The Roose case continued to ferment popular imagination and was still being cited in law into the next century. Henry eventually broke with the Catholic Church and married Boleyn, but his new Act against Poisoning did not long outlive him, as it was repealed almost immediately by his son Edward VI. These two attacks, and Roose's execution, seem to have prompted Fisher to leave London before the end of the sitting parliament, to the King's advantage.įisher was put to death in 1535 for his opposition to the Acts of Supremacy that established the English monarch as head of the Church of England. There appears to have been at least one other attempt on Fisher's life when a cannon was fired towards Fisher's residence from the direction of her father, Thomas, Earl of Wiltshire's, house in London on this occasion, no-one was hurt, but much damage was done to the roof. Fisher was vociferous both in his defence of Katherine and attacks on Boleyn, and contemporaries rumoured that the poisoning at Lambeth could have been either her or her father's responsibility, with or without the knowledge of the King. Roose was boiled to death at London's Smithfield in April 1532.įisher was already unpopular with the King as Henry wished to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn, an act the Church forbade. King Henry VIII-who already had a morbid fear of poisoning-addressed the House of Lords on the case and was probably responsible for an act of parliament which attainted Roose and retroactively made murder by poison a treasonous offence mandating execution by boiling. Roose was arrested and tortured for information. Fisher survived the poisoning as, for an unknown reason, he ate nothing that day. Roose claimed that he had been given the powder by a stranger and claimed it was intended to be a joke-believing he was incapacitating his fellow servants rather than killing anyone. Two people-a member of Fisher's household, Burnet Curwen, and a beggar, Alice Tryppyt-died. Roose was accused of adding a white powder to porridge given to Fisher's dining guests and servants, as well as beggars to whom the food was given as charity. Nothing is known of Roose (including his real name) or his life outside of the case he may have been Fisher's household cook, or less likely, a friend of the cook, at Fisher's residence in Lambeth. Richard Roose (also known as Richard Rouse, Richard Cooke or Richard Rose) was accused in early 1531 of poisoning members of the household of the Englishman John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, for which he was boiled to death.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |