Famous Last Words : I Trivia Quiz

Answer: Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII. Henry and Anne were married in 1533, and, having failed to give the king his longed-for son, Anne fell victim to Henry's wrath. (Henry obviously didn't know about X and Y chromosomes and that it is the father who determines the sex of the child.) A tissue of trumped up charges - including one of committing incest with her brother George, Lord Rochford - was filed against Anne, and she met her end, gallantly, on Tower Green. Little did Henry know it, but the daughter Anne bore would grow up to be Elizabeth I, one of the greatest monarchs ever to occupy the English throne.

Henry made at least one concession in the manner of Anne's execution; he sent for a swordsman from France to carry out the deed, rather than subjecting that slender neck to the axe. Both Lady Jane Grey's and Mary Queen of Scots' last words were, "Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." While Catherine (the fifth unfortunate wife of Henry VIII), who died accused of adultery, said, "I die a queen, but I would rather die the wife of Thomas Culpepper." (Which rather served to prove the charge against her, I think.)

Answer: Thomas Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, was burned at the stake in 1556, during the reign of Mary I. Thomas, who was the fellow who devised the means by which Henry VIII divorced Catherine of Aragon (by declaring himself head of the Church in England, based on an old English law that no one in England - not even the Pope - had supremacy over the king,) had earned the undying hatred of Mary Tudor.

In 1556, Cranmer was charged with treason and heresy, but foiled his accusers by recanting his Protestantism, which should have spared him under Mary's own Heresy Act. Such was her dislike of Cranmer, however, that Mary had him sentenced to death anyway. On the day of his execution, Cranmer publicly renounced his recantation and as the faggots around his stake were lit, he thrust his right hand, with which he had signed the document of recantation, into the flames, crying out "That unworthy hand! That unworthy hand!".

He held it there until the horrified crowd could see that it was burned to a coal. Joan of Arc's last words as she was burned at the stake were, "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Blessed be God." I could find no record of the last words of Lord Tennyson, but he could have done worse than to use the last two lines of his famous poem 'Crossing the Bar' (look them up).

There doesn't seem to be any record of Benedict Arnold's last words either, but they might have been "Boy, did I pick the wrong side."

Answer: Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) is generally regarded as the leading German writer. Few people know, however, that he was also a scientist and a politician, and served for ten years as a Minister of State in Weimar. Lord Byron, who died in 1824, is reputed to have said, "Now I shall go to sleep. Good night", which seems a trifle mundane for a romantic poet. John Keats last words were addressed to his friend Joseph Severn, "Severn, lift me up. I am dying. I shall die easy. Don't be frightened, be firm, and thank God it has come." Copernicus died in a cerebral haemorrhage-induced coma, so it is unlikely he said anything at all. If he did, it would probably have been something about his book 'De Revolutionibus', the newly printed copy of which was brought to him on his deathbed.

Answer: King Charles I

King Charles I was the first King of England to be tried (for treason in the novel form of waging war against his own subjects) and publicly executed. Those of High Church persuasion in the Church of England regard him as a martyr (for the Anglican Church, not as a king).

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, Charles was the second son of James I of England, VI of Scotland, and became Prince of Wales on the death of his older brother Henry. When James died, Charles came to the throne. His stubborn belief in 'the Divine Right of Kings', his zealous High Churchmanship, and his imperious attitude toward Parliament precipitated the English Civil War in 1642, in which the Parliamentary forces, under the command of Oliver Cromwell, were victorious.

While little in Charles' life, except for his devotion to his church, his wife and his children, became him as king, he was certainly splendid in death. The morning of his execution was chilly, and rather than appear to be shivering from fright, Charles is said to have worn several garments under the shift in which he was beheaded.

The cryptic "Remember" was addressed to the crowd assembled to witness the execution. Some were so moved by his dignity that they dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood, thus setting off the cult of King and Martyr (to this day the High Anglicans commemorate Charles on January 30 as a martyr). Marie Antoinette's last words at the guillotine were addressed to her children, "I go to join your father." Louis XVI's dying words protested his innocence of the crimes imputed to him and his actual last words were "Pray God that my blood does not fall upon France." Alexander Pope, poet, is reputed to have said "Friendship itself is but a part of virtue." I have no idea why that thought popped into his head at the last moment.

Answer: Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau, writer, pacifist, abolitionist, tax resister, and philosopher, is best known for his books 'Walden' and 'Civil Disobedience'. The last words quoted here are the official last words. Another version of his last words gives "Moose...Indian" as the dying utterance of the Sage of Concord, but I wasn't there, so I can't say for sure. Queen Victoria died with the Boer War on her mind, and her last words were, "Oh, that peace would come." I haven't the faintest idea (nor, seemingly, does anyone else) what Christian Dior said as he drew his last breath, and Caesar Augustus left this world asking his friends, "Do you think I have played my part pretty well in this farce of life?" Of course, he said it in Latin.

Answer: Jesus

According to the Gospel of St. John, Jesus' last words on the cross were, "It is finished". St. Luke, on the other hand, gives Jesus' last words as "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." The Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark say merely that Jesus gave a loud cry just before he died. I think I'm going to go with St. John, since he was the only one who was actually there! I could find no record of Shakespeare's last words, but he gave his characters some pips (my favourite: Hamlet's last words, "The rest is silence." What an exit line!) Edgar Allan Poe said, "Lord, help my soul!" and Charlemagne quoted Jesus' last words according to St. Luke.

Answer: Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I, arguably England's greatest queen, died in 1603 just before her 70th birthday, after ruling for over 44 years. Since she was something of a control freak, her last words are understandable. Louis XIV, the Sun King, the longest-ruling king of France, said, "Do not weep. Did you think I was immortal?", while Henry VIII left this world saying, "All is lost! Monks, monks, monks!" (Maybe he regretted dissolving the monasteries). Oliver Cromwell's last words were, "My design is to make what haste I can to be gone." A wish shared by all those who couldn't wait to see the last of him so that they could celebrate Christmas again!

Answer: Ulysses S. Grant

Grant (1822-1885) was the 18th president of the United States, and while his military achievements far exceeded those of his political career, in the years following the Civil War, Grant was able to preserve the peace during the period of reconstruction, and garnered respect in both the North and the South. Robert E. Lee's dying words were, "I think I'm going to make it." (Wrong!) Harry S Truman (there is no period/full stop after the S, since it is not the initial of his second name - he had no second name), was finding it difficult to breathe let alone speak at the time of his death.

However, practically one of the last things he said, when asked how he was feeling, was "Better." Obviously, an optimist to the last. Eisenhower's last words were, "I want to go. God, take me." God did.

Answer: Henry Ward Beecher

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' fame, was a famed Congregationalist preacher and evangelist. Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910) was the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. There's no record (that I could find) of her dying words, but her last written words were, "God is my life." Martin Luther's dying words were, "Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. You have saved me, thou faithful God." And the final utterance of St. John Chrysostom were, "Glory be to God for all things."

Answer: Thomas Wolsey

Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey (either 1471, 1473 or 1475-1530), was the most powerful cleric in England in the early years of the reign of Henry VIII, and served as Lord Chancellor to the king (1515-1529). He fell from favour after he failed to secure Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, and was ordered by Henry to present himself in London to stand trial for treason. Wolsey died at Leicester, on his way to London.

Another version of his last words goes, "If I had served my God as diligently as I have served my king, He would not have given me over in my grey hairs." Thomas a Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was struck down in Canterbury Cathedral by four knights of Henry II, is said to have cried out, "I am prepared to die for Christ and His Church." "Oh my poor soul, what is to become of you. Where do you go?" were the last words of Cardinal Mazarin (1602-1661), successor to his mentor Cardinal Richelieu. Mazarin was an adept diplomat, and served as principal minister and de facto ruler of France during the minority of Louis XIV. If Richelieu (1585-1642) said anything when he was dying, no one seems to have thought to write it down.

Born Armand du Plessis, the Duc de Richelieu was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Louis XIII's chief minister. He gets very bad press in Alexandre Dumas' great novel 'The Three Musketeers', but you can't believe everything you read.