P
Pia
Guest
I can't recall if I've posted some of this before, but it's a bit different from my usual stuff.... It's a 'true' story about a real event that happened in England in 1551 and is quite well documented... It's about a murder and its inevitable consequences. The end notes give the background, but my story takes up the history of one of the 'inconsequential' victims.
It's a bit of a spoiler, but the fate of the procurer of the murder, Alice Arden, is well known and rather vividly described on various websites (although I can't find any evidence that the detail provided is true). What is likely to have been the case (and what is attested to in the only documented eye-witness report) is that Alice was subjected to repeated judicial rape prior to being taken to the stake...
It's a bit of a spoiler, but the fate of the procurer of the murder, Alice Arden, is well known and rather vividly described on various websites (although I can't find any evidence that the detail provided is true). What is likely to have been the case (and what is attested to in the only documented eye-witness report) is that Alice was subjected to repeated judicial rape prior to being taken to the stake...
Alice Arden was found guilty of the crime of murder (Petty treason) and burnt at the stake in Canterbury. The crime caused a sensation and her execution was a huge event attended by people from many distant towns. It is reported that she went bravely to the stake which had been set up in a field outside the city.
The execution took place at one o'clock in the afternoon and was over by three. Alice went out on foot dressed in a black gown and knelt praying for a few minutes in front of the stake. Then she was helped to her feet by a priest and she removed her shoes, her black gown and her petticoat and dressed in a simple black, sleeveless shift she was led to the stake and climbed onto a stool called the trivett that stood in front of it. Chains were fastened around her waist, thighs, knees,ankles and chest to hold her firm, and her wrists were chained together behind the stake. At this point the executioner removed the stool on which Alice was standing and she was left hanging in the chains about three feet above the ground. Wood bundled together in faggots was pushed quickly under her and set alight. At first she remained calm and coughed a little with the smoke but when the flames reached her feet she lost control of herself and cried out piteously while struggling to escape. Alice was not strangled during the execution as was sometimes done in those days and she suffered the full horror of her sentence as small amounts of wood were added to the fire to burn her slowly to death. Reports at the time suggest that she survived at the stake for over and hour before dying.
Anyway - my story is attached... with some background materials...
Alert!!! The subject of the story was sixteen at the time of her death. But it's a true story, albeit with a degree of invention. And the story (spoiler alert again!) isn't in any way explicit!
The execution took place at one o'clock in the afternoon and was over by three. Alice went out on foot dressed in a black gown and knelt praying for a few minutes in front of the stake. Then she was helped to her feet by a priest and she removed her shoes, her black gown and her petticoat and dressed in a simple black, sleeveless shift she was led to the stake and climbed onto a stool called the trivett that stood in front of it. Chains were fastened around her waist, thighs, knees,ankles and chest to hold her firm, and her wrists were chained together behind the stake. At this point the executioner removed the stool on which Alice was standing and she was left hanging in the chains about three feet above the ground. Wood bundled together in faggots was pushed quickly under her and set alight. At first she remained calm and coughed a little with the smoke but when the flames reached her feet she lost control of herself and cried out piteously while struggling to escape. Alice was not strangled during the execution as was sometimes done in those days and she suffered the full horror of her sentence as small amounts of wood were added to the fire to burn her slowly to death. Reports at the time suggest that she survived at the stake for over and hour before dying.
Anyway - my story is attached... with some background materials...
Alert!!! The subject of the story was sixteen at the time of her death. But it's a true story, albeit with a degree of invention. And the story (spoiler alert again!) isn't in any way explicit!
