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ALICE LISLE (c. 1614-1685)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 775 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALICE See also:

LISLE (c. 1614-1685)  , commonly known as See also:Lady Alice See also:Lisle, was See also:born about 1614 . Her See also:father, See also:Sir See also:White Beckenshaw, was descended from an old See also:Hampshire See also:family; her See also:husband, See also:John Lisle (d . 1664), had been one of the See also:judges at the trial of See also:Charles I., and was subsequently a member of See also:Cromwell's See also:House of Lords—hence his wife's See also:courtesy See also:title . Lady Lisle seems to have leaned to Royalism, but with this attitude she combined a decided sympathy with religious dissent . On the loth of See also:July 1685, a fortnight after the See also:battle of Sedgemoor, the old lady consented to shelter John See also:Hickes, a well-known See also:Nonconformist See also:minister, at her See also:residence, Moyles See also:Court, near See also:Ringwood . Hickes, who was a fugitive from See also:Monmouth's See also:army, brought with him See also:Richard Nelthorpe, also a partizan of Monmouth, and under See also:sentence of See also:outlawry . The two men passed the See also:night at Moyles Court, and on the following See also:morning were arrested, and their hostess, who had denied their presence in the house, was charged with harbouring traitors . Her See also:case was tried by See also:Judge See also:Jeffreys at the opening of the "Bloody Assizes " at See also:Winchester . She pleaded that she had no knowledge that Hickes's offence was anything more serious than illegal See also:preaching, that she had known nothing previously of Nelthorpe (whose name was not included in the See also:indictment, but was, nevertheless, mentioned to strengthen the case for the See also:Crown), and that she had no sympathy with the See also:rebellion . The See also:jury reluctantly found her guilty, and, the See also:law recognizing no distinction between principals and accessories in See also:treason, she was sentenced to be burned . Jeffreys ordered that the sentence should be carried out that same afternoon, but a few days' See also:respite was subsequently granted, and See also:James II. allowed See also:beheading to be substituted for burning . Lady Lisle was executed in Winchester See also:market-See also:place on the 2nd of See also:September 1685 .

By many writers her See also:

death has been termed a judicial See also:murder, and one of the first acts of See also:parliament of See also:William and See also:Mary reversed the See also:attainder on the ground that the See also:prosecution was irregular and the See also:verdict injuriously extorted by " the menaces and viclences and other illegal practices " of Jeffreys . It is, however, extremely doubtful whether Jeffreys, for all his See also:gross brutality, exceeded the strict See also:letter of the existing law . See See also:Howell, See also:State Trials; H . B . See also:Irving, See also:Life of Judge Jeffreys; See also:Stephen, See also:History of the Criminal Law of See also:England .

End of Article: ALICE LISLE (c. 1614-1685)
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Additional information and Comments

A new book about Alice Lisle is now available. "The Regicide's Widow - Lady Alice Lisle and the Bloody Assize". By Antony Whitaker. (Sutton Publishing)Foreword by Lord Bingham, England's Senior Law Lord
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