If you want a classical example, Livy tells the story of Cais Mucius who is apprehended in an attempt to assassinate the Etruscan king, Lars Porsena. To show his lack of fear at any Etruscan torture, the Roman sticks his right hand in a fire until it burns away. Livy reports that the king was so impressed with his courage that Caius Mucius is freed to go back to Rome, he is known as Scaevola, the left-handed. I remember having to translate the passage for my Latin O Level and it still sticks in my mind more than 30 years later.
But Drusilla's example of Cramner is a better example of someone actually recanting.