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Famous People Beheaded, Decapitated or Guillotined

1 - 16 of 16 Historically important and notable famous people beheaded, decapitated or guillotined ranked by their popularity on On This Day.

List of Deaths from Decapitation

  • 0029-08-29 John the Baptist, beheaded
  • 0258-08-06 Saint Sixtus II, bishop of Rome (257-58), beheaded under orders of Emperor Valerian
  • 0303-04-23 Saint George, Greek officer in the Roman army, beheaded. Patron saint of many lands including England
  • 0309-02-16 Pamphilus van Caesarea, Palestinian scholar and martyr, beheaded
  • 0680-10-10 Hazrat Hussein ibn Ali (RA), Muhammad's (SAW) grandson (b. 626) beheaded
  • 0922-03-27 Al-Hallaj al-Mughith-al-Hsayn Mansur, Persian mystic, beheaded at 64
  • 1076-05-31 Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria and the last Anglo-Saxon earl, beheaded after rebelling against William the Conquorer
  • 1238-03-04 Yuri II, Grand Prince of Vladimir, beheaded by his own forces after being caught by Mongolian forces (b. 1189)
  • 1250-08-09 King Eric IV of Denmark (1241-1250), beheaded after being betrayed by his brother (b. 1216)
  • 1268-10-19 Konradin von Hohenstaufen, duke of Zwaben, beheaded
  • 1268-10-29 Conradin, Last Duke of Swabia (1254-68) and son of Conrad IV of Germany, captured and beheaded in Naples at 16
  • 1268-10-29 Frederick I, Margrave of Baden (beheaded) (b. 1249)
  • 1305-08-23 Scottish patriot William Wallace is hanged, disemboweled and beheaded at Smithfield, London
  • 1312-06-19 Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall and favourite of Edward II of England beheaded at 27 or 28
  • 1330-03-19 Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, son of Edward I, beheaded for plotting against the king at 28
  • 1381-06-14 Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury (1375-81) and Chancellor, beheaded during the Peasants' Revolt
  • 1381-06-15 Wat Tyler, leader of English Peasants' Revolt is beheaded in London
  • 1474-05-09 Peter van Hagenbach, Elzasser knight & land guardian, beheaded at 54
  • 1476-08-04 Jacob van Armagnac-Pardiac, French duke of Nemours, beheaded
  • 1483-06-13 William Hastings, English influential supporter of Edward VI, beheaded at the Tower of London by future Richard III (b. c. 1430)
  • 1483-06-25 Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, English noble and writer (translated Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers, possibly 1st book printed in English), beheaded on orders of future Richard III (b. c. 1440)
  • 1483-11-02 Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English politician, beheaded at 49
  • 1489-04-06 Hans Waldmann, Swiss military/mayor (Zurich), beheaded
  • 1492-06-16 Jan Coppenhole, Flemish rebel leader, beheaded
  • 1495-02-16 William Stanley, English soldier and lord chamberlain, beheaded for treason against the king at about 59 [birth date undocumented]
  • 1499-11-28 Edward Plantagenet, English, 17th Count of Warwick, last Plantagenet heir, beheaded for treason at 24
  • 1510-08-17 Edmund Dudley, English treasurer and author (Tree of Commonwealth), beheaded for treason on orders of King Henry VIII
  • 1510-08-17 Richard Empson, English treasurer, beheaded on orders of Henry VIII at 59 or 60
  • 1512-11-16 Gerbrand Mockema, Fries rebel, beheaded
  • 1512-11-16 Jemme Herjuwsma, Fries rebel, beheaded
  • 1522-08-11 Martin Siebenborger, mayor of Vienna, beheaded
  • 1528-11-30 Great Wierd, Dutch Gelderland army commander, beheaded
  • 1531-03-20 Sicke Freerks/Frericx [Cutter], Dutch anabaptist, beheaded
  • 1531-12-06 John Volkertsz Trimaker, Dutch anabaptist leader, beheaded
  • 1535-06-22 John Fisher, British Catholic clergyman (Bishop of Rochester, 1504-35; Cardinal, 1535), martyr, and saint, executed and beheaded by order of Henry VIII at about 65
  • 1535-07-06 Thomas More, English philosopher, Renaissance humanist, author (Utopia), statesman (Lord Chancellor 1529-32), and Catholic saint, beheaded for treason at 57
  • 1535-07-10 Jacob Van Campen, Reconstruction bishop, beheaded
  • 1536-05-17 George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford, English brother of Anna Boleyn, beheaded after being tried and convicted for high treason and incest at 32
  • 1536-05-19 Anne Boleyn, Queen of England (1533-36), second wife of Henry VIII, beheaded at the Tower of London on charges of adultery, incest and treason, at between age 28 to 35
  • 1538-07-08 Diego de Almagro, Castilian-Spanish conquistador of Chile and Peru, as "El Adelantado", executed by garotte and beheaded at Las Salinas at about 63 (born c. 1475)
  • 1539-08-28 Lieven Pain, Flemish, beheaded at about 75
  • 1541-05-27 Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury, daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, beheaded at 67 for treason in Tower of London by Henry VIII
  • 1542-02-13 Catherine Howard, Queen of England (1540-42), 5th wife of Henry VIII, beheaded at 18 or 19 for adultery
  • 1542-02-13 Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford, sister-in-law of King Henry VIII of England, beheaded in the Tower of London at 36 or 37
  • 1545-11-28 Jacob van Liesveld, printer/"heretic" (Refeyen), beheaded
  • 1547-01-19 Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, army commander/poet, beheaded at 29
  • 1549-03-20 Thomas Seymour of Sudely, English Lord Admiral, beheaded
  • 1549-06-07 Eelke Fouckens, Frisian anabaptist, beheaded
  • 1550-11-07 Jon Arason, the last Roman Catholic bishop of Iceland prior to the reformation, beheaded in Skalholt with his two sons Are and Bjorn. (b. 1484)
  • 1552-01-22 Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, English Lord Protector (1547-49) beheaded for treason at 51 or 52
  • 1553-08-22 John Dudley, English Lord Admiral/premier (1551-53), beheaded
  • 1554-02-12 Jane Grey, Queen of England in 1553 for 9 days, beheaded for treason at 16
  • 1554-02-12 Lord Guildford Dudley, Jane Grey's husband, beheaded at about 19 for treason
  • 1568-06-01 18 nobles beheaded in Brussels for treason and heresy by Duke of Alva and authority of Council of Troubles
  • 1568-06-01 Gijsbert van Bronkhorst-Batenburg, calvinist leader, beheaded
  • 1568-06-05 Philips van Montmorency count of Horne, admiral/statesman, beheaded
  • 1568-09-24 Antoon van Stralen, Flemish mayor of Antwerp, beheaded at about 47
  • 1572-08-24 Gaspard de Châtillon, Count the Coligny, French admiral and Huguenot leader, who death ignited the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, beheaded at 53
  • 1573-07-20 Lancelot van Brederode, Dutch general of the "water beggars" rebellion, beheaded by the Spanish
  • 1587-02-08 Mary, Queen of Scots [Mary Stuart], Queen of Scotland (1560-87), beheaded at 44
  • 1601-02-25 Robert Devereux, English 2nd Earl of Essex, beheaded at the Tower of London at 35
  • 1618-10-29 Walter Raleigh, English scholar, poet, historian and explorer, beheaded for treason at about 64
  • 1619-05-13 Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch lawyer and statesman, beheaded at 71
  • 1632-10-30 Henri de Montmorency, French duke/plotter, beheaded
  • 1641-05-12 Thomas Wentworth, 1st earl of Strafford and Viceroy of Ireland, beheaded at 48
  • 1642-09-12 Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, marquis de Cinq Mars, French nobleman, beheaded for treason in plot again Cardinal de Richelieu (b. 1620)
  • 1645-01-10 William Laud, English Archbishop of Canterbury (1633-45), beheaded for treason in the Tower of London at 71
  • 1645-09-02 Alice Lisle, Last woman to be executed by a judicial sentence of beheading in England, beheaded for harboring fugitives after the defeat of the Monmouth Rebellion at around 68
  • 1649-01-30 Charles I, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1625-49), beheaded for treason by Parliament at 48
  • 1661-05-27 Archibald Campbell, Scottish politician, beheaded at about 53
  • 1675-11-11 Guru Teg Bahadur Ji, Ninth of ten gurus who founded the Sikh religion and leader (1665-75), executed and beheaded under the orders of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb at 54
  • 1683-07-21 Lord William Russell, English politician and plotter against Charles II, beheaded at 43
  • 1683-09-09 Algernon Sidney, English Whig politician and political theorist, beheaded for treason at 60
  • 1685-06-30 Archibald Campbell, Scottish politician, beheaded at about 55
  • 1697-01-28 John Fenwick, English conspirator (plotted to assassinate William III), executed by beheading
  • 1697-03-26 Godfrey McCulloch, Scottish politician and murderer involved in a clan feud, executed by Maiden (Scottish guillotine) (b. 1640)
  • 1703-10-03 Pieter van Wooden, Amersfoorts rebel leader, beheaded
  • 1703-10-03 Richard Saab, Amersfoorts rebel leader, beheaded
  • 1705-08-08 Willem Roukens, Dutch mayor of Nimegen (old Plooi faction), beheaded for trying to overthrow the new ruler of the city
  • 1718-08-06 Jacob F Muller [Sjako/Jaco], German Dutch thief 'the Robin Hood of Amsterdam', beheaded at 28
  • 1730-11-06 Hans Hermann von Katte, Prussian lieutenant, beheaded
  • 1747-04-09 Simon Fraser, 12th baron Lovat, Scottish Jacobite (last man beheaded in England), beheaded for treason at 80
  • 1792-04-25 Nicolas J Pelletier, French highwayman, 1st person guillotined
  • 1793-01-21 Louis XVI, King of France (1774-93), beheaded during the French Revolution at 38
  • 1793-07-17 Charlotte Corday, French revolutionary who murdered Jean-Paul Marat in a bath, is guillotined at 24
  • 1793-08-28 Adam-Philippe Custine, French general (American Revolutionary War, French Army of the North), guillotined for treason during the Reign of Terror at 53
  • 1793-10-16 Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (1774-92) who allegedly uttered the phrase "let them eat cake", beheaded at 37
  • 1793-10-31 Pierre-Victurnien Vergniaud, French politician and police leader, guillotined at 40
  • 1793-11-03 Olympe de Gouges [Marie Gouze], French playwright and revolutionary (Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen), executed by guillotine at 45
  • 1793-11-08 Madame Roland [Marie-Jeanne Phlippon], French revolutionary (member of the Girondist faction), executed by guillotine at 39
  • 1793-11-12 Jean-Sylvain Bailly, French Statesman, astronomer (computed orbit for Halley’s Comet (1759), and author, guillotined during the Reign of Terror at 57
  • 1793-12-06 Marie Jeanne Becu, Comtesse du Barry, last mistress of Louis XV, beheaded at 50
  • 1794-04-05 Georges Danton, French politician and revolutionary (1st president of the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution), executed by guillotine at 34
  • 1794-04-05 Camille Desmoulins, French journalist, pamphleteer and revolutionary leader (his oratory led to storming of the Bastille), guillotined at 34
  • 1794-05-08 Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, father of modern chemistry (identified oxygen and hydrogen), guillotined at 50
  • 1794-05-10 Élisabeth of France, princess of France, youngest sister of king Louis XVI, beheaded at 30
  • 1794-07-17 Jean-Frédéric Edelmann, French composer, executed by guillotine after false charges of treason during French Revolution at 45
  • 1794-07-23 Alexandre de Beauharnais, French politician, general of the revolution and first husband of Joséphine de Beauharnais, executed by guillotine at 34
  • 1794-07-25 André Chenier, French poet (Avis aux Francais sur leurs), executed by guillotine during French Revolution at 31
  • 1794-07-28 Georges Couthon, French politician and lawyer during French Revolution (worked closely with Robespierre in Legislative Assembly), guillotined at 39
  • 1794-07-28 Maximilien Robespierre, French revolutionary (President of the National Convention, Member of Committee of Public Safety), executed by guillotine at 36
  • 1795-05-20 Ignác Martinovics, Hungarian physicist/revolutionary, beheaded
  • 1803-09-20 Robert Emmet, Irish nationalist, executed by being hung then beheaded after death at 25
  • 1814-03-26 Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, French physician and freemason who proposed and became the namesake of the guillotine, dies of natural causes at 75
  • 1901-02-26 Chi-hsui, during Boxer Rebellion in China, beheaded
  • 1901-02-26 Hsu Cheng-yu, during Boxer Rebellion in China, beheaded
  • 1922-02-25 Henri Désiré Landru, French sex murderer, guillotined at 52
  • 1932-09-13 Paul Gorguloff, Russian murderer of French President Paul Doumer, beheaded at 37
  • 1934-01-10 Marinus van der Lubbe, Dutch communist, beheaded by the Nazis for setting fire to the German Reichstag at 24
  • 1939-06-17 Eugene Weldman, the last person to be publicly guillotined in France, dies at 31. When asked if he had remorse for his victims he had killed, he replied, “Remorse, what for? I didn’t even know them”
  • 1942-08-25 W van Daalen, opposition leader on Celebes, beheaded
  • 1943-02-22 Christoph Probst, German medical student and anti-Nazi political activist, member of non-violent resistance group Weisse Rose (White Rose), executed by guillotine at 23
  • 1943-02-22 Hans Scholl, German anti-Nazi political activist, founder of non-violent resistance group Weisse Rose (White Rose), executed by guillotine at 24
  • 1943-02-22 Sophie Scholl, German anti-Nazi political activist, member of non-violent resistance group Weisse Rose (White Rose), executed by guillotine at 21
  • 1943-04-19 Alexander Schmorell, German resistance fighter, beheaded
  • 1943-04-19 Willy Graf, German resistance fighter, beheaded
  • 1943-07-13 Kurt Huber, German college professor and member of anti-Nazi resistance group Weisse Rose (White Rose), executed by guillotine at 50
  • 1944-08-25 Musa Cälil, Russian-Soviet Tatar poet (The Moabit Notebooks), and resistance fighter, executed by guillotine in Plötzensee Prison, Berlin at 38
  • 1955-04-16 Abdullah Seif el-Islam, brother of Yemenite king Ahmed, beheaded
  • 1975-06-18 Faisal Ibn Mussed Abdul Aziz, Saudi prince, beheaded in Riyadh shopping center parking lot for killing his uncle the king
  • 1977-09-10 Hamida Djandoubi, Tunisian convicted murderer who was the last person to be executed in Western Europe, is beheaded in Marseille by guillotine at 28

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