Frantic Hackett

The Puritan William Hacket was one of the few people to have been executed as a heretic during Elizabeth's reign. An illiterate and violent man known for swearing and drinking too much, Hacket once chewed off the nose of a schoolmaster in a drunken brawl. In 1591 Hackett began preaching against Elizabeth, claiming to be preparing the way for Christ's return. At Leicester he was whipped for vagrancy, but he continued his activities and gained several followers, including the gentlemen Coppinger and Arthington. Seeking to convert Elizabeth, Hackett called first for the removal of the bishops, then demanded to replace Elizabeth as king, resulting in his arrest and trial for treason. At his execution Hackett cursed the executioner, clergymen, and God himself for failing to provide the legion of angels he believed would save him, dying like the mad dog he was

Hackett was probably insane. His gentlemen-supporters used him to voice views they themselves could not publicly utter, like Welsh prophetess Elizabeth Orton in the 1580s or the fraudulent nun Barton