Are there any historically authenticated cases in a Christian country
where a man or woman has been executed for adultery after legal
process?

As noted in the comment below, Anne Boleyn was executed after having
been found guilty of adultery in 1536.  The five men who confessed to
having sex with her during her marriage were also found guilty
executed.

Henry VIII's fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was also found guilty of
adultery and executed in 1542.  There seems to be some controversy as
to whether Anne Boleyn was actually guilty, with many theories
speculating that the charges were trumped up in order to free Henry to
take another wife.

"The Executions of Two Queens"
[ http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/queenexecution.htm ]

"Anne Boleyn"
[ http://kings.edu/~wmnhist/anneboleyn.html ]

"Letter of Queen Catherine Howard to Master Thomas Culpeper, spring
1541"
[ http://www.englishhistory.net/tudor/letter13.html ]

"Kathryn Howard"
[ http://tudorhistory.org/howard/ ]

Searches on terms [adultery "christian country" convicted execute],
["historical evidence" "christian country" adultery execute],
[convicted of adultery" executed] and [adultery execute christian]
reveal very little.

Though "The Lawes Divine, Morall, and Martiall" of Jamestown in 1610
called for execution of those convicted of adultery, I could find no
documented executions.

"The English"
[ http://users.rcn.com/wovoka/Evngl-04.htm ]

On the search terms [ "convicted of adultery" christian executed ],
Google returned 175 results.  Of results those, a few pages dealt with
the executions of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, the rest pointed
to either Christian councils decrying the execution of adulterers in
Muslim countries, references to the Jamestown laws, or references to
Biblical laws.

There do not appear to be any other historically documented cases.

Thanks for your question!

missy-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by missy-ga on 05 May 2002 09:27 PDT

I'm sorry you were unhappy with your answer.  You did, however, ask
for "any" historically authenticated cases, so I took you at your word
and searched for "any".

My apologies.

I understand that both Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were executed
primarily for treason - adultery by a Queen was treason.  My concern
is exclusively with ordinary citizens being executed for adultery in
Christian countries.

Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII, is the most famous case.
Her accused lovers were also beheaded.

There is one case in the US, On March 21st, 1643, eighteen year old
Mary Latham was hanged in Massachusetts for adultery, though another
site suggests it was in 1644.

You can find out a bit more on this case using the keywords
+"Mary Latham" +Adultery 

on the Google search.

There is one case in the US, On March 21st, 1643, eighteen year old
Mary Latham was hanged in Massachusetts for adultery, though another
site suggests it was in 1644.

You can find out a bit more on this case using the keywords
+"Mary Latham" +Adultery 

on the Google search.

I suggest that the Mary Latham case may not, technically, qualify. In
those days, as it remains today, the Colonies / United States has no
state-approved religion. It may even be hard to prove that there are
more Christions than otherwise in the country today.
Certainly the case of Henry the 8th does qualify, since the Church of
England was mandated as the official religion and it is a form of
Christianity.

The Mary Latham story is exactly what I was looking for.  The fact
that it was told in the diary of Massachusetts' first Governor, John
Winthrop, suggests that it's entirely true.

Many thanks.

Peartree is in error in stating there was no state religion.
Massachusetts Bay Colony most definitely had a state religion. They
left England, not to establish freedom for all belief, but only for
their own - a holy colony for  Puritans only. Anne Hutchinson, for
example, had different beliefs and was tried for heresy, convicted,
excommunicated and banished.

The ONLY colony that established freedom of religion was Rhode Island,
which was founded by the Baptist, Roger Williams. The Baptist faith
was the first to promote the concept of freedom of religion and the
Baptist concept of soul liberty inspired that belief. Personally,
recent oppressive decisions by the Southern Baptist Conference seem to
indicate that they reject the Baptist tenet of soul liberty and really
should drop the word Baptist from their name since the defining tenet
of Baptist faith -- separate from other congregationalist doctrines is
soul liberty.

All other colonies had an official religion - Catholicism in Maryland,
for example -- also refuge from the state religion of England. Our
right to freedom of religion was guaranteed to prevent the Federal
government from establishing one official religion since states had
differing official religions. In fact, many states established
religious taxes to fund their churches. Freedom of religion was
honored more in the breach throughout the 1780-1790's. Many states
established religious assessment taxes to fund churches, for example.
You can read a lot about it at the following site:
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/
In particular, take a look at religion and the states. 

Information on Anne Hutchinson is available here:
http://www.cpcug.org/user/billb/hutch.html