Essex and the Art of Dying

Abstract

FROM Sir Thomas More to Sir Walter Ralegh men of the English 1 Renaissance are widely reputed to have faced death on the scaffold magnificently. Without entering upon invidious comparisons between historical periods, I have sought in this article to abstract from Tudor handbooks on the art of dying a description of one of the conventional ways Englishmen were then supposed to prepare themselves to meet death, to show how closely the Earl of Essex followed the convention during the last few days of his life, and to illustrate the power of that convention by showing with what dignity and courage he bowed his head to the block in the Tower at eight o'clock on the morning of February 25, i6oi. A number of detailed eye-witness accounts of the execution have survived,' and perhaps it is well to begin with the picture they give of Essex on the scaffold. According to them, Essex, accompanied by three divines, walked from his chamber in the Tower to the scaffold