October 15 - A Welsh teacher and poet is executed

[@janefoley6541]

Thank you for sharing this, it's not often there are many compassionate things written about Catholic martyrs and their deaths.

[@almontepaolilli7531]

Amazing Welshman who had much courage facing death for his religious beliefs. Had a brief pet cameo which I like.

[@Wrexham_AFC]

Fan from Wrexham here! Have been watching your videos for a while now, so it’s weird to hear you mention all of these local place names. Thank you for all of your hard work, Claire (and Tim, of course!) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿😊

[@anneboleynfiles]

Hello to you in Wrexham! My grandparents lived in Shotton and my parents live in Connahs Quay.

[@christinefinegan6939]

I lived in Wrexham for many years and never knew this. Thank you

[@chasegordon9683]

Bless and thank you for sharing! Very educational and truly beneficial videos you always share!

[@anneboleynfiles]

Thank you!

[@bridgetofold5645]

Thank you for this history note! My Great-grandfather came from Wales. I am part third off the boat. I have always wanted to visit, research and experience.

[@anneboleynfiles]

Wales is beautiful, so do go and visit when you get chance.

[@tammyvanlue2417]

People died in such horrific ways and reasons back then!!So sad...But keep up dating us on Tudor history.

[@lindaflynn68]

Very interesting video Claire. Amazing how those who played a part in his horrific death had bad karma coming to them. 💜

[@OurBucketListHasHoles]

Thank you Claire 💜

[@darlenefarmer5921]

Goodness...thank you.

[@chiaroscuroamore]

Richard Gywn had some good insults!! His wife was brave too, to speak as she did and keep her head. A horrible way to die 😢 It’s interesting that so many of his persecutors has bad things happen to them. I’ll be tuning in again tomorrow to see what happened in Tudor history

[@darcidecaesaria9071]

Definitely one of my new favorites

[@barbaramccoy3592]

Ahhh, Welsh language again - I wonder if he wrote a poem about the keys to the beer cellar? Seriously, though, he seems to have been quite tenacious and witty, even in miserable moments. As always, Claire, thanks to you both for all your hard work.

[@anneboleynfiles]

Yes, he does seem to have been witty.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@anneboleynfiles A personality trait that can make enemies. I think Alexander Pope, also known for sarcasm, once wrote a poem with the words "Yes, I am proud: I must be proud to see/ men not afraid of God afraid of me." He was hunchbacked, and Catholic - my guess is he got his retaliation in first.

[@irairod5160]

I love your work, thank you for sharing it with us.

[@anneboleynfiles]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@giraffequeen9437]

Love your videos!

[@anneboleynfiles]

Thank you!

[@jillwilliams2799]

Really enjoy your videos

[@irairod5160]

Oooooooh...that detail about "pulling on his legs" out of mercy...[shudder]

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Strange that it didn't work. Perhaps the noose was improperly fixed. This seems to have been a case of an execution's pain being prolonged due to incompetence rather than deliberate sadism. In 1645 Henry Morse, a Jesuit priest, was drawn and quartered in London. A youth broke through and pulled on Morse's legs while he was hanging. By the time the executioner drove the youth off, Morse was dead. Morse had treated plague victims in the previous decade and was relatively popular.

[@matthewpaulbond9351]

Thanks Claire for giving this account of a saint not to well know to many. We have a part of his shoulder bone in a reliquary in the Cathedral. We are not sure as to where he was executed on the beast market, but it is likely that it was where Tesco now stands. There is a plague nearby that gives reference to him though.

[@anneboleynfiles]

Oh thank you for that information!

[@joansmith3296]

There is so much tragedy in this world from intolerant people who refuse to allow people to worship as they choose. Lives lost, wars fought. And for what? Very sad ending for this man, Thanks Claire..

[@SyriusStarMultimedia]

Nothing has changed as of tonight.

[@mollykeane2571]

Perhaps there are certain belief systems that shouldn’t be tolerated.

[@marionarnott750]

@@mollykeane2571 It was lack of tolerance which caused the death of martyrs on both sides.

[@mollykeane2571]

@@marionarnott750 Can’t really expect much more from the Abrahamic religions.

[@slightlyconfused876]

You could blame it on the Pope telling Catholics that it was their duty to Kill Queen Elizabeth. Not easy to be sympathetic to your potential assassin.

[@mollykeane2571]

Amazing courage some people have in defense of their beliefs. If I was given the choice of church or having my entrails pulled out of me I know what I’d choose.

[@nancythecat1079]

So sad. :(

[@lisamichels1825]

Good morning from Michigan, USA

[@nayten0324]

I’m here because I just found out I’m his 14X great grandson bruh

[@NCKrypotonite33]

They sure didn't mind signing death warrants back in Tudor days...talk about overkill

[@bootjeb2674]

So sad :(

[@pollydolly9723]

Because forcing religious views on people ALWAYS works 🙄

[@jennifertonyan9984]

Forcing anything on a person always works out great. Yea right... lol craziness

[@Lyndell-P]

🇭🇲🦘 What can anyone say, other than how dreadful a death for a good man, as Richard Gwyn appears to have been. A family man, a teacher and poet. His wife also appears to have been 'quite a woman'. The severe attack of the birds must have been quite severe to have made him think that it was a heavenly 'sign' or 'omen' and to then change his faith, and then 'pay the price' for doing so. He was obviously not afraid to die, but it is the manner of his execution that is so hard to deal with. The poor man, to have remained conscious during the worst of it. Actual death would then have been a 'blessing' which he prayed for during his execution. Death finally came to 'save' him! To have been charged with High Treason, I find astounding. Not just Treason but High Treason. A teacher, poet and family man who hurt no one. A sad end indeed for this good Welshman. Another most interesting video. "Thank you" Claire 💓👑👍

[@stevekaczynski3793]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3_SgZKMp9OgebM Somehow it makes me think of this...

[@alyssao517]

Elizabeth wasn’t a tolerant as history portrays

[@anneboleynfiles]

None of the monarchs of the time were.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

It was over two decades into her reign before she started executing Catholics in large numbers, and this was mainly because Catholicism was perceived as a political danger. Elizabeth's own religious beliefs are a mystery - when some of her Yeomen of the Guard turned out to follow a religious sect of Flanders origin called the Family of Love, she ignored it, which led to rumours she was a follower of the group. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familia_Caritatis

[@colinlavelle7806]

I think her hand was finally forced by the Papal excommunication.

[@maryh4650]

I live near Wrexham.

[@chrisnorton9531]

Could you tell me anything about Thomas " Rackmaster " Norton? I've found he's my 13th great grandfather. Love your videos.

[@anneboleynfiles]

I haven't looked into him I'm afraid.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

I don't know about Norton but Richard Topcliffe was a real SOB.

[@meredithcullen2267]

Obviously he didn't consider what would happen to his poor wife and children when he was dead. All very well to stick to your principles when it's only your own life you risk.

[@anneboleynfiles]

He had her full blessing and she was prepared to die too.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

The mentality was one of good fortune in this life being as nothing compared to salvation in the next. A Catholic writer mentioned people being "ruined in their temporalities" (ie. losing money and property) due to their allegiance to Catholicism but that this was nothing compared to the price of abandoning the true religion, ie. eternal damnation.

[@slightlyconfused876]

No doubt like most religious bigots his going to heaven mattered more than their lives on Earth.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@slightlyconfused876 It was a different time - Isabella in "Measure For Measure" springs to mind. Modern people find her a bit repulsive but in 1604, when the play was first performed she might have been more sympathetic. I personally find people like Gwyn rather admirable.

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@slightlyconfused876 Either you believe in it, with all the implications, or you don't. It was one or the other in 1584, without the many intermediate stages you might get in a later age. There was a category of people at the time called "Church Papists" - basically Catholics but they avoided trouble and monetary fines by occasional attendance at Anglican services. The Protestants despised them as Catholics, while the more uncompromising Catholics despised them as cowards and compromisers.

[@Sabrinajaine]

Yikes, that's not a good thing to happen on my birthday

[@Lyndell-P]

No, not a good thing at all. However, happened over 400 years ago, so I think you can celebrate your birthday. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" Sabrina. Hope you have a great day. 🎂🥳🎁

[@anneboleynfiles]

Happy birthday! Perhaps Edward VI's christening on this day in 1537 is a better event.

[@Sabrinajaine]

@@anneboleynfiles and Lyndell - thank you! ☺️

[@michellerhodes9910]

Wow! It's like Daphne du Maurier's horror story 'The Birds' (later made into an iconic movie by Alfred Hitchcock). You could imagine the effect that experience would have. He comes over a real sweet guy. I've often wondered at their sending the pieces of the remains to different parts of the community. Yes, it is punitive but is it also something to do with the Christian belief of resurrection on the last day? Did they think that if the body was in bits that it couldn't happen? (There are some cultures even today who if a limb is removed or lost will have it preserved to be buried with them).

[@anneboleynfiles]

Yes, a strange encounter and people of that time took such events as signs or portents.

[@wendychavez5348]

I think it was a twisted way of warning other "rebels" to keep quiet

[@Sun_Flower1]

🌻

[@ginna1375]

Someone died on this day in Tudor history. I, for one, am shocked.

[@curlytopkitty2468]

👍👍😂

[@denisedick721]

Poor man

[@catherinejohnson2235]

More Teasel!

[@robertdudley4017]

More blood shed in the name of religion, so many men and women paid with their lives for their beliefs.

[@sharoncole8249]

💖👑👑💖xx

[@1aikane]

Barbarism. Backwardness. Hideous history of cruel and unenlightened people.

[@mickowen568]

im surprised some king seemed 2 die every day

[@Pembroke1]

Well he may have been executed but they got just deserts

[@stevekaczynski3793]

I suspect it was wishful thinking - they may not have had such bad ends, or at any rate not all of them.

[@annettefournier9655]

Thanks Claire. How could his wife have her baby in her arms if he was imprisoned 4 years earlier? The child would at least be 3 years old.

[@anneboleynfiles]

Looking at the account again, she's with another woman and it's not clear whose the baby is, but I know that Gwyn was given some freedom by his gaoler and his wife did visit.

[@dinawillert3524]

Interesting. Elizabethans weren't as tolerant as we have been brought up to think. (At least in the U.S.)

[@stevekaczynski3793]

Where did they get that idea? I thought Americans were taught that Puritans came to America to get away from government persecution and Dutch "wickedness"...

[@daver8521]

A very sad story. But I just do not understand such people. I am not the stuff of which martyrs are made. I would have outwardly conformed and kept my beliefs secret. It is almost as if all of these people. Catholic and Protestant, had a death wish.

[@curlytopkitty2468]

Me too..I would've sworn allegiance to a chair leg.....

[@anneboleynfiles]

People of the time were very aware that life was short, death was all around them, and they were far more concerned about the fate of their eternal souls.

[@curlytopkitty2468]

@@anneboleynfiles thats true....could do with a spot of that today......just a spot mind..!!😘

[@stevekaczynski3793]

@@anneboleynfiles I suspect they would have shrugged something like Covid off, not least because more lethal diseases were in circulation.

[@helenamcginty4920]

The Tudors tortured and executed far more people than the famed Spanish Inquisition. Henry Vlll had 37000 people executed. I know no more than the number. Not why.

[@SafetySpooon]

Half the remarks recorded would be *funny* if they weren't about so tragic an event.

[@rivinius1]

ora pro nobis

[@toffthe]

That morning, the day of his execution, he had a breakfast of a smoked salmon bagel with cream cheese and a small yoghurt