From the Diary of Henry Machyn: "The xxj of August [1553] was, by viij of the cloke in the mornyng, on the Towre hylle a-boythe x M1. men and women for to have [seen] the execussyon of the duke of Northumberland . . ."
The state often prohibited people from thronging to the execution site of a religious marytr - they didn't want women to soak up the blood with their handkerchiefs and present them as relics for veneration.
Hanging was by slow strangulation, rather than the neck-breaking drop. People were often invited to pull on the legs of the hanging man to end his suffering.
I imagine female relatives rushed in, but maybe it was a man's job. Weird and horrible.
We assume everyone (men, and women, and even children) in the Tudor era went as executions were open to the public.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Diary of Henry Machyn: "The xxj of August [1553] was, by viij of the cloke in the mornyng, on the Towre hylle a-boythe x M1. men and women for to have [seen] the execussyon of the duke of Northumberland . . ."
ReplyDeleteThe state often prohibited people from thronging to the execution site of a religious marytr - they didn't want women to soak up the blood with their handkerchiefs and present them as relics for veneration.
ReplyDeleteHanging was by slow strangulation, rather than the neck-breaking drop. People were often invited to pull on the legs of the hanging man to end his suffering.
I imagine female relatives rushed in, but maybe it was a man's job. Weird and horrible.