March 1534, John Fisher was accused, along with Thomas More and others, of alleged complicity in the so-called treason of Elizabeth Barton, known as the Holy Maid of Kent, who had claimed to have had a vision of the place in hell reserved for Henry if he divorced Catherine and married Anne Boleyn. Dispensing with the formality of any trial, Parliament found Fisher and others guilty of the charge. Fisher’s punishment was the forfeiture of all his personal estate and imprisonment at the king’s pleasure. He was subsequently granted a pardon on payment of a fine of £300. The poor hapless “Holy Maid” was not so fortunate. In April she was hanged for treason, along with five of her associates, four of whom were priests. Her head was then severed and placed on a spike on London Bridge as a warning to any others who might be tempted to question the actions of the king. A year later, the heads of John Fisher and Thomas More would suffer the same grisly fate. In the words of historian Richard Rex, “[t]he execution of the Holy Maid and her companions was one of the many ways in which judicious use of judicial terror … was employed to secure compliance with the English Reformation.
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Some good amount of time since I read 7 Days in May as a child (time to read it again I think) has been involved with how the next Cromwellian government handles affairs of State. At this period of history a Henry could be warmly welcomed. Justice tempered by the times.
History is littered with the heads of those who threatened power - both real power and state-empowered corporate power. It’s been a long and dirty civil war. Roses? Don’t think so.