This composite, full-page woodcut insert illustrates the poisoning of John, King of England. In the upper right, a Swinstead Abbey monk ("Ego absoluo te &c." ["I absolve you, etc."]) absolves another monk, in advance, of the guilt he will incur when he poisons the king. In the lower right, the monk prepares the poison ("Here the Monk tempereth his poyson." ["Here the monk tempers his poison."]). In the lower center, the monk delivers the poison to the king ("King Iohn presented with a cup of poyson by a Monk drinking unto him." ["King John presented with a cup of poison by a monk drinking unto him"]), saying "Wassail mylige." ["Wassail, my liege?"]. John forces the monk to drink first, and the deaths of both follow: in the upper center, "King Iohn ded of poiso[n]." ["King John dead of poison."]; in the upper left, "The Monk dead of the poyson he drank to the king." ["The monk dead of the poison he drank to the king."]. In the lower left, the monk's fellows commemorate his death with a Mass held in his honor: "A perpetual masse sung daylye in Swinstead for the Monk, that poysoned the King." ["A perpetual Mass sung daily in Swinstead for the monk that poisoned the king"]. This woodcut appears in the first through fourth editions (1563, 1570, 1576, and 1583). Luborsky and Ingram 11222/3, 11223/3. JPEG file (2.33 MB).
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