In 1573 there occurred a murder which would leave today's tabloid
editors salivating. George Saunders, a respected merchant tailor,
was killed by his wife's lover. Involved in the conspiracy were
Saunders' wife, her best friend, and a servant. All were found
guilty and hanged, but not before a suspended clergyman fell in
love with Mrs. Saunders and sought to have her pardoned. Murder was
relatively rare in Tudor times. When it did occur, especially if it
involved a female perpetrator and a love affair, it generated
widespread interest. The rise of Protestantism, and its
accompanying rise in literacy, had provided a strong impetus to
read about crime and to ponder the spiritual consequences of
breaking both the civil and the divine law. The English system of
criminal justice was open and popular, and familiar
elements--detection, investigation, the laying of charges, the
trial, verdict, sentence--were all well understood and closely
followed in the 16th century. Today, people are riveted by crime
and violence. But the obsession is not new, as this book shows in
vivid and exciting detail. John Bellamy's new book provides a
fascinating view of life in Tudor England and offers a new angle on
our love affair with murder as a literary form. It was in the Tudor
period, he argues, that popular attention was focused on the crime
of murder, for edification as well as entertainment. A 16th-century
murder inquiry was in many ways a community affair, capable of
arousing the interest of a substantial local audience, with the
members of the inquest often collecting evidence and statements for
twenty or thirty days. Detection, investigation, the laying of
charges, the trial, verdict, sentence--all ofthese familiar
elements were established in the 16th century. Strange, Inhuman
Deaths describes four well-documented cases that occurred between
1538 and 1573. Each of them is deeply rooted in source material,
whether legal records or pamphlets, plays or ballads, giving a rich
background and a wealth of local colour. The human stories they
contain are powerful and lively, and the motivations and
personalities that are revealed speak to us directly across the
centuries. Murder most foul, murder most English--the tradition
begins.
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