he was brought a prisoner to the Tower; on August 18 he was tried and
condemned for high treason in Westminster Hall, the Duke of Norfolk
presiding as Lord High Sheriff. He was taken back to the Beauchamp
Tower, and inscriptions which were cut by him and his sons may still be
read on the walls. Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, had been a prisoner
there under King Edward; he was now restored to his dignity, and he
paid a visit to Northumberland, who, in the hope of saving his life,
declared himself a Catholic. Gardiner naturally took the opportunity;
Mass was celebrated in the White Tower Chapel, and the Duke received
after making recantation. Next day he was beheaded on Tower Hill, still
clinging desperately to the hope of life, and making profession all the
way to the scaffold of the fervency of his faith. Sir John Gates and
Sir Thomas Palmer, both implicated in the same treason, perished with
him.
Meanwhile the “nine days’ reign” of the hapless Lady Jane was at an
end. She was consigned to the Lieutenant’s Lodging, called the King’s
House, and her husband to the Beauchamp Tower, where the one word
“Jane,” carved on the wall by him, is still to be seen. All through
the month of September Jane was allowed to walk in the garden, and her
husband and his brother Henry to promenade the outer walk on the wall
which leads from the Beauchamp to the Bell Tower.
Queen Mary was crowned with great splendour on October 1. She was
accompanied by her half-sister Elizabeth.
On November 13 a procession went forth from the Tower Gate to the
Guildhall. First the Gentleman Chief Warder, carrying the axe, next
Archbishop Cranmer, followed by Lord Guildford Dudley and Lady Jane,
the last-named accompanied by two of her ladies. They were arraigned
for high treason, the Lord Mayor presiding, with the Duke of Norfolk as
High Sheriff. They pleaded guilty, received sentence, and were taken
back to the Tower.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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