[GVnana]

Killing off the family of your rivals is as old as human history. Anyone who might hold the loyalty of subjects is a potential threat. Ask the English.

The women may have been of a royal class, and so, they got the best treatment. Anne Boleyn's executioner was imported from France.

[tet68]

Killing off the family of your rivals is as old as human history.

Yes indeed. In reading about the fall of Byzantium, the first thing the various emperors did was kill off any
blood lines that could pose a threat, although blinding
was often used instead.

[IronJack]

Anne Boleyn's executioner was imported from France.

And used a sword, not the traditional axe, her neck being too dainty for so crude an instrument as the latter.