Carter, William, Bl.
CARTER, WILLIAM, BL.
English printer and martyr; b. place and date unknown; d. Tyburn, Jan. 11, 1584. In 1563 he was apprenticed to John Cawood, Queen's printer, and later he became amanuensis to Nicholas Harpsfield in Fleet prison. He married and had children. Carter was imprisoned "divers times" for printing "lewd [i.e., anti-Protestant] pamphlets," and was put on surety for good behavior. He was finally detained in the Tower (July 1582), tortured, and brought to trial for printing Gregory Martin's Treatise of Schisme (issued 1578 with a false imprint), an action that he had earlier confessed. The prosecution alleged that the book contained a passage concerning Judith and Holofernes that urged the killing of Queen Elizabeth. He was condemned at the Old Bailey on Jan. 10, 1584, and executed the next day. He was beatified on Nov. 22, 1987, as one of the martyrs of england, scotland and wales.
Feast: May 4.
Bibliography: e. h. burton and j. h. pollen, eds., Lives of the English Martyrs, ser. 2, v.1 (London 1914), no further v. pub. a. f. allison and d. m. rogers, A Catalogue of Catholic Books in English … 1558–1640, 2 v. (London 1956).
[d. m. rogers]