Editing Lord Guildford Dudley (section)

==Execution==	

Queen Mary I's plan to marry [[Philip II of Spain|King Philip of Naples and Sicily]] (the future Philip II of Spain) was greeted with widespread opposition, not just among the populace but also among [[Member of Parliament|Members of Parliament]] and privy councillors. [[Thomas Wyatt's rebellion]] in early 1554, in which the Duke of Suffolk took part, resulted from this dislike.<ref>Ives 2009 pp. 261–262</ref> It was not the intention of the conspirators to bring Jane Grey to the throne again. Nevertheless, at the height of the military crisis around 7&nbsp;February, the government decided to execute Jane and her husband for high treason, of which they had both been found guilty. It was also an opportunity to remove possible inspirations for future unrest and unwelcome reminders of the past.<ref>Ives 2009 pp. 265–268</ref> It troubled Mary to let her cousin die, but she accepted the Privy Council's advice.<ref>Porter 2007 p. 302</ref> Bishop Gardiner pressed for the young couple's execution in a court sermon,<ref name="Ives p. 268">Ives 2009 p. 268</ref> and the Imperial ambassador [[Simon Renard]] was happy to report that "Jane of Suffolk and her husband are to lose their heads."<ref>Chapman 1962 p. 190</ref>

The day before their executions, Guildford asked Jane for a last meeting, which she refused, explaining it "would only ... increase their misery and pain, it was better to put it off ... as they would meet shortly elsewhere, and live bound by indissoluble ties."<ref>Ives 2009 p. 274</ref> Around ten o'clock in the morning of 12 February, Guildford was led towards Tower Hill, where "many ... gentlemen" waited to shake hands with him.<ref>Nichols 1850 p. 55; Ives 2009 p. 274–275</ref> Guildford made a short speech to the assembled crowd, as was customary.<ref>Chapman 1962 p. 204</ref> "Having no ghostly father with him",<ref name="Nichols p. 55">Nichols 1850 p. 55</ref>{{#tag:ref|Guildford had probably refused to be attended by a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] priest and been denied a [[Protestant]] divine (Nichols p. 55).|group="note"}} he knelt, prayed, and asked the people to pray for him, "holding up his eyes and hands to God many times".<ref name="Ives p. 275"/> He was killed with one stroke of the axe, after which his body was conveyed on a cart to the Tower chapel of [[Church of St Peter ad Vincula|St Peter ad Vincula]]. Watching the scene from her window, Jane exclaimed: "Oh, Guildford, Guildford!"<ref name="Ives p. 275"/> He was buried in the chapel with Jane, who was dead within the hour.<ref>Chapman 1962 p. 203</ref>

The executions did not contribute to Mary's or the government's popularity.<ref name="Ives p. 275"/> Five months after the couple's death, [[John Knox]], the famous Scottish [[Protestant Reformation|reformer]], wrote of them as "innocents ... such as by just laws and faithful witnesses can never be proved to have offended by themselves."<ref name="Ives p. 268"/> Of Guildford, the chronicler Grafton wrote ten years later: "even those that never before the time of his execution saw him, did with lamentable tears bewail his death."<ref name="Ives p. 275"/>