Frith, John

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John Frith (both: frĬth), 1503–33, English Protestant martyr. He aided William Tyndale in translating the New Testament. After a short time in prison because of suspected heresy, Frith went to Germany in 1528 and was in Marburg, where he again assisted Tyndale. Upon his return to England in 1532, Frith was arrested and imprisoned. Firm in his denial of transubstantiation, purgatory, and infallibility of papal authority, he was burned at Smithfield as a heretic. His works were edited (1573) by John Foxe.

See M. L. Loane, Pioneers of the Reformation in England (1964).

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