On this day in Tudor history, 28th July 1540, after the execution of Thomas Cromwell, Walter Hungerford, Baron Hungerford of Heytesbury and a client of Cromwell, was beheaded on Tower Hill.
He was the only man in the Tudor period to be executed for "treason of buggery". It was said that he had "exercised and frequented, and used the abominable and detestable vice and sin of buggery with William Master, Thomas Smith, and others in his household." The other charges against him included treason for pretending to arrest Pilgrimage of Grace supporter William Bird, Vicar of Bradford-on-Avon, when he actually supported him by employing him as chaplain, and using magic, along with Sir Hugh Wood and Dr Maudlin, to predict how long Henry VIII would live.
Also on this day in Tudor history...
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