a
fellow of his college. Also in 1491 Fisher received a papal dispensation to be ordained to the priesthood despite being under the canonical age. On 17 December 1491 he was ordained into the priesthood, and appointed (nominal) Vicar of
Northallerton, Yorkshire. In 1494 he resigned this
benefice to become
proctor of the University and three years later was appointed master debater and about the same time he was also appointed chaplain and confessor to
Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, mother of
King Henry VII. On 5 July 1501, he received the degree of
doctor of sacred theology and 10 days later was elected
Vice-Chancellor of the university. Under Fisher's guidance, his patroness Lady Margaret founded
St John's and
Christ's Colleges at Cambridge, and a Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity at each of the two universities at
Oxford and
Cambridge. Fisher himself became the first occupant of the Cambridge chair. From 1505 to 1508 he was also the President of
Queens' College. At the end of July 1516 he was at Cambridge for the opening of St John's College and consecrated the chapel. Fisher's strategy was to assemble funds and attract to Cambridge leading scholars from Europe, promoting the study not only of
Classical Latin and
Greek authors, but of
Hebrew. He placed great weight upon pastoral commitment, above all popular preaching, on the part of the endowed fellows. Fisher had a vision to which he dedicated all his personal resources and energies. Despite occasional opposition, he managed to administer the entire university, one of only two in England, conceiving and seeing through long-term projects. Fisher's foundations were also dedicated to prayer for the dead, especially through
chantry foundations. A stern and austere man, Fisher was known to place a human skull on the altar during Mass and on the table during meals. Erasmus said of John Fisher: "He is the one man at this time who is incomparable for uprightness of life, for learning and for greatness of soul." Rochester was then the poorest diocese in England and usually seen as a first step on an episcopal career. Nonetheless, Fisher stayed there, presumably by his own choice, for the remaining 31 years of his life. At the same time, like any English bishop of his day, Fisher had certain state duties. These included in particular, his role regarding the University of Cambridge, in which he maintained a passionate interest. In 1504 he was elected the university's chancellor. Re-elected annually for 10 years, Fisher ultimately received a lifetime appointment. At this date he is also said to have acted as tutor to the future king,
Henry VIII. As a preacher, his reputation was so great that he was appointed to preach the funeral oration for King Henry VII and the Lady Margaret, both of whom died in 1509, the texts being extant. Besides the part he played in the Lady Margaret's foundations, Fisher gave further proof of his zeal for learning by inducing
Erasmus to visit Cambridge. The latter attributes it (
"Epistulae" 6:2) to Fisher's protection that the study of Greek was allowed to proceed at Cambridge without the active molestation that it encountered at Oxford. Fisher has also been named, though without any convincing proof, as the true author of the royal treatise against
Martin Luther entitled
"Assertio septem sacramentorum" (
Defence of the Seven Sacraments), published in 1521, which won for King Henry VIII the title
"Fidei Defensor" (
Defender of the Faith). Prior to this date Fisher had denounced various
abuses in the Church, urging the need for disciplinary reforms. In 1523, Fisher published a 200,000 word response to Martin Luther's (Assertions): (Confutation of the Lutheran Assertions). Luther omitted some of the more provocative material from his German version, allowing the view that Fisher (and, the next year,
Erasmus) had misunderstood Luther. Luther did not respond to Fisher. On about 11 February 1526, at the King's command, he preached a famous sermon against Luther at
St Paul's Cross, the open-air pulpit outside
St Paul's Cathedral in London, as part of a spectacle where some Lutherans would publicly abjure and confiscated Lutheran books would be burnt. In the preface to the printed English version of the sermon, Fisher offered to meet secretly with any Lutheran to "to hear the bottom of his mind, and he shall hear mine again, if it so please him: and I trust in our lord, that finally we shall so agree, that either he shall make me a Lutheran, or else I shall induce him to be a Catholic, and to follow the doctrine of Christ's church." The battle against heterodox teachings increasingly occupied Fisher's later years. In 1529 Fisher was called to confirm with
Thomas Hitton, a follower of
William Tyndale arrested for suspected heresy, that the records of his interviews and forthright admissions to Archbishop
William Warham were correct and to convince Hitton to abjure. Failing this, Hitton was handed to the secular authorities and executed at the stake for heresy.
William Tyndale, then living overseas, claimed that Hitton had been
tortured by the archbishops, however Protestant historian
John Foxe who was diligent in passing on this kind of claim, does not claim this. As such, he appeared on the Queen's behalf in the legates' court, where he startled the audience by the directness of his language and by declaring that, like St
John the Baptist, he was ready to die on behalf of the indissolubility of marriage. Henry VIII, upon hearing this, grew so enraged by it that he composed a long Latin address to the legates in answer to the bishop's speech. Fisher's copy of this still exists, with his manuscript annotations in the margin which show how little he feared the royal anger. The removal of the cause to Rome brought Fisher's personal involvement to an end, but the King never forgave him for what he had done.
Henry's attack on church prerogatives In November 1529, the "Long Parliament" of Henry's reign began encroaching on the Catholic Church's prerogatives. Fisher, as a member of the upper house, the
House of Lords, at once warned
Parliament that such acts could only end in the utter destruction of the Catholic Church in England. The
Commons, through their speaker, complained to the King that Fisher had disparaged
Parliament, presumably with Henry prompting them behind the scenes. Henry summoned Fisher before him, demanding an explanation. This being given, Henry declared himself satisfied, leaving it to the Commons to declare that the explanation was inadequate, so that he appeared as a magnanimous sovereign, instead of Fisher's enemy. A year later, in 1530, the continued encroachments on the Church moved Fisher, as bishop of Rochester, along with the
bishops of Bath and
Ely, to appeal to the Holy See. This gave the King his opportunity and an edict forbidding such appeals was immediately issued, and the three bishops were arrested. Their imprisonment, however, must have lasted only a few months for in February 1531,
Convocation met, and Fisher was present. This was the occasion when the clergy were forced, at a cost of 100,000 pounds, to purchase the King's pardon for having recognized
Cardinal Wolsey's authority as legate of the pope; and at the same time to acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church in England, to which phrase the addition of the clause "so far as God's law permits" was made through Fisher's efforts.
Poisoned porridge and cannonball A few days later, several of Fisher's household were taken ill after eating some porridge served to the household and two died: however Fisher was fasting that day.
Henry VIII had parliament enact a retroactive bill that allowed the cook,
Richard Roose, without a public trial, to be executed by the state by
being boiled alive for the crime of poisoning. On another occasion in 1530, a cannonball fired from across the Thames hit Fisher's house, narrowly missing his study. This was rumoured to be a warning or assassination attempt from the
Boleyn family.
Intrigues with the Holy Roman Emperor Fisher also engaged in secret activities to overthrow Henry. As early as 1531 he began secretly communicating with foreign diplomats. In September 1533 communicating secretly through the imperial ambassador
Eustace Chapuys he encouraged
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to invade England and depose Henry in combination with a domestic uprising.
"The King's Great Matter" , after
Adriaen van der Werff, 1697. Matters now moved rapidly. In May 1532, Sir
Thomas More resigned the chancellorship and, in June, Fisher preached publicly against the annulment. In August,
William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, died and
Thomas Cranmer was at once proposed by Henry to the Pope as his successor. In January of the next year, Henry secretly went through a form of marriage with
Anne Boleyn. Cranmer's consecration as a bishop took place in March 1533, and, a week later, Fisher was arrested. It seems that the purpose of this arrest was to prevent him from opposing the annulment which Cranmer pronounced in May, or the coronation of Anne Boleyn which followed on 1 June, for Fisher was set at liberty again within a fortnight of the latter event, no charge being made against him. In the autumn of 1533, various arrests were made in connection with the so-called revelations of the Holy Maid of Kent,
Elizabeth Barton, but as Fisher was taken seriously ill in December, proceedings against him were postponed for a time. However, in March 1534, a special
Bill of Attainder against Fisher and others for complicity in the matter of the Maid of Kent was introduced in
Parliament and passed. By this, Fisher was condemned to forfeit all his personal estate and to be imprisoned during the King's pleasure. Subsequently, a pardon was granted him on payment of a fine of 300 pounds.
Succession and supremacy The same session of Parliament passed the
First Succession Act, by which all who should be called upon to do so were compelled to take an oath of succession, acknowledging the issue of Henry and Anne as legitimate heirs to the throne, under pain of being guilty of
misprision of treason. Fisher refused the oath and was imprisoned in the
Tower of London on 26 April 1534.
Cardinalate and martyrdom public execution site In May 1535, the newly elected
Pope Paul III created Fisher
Cardinal Priest of
San Vitale, apparently in the hope of inducing Henry to ease Fisher's treatment. The effect was precisely the reverse: The execution had the opposite effect from that which Henry VIII intended, as it created yet another parallel with that of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, who was also beheaded; his death also happened on the feast day of
Saint Alban, the first martyr of Britain. Fisher met death with a calm dignified courage which profoundly impressed those present. His body was treated with particular rancour, apparently on Henry's orders, being stripped and left on the scaffold until the evening, when it was taken on pikes and thrown naked into a rough grave in the churchyard of All Hallows' Barking, also known as
All Hallows-by-the-Tower. There was no funeral prayer. A fortnight later, his body was laid beside that of Sir
Thomas More in the chapel of
St Peter ad Vincula within the
Tower of London. Fisher's head was
stuck upon a pole on
London Bridge but its ruddy and lifelike appearance excited so much attention that, after a fortnight, it was thrown into the
Thames, its place being taken by that of Sir Thomas More, whose execution, also at Tower Hill, occurred on 6 July. ==Writings==