Meddling in the Execution
of Queen Anne Boleyn and Judging the Best
Queen Anne Boleyn was
executed on 19 May 1536.
Anne received mass at
dawn from her almoner, John Skip. She then broke her fast at 7 AM. If I knew I
was to be murdered based on complete lies and fabrication of evidence, I
feel eating would be the last thing I would think about. Who knows? Perhaps
Anne was just going through the motions and did not eat a morsel. I know I
wouldn’t have been able to.
Around 8 AM, the Constable of the Tower of London, Master Kingston, arrived to escort Anne to the scaffold. Contrary to belief, the scaffold was erected near where the queue begins for the Crown Jewels today- the western side of the White Tower.
Anne wore a dark colored damask robe trimmed with ermine, a crimson kirtle, and an English hood. Anne climbed the scaffold stairs and gave her last speech to the crowd, who included Thomas Cromwell, Charles Brandon, and Henry Fitzroy, to name a few. Anne’s speech was as follows:
“Good Christin people, I
have not come here to preach a sermon; I have come here 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 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 a 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”.
Anne exhibited such
bravery while giving this speech. She did not resort to calling out lies and
fabrications, she didn’t preach, she did not play the victim. Anne faced death
head on (no pun intended) with an abundant amount of courage most of us can only dream of having.
Once Anne’s hood was
removed, she began to exhibit anxiety. Anne wanted to be ready for the sword’s
connection, so she kept looking around to see when the executioner would grab the
sword. Anne must have seen this style of execution before, perhaps while she
lived at the Palace of Mechelen. Her anxiety proved correct- the executioner
called for his sword and Anne’s gaze followed the executioner’s. Without
knowing it, while gazing off into the distance, the executioner crept up behind
her, brandished his weapon, and killed Anne with one swift stroke. The expert
swordsman was from Calais and had been ordered before her trial had even begun.
Anne’s body was placed in
a chest and laid to rest in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. Anne was the
first Queen of England to be executed, but she wouldn’t be the last.
But why did this happen? Why did Anne have to die? I think the reasoning is quite simpler than we usually make it. It had been no secret King Henry VIII had been courting Jane Seymour for some months at this point. Historically, Jane has been viewed as a meek and mild woman, quite the opposite of Anne. I would posit, IF she was so different from Anne, would she really have taken the same exact path Anne had in not giving in to Henry VIII? After all, it took Henry and Anne about 6 or 7 years before they were married. I certainly think she did put him off at first, after all, this was how Henry VIII liked to chase his women. But eventually, I do think Jane gave in to Henry and I would put forth that by the end of April, Jane began exhibiting signs of pregnancy. This was why events unfolded so quickly during the Spring of 1536, why Cromwell took down his adversaries, and why Queen Anne Boleyn had to die. Henry VIII did not want another Katherine of Aragon situation on his hands. If he had the possibility of obtaining a legitimate male heir, Henry was going to seize the opportunity. This would also explain the betrothal of Henry and Jane, the day after Anne was executed, and their marriage eleven days later.
However, Jane did not
give birth to her first child, Edward, until October 1537. Prior to January 1537,
when Jane presumably conceived Edward, she was constantly hounded with whether
she was pregnant or not. Some had even commented that it was odd Jane had not
yet fallen pregnant from May 1536 until 1537. In this theory I am putting
forward, I would argue since Jane had fallen pregnant relatively quickly in
1536, the rumors possibly stemmed from her conceiving quickly once and then not
again for almost a year. Unfortunately, Jane and Henry most likely lost the
child that had given Henry hope again. Henry VIII had changed all of England to
marry Anne Boleyn, in order to have a male heir, and it seems that Henry VIII
killed Queen Anne Boleyn for the same reason. There were no lengths to which he
would not go.
Memorial Outside the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London, © All Things Tudors, May 2023
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