Robert Singleton (priest)

Robert Singleton (died 1544), also known as John, was an English Roman Catholic priest, executed on a treason charge. He is considered a Catholic martyr by Antonio Possevino, in his Apparatus Sacer.

Life

He belonged to a Lancashire family and was educated at the University of Oxford, but does not appear to have graduated. He became a priest, and for some utterances which were accounted treasonable was brought before a court of bishops in 1543. He was executed at Tyburn on 7 March 1544, along with Germain Gardiner and John Larke.

Works

He is said to have written:

• Treatise of the Seven Churches
• Of the Holy Ghost
• Comment on Certain Prophecies
• Theory of the Earth, dedicated to Henry VII. Thomas Tanner calls this Of the Seven Ages of the World.

None seem to have been printed.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Singleton, Robert (d.1544)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.