Royal assent of the Crown, standing on the sovereign's right, then read aloud the titles of the bills (in earlier times, the entire text of the bills). The Clerk of the Parliaments, standing on the sovereign's left, responded by stating the appropriate Norman French formula. A new device for granting assent was created during the reign of King Henry VIII. In 1542, Henry sought to execute his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, whom he accused of committing adultery; the execution was to be authorised not after a trial but by a bill of attainder, to which he would have to personally assent after
Catherine Lepère tortured, but because of her advanced age, she was merely fastened in the torture device without it being put to actual use, as there was a fear that she would die of the torture rather than the execution if the torture was actually applied. She was executed by hanging. Catherine Lepère is portrayed in a novel by Judith Merkle Riley: "The Oracle Glass" (1994) Catherine Lepère Catherine Lepère (1601–1679) was a French midwife. She was an associate of La Voisin and one of the accused in the famous Poison Affair. Lepère was a licensed midwife who had delivered La Voisin's