At the outset of the "King's Great Matter," (the euphemism given to King Henry VIII's decision to divorce Catherine of Aragon, marry Anne Boleyn and break legal ties with the Pope) the government was anxious to secure the public acquiescence of the Carthusian monks, since they enjoyed great prestige for the austerity and sincerity of their way of life.

Despite their strict enclosure, the monks of the London Charterhouse were held in high esteem and had considerable influence among the people, as many used to consult the Carthusians for spiritual advice.

[1] On 4 May 1535 the authorities sent to their death at Tyburn, Middlesex three leading English Carthusians, Doms John Houghton, prior of the London house, Robert Lawrence and Augustine Webster, respectively priors of Beauvale and Axholme, along with a Bridgettine monk, Richard Reynolds of Syon Abbey and a secular priest John Haile.

[2] Little more than a month later, it was the turn of three leading monks of the London house: Doms Humphrey Middlemore, William Exmew and Sebastian Newdigate.

[6] According to legend, Margaret Clement (née Giggs), who had been raised by St. Thomas More, bribed the gaoler to let her have access to the prisoners, and, disguised as a milkmaid, carried in a milk-can full of meat which she fed to them.

It seems likely that at this point the King and his Council had decided upon a change of plan which entailed bringing the survivors to execution and that Thomas Cromwell gave orders that those still living were to be given food so as to keep them alive.

Refusing to abandon his religious habit, he was not attainted till 1540, when he was hanged, disembowelled, and quartered at Tyburn on August 4, 1540, along with five other Catholics: the two laymen Robert Bird and Giles Heron, Friar Lawrence Cook, Carmelite Prior of Doncaster, the Benedictine monk, Dom Thomas Epson, and (probably) the secular priest William Bird, Rector of Fittleton and Vicar of Bradford, Wiltshire.

A private commemoration ceremony takes place each year at the Carthusian martyrs plaque on 4 May, the date of John Houghton's execution.

Vincente Carducho was employed by the monks of the Cartuja de El Paular to decorate the great cloister with 54 canvases of historical figures.