Augustine Webster was educated at Cambridge University, and became a monk at the Charterhouse of Sheen. In 1531 he became prior of Our Lady of Melwood, a Carthusian house at Epworth, on the Isle of Axholme.[1]
In February 1535, he was on a visit to the London Charterhouse with his fellow prior, Robert Lawrence of Beauvale, to consult the prior of London, John Houghton about the approach to be taken by the Carthusians with regard to the religious policies of Henry VIII.[2]
They resolved to go together to Cromwell, the King’s Vicar-General, to represent their sincere loyalty, but to petition to be exempted from a requirement that would violate their conscience. Cromwell was unsympathetic.
Sometime around the middle of April 1535, Webster, and fellow Carthusians, Houghton and Lawrence were imprisoned in the Tower on the orders of Thomas Cromwell for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy.[citation needed]
They were soon joined by Bridgettine Richard Reynolds. All four were examined together and charged for their denial of the royal supremacy. The trial took place 28 April. They pleaded “not guilty” to the charge of treason and were led back to prison. The jury deliberated all day, and when Cromwell sent to inquire the cause of the delay, it was intimated that they would find the men innocent. Despite threats, the jury refused to return a guilty verdict until Cromwell appeared before them in person.[3] All four were hanged, beheaded and quartered at Tyburn on 4 May 1535.[4]
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