- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Sutton Publishing Ltd; illustrated edition edition (22 Nov 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 075094434X
- ISBN-13: 978-0750944342
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.6 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 476,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Rebellion, persecution and injustice in Restoration England are the themes of this colourful and passionate book about the last woman to be beheaded in England. Lady Alice Lisle was the last remaining link with the hated regicides, the men who signed Charles I's death warrant, and when she gave shelter to a clergyman who had been involved in the popular uprising known as Monmouth's Rebellion, Judge Jeffreys, the 'Hanging Judge', showed no mercy. "The Regicide's Widow" recreates a disturbing period of British history through the characters of Lady Alice Lisle and Judge Jeffreys, a period when fairness, justice and truth were cast aside in the interests of political power and conformity. It is a truly Machiavellian story of statecraft, with government and judiciary involved in a ruthless display of might. In the end this display worked against them, for while it did not lead to direct revolt, the effects were so harsh and memories so vivid that the people of the West were among the most energetic supporters of the Glorious Revolution which three years after the Bloody Assize brought James' rule to an end.
About the Author
Antony Whitaker OBE is a barrister and was for many years legal manager of Times Newspapers Ltd. He has written extensively for The Times and the Sunday Times and lives in East Sussex.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I found this an enthralling read. Dame Alice Lisle, beheaded in 1685 on a charge of treason, has long been regarded as the victim of a dire miscarriage of justice - perpetrated in particular by the notorious Judge Jeffreys. Antony Whitaker's fascinating revelation is that, although her trial was a virtual travesty, she was not in fact innocent but almost certainly guilty of the vengeful charge brought against her at the time. His book, I believe, proves this conclusively.
There are two kinds of such miscarriages. One is when an innocent person is wrongly convicted. The other is when someone may nor may not be guilty but should NOT have been convicted because of the flawed manner in which the trial was conducted. No one can doubt that Dame Alice was a victim of the latter, especially in the light of the contemporary source material on which Whitaker draws. I am full of admiration for the depth and breadth of his research. Yet in no way does the extent of detail get in the way of the narrative thread. Were it not for the wretched fate of the woman concerned, one could describe it as a rattling good yarn.
En route, nevertheless, the author interjects some shrewd personal observations. To cite two examples: in his introduction, he notes that, although her case was 300 years old, the establishment had still not fully learned the lessons from it. Even in the 1980s, "the system buckled under public outrage at terrorist bombings and the need to assuage it with putting culprits, actual or supposed, speedily behind bars". Again, in his chapter on "The Law of Treason - Then and Now", he points out that in cases of royal adultery (from Anne Boleyn to Diana, Princess of Wales), the woman is guilty under the law although the king or the heir to the throne, whatever his philanderings, is not.
As a former magistrate, I naturally had a close interesty in the cut-and-thrust of the legal proceedings as directed by Jeffreys. Taking into account the judge's political priorities, the government's desire for retribution and the fearful atmosphere after the abortive Monmouth rebellion, Whitaker has been as even-handed about Jeffreys' character as he could be. Yet he shows incontrovertibly that the man's behaviour was appalling and went beyond the pale even by the laxer standards of his day.
What an irony, then, in the author's comment that, if the Crown had done its homework more thoroughly, it could easily have demonstrated Dame Alice's guilt - without bending the rules or bucking the system, as Jeffreys did.
In short, you don't need to be a lawyer to find this book absorbing.
There are two kinds of such miscarriages. One is when an innocent person is wrongly convicted. The other is when someone may nor may not be guilty but should NOT have been convicted because of the flawed manner in which the trial was conducted. No one can doubt that Dame Alice was a victim of the latter, especially in the light of the contemporary source material on which Whitaker draws. I am full of admiration for the depth and breadth of his research. Yet in no way does the extent of detail get in the way of the narrative thread. Were it not for the wretched fate of the woman concerned, one could describe it as a rattling good yarn.
En route, nevertheless, the author interjects some shrewd personal observations. To cite two examples: in his introduction, he notes that, although her case was 300 years old, the establishment had still not fully learned the lessons from it. Even in the 1980s, "the system buckled under public outrage at terrorist bombings and the need to assuage it with putting culprits, actual or supposed, speedily behind bars". Again, in his chapter on "The Law of Treason - Then and Now", he points out that in cases of royal adultery (from Anne Boleyn to Diana, Princess of Wales), the woman is guilty under the law although the king or the heir to the throne, whatever his philanderings, is not.
As a former magistrate, I naturally had a close interesty in the cut-and-thrust of the legal proceedings as directed by Jeffreys. Taking into account the judge's political priorities, the government's desire for retribution and the fearful atmosphere after the abortive Monmouth rebellion, Whitaker has been as even-handed about Jeffreys' character as he could be. Yet he shows incontrovertibly that the man's behaviour was appalling and went beyond the pale even by the laxer standards of his day.
What an irony, then, in the author's comment that, if the Crown had done its homework more thoroughly, it could easily have demonstrated Dame Alice's guilt - without bending the rules or bucking the system, as Jeffreys did.
In short, you don't need to be a lawyer to find this book absorbing.
Format:Hardcover
Antony Whitaker combines his legal experience and local knowledge of the Winchester area to put Lady Alice Lisle's treason trial following the Monmouth rebellion under the microscope. He examines the conduct of the trial by the nortorious Judge Jeffreys as well as providing an overview of the criminal legal process of the time compared with today's practice. This sort of detail is very helpful to a reader in understanding this particular piece of English History. Don't skip the Notes at the end, they are as informative as the main text.
Format:Hardcover
What reviewers have said:
"a compulsive account .. a superbly researched book" - John Cooper in The
Times
"History writing at its best; passionate, informative and thoroughly
enjoyable" - Yorkshire Evening Post
"Enthralling" - forensic scientist
"He tells a good story, interweaving the contemporary text with his own
commentary in a most effective way" - Times Literary Supplement
"A fascinating forensic examination" - Hampshire Chronicle
"a compulsive account .. a superbly researched book" - John Cooper in The
Times
"History writing at its best; passionate, informative and thoroughly
enjoyable" - Yorkshire Evening Post
"Enthralling" - forensic scientist
"He tells a good story, interweaving the contemporary text with his own
commentary in a most effective way" - Times Literary Supplement
"A fascinating forensic examination" - Hampshire Chronicle
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Insight and intrigue
The book is a scholarly, well researched and informed account of Lady Alice Lisle; the last woman to be beheaded in England. Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2007 by Mr. Frazer Chapman
Bloody good
Sometimes truth works better than fiction. In Anthony Whitaker's story of the truncation of Lady Alice Lisle, this is certainly the case. Read more
Published on 22 Jan 2007 by G. Abernethy
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