Today Richard Roose was boiled alive. Sounds unpleasant, but it was his punishment for supposedly trying to poison Bishop Fisher, one of the most outspoken critics of Henry’s relationship with Anne Boleyn. Fisher survived, but some of his guests, and some who asked for alms and received the soup, died. Anne Boleyn’s family were the obvious suspects, but there’s no evidence linking them to Roose, and Henry didn’t believe it.
Roose had claimed that he did it as joke, and he didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt, but two people died, and he was attainted for high treason. He was killed without being able to confess his sins, and was boiled alive.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested link:
Watching the Tudors Season 2 Episode 1 includes a discussion of Roose
Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop.
She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 30 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history (how exciting when she got to interview Alison for the first time!). In addition to history, she is passionate about travel, and has lived in 3 countries and 4 states (not counting her perpetual state of confusion), and her family (who help her host her YouTube channel occasionally).
