The
Forty Martyrs of England and Wales comprise a group of
Catholic men and women who were executed for
treason and related offences in the
Kingdom of England between 1535 and 1679. Many were sentenced to death at
show trials, or with no trial at all. This religious repression existed in part because faithful Roman Catholics were encouraged to rebel against the English Crown by
papal bulls such as
Pope Pius V's
Regnans in Excelsis in 1570. They are considered by the Catholic Church to be
Christian martyrs.