Alice Arden

Alice Arden (1516-1551) was a well-born woman who conspired to have her husband, Thomas Arden, brutally murdered so she could carry on with a long-term affair with a tailor, Richard Mosby.

Alice tried for two years to have her husband murdered. She tried to poison him on several occasions. She enjoined her lover in the plot as well as a sworn adversary of her husband, who found two nefarious characters, Black Will and George Shakebag to carry out the deed. They followed Arden around for two days but failed to find an opportunity. Ultimately, Black Will hid in closet while Arden was lured with a game of backgammon with Moseby. Arden had his back turned to the closet and Moseby distracted him by exhorting the predetermined cue to signal Black Will: "Now I may take you, Sir!". Black Will jumped from the closet and strangled Arden with a towel. Mosby struck Arden with a fourteen pound pressing iron. Alice, to make certain that her husband was indeed dead, stabbed him seven or eight times.

Alice Arden was found guilty of the crime of murder and burnt at the stake. Her co-conspirators were all rounded up and executed with various means and at different locations.

References

*Wilson, Colin. "The Mammoth Book of True Crime". New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1998. ISBN 0-7867-0536-1

Further reading

* [http://www.exclassics.com/newgate/ng4.htm Newgate Calendar entry]
*Chambers Book of Days [http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/nov/23.htm November 23rd]
* [http://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/arden.html Arden of Feversham--a play]