Key Executions of the Tudor Period

Queen Elizabeth II For Dummies

The Tudors carried out more political executions than you'll find listed here, but these deaths represent significant markers in the development of the respective monarch’s sense of identity. The message? Don’t mess with the Tudors!

1499: Earl of Warwick and Perkin Warbeck
1510: Edmund Dudley and Sir Richard Empson
1521: Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham
1535: John Fisher and Sir Thomas More
1536: Anne Boleyn
1538: Cardinal Pole’s family
1540: Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex
1542: Catherine Howard
1552: Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset
1553: John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland
1554: Jane Grey
1556: Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury
1581: Edmund Campion, Jesuit missionary
1587: Mary Queen of Scots
1601: Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex

About This Article

About the book author:

Professor David Loades is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wales and has taught history at universities including St Andrews and Durham. He has written many books on the Tudor period and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Mei Trow is a history tutor, lecturer and author who has written numerous historical books on topics ranging from Jack the Ripper to Boudicca. His recent TV work includes Ancient Discoveries and Spartacus for The History Channel.