Re: Thomas More. He did NOT confess to any offense. Rather, when finally
condemned, he pointed out that it was not because of any offense, but only
that he did not publicly sanction the king's (bigamous) marriage. The king
cut a deal with him that if he kept his final words brief, he could have the
more merciful beheading. So More said, "I die the king's good servant -- but
God's first."
Contrast this with Anne Boleyn's last speech and those of the rest she took
down with her. She was guilty of probably no more than bearing Henry another
daughter and boring him. Yet she and the others gave the expected statements
to justify the king's "justice" and highly elastic conscience.
And More had the right of it; that is why we remember him more.
Karen Rosenstiel
Seattle WA USA
> -----Original Message-----
> From: john lock [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 1999 8:48 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: deathbed declarations
>
> I have come across a number of english legal cases from the
> mid-16th century where great store was set by what the 'ultime voluntate'
> of
> the deceased had been. Though in these cases its incontrovertability was
> probably more to do with its irrevocability. These statements were
> occasionally cited in an attempt to overturn earlier written wills.
> Equally, many times people tried to have
> last-gasp legacies revoked because the deceased had been utterly
> speechless or mad and out of his wits. I have come across them in the
> equity courts, but am no great expert on whether they appear in common law
> cases. And of course such cases only arise when matters are in dispute
> and
> the stakes are high enough...
>
> However these are legacies and not declarations. I have it in the back of
> my mind that condemned criminals were mindful to clear the decks when
> execution was imminent but trying to pull an example out of a hat is going
> to
> be difficult. I suspect I have seen them in the published Elizabethan
> assize circuit accounts so it won't be a medieval example.
>
> And of course there are the politically motivated judicial murders in
> which
> the likes of Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell were forced to confess
> non-existent offences publicly. I'm not sure how credulous the general
> populace were, but in the mid-1550s when in rapid succession Thomas
> Seymour, his brother Edward, and Robert Dudley sent each other to the
> block
> like dominos they must have had some doubts!
>
> Regards
>
> John A.W. Lock
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <[log in to unmask]>
> To: 000<[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 1999 7:07 PM
> Subject: deathbed declarations
>
>
> > Does anyone know how or when the belief arose that deathbed statements
> or
> > confessions are true? Is there any authority for the idea or is it just
> a
> > folk-belief?
> >
> > pat sloane
> >
>
>
>
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