On this date in 1554, rebel leader Thomas Wyatt the Younger tied on his own blindfold and laid his head on the block, having declared that not “any other now in your durance [i.e., the Tower] was privy to my rising” That remark exculpated the Princess Elizabeth, who just days before had been ominously rowed to the Tower on suspicion of having known of or involved herself in Wyatt‘s abortive revolt. And Wyatt had had to do more than talk the talk to keep the future Queen Elizabeth I out of the executioner’s way. Sore afraid that Wyatt’s rebellion had...