Famous Words in the Middle Ages
As the French Queen Marie Antoinette ascended the stairs to the guillotine, she accidentally stepped on the foot of the executioner and said, «Forgive me, sire, I did not mean to». The executioners of Mary, Queen of Scots, knelt before her and asked for Her Majesty’s forgiveness, to which she replied, «I forgive you with all my heart, for now I hope you will end all my troubles».
Robert Childers, the Irish politician, said to his firing squad, «Step forward boys, it will make it easier». The man died with honor as he made his son promise to shake the hand of every judge who signed his death warrant.
Henry VIII condemned St. Thomas More to death for not accepting his supremacy over the church. When the executioner raised his axe, More asked him to put away his long gray beard, for it had committed no treason and did not deserve to be cut off.
