The Death of Anne
Boleyn
Today marks the anniversary, in
1536, of the execution of Anne Boleyn on spurious charges of adultery and
therefore (by one argument) treason.
While she would be included in Foxe’s Book
of Martyrs, a 16th century effort at Protestant hagiography,
all indications are that Anne died a Catholic; it is difficult to otherwise
understand her request that the Eucharist be placed in her chambers at the
Tower of London in the days before her execution.
Famously, Anne was executed not
with the traditional English ax, but rather by a French swordsman. I have never
found a satisfactory explanation as to why the swordsman was requested over the
axeman; Friedmann suggested, and Ives admits it as a possibility, that it was
at Anne’s request, she desiring the French manner of execution in light of her
having been raised in the French court.
His participation does lend an interesting element to the consideration
of Anne’s trial. Anne was consigned to
the Tower on May 2, her alleged partners in adultery (other than her brother
George) were tried on May 12 and she was tried on May 15. The swordsman, normally resident in Calais, may
have been ordered to come to England before her trial. Even though her trial had not yet taken
place, the manner of her dispatch may have already been selected. Still she came out ahead (no pun intended);
her sentence was commuted to beheading – the regular sentence for a woman
convicted of treason was burning at the stake.
Anne was buried in St. Peter ad
Vincula, the church on the grounds of the Tower of London.
Henry would marry Jane Seymour,
his third wife, on May 30.
No comments:
Post a Comment