Charges of adultery,
incest and treason
Anne's biographer Eric Ives believes that her fall and
execution were primarily engineered by her former ally Thomas Cromwell. The
conversations between Chapuys and Cromwell indicate Cromwell as the instigator
of the plot to remove Anne; evidence of this is seen through letters written
from Chapuys to Charles V. Anne argued with Cromwell over the redistribution of
Church revenues and over foreign policy. She advocated that revenues be
distributed to charitable and educational institutions; and she favoured a
French alliance. Cromwell preferred an Imperial alliance and insisted on
filling the King's depleted coffers. For these reasons, Ives suggests, "Anne Boleyn had become a major threat
to Thomas Cromwell." Cromwell's biographer John Schofield, on the
other hand, contends that no power struggle existed between Anne and Cromwell
and that "not a trace can be found
of a Cromwellian conspiracy against Anne ... Cromwell became involved in the
royal marital drama only when Henry ordered him onto the case."
Schofield claims that evidence for the power struggle between Anne and Cromwell
comprises no more than "fly-by-night
stories from Alesius and the Spanish Chronicle, words of Chapuys taken out of
context, and an untrustworthy translation of the Calendar of State
Papers." Cromwell did not manufacture the accusations of adultery,
though he and other officials used them to bolster Henry's case against Anne.
Warnicke questions whether Cromwell could have or wished to manipulate the King
in such a matter. Such a bold attempt by Cromwell, given the limited evidence,
could have risked his office, even his life. Henry himself issued the crucial
instructions: his officials, including Cromwell, carried them out. The result
was by modern standards a legal travesty; however, the rules of the time were
not bent in order to assure a conviction; there was no need to tamper with
rules that guaranteed the desired result since law at the time was an engine of
state, not a mechanism for justice.
Towards the end of April, a Flemish musician in Anne's service
named Mark Smeaton was arrested. He initially denied being the Queen's lover
but later confessed, perhaps after being tortured or promised freedom. Another
courtier, Sir Henry Norris, was arrested on May Day, but being an aristocrat,
could not be tortured. Prior to his arrest, Norris was treated kindly by the
King, who offered him his own horse to use on the May Day festivities. It seems
likely that during the festivities, the King was notified of Smeaton's
confession and it was shortly thereafter the alleged conspirators were arrested
upon his orders. Norris denied his guilt and swore that Queen Anne was
innocent; one of the most damaging pieces of evidence against Norris was an
overheard conversation with Anne at the end of April, where she accused him of
coming often to her chambers not to pay court to her lady-in-waiting Madge
Shelton but to herself. Sir Francis Weston was arrested two days later on the
same charge, as was Sir William Brereton, a groom of the King's Privy Chamber.
Sir Thomas Wyatt, the poet and friend of the Boleyns who was allegedly
infatuated with her before her marriage to the King, was also imprisoned for
the same charge but later released, most likely due to his or his family's
friendship with Cromwell. Sir Richard Page was also accused of having a sexual
relationship with the Queen, but he was acquitted of all charges after further
investigation could not implicate him with Anne. The final accused was Queen
Anne's own brother, George Boleyn, arrested on charges of incest and treason.
He was accused of two incidents of incest: November 1535 at Whitehall and the
following month at Eltham.
On 2 May 1536 Anne was arrested and taken to the Tower of
London. In the Tower, initially she became hysterical, demanding to know the
location of her father and her "sweet
brother", as well as the charges against her. The charge was treason,
in that she and the other defendants had intended Henry's death: the shock of
the news of her adultery was alleged to have put his life at risk. Anne was taken
by barge from Greenwich to The Tower and lodged in the royal apartments.
In what is reputed to be her last letter to Henry, dated 6
May, she wrote:
Sir,
Your Grace's
displeasure, and my imprisonment are things so strange unto me, as what to
write, or what to excuse, I am altogether ignorant. Whereas you send unto me
(willing me to confess a truth, and so obtain your favor) by such a one, whom
you know to be my ancient professed enemy. I no sooner received this message by
him, than I rightly conceived your meaning; and if, as you say, confessing a
truth indeed may procure my safety, I shall with all willingness and duty
perform your demand.
But let not your Grace
ever imagine, that your poor wife will ever be brought to acknowledge a fault,
where not so much as a thought thereof preceded. And to speak a truth, never
prince had wife more loyal in all duty, and in all true affection, than you
have ever found in Anne Boleyn: with which name and place I could willingly
have contented myself, if God and your Grace's pleasure had been so pleased.
Neither did I at any time so far forget myself in my exaltation or received
Queenship, but that I always looked for such an alteration as I now find; for
the ground of my preferment being on no surer foundation than your Grace's
fancy, the least alteration I knew was fit and sufficient to draw that fancy to
some other object. You have chosen me, from a low estate, to be your Queen and
companion, far beyond my desert or desire. If then you found me worthy of such
honour, good your Grace let not any light fancy, or bad council of mine
enemies, withdraw your princely favour from me; neither let that stain, that
unworthy stain, of a disloyal heart toward your good grace, ever cast so foul a
blot on your most dutiful wife, and the infant-princess your daughter. Try me,
good king, but let me have a lawful trial, and let not my sworn enemies sit as
my accusers and judges; yea let me receive an open trial, for my truth shall
fear no open flame; then shall you see either my innocence cleared, your
suspicion and conscience satisfied, the ignominy and slander of the world
stopped, or my guilt openly declared. So that whatsoever God or you may
determine of me, your grace may be freed of an open censure, and mine offense
being so lawfully proved, your grace is at liberty, both before God and man,
not only to execute worthy punishment on me as an unlawful wife, but to follow
your affection, already settled on that party, for whose sake I am now as I am,
whose name I could some good while since have pointed unto, your Grace being
not ignorant of my suspicion therein. But if you have already determined of me,
and that not only my death, but an infamous slander must bring you the enjoying
of your desired happiness; then I desire of God, that he will pardon your great
sin therein, and likewise mine enemies, the instruments thereof, and that he
will not call you to a strict account of your unprincely and cruel usage of me,
at his general judgment-seat, where both you and myself must shortly appear,
and in whose judgment I doubt not (whatsoever the world may think of me) mine
innocence shall be openly known, and sufficiently cleared. My last and only
request shall be, that myself may only bear the burden of your Grace's
displeasure, and that it may not touch the innocent souls of those poor
gentlemen, who (as I understand) are likewise in strait imprisonment for my
sake. If ever I found favour in your sight, if ever the name of Anne Boleyn
hath been pleasing in your ears, then let me obtain this request, and I will so
leave to trouble your Grace any further, with mine earnest prayers to the
Trinity to have your Grace in his good keeping, and to direct you in all your
actions. From my doleful prison in the Tower, this sixth of May;
Your most loyal and ever
faithful wife,
Anne Boleyn.
Four of the accused men were tried in Westminster on 12 May
1536. Weston, Brereton and Norris publicly maintained their innocence and only
Smeaton supported the Crown by pleading guilty. Three days later, Anne and
George Boleyn were tried separately in the Tower of London, before a jury of 27
peers. She was accused of adultery, incest, and high treason. The treason
alleged against her (after Cromwell had used the nine days of her imprisonment
to develop his case) was that of plotting the King's death, with her "lovers", so that she might
later marry Henry Norris. Anne's one-time betrothed, Henry Percy, 6th Earl of
Northumberland, sat on the jury that unanimously found Anne guilty. When the
verdict was announced, he collapsed and had to be carried from the courtroom.
He died childless eight months later and was succeeded by his nephew.
On 17 May, Cranmer declared Anne's marriage to Henry null
and void.
Final hours
The accused were found guilty and condemned to death. George
Boleyn and the other accused men were executed on 17 May 1536. William
Kingston, the Constable of the Tower, reported that Anne seemed very happy and ready
to be done with life. Henry commuted Anne's sentence from burning to beheading,
and rather than have a queen beheaded with the common axe, he brought an expert
swordsman from Saint-Omer in France to perform the execution.
An anonymous manuscript of a poem O Death Rock Me Asleep
that came into the possession of prolific 18th-century author John Hawkins, and
now in the British Museum, was thought to be in the style of "the time of Henry VIII". On
this weak premise, Hawkins conjectured that the writer was "very probabl[y]" Anne Boleyn, writing after her
conviction. Defiled is my Name, a similar lament, is also attributed to Anne.
According to Ives, she could not have produced any such writings while under
the scrutiny of the ladies set to watch over her in the Tower. Mary Joiner of
the Royal Musical Association examined the BM documents and concluded that the
attributions, although held in wide belief, are no more than an "improbable ... legend".
On the morning of 19 May, Kingston wrote:
This morning she sent
for me, that I might be with her at such time as she received the good Lord, to
the intent I should hear her speak as touching her innocency alway to be clear.
And in the writing of this she sent for me, and at my coming she said,
"Mr. Kingston, I hear I shall not die afore noon, and I am very sorry
therefore, for I thought to be dead by this time and past my pain." I told
her it should be no pain, it was so little. And then she said, "I heard
say the executioner was very good, and I have a little neck," and then put
her hands about it, laughing heartily. I have seen many men and also women executed,
and that they have been in great sorrow, and to my knowledge this lady has much
joy in death. Sir, her almoner is continually with her, and had been since two
o'clock after midnight.
Shortly before dawn, she called Kingston to hear mass with
her and swore in his presence, on the eternal salvation of her soul and upon
the Holy Sacraments, that she had never been unfaithful to the King. She
ritually repeated this oath immediately before and after receiving the sacrament
of the Eucharist.
On the morning of Friday 19 May, Anne was taken to a
scaffold erected on the north side of the White Tower. She wore a red petticoat
under a loose, dark grey gown of damask trimmed in fur, and a mantle of ermine.
Accompanied by two female attendants, Anne made her final walk from the Queen's
House to the scaffold; she showed a "devilish
spirit" and looked "as gay
as if she was not going to die". She climbed the scaffold and made a
short speech to the crowd:
Good Christian people,
[…] I am come hither to die, for according to the law and by the law I am
judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither
to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and
condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over
you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was
ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my
cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world
and of you all and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy
on me, to God I commend my soul.
This version of her speech is found in John Foxe's Actes and
Monuments (also known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs).
Lancelot de Carle, a secretary to the French Ambassador, Antoine
de Castelnau, was in London in May 1536, and was an eyewitness to her trial and
execution. Two weeks after Anne's death, de Carle composed the 1,318-line poem
Épistre Contenant le Procès Criminel Faict à l'Encontre de la Royne Anne
Boullant d'Angleterre (A Letter Containing the Criminal Charges Laid Against
Queen Anne Boleyn of England), which provides a moving account of her last
words and their effect on the crowd:
She gracefully
addressed the people from the scaffold with a voice somewhat overcome by
weakness, but which gathered strength as she went on. She begged her hearers to
forgive her if she had not used them all with becoming gentleness, and asked
for their prayers. It was needless, she said, to relate why she was there, but
she prayed the Judge of all the world to have compassion on those who had
condemned her, and she begged them to pray for the King, in whom she had always
found great kindness, fear of God, and love of his subjects. The spectators
could not refrain from tears.
It is thought that Anne avoided criticizing Henry because
she wished to save Elizabeth and her family from further consequences, but even
under such extreme pressure, she did not confess guilt and indeed subtly
implied her innocence in her appeal to those who might "meddle of my cause".
Death and burial
The ermine mantle was removed, and Anne lifted off her
headdress and tucked her hair under a coif. After a brief farewell to her
weeping ladies and a request for prayers, she knelt down; one of the ladies tied
a blindfold over Anne's eyes. She knelt upright, in the French style of
beheadings. Her final prayer consisted of her continually repeating, "Jesu receive my soul; O Lord God have
pity on my soul."
The execution, which consisted of a single stroke, was witnessed
by Thomas Cromwell; Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk; the King's
illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy; and Sir Ralph Warren, Lord Mayor of London, as
well as aldermen, sheriffs and representatives of the various craft guilds.
Most of the King's Council was also present. Cranmer, who was at Lambeth
Palace, reportedly broke down in tears after telling Alexander Ales, "She who has been the Queen of England
on earth will today become a Queen in heaven." When the charges were
first brought against Anne, Cranmer had expressed his astonishment to Henry and
his belief that "she should not be
culpable".
Anne Boleyn's grave
marker
Cranmer felt vulnerable because of his closeness to the
Queen; on the night before the execution, he declared Henry's marriage to Anne
to have been void, like Catherine's before her. He made no serious attempt to
save Anne's life, although some sources record that he had prepared her for
death by hearing her last private confession of sins, in which she had stated
her innocence before God.
She was buried in an unmarked grave in the Chapel of St
Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London. Her skeleton was identified during
renovations of the chapel in 1876, in the reign of Queen Victoria, and
reinterred there in 1877. Her grave is now clearly marked on the marble floor,
although the historian Alison Weir believes that the bones identified as
belonging to Anne might in fact be those of Catherine Howard.
Recognition and
legacy
Nicholas Sanders, a Catholic recusant born c. 1530, was
committed to deposing Elizabeth I and re-establishing Catholicism in England.
In his De Origine ac Progressu schismatis Anglicani (The Rise and Growth of the
Anglican Schism), published in 1585, he was the first to write that Anne had
six fingers on her right hand. Since physical deformities were generally
interpreted as a sign of evil, it is unlikely that Anne Boleyn would have
gained Henry's romantic attention had she had any. Upon exhumation in 1876, no
abnormalities were discovered. Her frame was described as delicate,
approximately 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m), "the
hand and feet bones indicated delicate and well-shaped hands and feet, with
tapering fingers and a narrow foot".
Anne Boleyn was described by contemporaries as intelligent
and gifted in musical arts and scholarly pursuits. She was also strong-willed
and proud and often quarrelled with Henry. Biographer Eric Ives evaluates the
apparent contradictions in Anne's persona:
To us she appears inconsistent—religious yet aggressive,
calculating yet emotional, with the light touch of the courtier yet the strong
grip of the politician—but is this what she was, or merely what we strain to
see through the opacity of the evidence? As for her inner life, short of a
miraculous cache of new material, we shall never really know. Yet what does
come to us across the centuries is the impression of a person who is strangely
appealing to the early 21st century: A woman in her own right—taken on her own
terms in a man's world; a woman who mobilized her education, her style and her
presence to outweigh the disadvantages of her sex; of only moderate good looks,
but taking a court and a king by storm. Perhaps, in the end, it is Thomas
Cromwell's assessment that comes nearest: intelligence, spirit and courage.
Following the coronation of her daughter as queen, Anne was
venerated as a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation, particularly
through the works of John Foxe, who argued that Anne had saved England from the
evils of Roman Catholicism and that God had provided proof of her innocence and
virtue by making sure her daughter Elizabeth I ascended the throne. An example
of Anne's direct influence in the reformed church is what Alexander Ales
described to Queen Elizabeth as the "evangelical
bishops whom your holy mother appointed from among those scholars who favoured
the purer doctrine". Over the centuries, Anne has inspired or been
mentioned in numerous artistic and cultural works. As a result, she has
remained in the popular memory and has been called "the most influential and important queen consort England has ever
had."
Appearance and
portraits
Anne's appearance has been much discussed by historians, as
all of her portraits were destroyed following an order by Henry VIII, who
wanted to erase her from history. Many surviving depictions of her may be
copies of a lost original that apparently existed as late as 1773. One of the
few contemporary likenesses of Anne was captured on a medal referred to as "The Moost Happi Medal" which
was struck in 1536, probably to celebrate her pregnancy which occurred around
that time. The other possible portrait of Anne is the Chequers Ring, a secret
locket ring that her daughter Elizabeth I possessed and was taken from one of
her fingers at her death in 1603.
Nidd Hall Portrait
currently unidentified
Another possible portrait of Anne was discovered in 2015
painted by artist Nidd Hall. Some scholars believe that it portrays Anne
because it resembles the 1536 medal more than any other depiction. However,
others believe that it is actually a portrait of her successor Jane Seymour.
Holbein sketches
Hans Holbein the Younger originally painted Anne's portrait
and also sketched her during her lifetime. There are two surviving sketches
that have been identified to be of Anne, by historians and people who knew her.
Most scholars believe that Anne cannot be one of the two, as the portrayals do
not look similar to each other, whilst others think that they do show the same
woman but in one sketch she is pregnant, whilst in the other she is not.
She was considered brilliant, charming, driven, elegant,
forthright and graceful, with a keen wit and a lively, opinionated and
passionate personality. Anne was depicted as "sweet and cheerful" in her youth and enjoyed cards and
dice games, drinking wine, French cuisine, flirting, gambling, gossiping and
good jokes. She was fond of archery, falconry, hunting and the occasional game
of bowls. She also had a sharp tongue and a terrible temper.
Anne exerted a powerful charm on those who met her, though
opinions differed on her attractiveness. The Venetian diarist Marino Sanuto the
Younger, who saw Anne when Henry VIII met Francis I at Calais in October 1532,
described her as "not one of the
handsomest women in the world; she is of middling stature, swarthy complexion,
long neck, wide mouth, bosom not much raised ... eyes, which are black and
beautiful". Simon Grynée wrote to Martin Bucer in September 1531 that
Anne was "young, good-looking, of a
rather dark complexion". Lancelot de Carle called her "beautiful with an elegant figure",
and a Venetian in Paris in 1528 also reported that she was said to be
beautiful.
The most influential description of Anne, but also the least
reliable, was written by the Catholic propagandist and polemicist Nicholas
Sanders in 1586, half a century after Anne's death:
Anne Boleyn was rather
tall of stature, with black hair, and an oval face of a sallow complexion, as
if troubled with jaundice. It is said she had a projecting tooth under the
upper lip, and on her right hand six fingers. There was a large wen under her
chin, and therefore to hide its ugliness she wore a high dress covering her
throat ... She was handsome to look at, with a pretty mouth.
As Sander held Anne responsible for Henry VIII's rejection
of the Catholic Church he was keen to demonize her. Sanders description
contributed to what Ives calls the "monster
legend" of Anne Boleyn. Though his details were fictitious, they have
formed the basis for references to Anne's appearance even in some modern
textbooks.
Faith and
spirituality
Because of Anne's early exposure to court life, she had
powerful influences around her for most of her life. These early influences
were mostly women who were engaged with art, history and religion. Eric Ives
described the women around Anne as "aristocratic
women seeking spiritual fulfillment". They included Queen Claude, of
whose court Anne was a member, and Marguerite of Angoulême, who was a
well-known figure during the Renaissance and held strong religious views that
she expressed through poetry. These women along with Anne's immediate family
members, such as her father, may have had a large influence on Anne's personal
faith.
Anne's experience in France made her a devout Christian in
the new tradition of Renaissance humanism. Anne knew little Latin and, trained
at a French court, she was influenced by an "evangelical
variety of French humanism", which led her to champion the vernacular
Bible. She later held the reformist position that the papacy was a corrupting
influence on Christianity, but her conservative tendencies could be seen in her
devotion to the Virgin Mary. Anne's European education ended in 1521, when her
father summoned her back to England. She sailed from Calais in January 1522.
Another clue to Anne's personal faith could be found in
Anne's book of hours, in which she wrote, "le
temps viendra" ["the time will come"]. Alongside this
inscription, she drew an armillary sphere, an emblem (also used by her daughter
Elizabeth) representing contemplation of heavenly wisdom.
Anne Boleyn's last words before her beheading were a prayer
for her salvation, her king, and her country. She said, "Good Christian people! I am come hither to die, for according to
the law, and by the law, I am judged to death; and therefore I will speak
nothing against it. I come hither to accuse no man, nor to anything of that
whereof I am accused and condemned to die; but I pray God save the king, and
send him long to reign over you, for a gentler, or a more merciful prince was
there never; and to me he was ever a good, a gentle, and a sovereign
lord." John Foxe, martyrologist, included Anne in his book, Actes and
Monuments, claiming she was a good woman who had sincere faith and trust in her
God. Foxe also believed a sign of Anne's good faith was God's blessing on her
daughter, Elizabeth I, and God allowing Elizabeth to prosper as queen.
Legends
Many legends and stories about Anne Boleyn have existed over
the centuries. One is that she was secretly buried in Salle Church in Norfolk
under a black slab near the tombs of her ancestors. Her body was said to have
rested in an Essex church on its journey to Norfolk. Another is that her heart,
at her request, was buried in Erwarton (Arwarton) Church, Suffolk by her uncle
Sir Philip Parker.
In 18th-century Sicily, the peasants of the village of
Nicolosi believed that Anne Boleyn, for having made Henry VIII a heretic, was
condemned to burn for eternity inside Mount Etna. This legend was often told
for the benefit of foreign travelers.
A number of people have claimed to have seen Anne's ghost at
Hever Castle, Blickling Hall, Salle Church, the Tower of London and Marwell
Hall. One account of her reputed sighting was given by paranormal researcher
Hans Holzer. In 1864, Captain (later Major General) J. D. Dundas of the 60th
Rifles regiment was billeted in the Tower of London. As he was looking out the
window of his quarters, he noticed a guard below in the courtyard, in front of
the lodgings where Anne had been imprisoned, behaving strangely. He appeared to
challenge something, which to Dundas "looked
like a whitish, female figure sliding towards the soldier". The guard
charged through the form with his bayonet, then fainted. Only the captain's
testimony and corroboration at the court-martial saved the guard from a lengthy
prison sentence for having fainted while on duty.
Issue
Elizabeth I 7
September 1533 24 March 1603 never married no issue
Miscarriage or false pregnancy Summer 1534
Possible miscarriage 1535
Miscarried son 29
January 1536
Ancestry
Ancestors of Anne
Boleyn
Bring Up the Bodies, a book by Hilary Mantel (2012)
Anna Bolena, an opera by Gaetano Donizetti with lyrics by
Felice Romani (1830)
Anne of the Thousand Days, a 1969 film distributed by
Universal Pictures based on the stage play by Maxwell Anderson
"With Her Head
Tucked Underneath Her Arm", a darkly humorous song about Anne's ghost
The Other Boleyn Girl, a book by Philippa Gregory later
adapted into a 2008 film which has Mary's sister Anne as one of the main
characters. An earlier television adaptation of the book was made by the BBC in
2003.
The Boleyn Heresy: The Time Will Come by Kathleen McGowan, a
novel about a 21st century researcher into the life of Anne Boleyn seeking to
exonerate her reputation.
Notes
Anne Boleyn's
marriage to Henry VIII was annulled on 17 May 1536, two days before her
execution.
Historian Amy Licence
notes that surviving examples of Burghley's handwriting show that he would use
a long lead-in stroke for the number "1",
so that it could be mistaken for a "7".
The rooms had
previously been occupied by the King's secretary, Thomas Cromwell, and were
connected to those of the King by hidden passageways.
The Spanish Chronicle
was an unreliable contemporary account based on "hearsay and rumor" by an unknown author. One passage
describes how the musician Mark Smeaton was supposedly hidden, naked, in Anne's
confectionery cupboard and smuggled into her bedroom by a waiting-woman. One
Thomas Percy, another member of Anne's household, became jealous and reported
the affair to Cromwell.
Eric Ives points out
that the King, amusing himself with Jane Seymour, was far from perturbed by any
news of Anne's activities. The other strand of the indictment, that adultery
with the Queen was a treasonable offense, had to be twisted to fit Cromwell's
purported facts because this was a moral offense only, triable exclusively in
the church courts.
A copy of this letter
was found among the papers of the King's secretary, Thomas Cromwell, after his
execution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Boleyn
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