The Acrostic Paradise Lost by John Milton and Terrance Lindall

The axe you’ve illustrated is a socket axe, and it has a relatively
slim blade next to the socket compared to our example. I have yet
to be convinced that a separate category of axes exist purely for
beheading, and illustrations of executions (trustworthy
contemporary ones are surprisingly few and far between) show a
variety of heads and handle lengths being used. The execution of
Charles I illustrated shows a very square bladed axe with short
handle and Charles kneeling up to what appears to be a
substantial trunk of tree. The executioner was disguised with fake
beard and cap, and Charles questioned the small size of the
block causing him to have to lay down on it – much as the Earl of
Essex is recorded as doing in 1601. There were simply not
enough beheadings to justify a specific type – however
bloodthirsty we regard the past as. Beheading axes became so
through use – and anything that lopped off a tree branch would
do equal service in decapitation.
Bridget Clifford (Mrs)
Keeper of Tower Armouries
HM Tower of London
! 185!