Nicholas Ridley was the theological mind among the English reformers — a Cambridge scholar whose careful study of the early Fathers and of the Eucharist shaped both the Edwardian Prayer Book and the convictions for which he died. As Bishop of London under Edward VI he helped move the English church decisively toward a reformed understanding of the Lord's Supper, persuading even Thomas Cranmer to abandon a belief in the bodily presence of Christ in the elements.
On the accession of Mary I he was deprived, imprisoned, and tried at Oxford with Latimer and Cranmer. Refusing to recant, he was burned with Latimer on October 16, 1555. Foxe's account dwells on the courage of the two men and on the cruelty of a fire that was poorly built, so that Ridley suffered long before the end. His brother-in-law heaped on more wood to hasten it; his last cries were 'Lord, Lord, receive my spirit' and 'Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.'
Ridley belongs, with Latimer and Cranmer, to the company the English tradition calls simply 'the Oxford Martyrs.' Theologos records them as witnesses of a divided century, conscious that the Reformation's wounds ran in more than one direction. What is not in dispute is the manner of his dying: a learned and gentle bishop who went to a hard death rather than deny what he believed Christ had taught about his own Supper.