On this day in history, Friday 12th May 1536, four men were taken by barge from their prison at the Tower of London to Westminster Hall to stand trial for high treason. These men were Sir Henry Norris, Henry VIII’s groom of the stool; Sir Francis Weston, a gentleman of the king’s privy chamber; William Brereton, a powerful and influential man in North Wales and Cheshire, and Mark Smeaton, a court musician.
A special commission of oyer and terminer was used to try the four men, and the men’s hearts must have sunk when they saw who the commissioners were; they could only be described as a hostile jury.
Click here to read about the members of the jury and what happened at this trial.
Picture: Westminster Hall © Copyright Peter McDermott and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence, Geograph.org.uk.
