Painting #B01 - The Execution of Lady Jane Grey

The Execution of Lady Jane Grey
[in the Tower of London in the Year 1554]
- Paul Delaroche (1797-1856, French)
- oil on canvas (246 x 297 cm) in 1833
- National Gallery (London)

When the 15-year-old Edward VI (1537-1547-1553) of England laid dying, he had no children, but only two half-sisters (whom king father Henry had declared in law as illegitimate) and seven female cousins (daughters of Henry's younger sister).
        Edward nominated, by way of his "My Device for the Succession" document, cousin Lady Jane as successor to the Crown.
        Never crowned, Jane stayed silently on the throne for 9 days, before the Privy Council decided to change sides and proclaim Mary (Protestant Edward's eldest Catholic half-sister) as Queen. Noblemen had assembled their armies at Mary's fort to support Mary.
        Queen Mary kept "innocent guilty" Jane alive in a prison in the Tower of London. Six months later, 3000 rebels marched on London in attempt to replace Mary with Jane. The rebellion failed overnight, and Mary reluctantly agreed to the execution of Jane, also at the Tower of London.
        Blindfolded and with extraordinary composure, the sixteen-year-old Nine-Day Queen, in white bodice and satin petticoat, was feeling for the chopping block. Clean straw was laid under and around the block to soak blood. A maid-in-waiting sat on the floor, with, on her lap, jewelry and gown, just taken off from Jane. Hanging to the executioner's waist were a knotted rope and a dagger, which could be used to tie up incoopertive hands and to finish off chops if not clean-cut.

In the bad old days, capital punishment beheaded the nobles and hanged the commons (until Monsieur Guillotine invented the guillotine, that is). The smarter nobles had to be nice to the headsman, hoping that the execution would be quick and neat, but not to leave them half-alive for another while.