The origin of the nursery rhyme “Three Blind Mice” dates to 1609. Many suspect the author intended it as an ode to Queen Mary, who sixty years previously had orchestrated the deaths of three Anglican bishops for treason and heresy. Queen Mary, nicknamed “Bloody Mary,” was portrayed in the nursery rhyme as the farmer’s daughter, while the three bishops, known as the Oxford Martyrs, are represented by the three blind mice. According to the queen’s point of view, these three bishops were blind to God’s truths. I never cared much for the nursery rhyme, and now I know why!
One of the three bishops, Nicholas Ridley (1500-1555), was a first-rate scholar who reportedly committed all thirteen New Testament letters to memory in the original Greek. He teamed with another of the so-called Oxford Martyrs, Thomas Cranmer, in compiling the Book of Common Prayer in 1549. Nicholas made a tactical mistake in supporting Lady Jane Grey to be queen. When her reign was abruptly ended by her execution after nine days, Mary assumed the throne, and his fate was thereby sealed. The third Oxford Martyr, Hugh Latimer, warned Nicholas that his arrest was imminent, but Nicholas didn’t back down. The three were arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London. When they were ordered to recant their Reformation writings and pronouncements, each refused. Eyewitnesses said later that Nicholas defended his beliefs brilliantly. After the three were found guilty, Nicholas and Hugh were executed the next day as they stood back-to-back to be burned at the stake. Hugh’s last words to his dying comrade are well-known, “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man for we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.” We join Nicholas in praying: