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Bret's head stuck upon a spike (uncaptioned)
George Cruikshank
December 1840
Wood-engraving
6.7 cm high by 5 cm wide, vignetted
Illustration for Book II, Ch. XL, of William Harrison Ainsworth's The Tower of London, bottom of p. 412.
[Click on image to enlarge it and mouse over text for links.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
"A brave song, and well sung," cried Wolfytt, approvingly. "Have you any more of it?"
"No," replied Mauger, significantly. "I shall make another verse to-morrow. My axe is now as sharp as a razor," he added, feeling its edge. "Suppose we go to the scaffold? It must be up by this time."
"With all my heart," replied Sorrocold, whose superstitious curiosity was fully awakened.
Shouldering the heavy block with the greatest ease, Mauger directed Wolfytt to bring a bundle of straw from a heap in the corner, and extinguishing the lamp, set forth. It was a sharp, frosty night, and the hard ground rang beneath their footsteps. There was no moon, but the stars twinkled brightly down, revealing every object with sufficient distinctness. As they passed Saint Thomas's Tower, Wolfytt laughingly pointed out Bret's head stuck upon a spike on the roof, and observed, — "That poor fellow made Xit a knight." [Chapter XL. — Of the vision seen by Mauger and Sorrocold on the Tower Green," page 412]
Ainsworth provides an extensive summary of all the characters in an alphabetical "Index." He underscores thus the connection between Xit's bravery at the siege of the Tower and Brett's ignominious death and subsequent ill-treatment of his remains in the entries for these characters:
Bret, captain of the city trained bands, goes over with his men to Wyat, 301; accompanies Wyat ibn his attack on London Bridge;], and assists in tranquillising the citizens, 311; takes command of one of the detachments of Wyat's forces, 316; joins him in the attack on the gateway fronting the Lion's Tower, 317; and on the Middle and Byward Towers, 318: is dismounted and thrown into the moat, ib.; is taken prisoner by Xit, 319; carried before the Queen, 331; is beheaded on the Tower Green, 334. [p. 426]
Xit, a dwarf, left when an infant at the door of Og the giant, and adopted by him, 18; . . . his gallant behaviour during the siege of the Tower, 318; takes Captain Bret prisoner, 319; conveys his prisoner before the queen, 331; desires knighthood as the promised reward, 332; carries Brtt's head on a spear towards the Byward Tower, 334 . . . . [page 439]
When Xit presents Bret as his prisoner to Queen Mary, the dwarf describes the gallant militia-man as "The arch-traitor" (331). Mary summarily orders his beheading, causing Xit to "recoil several steps with fright" (331) and Bret, in shock, to prostrate himself before the imnpcable Tudor monarch. Ainsworth describes his execution on the Green in grisly detail:
As Renard issued from the principal entrance of the White Tower, and was about to cross the Green, he perceived a small group collected before Saint Peter’s Chapel, and at once guessing its meaning, he hastened towards it. It was just beginning to grow light, and objects could be imperfectly distinguished. As Renard drew nigh, he perceived a circle formed round a soldier whose breast-plate, doublet, and ruff had been removed, and who was kneeling with his arms crossed upon his breast beside a billet of wood. Near him, on the left, stood Manger, with his axe upon his shoulder, and on the right, Gardiner holding a crucifix towards him, and earnestly entreating him to die in the faith of Rome; promising him, in case of compliance, a complete remission of his sins. Bret, for he it was, made no answer, but appeared, from the convulsive movement of his lips, to be muttering a prayer. Out of patience, at length Gardiner gave the signal to Mauger, and the latter motioned the rebel captain to lay his head upon the piece of timber. The practised executioner performed his task with so much celerity that a minute had not elapsed before the head was stricken from the body, and placed on the point of a spear. While the apparatus of death and the blood-streaming trunk were removed, Xit, who was one of the spectators, seized the spear with its grisly burden, and, bending beneath the load, bore it towards the By-ward Tower. A man-at-arms preceded him, shouting in a loud voice, “Thus perish all traitors." [Chapter XXX. — "How Queen Mary comported herself during the Siege; How Lord Guildford Dudley was captured; and how Sir Thomas Wyat and the Duke of Suffolk were routed," pp. 333-34.]
To a modern reader the barbaric treatment of the gallant soldier does credit to neither Queen Mary nor to Xit, but Ainsworth would remind us through Bret's treatment that this was a brutal age in which those in power delivered rough justice to those whom they deemed traitors and heretics. In positioning the ghastly picture of Bret's severed head on a spike at the close of Chapter 30 Cruikshank and Ainsworth seem to be challenging the notion of glory garnered through combat, as well as revealing the least attractive aspect of Bloody Mary's character — her vindictiveness.
Left: The steel-engraved frontispiece, The Execution of Lady Jane Grey at Tower Green (issued in December 1840). Right: The wood-engraving that serves as the title-page vignette, The Execution of Lord Guildford Dudley on Tower Hill (issued in December 1840). [Click on images to enlarge them.]
Above: Cruikshank's gruesome steel-engraving of the execution of Underhill for the attempted assassination of Queen Mary, The Burning of Edward Underhill on the Tower Green (Chapter 20, August 1840 number).[Click on the image to enlarge it.]
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Last modified 4 November 2017