Smithfield appears as an execution site in the aftermath of the northern uprising, where Margaret Bulmer was burned after being accused of helping her husband, Sir John Bulmer, evade capture. Her death is paired with his execution at Tyburn, making the two locations part of the account’s stark contrast between the punishments imposed on a married couple.

Execution at Smithfield

Authorities arrested Margaret Bulmer because, believing the uprising had failed, she had begged her husband to run away. Her own chaplain testified against her. The narrative presents her sentence as punishment not only for this alleged assistance but for her devotion to her husband: she was burned at Smithfield, while Sir John was hanged and quartered at Tyburn.

Place in the Aftermath of the Uprising

Smithfield is one destination in a wider wave of trials in which those brought to London were found guilty. The executions make the crackdown visible through specific places and forms of punishment: Margaret’s burning at Smithfield stands alongside her husband’s death at Tyburn, and both are framed as consequences of the authorities’ prosecution of people connected with the northern revolt.