The Execution of Dereham and Culpepper

The Execution of Dereham and Culpepper:

On December 10, 1541, two men were taken to Tyburn for execution. Both had been swept up in the investigation into Queen Katheryn Howard’s past after allegations surfaced that the queen had been sexually active before her marriage.

Francis Dereham’s crime was having been the first lover of Katheryn Howard, long before she came to court and caught the attention of the king. He had intended to marry her, and indeed, their relationship had progressed to the point of a legally valid marriage before the couple was parted. When Dereham returned to England after going off to Ireland to seek his fortune, he found Katheryn was now the Queen of England. His greatest mistake was seeking an office in her court.

Thomas Culpepper had admitted to meeting in secret with Katheryn and receiving small gifts from her. All he would admit under what was likely intense interrogation was that he would have “done ill” with the young queen if she’d been willing, but she wasn’t. For her part, Katheryn insisted she’d been nagged into these meetings by her lady in waiting, Jane Rochford.

Both men had been swiftly tried for treason. Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys described the trial:

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Both were found guilty and sentenced to death. King Henry decided to extend mercy to Culpepper and commuted his sentence to simple beheading. He declared that Dereham deserved “no such mercy.”

Only nine days later, the executions took place.

Thomas, as the higher-ranking man, would have been executed first. His death was swift, and likely painless. Dereham, however, faced a slow, agonizing death.

Dereham had to climb a ladder placed on the scaffold. At the top, a noose was ready. It was placed around his head and the ladder yanked away, leaving him to strangle until he was almost dead. At that point, he was cut down and laid against the propped up ladder so all could see what would transpire next. He was revived to ensure he would be conscious for it.

He was then eviscerated and castrated and had to watch his organs being thrown onto a nearby fire. At that point, he was beheaded and his body chopped into pieces, which would be parboiled to prevent decay, and nailed up at city gates as a warning to others.

Both men’s heads were put on spikes above London Bridge. When Katheryn Howard was taken to the Tower in February of the following year, she would have been able to see the grim spectacle as her barge passed below.

Thomas Culpepper’s body – without its head – was buried in St Sepulchre-without-Newgate church, though the location is unknown.