Famous Last Words: Investigating Scaffold Speeches

Why – in the extant records that we have of 16th century scaffold speeches – does the person awaiting execution behave so politely?

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Intro / Outro song: Silent Partner, "Greenery" [   • Greenery – Silent Partner (No Copyrig...  ]

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Images (from Wikimedia Commons, unless otherwise stated):

Portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh attributed to William Segar (1598). Held by the National Gallery of Ireland.

Portrait of Anne Boleyn by an unknown English artist (late 16th century, based on a work of circa 1533-1536). Held by the National Portrait Gallery.

Portrait of Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein the Younger (1532–1533). Held by The Frick Collection.

Screenshots of transcripts of letters relating to the executions of Katherine Howard and Jane Boleyn from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/let...

Portrait of a Lady, perhaps Katherine Howard by Hans Holbein the Younger (c.1540). Held by the Royal Collection.



Quoted texts:

Charles Green, “Walter Raleigh’s execution and its afterlife through archives” (2018) - https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/...

R. H. Bowers, “Raleigh's Last Speech: The 'Elms' Document” (1951)

Gilbert Burnet, History of the Reformation of the Church of England (first published 1679)


Also consulted, were:

Other relevant entries from The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online.

#History #Tudor #Treason