EXECUTIONS during Henry's reign as shown on The Tudors
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
 Executions during King Henry VIII's reign as shown on The Tudors click highlighted links to learn more about each character  Want to add to this page? Click EasyEdit to update this page! (Don't see the EasyEdit button above? <a href="/#signin" target="_self">Sign in</a> or <a href="/accountnew" target="_self">Sign up</a>. |
| Charges which resulted in a death sentence were usually heresy or treason during this period of history. <a class="external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_heresy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Heresy">Heresy</a> being a deviation from the orthodox catholic religion and its doctrines which had been established for many years. <a class="external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Treason">Treason</a> being an act of disloyality to the King such as plotting his death or committing adultery with his wife. <a class="external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treason_Act_1351" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="The Treason Act of 1351">The Treason Act of 1351</a>says that a person was guilty of high treason under the Act if they:
|
| For a list of the punishments for all crimes see : Tudors Historical Trivia page |
| <embed allowfullscreen="true" height="350" src="http://widget.wetpaintserv.us/wiki/thetudorswiki/widget/youtubevideo/dbaac58308863e232627d3ae6956b091aa506a8a" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" wmode="transparent"/> |
| For the production notes of Season 4, the Director Ciaran Donnelly was asked - The extended narrative of The Tudors moves in cycles: Henry has a succession of enemies, advisors, wives and executions. Is repetition an issue over such a long period? Yes it is. I’ve done quite a number of executions over the course of the past four seasons and each of them has its own individual visual style; otherwise the audience is simply going to think, ‘oh well here’s another execution’ without seeing the particular meaning of each one. So for instance the execution of Thomas More (Jeremy Northam) I was very much trying to get the terror and loneliness of what it might feel like to be up there on that platform before some man is about to cut your head off. At that time there was a lot of awful news coming out of Iraq about beheadings and I suppose that influenced the very in which I thought of the scene from the point of view of the person about to be executed. So in that scene we shot it from the platform looking down at the crowd. In this season we have the execution of Katherine Howard which I took from a very different point of view. My interpretation of the scene and the character is that she has been used and in fact lusted after by the men of Henry’s court. She’s a very young girl who has been offered to the King as a kind of plaything. So I see her as a lost innocent in a very masculine and cruel world. Normally we stage our executions within the walls of the Tower of London but in her case we’ve moved it to a town square where there will be a much bigger and more varied crowd who kind of stand in for the audience. I want to show a sense of collective bewilderment and even horror that such a young girl should be executed by the King at his whim. So, this execution has a very different feel: the shots are quite slow, the editing has its own pace, and the crowd is totally silent. Its also staged in such a way that she is executed after her lady in waiting which only serves to underline her own terror as she approaches the bloody block. By way of contrast, the executions of her former lovers Dereham and Culpepper are rowdy, riotous affairs - like some kind of Saturday afternoon football match, reflecting the fact that no one felt any sympathy at all for them. The camerawork in those is all hand held and shot right down amongst the crowd so we feel what it might have been like to go out and ‘enjoy’ an execution - shouting, throwing vegetables and all the rest - in Tudor times. it’s a total circus |
| Season 1 |
 Character: Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham Executed for: Treason He was accused of listening to prophecies of the King's death and his own succession to the throne and for expressing an intention to kill the King. These are generally accepted to be trumped up charges. *There is no historical evidence that Buckingham's hands had to be held out or that he did not die with dignity as the series depicts. Method of Execution: Beheaded at Tower Hill on 17th May 1521 and was posthumously attainted in July 1523. |   |
 Character: Simon Fish Executed for : Heresy Method of Execution: Burning Historically Fish was arrested on charges of heresy but died in 1531 of bubonic plague in prison before his trial. In November of 1531 a book peddler was burned named Richard Bayfield, whose death was similar to the fictional one of Fish portrayed in The Tudors (he prayed in English while burning). The series was correct to state that Thomas More had *6 people burned (but Fish was not one of them) for heresy during his Chancellorship and also had 40 others imprisoned. *Along with Bayfield, there was also Thomas Hitten (1530), Thomas Bilney (1531), John Frith, John Tewkesbury, John Bainham & William Tyndale . [source: Moynahan, God's Bestseller] |    |
| Season 2 |
 Character: Fisher & More's Cook Executed for: Poisoning Method of Execution: Boiled in water until dead In execution by boiling, the condemned is stripped naked and either placed in a vat of boiling liquid, or in a vat of cold liquid which was then heated to boiling. The liquid could be oil, acid, tar, water, or molten lead. During the reign of King Henry VIII it was a punishment especially reserved for poisoners. "The preamble of the statute of Henry VIII (which made poisoning treason) in 1531 recites that one Richard Roose (or Coke), a cook, by putting poison in some food intended for the household of the bishop of Rochester and for the poor of the parish of Lambeth, killed a man and woman. He was found guilty of treason and sentenced to be boiled to death without benefit of clergy. He was publicly boiled at Smithfield." [Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911] The Act was repealed in the year 1547. "He was "boiled in a cauldron, locked in a chain and pulled up and down with a gibbet at divers times till he was dead." - source Crime and Punishment in England by John Briggs |    Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Boleyn & his son George Boleyn watch as the cook charged with poisoning the bishops who are in opposition to the King's great matter is executed by being boiled alive. In the series they are responsible for paying the man to do it. |
 Character: Bishop John Fisher Executed for: Treason The charge was that he did "openly declare in English that the king, our sovereign lord, is not supreme head on earth of the Church of England" by not taking the Oath of Supremacy. He was the only one of the English bishops that dared to resist the king's will and the only person to die for the Catholic faith while a member of the College of Cardinals. He was Katherine of Aragon's confessor and a champion for her cause. Method of Execution: Beheaded on Tower Hill, June 22, 1535 |   Last Words: "Good people, I ask you to love the King and obey him for he is good by nature even if he is not right in his religious policies; that I am condemned to die for wishing to uphold the honor of God and the Holy See. Now good Christian people, I ask for your prayers. I am only flesh and fear death as much as any man. It's true that I long since made up my mind to die if need be for Christ and his church. Now that the moment is at hand, I need your help." <embed allowfullscreen="true" height="275" src="http://widget.wetpaintserv.us/wiki/thetudorswiki/widget/youtubevideo/13ef9d548c2a1aec9b7bb39e55f884a1067558d2" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="453" wmode="transparent"/> |
 Character: Thomas More Executed for: Treason He would not take the Oath recognizing Henry's position as Supreme Head of a new English church. It should be noted that More accepted Parliament's ability to decide the succession in favor of the king's children with Anne Boleyn, for it was a legal issue and Parliament was within its rights to decide it. In More's opinion, neither a temporal ruler nor Parliament had the right to override the Holy See's authority. The Pope was the only validly appointed head of the Universal Church. Method of Execution: Beheaded on Tower Hill, July 6, 1535 |   Last Words: "I die the King's good servant, but God's first." <embed allowfullscreen="true" height="344" src="http://widget.wetpaintserv.us/wiki/thetudorswiki/widget/youtubevideo/24dc4ec0b8e44e93e774c6d1628dbcdeeaeb4e5a" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" wmode="transparent"/> |
 Character: George Boleyn Executed for: Treason He was accused of having an incestuous relationship with his sister, the queen. Method of Execution: Beheaded |   Last Words (in the series): "I say to you, trust in God and not in the vanities of this world, for if I had done so I would still be alive as you are now" [See his actual words here : George Boleyn - Historical Profile] <embed allowfullscreen="true" height="275" src="http://widget.wetpaintserv.us/wiki/thetudorswiki/widget/youtubevideo/0c9d8df5dc16c5d27ea87a95e27e6c92daa58e36" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="453" wmode="transparent"/> |
 Character: Henry Norris Executed for: Treason Accused of adultery with the queen which he denied saying : “I would rather die a thousand deaths than be guilty of such a falsehood” Method of Execution: Beheaded |   |
 Character: William Brereton Executed for: Treason Accused of adultery with the queen. In the series he is depicted as a catholic zealot who is prepared to martyr himself and confessed to the adultery. In history, he did not confess and is considered to be entirely innocent of the charges. Mere collateral damage when Cromwell decided to add his name to the list of alleged lovers as he was an one of the most wealthy landowners. Method of Execution: Beheaded |   Last words (historically) : "The cause whereof I die, judge not. But if you judge, judge the best." |
 Character: Mark Smeaton Executed for: Treason The only accused who confessed to adultery with the queen and implicated the other men. Method of Execution: Beheaded His sentence of being hanged, drawn and quartered being commuted possibly due to cooperating and confessing. |   Last words (historically) : "Masters, I pray you all pray for me, for I have deserved the death." |
![[Untitled]](/page/File:UX2BUXDGnbq6WnRTapqrxg30549.jpeg) Character: Anne Boleyn Executed for: High treason, adultery & incest. Ambassador Chapuys reported that Anne " was principally charged with her brother and other accomplices; that there was a promise between her and Norris to marry after the King's death which it thus appeared they hoped for, ... [and] that she had poisoned [Katherine of Aragon] and intrigued to do the same to [Mary]". (She was not accused of witchcraft although Henry said he believed she had enchanted him.). Adultery on the part of a queen was not a treasonable, civil offence necessitating execution: the accusations were designed to impugn her moral character. The treason was plotting, with her "lovers", the king's death, to ostensibly marry one of them afterwards ; Henry Norris. Method of Execution: Beheaded by sword |   Last Words (in the series): "Good Christian people, I have come here to die according to the law and thus yield myself to the will of the King, my lord. And if in my life I ever did offend the king's grace then surely with my death, I do now atone. I pray and beseech you all to pray for the life of the king, my sovereign lord and yours who is one of the best princes on the face of the earth, who has always treated me so well. Wherefore I submit to death with a good will, humbly asking pardon of all the world. If anyone should take up my case, I ask only to judge it kindly ...Thus I take my leave of the world and you and I heartily desire you all to pray for me....Lord Jesus receive my soul.." [see her actual words here : Historical Profile of Anne Boleyn] <embed allowfullscreen="true" height="275" src="http://widget.wetpaintserv.us/wiki/thetudorswiki/widget/youtubevideo/1b10e32bc1cea4e1cb5f368f8f388685cd7e14cf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="453" wmode="transparent"/> |
| Season 3 |
 Character: Robert Aske Executed for: Treason He was one of the leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace which revolted against the king. When Aske was sentenced to death he begged to be fully dead before being dismembered. Henry agreed and instead had him hanged in chains- that is sticking him in a gibbet while still alive. Instead of taking about six minutes to die, it would have taken about six agonizing days. Method of Execution: Hanged in Chains |   <embed allowfullscreen="true" height="247" src="http://widget.wetpaintserv.us/wiki/thetudorswiki/widget/youtubevideo/1a945d9bee3e4877efd66235c8dc398f5a741979" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="408" wmode="transparent"/> |
| Characters: Members of the pilgrimage of grace. Executed for: Revolting Against the King. Execution Method: Hanged |  |
 Character: John Lambert Executed For: Heresy Method of Execution: Burning He had picked a theological dispute with a pastor in London because he didn’t buy into transubstantiation, the Catholic doctrine (still extant today) that the bread blessed on the altar became the literal body of Christ. The king himself debated theology with the accused and when Henry induced Parliament to pass the <a class="external" href="http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Documents/act_six_articles.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Act of the Six Articles</a>, essentially establishing this essentially Catholic doctrine as the basis for the Church of England and criminalizing dissent.... Lambert was made an example of, and became a turning point in the balance of power with regard to the progress of the reformation. |   last words, “None but Christ! None but Christ!” *in the series he says "All for Christ, all for Christ" |
| Characters: John Constable, Lord Darcy & Charlie Raw Executed for: Treason - They were members and leaders of the pilgrimage of grace that revolted against the King. Method of Execution: Beheaded *Executions not shown* |  |
| Characters: Lady Salisbury & her son Henry Pole [Related to Reginald Pole who the Pope was preparing to take over the Throne if the rebellion has succeeded] Executed for: Treason A shirt embroidered by Lady Salisbury showing the 5 wounds of Christ, a symbol of the Pilgrimage of the Grace was used as evidence of her involvement. She was 67 years old, frail and ill, was dragged to the block & it was reported that she refused to lay her head on it, and in the struggle that ensued, the executioner's first blow made a gash in her shoulder rather than her neck. Several additional blows were required to complete the execution. [Source: Catholic Encyclopedia] Method of Execution: Beheaded *Executions not shown* |   |
 Character: Thomas Cromwell Executed for: Heresy & Treason He had arranged the failed marriage of the King to Anne of Cleves,and his enemies used Henry's displeasure to their advantage. They charged he had encouraged and spread heretical literature, allowed heretics to preach, released them from prison, and allied himself against their enemies. Significantly, it was reported that in March 1539 Cromwell said that, even if Henry turned from Protestantism, 'yet I would not turn, and if the king did turn, and all his people, I would fight in this field in mine own person, with my sword in my hand against him and all other'. That was treason. He was also charged with selling export licenses illegally, granting passports and commissions without royal knowledge Method of Execution: Beheaded |   <embed allowfullscreen="true" height="344" src="http://widget.wetpaintserv.us/wiki/thetudorswiki/widget/youtubevideo/964257f0344a5e394b69d60ea8cc45e58911ca9b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" wmode="transparent"/> |
| Season 4 |
| Character: Thomas Culpepper Executed for: Treason (Adultery with the Queen) Method of Execution: Beheaded |    <embed allowfullscreen="true" height="350" src="http://widget.wetpaintserv.us/wiki/thetudorswiki/widget/youtubevideo/dac3f2425a86d07c6607d15121e3e486c4e4028b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" wmode="transparent"/> |
| Character: Francis Dereham Executed for: Treason (Premarital Sexual Relations with the Queen) Method of Execution: Hung, Drawn, & Quartered |    |
| Character: Jane Boleyn Executed for: Treason (Accomplice to Katherine Howard's adultery) Method of Execution: Beheaded |   |
 Character: Katherine Howard Executed for: Treason & Adultery Method of Execution: Beheaded |    |
 Character: Anne Askew Executed for: Heresy Method of Execution: Burning |  <embed allowfullscreen="true" height="350" src="http://widget.wetpaintserv.us/wiki/thetudorswiki/widget/youtubevideo/c3dfda95763b4e029e0f0eb9fadcabdc8070f2b2" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" wmode="transparent"/> |