18th December 1557 and Joyce Lewis of Croxall, Staffordshire hits the headlines. She had been married to Sir George Appleby until he was killed at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh on 15th September 1547. Before the 1547 was out she had married again, this time to Thomas Lewis of Mancetter, it was then she started to question her faith and eventually divorced herself from the Catholic church, thereafter worshiping as a Protestant. Her change of ideas was noticed by none other than Ralph Baines, Bishop of Lichfield who referred to her ‘irreverent behaviour in church’. After spending a year of contemplation in a prison cell, on the bishop's orders she was taken to Lichfield and burned at the stake.
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