A Ragged And Butcherly Miser: The Myth of Cromwell’s Death. One of the most talked about aspects of Thomas Cromwell, besides the Reformation and his alleged role in the downfall of Anne Boleyn, is the end he met. From hapless apprentices, to drunken headsmen; all have been blamed for Cromwell’s “botched” execution. However, as grisly as the subject is, it is time to have a look at what actually happened on the morning of 28th July, 1540. In one recent article, published in “The Mail Online” just recently, there is recounted an old, gory, myth that: “Henry VIII’s chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, sent to walk the same, well-trodden path to the scaffold as his victim, Anne Boleyn, implored the young executioner to dispatch him with a single stroke. But the novice made a butchery of Cromwell’s decapitation, hacking and sawing at his thick neck and causing even the bloodthirsty crowd on Tower Hill to protest.” There is no source cited in the article, but sounds very similar to an account that dates back to the Victorian times, and has two headsmen hacking at Cromwell’s neck for nigh on half an hour before finally managing to sever his head. It is all lurid, gratuitous stuff, indulged in by those who relish the idea that Cromwell, in some way, “deserved” his death. In more recent accounts of Cromwell’s death, namely Robert Hutchinson’s recent biography “Thomas Cromwell: The Rise and Fall of Henry VIII’s Most Faithful Minister”, the idea that a novice was deliberately chosen by Henry to make Cromwell suffer even more. In answer to this, you have to wonder why Henry would do this. If Henry really wanted Cromwell to suffer, would he not just let the mandatory sentence of hanging, drawing, and quartering stand? Also, Cromwell had been convicted of Sacramental heresy, the sentence for which was burning. I daresay, like others, that if Henry wanted Cromwell to suffer that much, he would not have commuted Cromwell’s sentence to beheading in the first place. Again, this is another rumour that just doesn’t ring true. Then there are the dramatic accounts of Cromwell’s execution. In the 2003 film, Henry VIII, staring Ray Winstone as the King, and Danny Web as Thomas Cromwell, we see a teenage executioner haphazardly swinging around an axe, taking three attempts to sever Cromwell’s head, as a jeering crowd looks on. Thomas Cromwell, as played by Danny Web, faces the teenage executioner. In the recent TV show, “The Tudors”, we see James Frain’s Thomas Cromwell despatched by an executioner who’d been deliberately taken out for a night on the tiles before the big day. A “joke” played on him by Sir Francis Bryan, the Seymour brothers, and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, in the hope that it would affect his performance. According to The Tudors, Thomas Cromwell (James Frain), faced a drunk executioner. So, how much truth is there in these accounts of Cromwell’s demise? We have just one first hand account of Cromwell’s execution, and it comes from the London Chronicler, Edward Hall. He simply has this to say: “He bore patiently the stroke of a ragged and butcherly miser.” And that’s it! From that one, small sentence, people have inferred all sorts of gruesome horrors being heaped upon Thomas Cromwell, as he met his end at the age of approximately fifty five. You can make of the expression, “ragged and butcherly miser”, what you will. It does seem, to myself personally, that something did go wrong. However, this was more than likely plain, old, human error. There is no evidence of drunkenness, malicious monarchs exacting last minute revenge, or even teenage apprentices. The age of the executioner is not mentioned anywhere. One can only conclude that these tales and embellishments have come from those glorifying in the death of a man who’s reputation as a Machiavellian plunderer has preceded him throughout history.
Posted on: Sat, 03 May 2014 01:54:46 +0000
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