Okay so I do hope that the tudors show has the right date for the execution of thomas cromwell and lady salisbury
As that would mean they both die in season four

These two executions were two of the most horrid i have come to read about under Henry VII's reign

When thomas cromwell died on 28th july 1540, An ametuer swordsman was hired to execute the "Treasonus traitor" and alas it took the inept man several strokes before he was able to sever his head properly as he kept missing his aim. The crowd who were present (he was not privy to a more formal exeuction like anne boleyn) cheered when atlast the painful ordeal was over and cromwells head fell onto the hay.

Sadder still was the execution of Reginald poles mother in the spring of 1541. the woman declared at the scaffold that she was "not a traitor" and the axeman reportedly "hacked" the poor womans head and shoulders to peices before the head was seperated from her neck and fell...It was a butchery of a murder "that of a chickens death"

Then later on there was the exeuction in 1587 of Mary queen of scots who was favoured by spain and the catholic countries to take the throne in england.
Elizabeths advisor, Francis, soon saw to this and mary was accused of sending letters through papists in england, whether it true or not i am not sure
anyway, Mary took three blows to the neck before her head was severed.

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1. It seems from this Wiki that a disproportionate number of people were executed under Henry when compared to those of his father, Henry VII and daugher Elizabeth, each of whom also enjoyed long reigns. Is this true or are these distorted figures made up by People Who Don't Like Henry?

2. Why did Henry execute Margaret Pole? Was it necessary to safeguard his rule? Do people who like Henry think he did the right thing or do they disapprove of this execution despite their general approval of Henry?

3. The Tudorswiki list of executions makes it look like Elizabeth I executed some priests just because they were Catholic. Is this true or had they advocated her overthrow in some way? *If* (big if) she did execute some Catholics just because they were Catholic doesn't that make her comparable to Mary I albeit perhaps to a lesser degree?

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Earlier today on Amazon.com, I typed my observations about the prominent cases of poetic justice involving those of the court of Henry VIII. While noting that courtiers often had to be ruthless to advance or maintain their positions, i've always found it fascinating how those who advanced their postions at the expense of someone else's lives or livelihood often met the same fate. Anne Boleyn, of course, demoted Catherine of Aragon and her daughter Mary, aand allegedly pressured Henry to execute Thomas More (who himself burned six Lutherans and at least died more quickly and painlessly), only to end on the scaffold ten months later as More predicted she would. If Jane Seymour pushed for an honorable relationship with Henry at the expense of Anne Boleyn's life, leaving a toddler motherless, than surely with death from puerperal fever 12 days after giving Henry his long-desired heir, she atoned for that, denied the ability to raise her own child.
Perhaps the most dramatic case is that of Thomas Cromwell, who initially promoted Anne at Queen Catherine's expense, helped increase Henry's power, presided over More's and the Boleyn sibling's executions, and after arranging one unfortunate marriage too many for King Henry, ended on the scaffold himself.

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'Executions by Beheading - Showing the head to the crowd?
Following execution the severed head was held up by the hair by the executioner. This was done, not as many people think to show the crowd the head, but in fact to show the head the faces of crowd and it's own body! Killing by beheading is not immediate. Consciousness remains for at least eight seconds after beheading until lack of oxygen causes unconsciousness and eventually death.'

I found this cheery little snippet at http://www.castles.me.uk/executions-beheading-tower-of-london.htm but how can it be right, if your head is no longer attached to your body??
*goes off for a stiff drink*

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Is there some definitive source for the guidelines used in deciding the method of execution for crimes in Henry's era or were they arbitrary?

For instance, why were Brereton and Smeaton drawn and quartered and the rest of the conspirators merely beheaded? Why was the cook who poisoned Bishop Fisher boiled in oil rather than burned at the stake or drawn and quartered or even just hanged until dead? Buckingham was granted a quick death and his conspiracy against Henry VIII was, in my opinion, much more serious in nature than Thomas Moore's. Yet Moore would have been drawn and quartered for his "crimes" had Henry not stepped in and altered the sentence.

How were these sentences decided??

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NOTE this is not something Im asking bad about Anne, so please do not think it that way.
But in the executions why did some have to lay their heads on the chopping block and why was in Annes case and maybe others not but staying upright. Was this a position of royalty being put to death ? And this is going to sound dumb but was one way less brutal ? I have been wondering why since the last episode.

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