Monday, May 21, 2018

King of Rage

The reign of Henry VIII was the first time in English history that religious were publicly executed in their habits. From Fox News:
The bloodthirsty draft of a letter by King Henry VIII in which he demands a monk’s violent death is set to go on public display. In the 16th-century death warrant, the famous king orders that the abbot of Norton Abbey in the North of England be “hung drawn and quartered,” but then decides that the clergyman should just be hanged. Frank Hargrave, director of Norton Priory Museum and Garden, told Fox News that the letter is significant for two reasons. “Because it is a corrected draft we can almost read the thoughts of the king before he has had a chance to calm down or speak to his advisors,” he explained. “His initial fury is evident and the demand that the abbot be hanged, drawn and quartered is extreme — this was a fate usually reserved for traitors.”

“The other reason it is important is that it shows the level at which the king involved himself wherever his power was affronted,” he added. (Read more.)
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