BARTON, ELIZABETH (c. 1506-1534), "the maid of Kent," was, according to her own statement, born in 1506 at Al dington, Kent. In 1525, when she was a servant in the house of Thomas Cobb, steward of an estate near Aldington owned by Wil liam Warham, archbishop of Canterbury, she had an illness, after which she passed into trances and uttered prophecies. Cobb re ported the matter to the parish priest, who in turn acquainted Archbishop Warham. After her recovery the girl continued to feign trances, and as her fame steadily grew, the archbishop in 1526 instructed the prior of Christ church, Canterbury, to send two of his monks to hold an enquiry into the case. One of these latter, Edward Bocking, obtained her admission as a nun to St. Sepulchre's convent, Canterbury. Under Backing's instruction Barton's prophecies became still more remarkable, and attracted many pilgrims, who believed her to be in direct communication with the Virgin Mary. Her utterances were directed towards political matters, and she declared that should Henry persist in his intention of divorcing Catherine he "should no longer be king of this realm . . . and should die a villain's death." Even such men as Fisher, bishop of Rochester, and Sir Thomas More, corre sponded with Barton. In 1532 Henry passed through Canterbury and is said to have seen the nun who tried to terrify him into aban doning his marriage. After its solemnization in May 1533, her utterances becoming still more treasonable, she was examined before Cranmer, and confessed. In Jan. 1534, by a bill of attainder the maid and her chief accomplices were condemned to death, and they were executed at Tyburn on April 20.
See F. A. Gasquet, Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries (ch. iii. 1899 ed.) ; T. E. Bridgett, Life of Blessed John Fisher (1888) ; vols. vi. and vii. of Letters and Papers of Henry VIII.; James Gaird ner, The English Church in the 16th Century (1899) ; Strype, Memo rials, I. i. 271, and Cranmer; A. D. Cheyney, "The Holy Maid of Kent," in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, N.S. xviii. A detailed account of the case is contained in the published Act of Attainder 25 Henry VIII. c. 12.
urban district of Lindsey, North Lincolnshire, England, terminus of L.N.E. branch railway, 44m. N. by E. of Lincoln. Pop. (1931) 6,33o. It lies near low hills, on flat ground bordering the Humber, though its centre is a mile from the river. Barton appears in Domesday, with its ferry over the Humber. It rose into importance as a seaport, for it supplied eight ships and men to the expedition of Edward III. to Brittany. The church of St. Peter has a west tower of pre-Con quest workmanship, with early Norman top storey. It is arcaded in the two lower storeys, having round arches in the lower and triangular in the upper, and there is a round-headed south door way and a triangular-headed north doorway. The rest of the church is Decorated and Perpendicular. A low pre-Conquest building 15 ft. by 12, with deeply splayed windows, stands against the west face. The church of St. Mary is fine Early English with Perpendicular clerestory. Industries include brick-making and metal working.