Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn, 1st Marchioness of Pembroke (c.1507 – May 19, 1536) was the second wife and queen consort of Henry VIII and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and marriage to Anne was part of the complex beginning of the considerable political and religious upheaval which was the English Reformation, with Anne herself actively promoting the cause of Church Reform. She is probably best known for her premature death when she was beheaded on false charges of adultery and treason. Her life has been the subject of numerous biographies, novels, motion pictures, plays and operas.

The Fall of Anne Boleyn

A Dutch musician in Anne?s service named Marc Smeaton had been arrested and tortured by Thomas Cromwell. He had denied that he was Anne?s lover, but under the torture he confessed. He also provided the names of another courtier ? Sir Henry Norris ? who was an old friend of Anne?s. He was arrested on May Day but since he was an aristocrat he could not be tortured. Norris denied his guilt and swore that Anne was absolutely innocent. Sir Francis Weston was arrested two days later, which shocked Anne because she didn?t like him. Sir William Brereton, a major Welsh landowner, was also arrested. Anne did not know him and it seems he was the victim of an old grudge against him held by Thomas Cromwell. Anne?s own brother was also arrested on charges of incest and treason.

Related Topics:
Marc Smeaton - Thomas Cromwell - May Day - Francis Weston - Incest - Treason

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Anne Boleyn's terror was realized on May 2 1536 when she was arrested at luncheon and taken up the River Thames to the Tower of London. In the Tower, Anne suffered a minor nervous breakdown demanding to know full details of her family?s whereabouts and the charges against her.

Related Topics:
May 2 - 1536 - River Thames - Tower of London

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The four gentlemen were tried on May 15. Weston, Brereton and Norris publicly maintained their innocence and only the tortured Smeaton supported the government by pleading guilty. Two days later, Anne and George Boleyn were tried separately. Anne displayed great bravery at her trial and the spectators spread word of her courage. Popular suspicion against Henry and his mistress Jane Seymour was widespread and pamphlets appeared attacking their behavior. Anne was accused of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft. One eyewitness reported that she gave ?such wise and discreet answers?. Even so, the King demanded her head and she was condemned to death.

Related Topics:
May 15 - George Boleyn - Jane Seymour - Adultery - Incest - Treason - Witchcraft

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On May 17 ? the day Anne?s ?lovers? were publicly beheaded ? Anne was stripped of her title as queen and her daughter Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. The following day Anne heard Mass for the last time. In front of numerous witnesses she swore on the Blessed Sacrament that she was innocent. This convinced hundreds of people that she must be innocent, for Christians believed that a lie told on the Sacrament would condemn one to Hell forever. When her jailer told her that she was to be given the honor of being executed by a French expert with the sword she laughed. "I heardsay that the executioner was very expert,? she laughed, ?and I have a little neck!??? Her jailers were amazed at the composure she now had ? ?She hath much joy in death,? one wrote.

Related Topics:
May 17 - Elizabeth

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Anne dressed in an elegant black dress and styled her famous dark hair on the morning of May 19 1536. A crowd of officials had gathered to watch her execution. She gave a short speech in which she did not admit to any guilt but diplomatically avoided attacking the King in case he sought revenge on her surviving relatives. Her serenity shocked many people watching her. She knelt down and was blindfolded with a linen handkerchief. The French swordsmen did not use blocks, so the victim died kneeling upright. Anne died praying, ?To Jesus Christ I commend my soul.? The silver sword took her head off almost instantly. She was buried in the nearby Chapel of Saint Peter-ad-Vincula. The chief mourner at her funeral was her cousin and final lady-in-waiting, Lady Margaret Lee.

Related Topics:
May - 19 - 1536 - Margaret Lee

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Theories

Historians still debate over why these extraordinary events took place. There are four main theories about Anne Boleyn?s demise, which the Oxford historian Steven J. Gunn described as historical ???trench warfare???.

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Guilty as Charged

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The English historian George W. Bernard is the only one to argue that Anne was guilty of adultery and treason. In 1991 he wrote, ?Perhaps the safest guess for a modern historian is that Anne had indeed committed adultery with Norris and briefly with Mark Smeaton and that there was enough circumstantial evidence to cast reasonable doubt on the denials of the others."

Related Topics:
Adultery - Treason - 1991 - Mark Smeaton

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A Romantic Victim

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The traditional theory has usually been that Anne was the victim of her husband?s vicious cruelty and that her failure to produce a son meant that Henry would stop at nothing to get rid of her. The famous Tudor historian, Sir Geoffrey Elton believed that: - ?Anne and five men were put to death by due process of law because the king wished to marry again .... Henry had now so far discarded scruple that to get his way he was prepared to appear as a cuckold and a victim of witchcraft."

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A Political Attack

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The most popular theory is that Anne was removed by a palace plot created by her political enemies. They wanted to control foreign policy and religious politics themselves and get the queen out of the way. They were more than prepared to sacrificed five innocent men to do it (who were also Anne?s friends and might, therefore, object to her destruction if they were left alive.) Anne?s most well-respected biographer, Eric Ives, is the champion of this view: - "The plot against Anne Boleyn was most carefully calculated. Jane Seymour deliberately tantalised the king, at the same time poisoning his mind against Anne. The rest of the queen's enemies joined in the chorus when and how they could.? The architect of the plot was Thomas Cromwell, the king?s favourite adviser, who had angered the queen over his destruction of the monasteries and friendliness to the Seymours. He therefore wanted to get rid of Anne before she did to him what she had done to Thomas Wolsey in 1529.

Related Topics:
Eric Ives - Jane Seymour - Thomas Cromwell - Thomas Wolsey - 1529

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Sexual Heresy

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This theory, which comes from American historian Retha Warnicke is that the fetus Anne miscarried in early 1536 was deformed, provoking terror and disgust in the King. It was widely believed at the time that deformities resulted from God?s anger ? and obviously Henry could not be seen to be responsible. By accusing Anne of incest and adultery, his paternity of the deformed stillborn child could largely be disproved. ?For many historians Anne remains the lady with an extra fingernail who was too flirtatious, even in a harmless courtly way, for her own safety and well-being. The result of these interpretations is that the responsibility for her tragic death lies with her, the victim, rather than with the king and his ministers who orchestrated her execution? she miscarried a defective fetus in 1536. It was because Henry viewed this mishap both as an evil omen, both for his lineage and his kingdom, that he had her accused of engaging in illicit sexual acts with five men.?

Related Topics:
Retha Warnicke - Fetus - 1536 - Deformed - Incest - Adultery - The king - His ministers

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Most historians are now divided between Ives?s political theory and Warnicke?s deformed fetus concept.

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