This nun had many names, The Nun of Kent, The Holy Maid of London, The Holy Maid of Kent and also The Mad Maid of Kent, but Elizabeth Barton was also the only woman who had her head placed on a spike on London Bridge.

At 19, Elizabeth began to predict the future and one of her prognostications was that leaving the Catholic Church would be a bad thing. The Catholic Church was rather happy to have this positive omen on their side and Elizabeth joined the Church as a nun. Word of her visions began to spread with thousands believing the prophecies and Elizabeth became quite the attraction for pilgrims.

Henry VIII heard about Elizabeth and her visions after she met with Cardinal Wolsey in 1528, meeting her himself twice and at first was very much on board. Her visions warned against heresy and rebellion, which at the time went along with Henry’s campaign against Lutheranism. However, by 1534 her prophecies were against the Reformation and the annulment of the marriage to Catherine of Aragon and when she told him that he would die and go to Hell if he got a divorce, he decided that he had gone off her.

At first the King’s agents helped to try and smear her reputation with false rumours of sexual relationships with priests and mental illness. Unfortunately, imagining the death of the King was treason and so Elizabeth Barton was eventually hanged on 20th April 1534. Henry VIII decided that he would make an example of her and put her head on a spike on London Bridge as a warning to others who dared to ponder or predict his death.

The body was taken to Greyfriers Churchyard in Newgate, where Elizabeth Barton was buried. several churches, like St Augustine of Canterbury still venerate Elizabeth Barton. In fiction, Barton also appears in the novel and TV series Wolf Hall.