English religious reformer. Born 1502, died 1555.
After completing studies at Cambridge, Paris and Louvain, Nicholas Ridley was made a doctor of theology and became Master of Pembroke College, at Cambridge University.
During the reign of King Edward VI, Ridley developed reformatorial concepts, inspired by Calvin's teachings. In 1547, he was made Bishop of Rochester, and in 1550 Bishop of London.
However, Ridley's stellar career came to a sticky end: under the Catholic Queen Mary I ("Bloody Mary"), Ridley was arrested, tried for heresy, and burned at the stake, in Oxford.
As they were about to be burned at the stake, together, Ridley's friend and fellow clergyman, Hugh Latimer, supposedly said to him:
"Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England as I trust shall never be put out."