Henry VIII’s reign is categorised as a brutal time in History where during the notorious
King’s reign, 70,000 people were executed.
Many of them were hanged, drawn and quartered and huge crowds would flock to witness the
executions.
But on the 5th April 1531, there was one execution that would be burned into the memories of
the witnesses at Smithfield in London until the day they died.
There was a huge pot which had been brought out to the public execution space, and the
place where dozens of people were buried alive would be the place where a man would be boiled
alive.
Richard Roose had been condemned to death and his execution was incredibly savage, and
it’s likely that it occurred in the way it did due to Roose’s suspected crimes and
also his job.
He was a cook who was to be boiled alive for the fact he allegedly poisoned the food of
one of England’s most prominent bishops.
Join us today as we look at, ‘The BRUTAL Execution and Boiling Alive Of Richard Roose.’
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During the reign of Henry VIII, there were many executions which were very brutal.
The King executed some of his closest friends and advisors such as Sir Thomas More and Thomas
Cromwell, and some of these are linked to the King’s brutal side.
He even executed two of his own wives, so was not afraid to order brutal killings to
administer justice.
But it was at Smithfield which became linked to some of the most savage executions of the
time period, as many heretics or religious criminals were burned at the stake.
It was there during the reign of Mary I, Henry’s bloody daughter who burned many people at
the stake there, but it was also the site of an execution of a man who wasn’t guilty
of treason, but he was accused of poisoning some of his masters.
In England, the fear of poisoning was prominent especially with the upper classes, and some
Kings and Queens even forced servants or employed specific food tasters to sample food and meals
before the King and Queen would tuck into meals.
This was to prevent poisoning, and as hygiene wasn’t great also during the Tudor period,
often cases of Food poisoning in meals could be linked to deliberate poisoning, so food
preparation was in a sense a very dangerous job.
It was inside of the Bishop of Rochester, John Fisher’s house that an allegation of
poisoning would take place.
On the 18th February 1531, Fisher was in his house having a meal with a number of his advisors
and close attendants.
It was said in an act of parliament what occurred that afternoon, it was said, ‘‘On the
18th day of February 1531, one Richard Roose of Rochester, Cook also called Richard Cooke
did cast poison into a vessel, full of yeast or Baum, standing in the kitchen of the Bishop
of Rochester’s Palace at Lambert March, by means of which two persons who happened
to eat the pottage made with such yeast died.’
So what had happened is that Richard Roose, the cook of Bishop John Fisher was accused
of poisoning yeast and then two people who ate the food made by the yeast died.
The two people who died were a gentleman named Bennet Curwen, and also a widower who accepted
John Fisher’s offer of food inside his house, and her name was Alice Tryppytt.
However the more sinister element of a possible poisoning plot put the real target as possibly
John Fisher the bishop, as it would not make any sense for someone to aim to kill those
two people.
But Fisher did not eat the porridge or poisoned soup, and he was unharmed as it’s likely
that he was fasting during that meal.
But more people became ill, and it was said that around 17 of Fisher’s company had become
violently ill, and many of the diners that evening were those who had been welcomed into
his house for charity.
With this, John Fisher’s reputation could have been very damaged heavily, being linked
to a plot to possibly poison the poor.
But Fisher’s brother Richard then immediately went after Richard Roose and tried to apprehend
him and order his arrest, but Roose had already escaped from the Bishop’s palace.
As he ran, it’s likely this could have been an indicator of guilt, but Roose was then
quickly caught and was then imprisoned inside the Tower of London.
But the fear of poisoning after this incident went into overdrive and panic.
Throughout many upper class households in London, and also in the royal circles there
was mass hysteria and panic over food being poisoned.
This fear even reached the King’s royal court.
When Roose was interrogated, it was not clear who had given Roose the poison to tarnish
the food of John Fisher, but also with this there was suspicion as to whether Roose was
linked to a larger plot with some Protestants planning to kill or assassinate John Fisher.
The bishop at the time was considered one of the greatest Catholic scholars in Europe,
and he had a great amount of influence in England at the time.
This could have also brought him into conflict with the King, especially as he would split
from the Catholic Church and the Pope, and also decree himself the Head of the Church
of England.
Henry VIII did possibly have a motive to carry out the assassination of John Fisher, as he
had around this time started to try and find a way out of his marriage with Catherine of
Aragon, and he then tried to appeal to The Pope to grant him a divorce so he could marry
Anne Boleyn.
Bishop John Fisher ultimately would later go to his own execution for refusing to support
the King in his marriage to Anne Boleyn and his position as the Supreme Head of the Church.
But Henry VIII was considered one of the biggest problems in getting Henry his divorce or annulment,
and Fisher could have gone against the King and supported the Pope.
Fisher did this and took Catherine of Aragon’s side and because of this crossed the King.
But Richard Roose the cook was inside the Tower of London and was subject to some horrific
punishment inside the notorious fortress.
Roose was thrown onto the horrific torture device of the rack, and was subject to a huge
amount of pain.
He was put on the wooden frame, and his arms and limbs were then put under incredible strain,
and the rack was a successful interrogation machine on Richard Roose.
Whilst he was under the rack, he admitted to putting what he believed was simply a laxative
into the yeast, and he claimed it was ‘a certain venom or poison,’ and then he dropped
this as a joke into the porridge pot.
Roose then gave over no names of any possible co-conspirators, and he said that he knew
that the white powder he used would cause some ill health or discomfort.
But he claimed that he did not realise it could be fatal, and he said he only put a
laxative in the food and nothing more.
More suspicion would fall onto Henry VIII and the family of his second wife Anne Boleyn,
as Eustace Chapuys the Imperial Ambassador to England for the Holy Roman Emperor would
blame the English King, and state he was guilty of organising the suspected poisoning.
He claimed that Anne also had written documenting about how she wanted Bishop Fisher to die,
and how she hated him.
But because of this confession in the Tower of London, Richard Roose was never tried and
was never brought in front of a jury to defend himself.
On the 28th February 1531, Henry VIII told Parliament of the poisoning plot, and Roose
was then condemned to die based on what the King said had happened rather than concrete
evidence.
The King’s word was final, and he also expanded the definition of treason, saying that murder
by poison was classed as treason.
He then also tweaked the sentence of death, saying that this crime would then be punishable
by boiling alive, and this is what happened to Richard Roose.
On the 5th April 1531, in front of a huge crowd in Smithfield, Richard Roose was taken
to his site of execution.
He was subject to be boiled alive in a huge plot, and what the crowd saw that day would
haunt them terribly.
An account from the Tudor period titled the Chronicle of the Grey Friars said of Roose’s
horrific death that he was tied up in chains, and then was placed in a metal gibbet frame,
before he was then lowered in and out of the boiling hot water.
This occurred three times until he was then dead.
Another account of Roose’s death stated that, ‘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.
Other men and women did not seem frightened by the boiling alive, but would prefer to
see the headsman at his work.’
There were every few executions that were as brutal as a boiling alive, as the blood
curdling screams would be heard all over Smithfield and Roose was lowered into the boiling pot
of water.
It’s likely that his skin disintegrated also, and the fact it took just 3 dunks into
the pot to kill him showed how brutal the method of execution was.
It is interesting to consider whether Henry VIII specifically organised Richard Roose’
execution based on the fact he was a cook.
There could have been some mocking in this, and that his execution could have been a re-run
of his crime of poisoning, as Roose was symbolically the poison which was lowered into the boiling
soup.
But it’s also interesting to consider whether the King was covering his tracks, and whether
he knew of the poisoning plot.
By denying a trial for Roose, it was the King’s word that would sentence him to death, and
he could have been doing this to cover his tracks.
However the brutal King, Henry VIII would later sentence Bishop John fisher to death,
and he and Anne Boleyn would get what they wanted.
Fisher was executed for refusing to accept Henry as the Head of the Church and favouring
the Pope in this role.
Fisher met his death with dignity, unlike his cook who was boiled alive in horrific
fashion.
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