The last public burning in England was in 1612, when a radical Anabaptist minister (Edward Wightman) was executed at Lichfield for heresy.
Wightman came up with a new theology, about the ‘mortality of the soul’, and wrote to many people. Unfortunately, he wrote to King James I as a last resort when no-one else would listen. Due to this, he was condemned for heresy, with 16 charges placed against him.
It is said, that when he was placed on the stake, he called out to recant the hearsay, and was saved from the fire. Only to return to his previous views once healed, and burned again.
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