Background
Felton had been wounded in the duke's disastrously managed military expedition of 1627 against the French at La Rochelle and he held a personal grudge against his victim who, he believed, had corruptly withheld some of his pay and deprived him of advancement.
Buckingham was hugely unpopular in the land for the national disgrace of defeat by the French although, with the help of the king, Charles I, he had avoided legal moves against him by Parliament for corruption and incompetence. Shortly after the murder Felton presented himself before the crowd that had gathered and, expecting to be well received, announced his guilt. He was immediately arrested and taken before magistrates, who sent him to London for interrogation.
The privy council attempted to have Felton questioned under torture on the rack, but the judges resisted, unanimously declaring its use to be contrary to the laws of England. While awaiting trial his actions were widely celebrated in poems and pamphlets, but the process of law took its course and he was hanged at Tyburn on 29 November 1628. In a miscalculation by authorities, his body was sent back to Portsmouth for exhibition where, rather than becoming a lesson in disgrace, it was made an object of veneration.
Read more about this topic: John Felton (assassin)
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