The news of Luther's reforming initiatives had such startling and widespread effect—made possible by the mass production of the printing press—that by 1518 a group of English scholars in Cambridge were already gathering to read and to discuss his writings and doctrines and their implications. For this purpose they met regularly in the White Horse tavern in Cambridge (it is still there), which eventually earned it the moniker, "Little Germany." The more famous of these scholars include Thomas Bilney, Robert Barnes, Hugh Latimer, William Tyndale, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley and Matthew Parker. Once Luther was declared a heretic by Rome, his writings had to be smuggled into the country, often hidden among bales of imported stuff like clothings and food. The "Germans," as the members of the group came to be called, were living dangerously. Though two from the group would become archbishopsand seven bishops, eight of them eventually were burnt at the stake for their reformed beliefs.
©ALBERITH
200121lch