Severed, British Beheadings

Severed Heads is a comprehensive look at five hundred years of the gruesome punishment of beheading in Britain. Laying to rest the general belief that decapitation took place on only a few occasions, notably those of Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard and Lady Jean Grey, it draws together a macabre selection of one hundred people from all walks of like who found their heads on the block; from unfaithful queens to highwaymen, from conspiring laired to thieving women and from maid-servants to priests. It provides details of their backgrounds, their crimes, the exact details of their execution, and how the severed heads and ‘quarters’ went on display as morbid warning to all those who passed by.