Perhaps it's a bit morbid of me, but I actually really enjoy blogging about Tudor executions, because I find the people who broke the law exceedingly fascinating. Thomas Culpeper is no exception - although I have to say he is not a particularly lovable figure - at least if you're not Catherine Howard! For those of you who don't know, Culpeper was accused of adultery with Henry VIII's fifth queen, the young and beautiful Catherine Howard - the king's 'rose without a thorn.' The logistics of Culpeper's relationship with the young queen are very interesting, because he was actually a very close servant to the king, and should have been someone Henry could have trusted above all others. Catherine, who at the time was a teenager (married to a middle-aged and unattractive, tyrannical king), can hardly be blamed for not being attracted to her husband. Of course, she did her duty as a wife and allowed him to visit her bedchamber, but surely a young, beautiful, vivacious teenager deserved romance and passion, right? At least, that must have been her attitude...
The affair lasted throughout the summer progress to Pontefract Castle in August 1541, when an incriminating letter was intercepted from Catherine to Thomas. In the letter Catherine writes, “I never longed so muche for [a] thynge as I do to se you and to speke wyth you, the wyche I trust shal be shortely now,” and “my trust ys allway in you that you wolbe as you have promysed me...” Around the same time, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer had been made aware of some interesting and potentially dangerous details of the queen's past - including previous alleged lovers. When he found the letter in Thomas Culpeper's bedchamber, it became the proof he needed to inform the king of his wife's bad behavior. While Henry was at chapel listening to mass at Hampton Court Palace, Cranmer placed the evidence on his seat - instead of risking the king's wrath by telling him in person! Immediately, evidence was gathered and Catherine and Thomas found themselves in great danger. Unfortunately for Jane Rochford, her name was included in the letter, which also incriminated her.
On 10 December 1541, both Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham were executed at Tyburn in London. Dereham died a traitor's death, but Culpeper was lucky enough to receive a clean blow from the axe. He was subsequently buried at St. Sepulchre-without-Newgate Church in London. Two months later, his lover Catherine Howard and her lady, Jane Rochford, would also be beheaded at the king's pleasure.