affairs, presided by bishops (most notably Bishop Bonner) adhering to a strict legal protocol under the privy council, with Parliament's blessing. Mary had difficulty forming an efficient Privy Council, which eventually numbered over 40 and never worked as a source of political advice, though it effectively pursued police work and enforcement of religious uniformity. During the session that restored the realm to papal obedience parliament reinstated the heresy laws. From 20 January 1555, England could legally punish those judged guilty of heresy against the Roman Catholic faith. Thus it became a matter of establishing the guilt or innocence of an accused heretic in open court – a process which the lay authorities employed to reclaim "straying sheep" and to set a precedent for authentic Catholic teaching. If found guilty, the accused were first excommunicated, then handed over to the secular authorities for execution. The official records of the trials are limited to formal accusations, sentences, and so forth; the documents to which historians look for context and detail are those written by the accused or their supporters. John Rogers' execution Before Mary's ascent to the throne, John Foxe, one of the few clerics of his day who was against the burning of even obstinate heretics, had approached the Royal Chaplain and Protestant preacher, John Rogers to intervene on behalf of Joan of Kent, a female Anabaptist who was sentenced to burning in 1550. Rogers refused to help, as he supported the burning of heretics. Rogers claimed that the method of execution was "sufficiently mild" for a crime as grave as heresy. Later, after Mary I came to power and restored England to Catholicism, John Rogers spoke quite vehemently against the new order and was burnt as a heretic. Legacy Throughout the course of the persecutions, Foxe lists 312 individuals who were burnt or hanged for their faith, or died or sickened in prison. Three of these people are commemorated with a gothic memorial in Oxford, England, but there are many other memorials across England. They are known locally as the "Marian Martyrs". English Saints and Martyrs of the Reformation Era are remembered in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on 4 May. Martyrs executed Also mentioned by Foxe John Fortune (or Cutler) (of Hintlesham, Suffolk, blacksmith, either burnt or died in prison) John Warner of Bourne Thomas Athoth, priest 'he may have died in prison, escaped or –