The Wexford Martyrs were Matthew Lambert, Robert Meyler, Edward Cheevers and Patrick Cavanagh.
In 1581, they were convicted of high treason for aiding in the escape of James Eustace, 3rd Viscount Baltinglass; for similarly conveying a Jesuit and other Catholic priests and laymen out of Ireland; and for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy which declared Elizabeth I of England to be the Supreme Head of the Church within her dominions.
The people of the Pale resented taxes on their property for the government's military policy against the Gaelic nobility of Ireland and rebellious Hiberno-Normans.
[2] During the summer of 1580, James Eustace, 3rd Viscount Baltinglass, apparently prompted almost entirely by religious motives, raised an army in County Wicklow, in support of Second Desmond Rebellion in Munster.
[2] Pursued by Crown forces after the defeat of the Second Desmond Rebellion, James Eustace and his Jesuit military chaplain, Father Robert Rochford, eventually found refuge with Matthew Lambert, a Wexford baker.
Lambert was betrayed, along with sailors Patrick Cavanagh, Edward Cheevers, Robert Myler, John O'Lahy, and one other.