Walsingham considered torture necessary to combat the Catholic threat, writing that 'without torture, I know we shall not prevail,' and Campion was subsequently racked so brutally that he lost the use of his hand before being executed as a traitor.
Tom Holland describes how Walsingham justified torture as essential to the security state — 'without torture, I know we shall not prevail' — and how Campion, who had braced for such treatment in his letter, was repeatedly racked until he could no longer sign his name, then hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. ✦ AI generated
Tom Holland · The Rest Is History · 2026-07-27 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 118:57
But little ease is not to be the worst. Because the rack is waiting. And people may be wondering, well, what's the status of torture in England at this time? Torture is illegal. But at the same time, Wolsingham is convinced that it has to be applied. So he had written to Burley in 1575, without torture, I know we shall not prevail. So I think for Walssingham it's a no-brainer. So Campion in his brag that letter he'd written that was meant to be private but which had gone viral. He had declared his defiance of Elizabeth's judicial authorities by directly namechecking the prospect of torture. So he said while we have a man left to enjoy your tyburn where people hanged or to be racked with torments or to be consumed with your prisons you know we will keep coming and he was right to dread what the Protestant authorities would do because in the tower he is repeatedly racked and it's so brutal that he loses the use of his pen hand.
verbatim transcript · starts at 118:57
118:57nor rise to your feet. So he spends three days there. It must have been agony. But little ease is not to be the worst. Um because the rack is waiting. And people may be wondering, well, you know, what's the status of torture in England at this time? Torture is illegal. But at the same time, Wolsingham is convinced that it has to be applied. So he had written to Burley
119:23in 1575, without torture, I know we shall not prevail. >> Got it. very war on terror >> kind of Dick Cheney, isn't it? What was it? Um enhanced interrogation techniques. Uh it's a no-brainer. So I think for Walssingham it's a no-brainer. So Campion in his brag that letter he'd written that was meant to be private but which had gone viral. He had declared his defiance of of um Elizabeth's
119:47judicial authorities by directly namechecking the prospect of torture. So he said while we have a man left to enjoy your tyburn where people hanged or to be racked with torments or to be consumed with your prisons you know we will keep coming and he was right to dread what the uh what the Protestant authorities would do because in the tower he is repeatedly racked and it's so brutal that he loses the use of his
120:12pen hand. So people may remember that guy forks you know you can look at the his signature before and after he's been racked. Campion has it so badly that he can't even sign a paper. And when he's not being tortured, he's being subjected to various inquiries. So there's a judicial inquiry led by uh Robert Beal. There's a big theological debate which is staged in the parish church of the
120:34tower and Campion is only allowed the Bible. So he's not allowed any other books, no no other reference books. And then there a public trial is staged in Westminster Hall in November 1581. And throughout all these processes, the core argument is the one that we were talking about earlier. Is his mission a pastoral one or is it blatant treason? And this is, you know, they just keep going over and over and
121:02over it and there's never really any doubt as to what the verdict is going to be. So on the 20th of November, Campion is convicted not of heresy, not of any crime of conscience, but as an offender against a statute against treason that had been passed in the reign of Edward III 220 years before. So he is convicted as a traitor. >> Yeah. >> And on the 1st of December, he suffers