Simon Fish

Article summary

Simon Fish (died 1533) was a 16th-century English lawyer and Protestant pamphleteer. He is best known for helping to spread William Tyndale's New Testament and for writing the vehemently anti-clerical pamphlet Supplication for the Beggars (A Supplycacion for the Beggars) which the Roman Catholic Church condemned as heretical on 24 May 1530. His pamphlet can be seen as a precursor to the English Reformation and the Protestant Reformation. Fish was eventually arrested in London on charges of heresy, but he died from Bubonic plague before he could stand trial . His widow married vocal reformer James Bainham, and then became a widow again in April 1532 when Bainham was burned at the stake as a heretic.

Key claims

1. date of death: 1533 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
2. date of death: 1531 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
2. The record states that the date of death is "1533". What evidence would count against this claim?
3. The record states that the date of death is "1531". What evidence would count against this claim?
4. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
5. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1372387162