Thanks for this, James. I grew up in Amersham, Bucks, and there's a monument to the local Lollards on the top of the hill, not far from the Tube station, which I've walked to a number of times. It's sobering to read the inscription on the memorial stone: http://www.amersham.org.uk/martyrsmemorial/ ("his children were compelled to light their father's pyre". It sends shudders through me whenever I read it).
Co-incidentally, my first born is called Josiah, after King Josiah. Yes, King Josiah was a bit silly; he was even warned not to go to Megiddo (which is where our word from Armageddon comes from; it's a flat plain with a hill fort, I visited it once).
Thanks for this, James. I grew up in Amersham, Bucks, and there's a monument to the local Lollards on the top of the hill, not far from the Tube station, which I've walked to a number of times. It's sobering to read the inscription on the memorial stone: http://www.amersham.org.uk/martyrsmemorial/ ("his children were compelled to light their father's pyre". It sends shudders through me whenever I read it).
Co-incidentally, my first born is called Josiah, after King Josiah. Yes, King Josiah was a bit silly; he was even warned not to go to Megiddo (which is where our word from Armageddon comes from; it's a flat plain with a hill fort, I visited it once).