Executions in History Trivia Quiz

Answer: Jacques Pelletier

This French highwayman was executed at the Place de Grève in Paris on April 25, 1792.

Answer: Archbishop of Canterbury

The Protestant martyr, born in 1489, was one of the leaders of the English Reformation. A favorite of Henry VIII of England, he was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1533. He shaped history by ruling that Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon was invalid, therefore leaving the King free to divorce and marry again (and again, and again ...) Cranmer's success ended when Henry VIII died, leaving his daughter Mary as ruler. "Bloody Mary" ruthlessly set about purging England of Protestants, including the Archbishop, who was arrested in 1553 and sent to the Tower of London for treason.

He recanted his Protestant beliefs at least seven times, but to no avail; he was burned at the stake on March 21, 1556, right before which he recanted his recantations, dying a martyr for the Protestant cause.

Answer: First victim of the electric chair

The first execution by electrocution took place in Auburn Prison, New York, US, in 1890. In 1888, Governor David Hill signed legislation enabling the electric chair to be the method used for executing prisoners sentenced to death for crimes committed after January 1, 1889.

The prisons of Auburn, Clinton, and Sing Sing were chosen as the selected sites for this new device. On August 6, 1890, convicted murderer William Kemmler, alias John Hart, became the first person to legally die by this new method. Fifty-five more prisoners would sit in The Chair before it was destroyed by fire at the prison in 1929.

In the US, an alternating current of 2,000 volts is used to do the job; death is said to occur within two minutes after the current has started to flow (that's a long two minutes ...)

Answer: Texas

Charles Brooks, Jr, has the distinction of being the first person in America put to death by the new "humane" method known as lethal injection. Brooks, convicted of the murder of a car mechanic in 1976, was executed by the method whose development has been credited to Nazi war criminal Dr. Karl Brandt.

The injection given is actually a mixture of three drugs: sodium thiopental, which puts the victim to sleep; pancuronium bromide, a muscle relaxer which stops breathing; and potassium chloride, which stops the heart. Opponents of capital punishment point out that some prisoners take as long as 45 minutes to die by this method, sometimes exhibiting violent reactions.

Answer: Louis XVI

The beheading device known as the guillotine was invented by Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotin, a gentle French physician and one of the founders of Freemasonry in France. Appalled at the bungling executions he had seen, including slow hanging and beheading with dull axe blades, he decided to devise a swift and painless method of execution.

A primitive version of the guillotine had been invented in Italy around 1555, but was known to be ineffective. Around 1792, when the French Revolution was in full swing, Dr. Guillotin drew up the plans for a new and improved beheading machine.

It was King Louis XVI who, when looking over the plans, had the idea that a curved blade would probably be more efficient, as it would fit every shape of neck. He later had the chance to find out for himself; he was guillotined by revolutionaries in 1793 after being convicted of treason.

Answer: killing her husband

To the Elizabethans, the killing of a husband by his wife was regarded as one of the most heinous types of acts possible; it was actually considered a form of treason, as women were considered inferior beings. On March 15, 1551 six different people were tried, convicted of murder or complicity, and executed: Alice, her lover Morsby, one of the two assassins he had hired, two servants who had helped to dispose of the body, and Morsby's sister. Alice had become bored with her marriage to Thomas Arden, the mayor of Faversham, and became involved with Morsby, a tailor. Unhappy with the arrangement, Morsby hired two killers to stab and bludgeon the husband in his home, then drag his body to a nearby field; not the brightest of criminals, they left a trail of blood and footprints in the snow, leading from the body to the victim's house. Alice, her maidservant, and the hired assassin who was caught were burned alive; Morsby and his sister were hanged; and the other servant was hung in chains.

Answer: Friday

Christ was executed on a Friday, which is believed to be the reason that many cultures considered Friday, especially Friday the 13th, an unlucky day. However, for whatever reason, Friday was the traditional day of execution in many cultures.

Answer: Quaker

Mary Dyer, born in England in 1610, has become known as a Quaker martyr. Mary and her husband emigrated to America, where they joined the Boston church; they later returned to England, where Mary became a Quaker. Upon returning to the colony of Massachusetts, she was arrested under an anti-Quaker law, but released.

She went to the colony of Rhode Island, which was founded in the name of religious tolerance, but returned to Massachusetts in 1659 to support two imprisoned fellow Quakers. This time, she was sentenced to death; she was hanged on May 31, 1660.

Answer: Cesare Beccaria

Capital punishment, by various methods, is as old as recorded history. It was not until the mid-eighteenth century, the era known as the Age of Enlightenment, that the intellectuals of Europe began to question the morality of this form of punishment. In 1764 Italian jurist and philosopher Cesare Beccaria published his "Tratto dei delitti e delle pene (Essay on Crimes and Punishments)", which is generally regarded as the catalyst of the anti-death penalty movement. Beccaria was later joined by Diderot, Voltaire, Hume, Adam Smith, and Thomas Paine, all of whom spoke out against what they percieved to be the unfairness and barbarity of capital punishment.

Answer: corruption of morals of youth

The Greek philosopher Socrates (469-399 BC) was convicted in 399 BC of corrupting the morals of the Greek youth by introducing them to his philosophies. Socrates was charged with neglecting the state deities in favor of his own religious ideals; he often made reference to a "daemonion", or mystical inner voice.

He was also misidentified as a Sophist and regarded as a threat to democracy. Although a group of his friends had a prison break planned for him, Socrates preferred to die a martyr for his cause.