Throughout the centuries and History, there have been a huge number of execution methods
which were used to take the life of a condemned person or a criminal.
One of the most brutal execution methods is remembered alongside King Henry VIII, hanging
drawing and quartering in which many people who were convicted of treason were subjected
to this.
But Henry VIII would deploy many other methods to execute his enemies, and there was one
time he would even change the laws of his country so he could introduce an execution
method which was sadistic.
There were many times in different lands where execution methods struck fear into the hearts
of the population, for example in France people were pulled apart by horses, and in Ancient
Rome people were forced to fight against animals such as Tigers and Lions.
But Henry VIII’s laws would incorporate Boiling Alive, an execution method which would
cause chaos with the people who witnessed it, and many were struck by the savagery of
this.
Join us today as we look at boiled alive, history’s most brutal execution method?
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Boiling Alive was an execution method in which a person who was condemned would be killed
by being immersed and submerged in boiling water of other liquid.
It was in England an execution method which was not as common as hanging, drawing and
quartering, burning at the stake or beheading.
But it was used in many different lands and countries, and the executioner could control
the execution ordeal and prolong it for someone who was a particularly heinous criminal.
They could control the speed of the execution, and sometimes people were pulled out of the
boiling liquid when they were alive, and then they were lowered into a pot again a number
of other times, and this would make things and their suffering a lot worse.
Executioner’s would instead of water often fill the boiling pot up with oil or tar, and
a pulley and hook system could be used to dunk someone in and out of the vessel, and
this would have been a horrific and terrifying thing for someone.
There were many people who were executed by boiling to death in Scotland.
Jon Haraldsson who was known as the Blood Earl Of Orkney would order the execution method
and boiling of the Bishop of Caithness, Adam of Melrose and a monk who was named Surlo.
The Bishop had attempted to try and collect increased taxes and he raised the price and
it was said that ‘the devil take the bishop and his butter, you may roast him if you please.’
But on the 11th September 1222, a group of men and rebels gathered to protest the Bishop
screaming Roast him alive, and the Bishop’s monk SErlo was dispatched to deal with this.
But he was slaughtered, and then the Bishop was dragged into his kitchen in his house,
and he was forced into a cauldron where he was then burned alive and was then boiled
alive after permission had been given.
But in reprisal for the killing of the Bishop, Alexander III killed 400 people for this.
But William de Soules was a nobleman who had plotted against Robert the Bruce, and he was
said to have been a sorcerer or a witch who worked with evil spirits, and he was boiled
alive in 1321.
More boilings happened, as Melville the Sheriff of the Mearns and the Laird of Glenbervie
were boiled as they were hated for their rules and their laws that they imposed upon the
people.
It was even said that the people would make a broth out of these hated figures and that
the nobles tasted a spoon of this broth.
But boiling was used in other lands as a way of punishing people who were known as coin
clippers or counterfeiters and forgets.
These executions were carried out in front of huge crowds to put other people off committing
these crimes which could be incredibly damaging to the economy of a country.
In 1392 in Nuremberg in Germany, a man was boiled alive for murdering his own mother,
and then 60 years later in Danzig a number of coin clippers were boiled and then this
continued.
In Bremen in 1687, a man was boiled alive in oil and he was found guilty of helping
coin clippers escape their fate and some towns still display their boiling pots as historic
artefacts.
Inside of the Holy Roman Empire, boiling to death in oil was used for murderers whose
crimes were particularly shocking and awful.
But in Asia it was also deployed as in the 1500s, the legendary bandit from Japan Ishikawa
Goemon and his son suffered the execution method, and in the 17th century it was carried
out in India.
A Sikh martyr in 1675 was boiled to death in Delhi for religious reasons as he refused
to convert to ISlam, and he was first put in a cauldron of freezing cold water, but
then this was slowly heated up to a boiling point where he was roasted and cooked alive.
It was said by a witness that he was tied to the cauldron with an iron chain and that
he could not escape, and the water came up to his mid-drift so the people could see his
head and shoulders, but then he turned into a block of charcoal.
However the most famous time in which someone was boiled alive took place during the reign
of King Henry VIII as the Tudor Monarch who had.6 wives would execute Richard Roose a
cook.
Over 70,000 people in his kingdom were executed during his reign, and this would include two
of this wives.
But in February 1531, there was a shocking incident in the household of the Bishop of
Rochester, John Fisher as a poisoning plot would hit London.
John Fisher was a devout catholic, and the cook Richard Roose had poisoned the porridge.
But this was a plot to assassinate Fisher, and many believed that it was the King or
Anne Boleyn and her family who were behind this.
But with this incident, two people died who had been claiming charity from the Bishop.
But this incident caused chaos with his reputations and as he was a supporter of the King’s
first wife Catherine of Aragon, and the fact he hated the changes Henry VIII was making
to the church, that Fisher could have incurred the wrath of the King.
But the man allegedly behind this was Richard Roose, Fisher’s cook, and Henry VIII to
punish loose would change the laws on treason.
Roose was imprisoned inside of the Tower of London, and he would be tortured using the
rack, and he admitted to putting a laxative in the porridge, but he admitted that he did
not want to kill anyone and he said this was just a joke.
Henry VIII changed his laws to make boiling alive a method of execution for those who
were found guilty of poisoning.
This was done because of Richard Roose, and the method was brought in to send a clear
message to the people of England not to poison, as the King himself was terrified of it.
Richard Roose was then taken to Smithfield where many people were burned at the stake
on the 15th April 1532.
His execution was performed over two hours and he would be lowered in and out of the
boiling cauldron a number of times.
One account said that he was lowered in and out of the boiling water three times until
he was dead.
But another said that of the execution, ‘‘He roared mighty loud, and divers women who were
big with child did feel sick at the sight of what they saw, and were carried away half
dead; and other men and women did not seem frightened by the boiling alive, but would
prefer to see the headsman at his work.’
His execution lived in the minds of many people and it was so barbaric that people threw up
and were sick at the sight of it.
But boiling alive would also be used again for a woman who was called Margaret Davy who
would use poison to murder, but then it was outlawed by Edward VI’s new government.
But it’s claimed that it may have been used in modern times in countries such as Peru,
and also in Uzbekistan.
But boiling alive was one of the most horrific execution methods used throughout the centuries.
The people who would see these executions would be horrifically scarred by what they
saw, and it was an execution method which was comparable with burning alive at the stake.
The Kings and Queens who used boiling alive would be known for being some of History’s
most brutal rulers.
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