Trial and Execution of Edward Seymour Duke of Somerset and his Supporters

Diary of Edward VI. 01 Dec 1551. The duke of Somerset (age 51) cam to his triall at Westmyster halle. [The record mentions three indictments: 1) that he had designed to have seized the King's person, and to have governed all affairs; 2) that he, with one hundred others, intended to have imprisoned the earl of Warwick, afterwards duke of Northumberland; and 3) that he had designed to have raised an insurrection in the city of London.]

Chronicle of Greyfriars. 01 Dec 1551. Item the furst day of day of December was browte the deuke of Somersett (age 51) owte of the towre [Map] by watter at v. a clocke in the mornynge, and j. or ij. drownyd by the waye in the Tems betweene the tower and Westmester; and there he (was) araynyd before the cowncell, and so pletyd for hym selfe that he was qwytt for the treson, and corny tted unto the tower of London [Map] agayne.

Chronicle of Greyfriars. 02 Dec 1551. Item the nexte day was the lorde Gray with dyvers other that ware in the tower [Map] was browte unto Westmester unto the starre chamber, and sent home agayne.

Chronicle of Greyfriars. 08 Dec 1551. Item the viij. day of that monyth was a gret muster at Totehylle [Map] of men of armes befor the kynge (age 14), of dyvers lordes.

On 22 Jan 1552 Edward Seymour 1st Duke Somerset (age 52) was beheaded at Tower Hill [Map]. He was buried at St Peter ad Vincula Church, Tower of London [Map]. Duke Somerset, Earl Hertford, Viscount Beauchamp forfeit. His great-grandson William Seymour 2nd Duke Somerset was restored to the titles in 1660.

Diary of Edward VI. 22 Jan 1552. The duke of Somerset (age 52) had his head cat of apon Towre hill [Map] betwene eight and nine a cloke in the morning.

Annales of England by John Stow. 22 Jan 1552. The 22 of January Edward duke of Somerset (age 52) was beheaded on the tower hill [Map]. The same morning early the consables of every warde in London (according to a precept directed from the counsell to the Mayor) streightly charged every householde of the same citie not to depart any of them out of their houses before ten of the clocke of that Day, meaning thereby to restraine the great number of people, that otherwise were like to have bene at the said execution: notwithstanding by seven aclock the tower hill [Map] was covered with a great multitude, repairing from all parts of the citie, as well as out of the suburbs, and before 8 of the clocke the duke was brought to the scaffold inclosed with the kings gard, the sherifs officers, the warders of the Tower, & other with halbards: the Duke being ready to have been executed, suddenly the people were driven into a great feare, few or none knowing the cause: wherfore I thinke it good to write what I saw concerning that matter.

Thee people of a certaine hamlet, which were warned to be there by 7. of the clocke to give their attendance on the liuetenant, now came through the posterne, & perceiving the D. (age 52) to be alreadie on the scaffold, the foremost began to run, crying to their followes to fellow fall after, which suddennes of there men being weaponed with bils and halbards thus running, caused the people which first saw them, to thinke some power had come to have rescued the duke from execution, and therefore to crie away, away, whereupon the people ran some one way some another, many fell into the tower ditch, and they which tarried thought some pardon had been brought, some saide it thundered, some that a great rumbling was in the earth under them, some that the ground moved, but there was no such matter, more than the trampling of their feete, which made some noise.

Wriothesley's Chronicle 1551. 22 Jan 1552. Fryday, the 22 of January, 1551-[2], Edward Seimer (age 52), Duke of Somersett, was beheaded at the Tower Hill [Map], afore ix of the clocke in the forenone, which tooke his death very patiently, but there was such a feare and disturbance amonge the people sodainely before he suffred, that some tombled downe the ditch, and some ranne toward the houses thereby and fell, that it was marveile to see and hear; but howe the cause was, God knoweth.

Chronicle of Greyfriars. 22 Jan 1552. Item the xxij. day of the same monyth was be[heddyd] at the Towre hyll [Map] before viij. a clocke Edwarde deuke of Somersett (age 52) [erle of Hertjforde and unkyll unto the kynges (age 14) grace]. And also there was a commandment thorrow London that alle howsolders with their servantes shulde kepe their howses unto it was ....

Henry Machyn's Diary. 22 Jan 1552. The xxij of January, soon after eight of the clock in the morning, the duke of Somerset (age 52) was beheaded on Tower hill [Map]. There was as] grett compeny as have bene syne .. the kynges gard behynge there with ther ha[lbards, and a] M [Note. 1000]. mo with halbards of the prevelege of the Towre, [Ratcliffe,] Lymhowsse, Whytchapell, Sant Kateryn, and Strettford [Bow], as Hogston, Sordyche; and ther the ij shreyfs behyng th[ere present] seyng the execusyon of my lord, and ys hed to be [smitten] of, and after shortely ys body was putt in to a coffin, [and carried] in to the Towre, and ther bered in the chyrche, of [the north] syd of the qwyre of sant Peters [Map], the wyche I beseeche [God] have mercy on ys sowlle, amen! And ther was [a sudden] rumbelyng a lytyll a-for he ded, as yt had byn [guns] shuttyng [Note. shooting] and grett horsys commyng, that a M [Note. 1000]. fell [to the] grond for fere, for thay that wher at the on syd [thought] no nodur butt that one was kyllyng odur, that [they fell] down to the grond on apon anodur with ther halb[ards], they thought no nodur butt that thay shuld .... sum fell in to [the] dyche of the Towre and odur plasys, ... and a C. [Note. 100] in to the Towre-dyche, and sum ran a way for [fear.]

Note. The duke of Somerset's execution. A narrative of this, with the last speech delivered by the duke, somewhat different from that in Stowe, has been printed from the Cottonian charters, by Sir Henry Ellis, in his Second Series of Original Letters, vol. ii. p. 215.

Wriothesley's Chronicle 1551. 27 Jan 1552. The 27 of January Sir Raphe Vane, knight, was arraigned at Westminster, and condempned for felony, and had judgment to be hanged.

Henry Machyn's Diary. 27 Jan 1552. The xxvijth day of January was reynyd at Westmynster Hall ser Raff a Vane knyght of tresun, and qwyt of hytt, and cast of felony to be hangyd,-the v yer K. E. vjth.

Wriothesley's Chronicle 1551. 28 Jan 1552. The 28 of January Sir Thomas Arundell (age 50), knight, was arraigned at Westminster, and condempned for fellonie, and had judgment to be hanged.

Henry Machyn's Diary. 28 Jan 1552. The xxviij day of January was reynyd sir Thomas Arundell (age 50) knyght, and so the qwest cold nott fynd ym tyll the morow after, and so he whent to the Towre agayn, and then the qwest wher shutt up tyll the morow with-owt mett or drynke, or candylle or fyre, and on the morow he cam a-gayne, and the qwest qwytt ym of tresun, and cast hym of felony to be hangyd,-the v king Edward vjth.

Wriothesley's Chronicle 1551. 05 Feb 1552. The 5 of February, Sir Myles Patriche, knight, was arraigned at Westminster and condempned for fellonie, and had judgment to be hanged.

Henry Machyn's Diary. 05 Feb 1552. ....[sir Michael Stanhope (age 45) was] cast of felony to be hangyd-the vj[th K. E. vjth.]

Wriothesley's Chronicle 1551. 09 Feb 1552. The 9 of February Sir Michaell Stanope (age 45), knight, was arraigned at Westminster and condempned for felonie, and had judgment to be hanged.

On 26 Feb 1552 Miles Partridge and Ralph Fane were hanged. Thomas Arundell of Wardour Castle (age 50) and Michael Stanhope (age 45) were beheaded at Tower Hill [Map] for plotting to assassinate John Dudley 1st Duke Northumberland (age 48).

Thomas Arundell of Wardour Castle (age 50) was buried at St Peter ad Vincula Church, Tower of London [Map].

Chronicle of Greyfriars. 26 Feb 1552. Item the xxvj. day of the same monyth, the which was fryday, was hanged at Towre hylle sir Myllys Partryge knyght, the wych playd wyth kynge Henry the viii^te at dysse for the grett belfery that stode in Powlles church-yerde^a; and sir Raffe Vane, theys too ware hanged. Also sir Myhyll Stonnappe (age 45) and sir Thomas Arndelle (age 50), theys too ware beheddyd at that same tyme. And theis iiij. knyghttes confessyd that they ware never gyltd for soche thynges as was layd unto their charge, and dyde in that same oppinion.

The daye before endyd the parlament.

Note a. "Neere unto this schoole (St. Paul's) on the north side thereof, was (of old time) a great and high Clochier or Bell-house, foure-square, builded of stone, and in the same a most strong frame of timber, with foure bells, the greatest that I have heard; these were called Jesus' bells, and belonged to Jesus' Chappell, but I know not by whose gifte. The same had a great spire of timber covered with lead, with the image of Saint Paul on the top, but was pulled down by sir Miles Partridge knight, in the reigne of Henry the Eighth. The common speech was, that hee did set one hundred pounds upon a cast at dice against it, and so wonne the said clochier and bells of the king, and then causing the bells to be broken as they hung, the rest was pulled downe." Stowe's Survay.

Henry Machyn's Diary. 26 Feb 1552. The xxvjth day of Feybruarii, the wyche was [the morrow aft]er saynt Mathuwe day, was heddyd on the Tower [hill sir] Myghell Stanhope (age 45) knyght, and ser Thomas Arundell (age 50); [and in]-contenent was hangyd the seylff sam tyme sir Raff [a Vane] knyght, and ser Mylles Parterege knyght, of the galowse besyd the .... and after ther bodys wher putt in to dyvers nuw coffens [to be be-] red and heds in to the Towre in cases and ther bered .. cent.

Note. Execution of sir Thomas Arundell. One of the "metrical visions" of George Cavendish, the gentleman usher of Cardinal Wolsey, furnishes some biographical particulars of sir Thomas Arundell: viz. that he was educated with Cardinal Wolsey, and was chancellor to queen Katharine Howard. He is also made to confess that "I was cheaf councellor in the first overthrowe of the duke of Somerset, which few men did know." (See Singer's edition of Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, 1825, vol. ii. p. 125.) A letter of the earl of Northumberland in 1527, directed "To his beloved cosyn Thomas Arundel, one of the gentleman of my lord legates prevy chambre," and at its foot "To my bedfellow Arundel," with which term he also commences, is printed from the duke of Northumberland's archives, ibid. p. 246. With regard to his fate there is a curious passage in a very rare book, bishop Ponet's "Short Treatise of Politic Power," which Strype has quoted in his Memorials, vol. ii. 306: but with an interpolation which, as it is made silently, is perfectly inexcusable. Writing of the earl of Warwick, Ponet states,—"at th'erles sute Arundel hathe his head with the axe divided from the shoulders."

But Strype, imagining that the earl of Arundel (who was also involved in trouble at this period, having been fined 12,000l. in Jan. 1549–50,) was the suffering party named by the bishop, altered this passage thus:——"at the earl's suit, Arundel escaped, otherwise had his head with the axe been divided from his shoulders."

See the "Life of Henry Earl of Arundel, K.G." edited by J. G. Nichols, 1834, p. 7; or the Gentleman's Magazine for July 1833, p. 16, and for Feb. 1848.

Note. Sir Michael Stanhope also makes a poetical lament in Cavendish's Metrical Visions. He states that he had been dubbed knight by king Edward, and had been of his privy chamber. He was half-brother of the duchess of Somerset (as sir Thomas Arundell was half-brother of the countess of Arundel), and was great-grandfather of the first earl of Chesterfield. See a curious letter regarding his widow's funeral written by their son sir Thomas Stanhope in 1588, in the Archæologia, vol. xxxi. p. 212.

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Around 26 Feb 1552 William Paget 1st Baron Paget Beaudasert (age 46) was degraded 321st Knight of the Garter by King Edward VI of England and Ireland (age 14).

Annales of England by John Stow. 26 Feb 1552. The 26 of February, Sir Ralph a Vane and Sir Miles Partridge were hanged on the tower hill [Map], Sir Michael Stanhope (age 45) with Sir Thomas Arundel (age 50) were beheaded there: all which foure persons tooke on their death that thep never offended against the kings maiestie, nor against any of his counfell.