v

                                                                                                                                    Réalisateur                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               The " Special french "    Jean - Paul  Perrier    

                                                                       At home in Great Britain 

                                                                                                                                who presents you    

        " Once upon a time in the english kingdom "

                              ANN BOLEYN " THE QUEEN " FOR EVER   

                                     The woman who said " NO " to the tyran 

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                                                    Son héritage se réalisa pleinement dans sa fille Elisabeth I  

                                            le plus grand monarque de l'Angleterre de l'Histoire .  

Anne Boleyn fut une femme intelligente , sensible et influente qui refusa d'étre intimidée par ceux qui voulait sa disparition . Son sens de la destinée et son action pour la réforme religieuse la menèrent à l'échafaud avec témérité , courage et passion .

      Presque cinq cents ans plus tard la mémoire d'Anne flamboie comme jamais et peut étre encore plus que " la Reine " elle demeure

                                                                                                     "  La femme  "

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1. Pour les lecteurs français, peu de reines d'Angleterre ont laissé un souvenir bien précis, sauf bien sûr Marie Tudor « la Sanglante »,                                           la grande Élisabeth Ire 
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3.  
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6.                                                                et Victoriaet sauf Anne Boleyn à cause de son étonnant mariage et de sa fin tragique. Mais on oublie le plus souvent que la destinée hors normes de cette deuxième épouse d'Henri VIII est tout autre chose qu'un simple roman d'amour et de passion : c'est aussi un épisode d'histoire politique et religieuse qui a joué un rôle crucial au cœur du plus grand bouleversement culturel de l'histoire européenne – la rupture de l'Angleterre avec le catholicisme et la création de l'Église anglicane. Elle a été, dès son temps, 1'objet de jugements violemment contradictoires, qui rendent difficile aux historiens d'aujourd'hui l'appréhension de sa véritable personnalité. L'échafaud qui met un terme à sa vie reste, lui-même, mystérieux : quelle a été véritablement la cause de sa condamnation ? Qui en ont été les auteurs ? D'innombrables explications en ont été proposées depuis plus de quatre siècles, sans qu'aucune ne s'impose absolument. Mais de toute façon, la fascination demeure pour la « reine des mille jours » et pour son mystère.

Anne était la fille de Thomas Boleyn comte de Wiltshire 

et de Elisabeth Howard 

1. . Elle naquit au chateau de Blickling Hall dans le comté de Norfolk,
2.  

On ne connaît pas avec certitude sa date de naissance  1501 ou 1506 ? Son érudit biographe, E.W. Ives, après un minutieux examen des textes, conclut pour 1501.Tenons-nous-en donc à cette date.

1. Elle fut élevée aux Pays-Bas puis vint en France où elle avait accompagné Marie d'Angleterre  , qui épousa Louis XII .

Elle est la fille d'un homme de cour, Thomas Boleyn, plusieurs fois ambassadeur, et d'une nièce du duc de Norfolk, Thomas Howard. Elle touche donc, par sa parenté, à la plus haute noblesse du royaume, ce qui lui donnera tout naturellement, le moment venu, sa place à la cour.

Elle a une sœur aînée, Mary, qui épousera William Carey, et un frère, probablement cadet, George, plus tard Lord Rochford .

Quand elle naît, le roi d'Angleterre est Henri VII, le fondateur de la dynastie Tudor, mais il mourra quelques années plus tard (en 1509) et laissera le trône à son fils, un brillant, fascinant, hyperactif adolescent : Henri VIII, né en 1491, donc plus âgé qu'Anne de dix ans. Quand il devient roi, Anne a huit ans, et elle ne tardera pas à suivre son père, nommé ambassadeur à la cour de la régente des Pays-Bas – notre Belgique – Marguerite d'Autriche, qui siège à Malines.

La cour de Marguerite d'Autriche est un des centres culturels de l'Europe. La jeune Anne y apprend le français, langue courante de l'aristocratie d'alors, les belles manières, peut-être déjà la galanterie. À l'âge de treize ans, elle est nommée, grâce à l'influence de son père, demoiselle d'honneur de la princesse Marie,sœur du jeune roi Henri, qui va épouser le roi de France Louis XII. Elle reste en France après la mort de Louis XII et devient demoiselle d'honneur de Claude de France, épouse du nouveau roi

François Ier. Elle devient « toute française ». Plus tard, un diplomate espagnol prétendra qu'elle était « connue comme débauchée et grande putain ». Nous ne sommes pas obligés de le croire, car à l'époque personne n'insinuait rien sur la jeune Anglaise qui, par ailleurs, se révélait « habile à chanter et à jouer du luth et autres instruments ». Elle assiste, en 1520, au fameux camp du Drap d'Or,

où Henri VIII et François Ier font assaut de luxe et de prouesses, plus hypo­crites d'un côté que de 1'autre. Peut-être Henri VIII remarqua-t-il, ce jour-là, la demoiselle d'honneur de la reine de France ? Elle avait dix-neuf ans, une abondante chevelure brune lustrée, des yeux noirs très expressifs. Tout pour plaire. Mais le moment n'était pas encore venu.

Disons un mot, précisément, de la beauté d'Anne Boleyn à ce moment de sa vie. Tous ses contemporains, même ses partisans, reconnaissent que ce n'était pas une Vénus parfaite. Ses ennemis parlent de son teint jaune, de son cou trop gonflé (un goitre, disaient certains). On lui attribue six doigts à la main droite – sans doute une légère malformation de l'auriculaire –, une dent mal plantée. Mais ses portraits, peut-être flattés, nous montrent un visage ovale, de beaux yeux, une petite bouche un peu serrée. Séduisante, sûrement, et surtout – toujours selon E.W. Ives – « oozing sex », c'est-à-dire débordante de sensualité.

Telle est Anne Boleyn au moment où, en 1522, elle revient en Angleterre et prend sa place à la cour, cette fois dans l'entourage de la reine Catherine d'Aragon. Elle a vingt et un ans, le roi en a trente et un ; la reine, pauvre femme, en a trente-sept.

Ayant entendu parler de sa grande beauté en particulier par la propre sœur d’Anne qui fut un temps sa maîtresse Henri VIII obtient du roi français que la sœur aînée des Boleyns soit liée à la reine d’Angleterre.

                                En 1522 , Anne Boleyn retourne en Angleterre .     

 Depuis 1509 Henri VIII est marié avec l’infante de Castille qui lui a donné seulement des filles et de très jeunes fils morts . Aimé d’Anne , Henri veut faire sa favorite , la couvre de cadeaux et de lettres brûlantes - bien qu’il n’aime pas particulièrement écrire - et va jusqu’à faire sa chère Anne " Marquise de Pembroke " . 

           Le Roi fait la Cour à Anne .

Mais, au lieu de succomber , Anne quitte la Cour et fait entendre au roi qu’elle ne sera pas seulement une maîtresse qu’il abandonnera pour une autre .

  Elle résiste à ses avances .

                                                                                        1532 Anne  et Henri à Calais

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Le 11 octobre 1532, juste avant l’aube, Henri VIII et Anne Boleyn, marquise de Pembroke, s’embarquèrent sur le KING ship , the Swallow , de Douvres. Ils arrivèrent  à leur destination , Calais , à 10 heures du matin et furent accueillis par le maire de Calais , le Lord Adjoint et divers chevaliers . Ils furent ensuite emmenés à l’église Saint-Nicolas où ils attendirent la messe avant de se retirer à leur logement à l’Échiquier .

   Le couple resta ensemble jusqu’au 21 octobre, quand Henri quitta Anne pour rencontrer François Ier et se rendre à Boulogne.

                                                                      Le temps du bonheur

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                                                                 The royal progress of 1535

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                                                                          Anne and Henri at Never Castle

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Pour  posséder Anne , Henri doit l’épouser . Craignant d’avoir une descendance Henri VIII demande au pape Clément VII d’annuler son union avec Katherine , afin qu’il puisse épouser Anne ; ce dernier refuse , le mariage ayant été consommé et n’ayant pas été stérile , il est impossible de le dissoudre . De plus, le roi d’Espagne Charles V - parent de Katherine - menace le pape d’envahir Rome s’il obéit au roi d’Angleterre . Furieux ,  Henri VIII  abandonne la religion catholique et épouse Anne le 25 janvier 1533 après avoir rejeté sa première femme .

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                                                                                     Le Mariage

               25 January 1533 – Mariage d'Henry VIII et Anne Boleyn

En ce jour 25 janvier 1533 , Henry VIII d’Angleterre épousa sa deuxième femme , Anne Boleyn , en secret au palais de Whitehall . L’archevêque Cranmer écrivit à l’archidiacre Hawkins qu’elle (Anne) s'était mariée pour la Saint-Paul ' qui tombait le 25 janvier .  Le mariage fut gardé si secret que l’habituellement bien - informé ambassadeur espagnol Eutace Chapuys écrivait en Mars des rumeurs sur mariage en Avril 

Henry VIII épousa Anne Boleyn le jour de la Saint-Paul, le 25 janvier 1533. Dans une lettre à l’archidiacre Hawkyns, écrite en juin 1533 et enregistrant le couronnement d’Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cranmer écrit:

« Mais maintenant, monsieur, vous ne pouvez pas imaginer que ce couronnement ait eu lieu avant son mariage, car elle s’est mariée à peu près à la fin de la Saint-Paul, comme son état le montre bien, parce qu’elle est maintenant un peu grosse  avec un enfant. » 

Cranmer conteste ensuite les rumeurs selon lesquelles il aurait célébré la cérémonie :

« Bien qu’il ait été rapporté dans une grande partie du royaume que je l'avais mariée , ce qui était tout à fait faux, car je n’en savais rien une quinzaine de jours après que cela eut été fait. » 

Si secret était la cérémonie de mariage que même Cranmer avait été gardé dans l'ignorance  jusqu’àprés quelques semaines de celle - ci .

le Roi s'est donc marié à Lady Anne Boleyn longtemps avant qu’il n’y ait eu un divorce prononcé avec sa première femme par l'archevêque de Canterbury. Le quel mariage a été secretement fait à Whitehall très tôt avant le jour, aucun témoin n’étant présent sauf Mr Norris et Mr Henage de la Chambre Privée et la Lady Barkeley, et M. Rowland l’aumônier du Roi, qui a été par la suite fait évêque de Coventry et Lichfield. Le Roi dit que  bien qu'il ait  obtenu du Pape une autorisation pour épouser une autre femme, afin d'éviter les affaires et le tumulte il fallait que le mariage soit fait  très secrètement .

                                                                                                                          From " The Tudors "

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Les événements se bousculent. Justement, l'archevêque de Cantorbery, hostile au divorce, meurt. Henri VIII le remplace par Cranmer,

qui, aussitôt prononce le divorce (23 mai 1533) et dans la foulée, unit le roi et la favorite le 28 mai. Tout le monde a été pris de court. Anne est enfin reine ; Catherine est exilée de la cour et devient « princesse de Galles douai­rière ». Par la même occasion, sa fille Marie Tudor est déclarée bâtarde.

                                                                                Le couronnement

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    Henri VIII, tout à sa joie, fait les choses en grand. Anne est couronnée à Westminster

le 1er juin 1533, dans un grand luxe de sonneries de cloches, processions et festivité

. D'ailleurs, le 7 septembre suivant, elle donne naissance à l'enfant tant attendu – mais, hélas, c'est une fille. On la prénomme Élisabeth. Elle sera la grande  Elisabeth 1

  mais que de drames d'ici là !

À la cour d'Angleterre, le « clan Boleyn » triomphe. Le père d'Anne, son frère Georges, son oncle le duc de Norfolk, disposent de la faveur royale. Ils en profitent pour favoriser la nouvelle religion, au grand scandale de la plupart des évêques et du nouveau chancelier Thomas More,

                            qui y laissera sa tête     .

Le Parlement poursuit son œuvre de destruction du pouvoir papal. Enfin, à l'automne 1534, il votera le fameux Acte de Suprématie, 

qui déclare le roi « chef suprême de l'Église d'An­gleterre ». C'est l'acte de fondation de l'Église anglicane, jusqu'à nos jours. Le mariage d'Anne Boleyn se révèle ainsi être l'un des événements les plus considérables de l'histoire européenne au XVIe siècle.

Mais ce mariage était violemment impopulaire dans le pays. Derrière les applaudissements officiels, Anne est « la putain aux gros yeux ». Dans les églises, quand on prie pour elle les fidèles sortent de l'édifice. En Europe, à l'exception des – rares – pays sympathisants de Luther, c'est l'indignation qui s'exprime. Pour les diplomates espagnols et même français, la reine Anne sera toujours « la concubine ». Bien entendu, aucun catholique ne reconnaît la validité de l'union ; pour eux, Élisabeth est « la bâtarde » – source de maints drames à l'avenir.

                                                                 Le réveil de l'ogre

Anne, du reste, n'est pas heureuse. Maintenant qu'il la possède, Henri ne la désire plus autant. La déception de ne pas avoir de fils – car Anne ne fera plus désormais que des fausses couches – lui apparaît comme une punition de Dieu.

Pis : le caractère de la nouvelle reine devient bizarre, inquiétant. Elle a des périodes de dépression, d'autres d'exci­tation incontrôlable. Un jour, elle éclate de rire, sans raison, devant l'ambassadeur de France stupéfait. Elle sent que le roi lui échappe, qu'il fait une cour pressante à une nouvelle venue, Jeanne Seymour . Et surtout, elle commet des imprudences incom­préhensibles. Avec un jeune courtisan nommé Norris, elle plaisante sur son éventuel veuvage – crime capital. On parle aussi de ses amabilités pour un musicien, Mark Smeton , qui est ouvertement amoureux d'elle.

Et soudain, le coup de tonnerre ! Au matin du 30 avril 1536, Smeton est arrêté et, sous la torture il confesse avoir été l'amant

de la reine. Aussitôt après, Norrisest arrêté à son tour, puis William Breretonun familier des Boleyn, Francis Weston, ancien page du roi, et pour finir le propre frère d'Anne, Lord Rochford.Tous sont accusés d'adultère avec la reine ; Henri est comme frappé d'un coup de massue. En toute hâte, il convoque l'archevêque Cranmer qui, sans se faire prier, déclare nul le mariage d'Anne, sans doute pour cause de sorcellerie – le jugement ne fut jamais rendu public. Le 16 mai, Anne est con­damnée à mort après un procès expéditif. La veille de son exécution, dit-on, elle remarqua qu'elle avait le cou bien court, et éclata de rire. Sa tête tomba à la tour de Londres le 19 mai.

Ce meurtre judiciaire frappa pour longtemps les imaginations. Avant Anne, tous ses amants supposés avaient été décapités, y compris son frère. Élisabeth fut déclarée bâtarde et ne fut « relégitimée » que vingt ans plus tard, au moment de monter sur le trône qu'elle devait occuper quarante-quatre ans.

Héroïne romantique, ambitieuse calculatrice, victime innocente ?

De ces trois images posthumes d'Anne Boleyn,laquelle retenir ? Ambitieuse, sûrement. La façon dont elle sut tenir la dragée haute à Henri VIII pour se faire épouser est un modèle du genre. Elle est l'exemple type de la maîtresse qui manœuvre pour évincer l'épouse légitime. De cela il ne peut pas y avoir le moindre doute.

Amoureuse, c'est moins sûr. À aucun moment on ne décèle chez elle l'ombre d'une attirance réelle pour le gros roi quadra­génaire – qui, lui, au contraire, était follement épris, et le resta… jusqu'au moment où elle céda.

Mais elle a été aussi, consciemment ou non, un pion dans le jeu politique des factions de cour. Son père et son oncle ont profité de la passion du roi pour elle et ont joué cette carte en toute lucidité.

L'intervention de l'élément religieux dans cette aventure personnelle a eu des conséquences incalculables, puisque c'est à elle que l'Angleterre doit d'être devenue protestante. Anne l'a pleinement assumé. Sa mémoire en est restée marquée, honnie des catholiques, idéalisée des protestants.

Reste la question finale : fut-elle vraiment coupable d'adultère, voire d'inceste avec son frère comme en décidèrent les juges de 1536 ? Ses biographes modernes en doutent forte­ment. Les contemporains, en majorité, y ont cru. Élisabeth, sa fille, devenue reine, eut la sagesse de ne pas rouvrir le procès comme certains le lui conseillaient. Légalement, Anne Boleyn reste donc coupable.

Le seul qui, en tout cas, n'eut jamais de doute sur ce point est Henri VIII. Il épousa Jeanne Seymour, « le paradis après l'enfer », onze jours après l'exécution d'Anne. Elle fut sa troisième épouse. Trois autres suivraient encore, et l'une d'elles y laisserait aussi sa tête – mais cela est une autre histoire.

L'imbroglio matrimonial du roi Henri

Henri VIII était marié à Catherine d'Aragon depuis 1509. Au début, le mariage avait été idyllique, bien qu'elle eût six ans de plus que lui. Il prenait la devise de « Cœur loyal ». Mais elle ne réussissait pas à lui donner le fils qu'il espérait et que l'Angleterre attendait – Elle eut en tout six grossesses, dont une fille seule survécut, qui sera plus tard la reine Marie Tudor – et vieillissait vite. En 1524, le roi cessa de faire lit commun avec elle. Aux yeux de tous les observateurs, il se détache d'elle. Des bruits de divorce commencent à courir.

De nos jours, 1'affaire se réglerait – au moins au plan légal – sans difficulté insurmontable, même dans la famille royale anglaise qui en a vu bien d'autres. Mais au XVIe siècle, une seule personne pouvait prononcer le divorce, ou plutôt l'annulation du mariage : c'est le pape, car le mariage est alors exclusivement un sacrement et relève, à ce titre de la seule juridiction de l'Église. Or, l'union d'Henri et de Catherine était canoniquement compliquée. Catherine avait en effet épousé, avant Henri, le frère aîné de celui-ci, Arthur, mort prématurément quelques mois plus tard. La Bible (Lévitique) interdit le remariage d'une veuve avec le frère de son premier mari. Il avait donc fallu obtenir du pape une dis­pense, que Jules II

 avait accordée par une bulle soigneusement conservée en Espagne, pays d'origine de l'épousée.

Mais, opportunément, au moment où Henri se détachait physiquement et sentimentalement de sa femme, un scrupule religieux lui vint : le pape avait-il le pouvoir de délier un homme, fût-il roi, de l'obéissance à la loi divine ? Selon la tradition, c'est le confesseur d'Henri, William Longland , qui lui distille ses doutes. Il y avait mis le temps. Mais il a un argument sérieux : la Bible menace de stérilité ce genre de mariages incestueux. Or, effecti­vement Catherine n'a pas donné de fils à son époux – apparemment, on considérait sa fille, Marie Tudor, comme quantité négligeable.

Le roi, devenu soudain très soucieux du salut de son âme, consulte des théologiens. Leurs avis, comme il se doit, sont variés et con­tradictoires. Des tonnes de volumes des Pères de l'Église, des conciles, des scolastiques sont manipulés. Pour comble, on se demande si Catherine a été effectivement la femme d'Arthur – autrement dit, si son premier mariage a été consommé ; dans la négative, il n'y aurait pas inceste au sens biblique du mot pour le second mariage. Mais comment savoir, vingt-cinq ans après ?

L'imbroglio s'épaissit. Le chancelier (Premier Ministre) d'Henri VIII, le très influent cardinal Wolsey

, qui se verrait bien un jour monter sur le trône de Saint-Pierre, n'est pas favorable au maintien de l'alliance avec l'Espagne ; il préfère l'alliance française. Le divorce du roi d'avec Catherine d'Aragon pourrait lui permettre d'épouser la princesse Renée de France, belle-sœur de François Ier. Mais le roi d'Espagne Charles Quint, qui est aussi empereur d'Allemagne et roi de Naples, neveu de Catherine, menace de faire la guerre si on touche à sa tante. Quant au pape, Clément VII, un Médicis de Florence, il navigue entre deux eaux, et trouve tous les moyens pour reculer sans cesse sa décision concernant le divorce. La « grande affaire » du roi d'Angleterre devient européenne.

Entrée en scène d'Anne Boleyn

En attendant que Rome se décide, Henri VIII se console comme il peut. Il a des maîtresses, entre autres Mary Carey, la sœur d'Anne Boleyn . (On chuchotera même qu'il a couché avec la mère de cette dernière, mais il le niera toujours.) Anne, pendant ces années 1522-1524, brille à la cour. Elle crée les modes, attire tous les regards. Elle est vaguement fiancée avec le fils du duc de Northumberland, Henry Percy, dont elle est apparemment amoureuse ; mais Wolsey, pour des raisons que nous ignorons – affaire de rivalités de clans sans doute – fait rompre ces fiançailles, ce qu'Anne ne lui pardonnera jamais. Elle a aussi une liaison sentimentale avec le jeune et séduisant poète Thomas Wyatt. Sentimentale seulement ? Voire. Beaucoup pensent qu'ils ont été amants au sens le plus complet du terme. En tout cas, le roi se montre jaloux, et Wyatt, prudent, s'efface.

Jaloux, le roi ? Mais pourquoi ? C'est qu'il est soudain tombé amoureux de la belle Boleyn. Nous ne savons pas exactement quand. Les ambassadeurs d'Espagne, de France, de Venise commencent à en parler en 1526, mais sans doute les premières tentatives d'Henri VIII pour gagner le cœur d'Anne remontent-elles à un ou deux ans. En tout cas, cet amour change tout. La jeune Anne, qui a maintenant vingt-quatre ou vingt-cinq ans, saisit aussitôt sa chance. Elle refuse d'être la maîtresse du roi, comme d'autres avant elle. Elle cédera seulement la bague au doigt – et la couronne sur la tête. Dès lors, l'affaire du divorce se double, pour Henri, d'une urgence nouvelle. Car il est amoureux fou, comme un adolescent. Il écrit à Anne des lettres enflammées, où il entrelace son sigle royal H.R. autour d'un cœur avec le A.B. de la jeune fille. Il lui promet le mariage dès qu'il sera libre. Mais elle tient bon.

Cette fois, le cardinal Wolsey, si habile d'ordinaire, ne prend pas bien conscience du danger. Il continue à négocier avec le pape – dont il est le légat en Angleterre – avec l'arrière-pensée d'un mariage français pour Henri VIII. Mais Clément VII a les mains liées : en 1527, il est assiégé dans Rome par les troupes déchaînées de Charles Quint, et il ne peut pas se permettre de braver le roi d'Espagne en prononçant le divorce de sa tante. Poussé par Anne, Henri VIII prend conscience qu'il n'obtiendra pas satisfaction du côté du Saint-Siège. Il est le dos au mur.

Alors, un jeune théologien de Cambridge, Thomas Cranmer, a un éclair de génie : puisque le pape ne peut, ou ne veut, donner satisfaction au roi d'Angleterre, pourquoi ne pas se passer de lui ? Le roi d'Angleterre n'est-il pas maître dans son royaume ?

Lé roi, maître dans son royaume

L'hostilité au pape était une vieille tradition en Angleterre. Depuis le Moyen Âge, on se plaignait de la rapacité des légats pontificaux, de leur autoritarisme. Le pape prétendait que le roi d'Angleterre était son vassal, en vertu d'un acte datant du temps des croisades. En mettant en cause l'autorité du pape dans l'affaire du divorce, Cranmer faisait donc vibrer une corde sensible. Mais il déclenchait aussi un processus, une avalanche, dont personne, peut-être pas même lui, ne soupçonnait 1'ampleur.

La première victime fut Wolsey. Ayant échoué à la fois en politique étrangère (puisque le roi de France, en août 1529, se réconcilie avec Charles Quint) et dans l'affaire du divorce royal, il est disgracié, privé de toutes ses dignités, accusé de multiples violations des lois. Il meurt, ruiné et désespéré, en novembre 1530, à la veille d'être condamné.

Henri VIII décide alors de réunir le Parlement, qui le sou­tiendra dans sa lutte contre le pape. Le Parlement est d'autant plus d'accord que plusieurs de ses membres commencent à être influencés par les théories religieuses de l'Allemand Luther, qui a rompu avec Rome en 1520 et a été excommunié l'année suivante. Cranmer penche fortement vers le luthéranisme.

Justement, Anne Boleyn est, elle aussi, marquée par la nouvelle tendance religieuse, peut-être depuis son séjour en France. En 1529, on voit Anne offrir à Henri VIII un livre luthérien, L'Obédience de l'homme chrétien, et Henri manifester son intérêt. Le frère d'Anne, George, ainsi que son père, devenu comte de Wiltshire, font partie des partisans reconnus de la doctrine venue d'Allemagne. (Plus tard, les catholiques accuseront Anne d'avoir favorisé la diffusion de l'hérésie en Angleterre, et les protestants la considéreront comme une des leurs.)

Les deux « affaires » suivent donc leur cours, parallèlement, tout au long des années 1530-1533. Le Parlement vote une série de lois qui libèrent progressivement l'Angleterre de l'autorité de Rome ; en même temps, une conférence théologique sur le divorce, tenue à Westminster, échoue par suite de l'opposition du légat pontifical. Catherine d'Aragon fait appel directement au pape ; Clément VII convoque tout le monde à Rome ; Henri VIII multiplie les manœuvres d'obstruction. Les mois passent, les années aussi. Pour le roi d'Angleterre, c'est devenu une hantise.Il en vient à haïr Catherine.

Alors, vers décembre 1532, Anne Boleyn se décide à sauter le pas : après sept, huit ans d'attente, elle ouvre enfin son lit à son royal soupirant. 

The Rise of Anne Boleyn

In 1528, Anne's emergence at Court began. Anne also showed real interest in religious reform and may have introduced some of the 'new ideas' to Henry, and gaining the hatred of some members of the Court. When the court spent Christmas at Greenwich that year, Anne was lodged in nice apartments near those of the King.

The legal debates on the marriage of Henry and Catherine of Aragon continued on. Anne was no doubt frustrated by the lack of progress. Her famous temper and tongue showed themselves at times in famous arguments between her and Henry for all the court to see. Anne feared that Henry might go back to Catherine if the marriage could not be annulled and Anne would have wasted time that she could have used to make an advantageous marriage.

Anne was not popular with the people of England. They were upset to learn that at the Christmas celebrations of 1529, Anne was given precedence over the Duchesses of Norfolk and Suffolk, the latter of which was the King's own sister, Mary.

In this period, records show that Henry began to spend more and more on Anne, buying her clothes, jewelry, and things for her amusement such as playing cards and bows and arrows.

The waiting continued and Anne's position continued to rise. On the first day of September 1532, she was created Marquess of Pembroke, a title she held in her own right. In October, she held a position of honor at meetings between Henry and the French King in Calais.

Queen Anne

Sometime near the end of 1532, Anne finally gave way and by December she was pregnant. To avoid any questions of the legitimacy of the child, Henry was forced into action. Sometime near St. Paul's Day (January 25) 1533, Anne and Henry were secretly married. Although the King's marriage to Catherine was not dissolved, in the King's mind it had never existed in the first place, so he was free to marry whomever he wanted. On May 23, the Archbishop officially proclaimed that the marriage of Henry and Catherine was invalid.

Plans for Anne's coronation began. In preparation, she had been brought by water from Greenwich to the Tower of London dressed in cloth of gold. The barges following her were said to stretch for four miles down the Thames. On the 1st of June, she left the Tower in procession to Westminster Abbey, where she became a crowned and anointed Queen in a ceremony led byThomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

By August, preparations were being made for the birth of Anne's child, which was sure to be a boy. Names were being chosen, with Edward and Henry the top choices. The proclamation of the child's birth had already been written with 'prince' used to refer to the child.

Anne took to her chamber, according to custom, on August 26, 1533 and on September 7, at about 3:00 in the afternoon, the Princess Elizabeth was born. Her christening service was scaled down, but still a pleasant affair. The princess' white christening robes can currently be seen on display at Sudeley Castle in England.

Anne now knew that it was imperative that she produce a son. By January of 1534, she was pregnant again, but the child was either miscarried or stillborn. In 1535, she became pregnant again but miscarried by the end of January. The child was reported to have been a boy. The Queen was quite upset, and blamed the miscarriage on her state of mind after hearing that Henry had taken a fall in jousting. She had to have known at this point that her failure to produce a living male heir was a threat to her own life, especially since the King's fancy for one of her ladies-in-waiting, Jane Seymour, began to grow.

                                                The Fall of Anne 

Anne's enemies at court began to plot against her using the King's attentions to Jane Seymour as the catalyst for action. Cromwell began to move in action to bring down the Queen. He persuaded the King to sign a document calling for an investigation that would possibly result in charges of treason.

On April 30, 1536, Anne's musician and friend for several years, Mark Smeaton, was arrested and probably tortured into making 'revelations' about the Queen. Next, Sir Henry Norris was arrested and taken to the Tower of London. Then the Queen's own brother, George Boleyn, Lord Rochford was arrested.

On May 2, the Queen herself was arrested at Greenwich and was informed of the charges against her: adultery, incest and plotting to murder the King. She was then taken to the Tower by barge along the same path she had traveled to prepare for her coronation just three years earlier. In fact, she was lodged in the same rooms she had held on that occasion.

There were several more arrests. Sir Francis Weston and William Brereton were charged with adultery with the Queen. Sir Thomas Wyatt was also arrested, but later released. They were put on trial with Smeaton and Norris at Westminster Hall on May 12, 1536. The men were not allowed to defend themselves, as was the case in charges of treason. They were found guilty and received the required punishment: they were to be hanged at Tyburn, cut down while still living and then disemboweled and quartered.

On Monday the 15th, the Queen and her brother were put on trial at the Great Hall of the Tower of London. It is estimated that some 2000 people attended. Anne conducted herself in a calm and dignified manner, denying all the charges against her. Her brother was tried next, with his own wife testifying against him (she got her due later in the scandal of Kathryn Howard). Even though the evidence against them was scant, they were both found guilty, with the sentence being read by their uncle, Thomas Howard , the Duke of Norfolk. They were to be either burnt at the stake (which was the punishment for incest) or beheaded, at the discretion of the King.

             The Fall of the Queen

                     The Queen's Trial

                                  " On May 15 th 1536 , twenty six peers of the Realm congregated in the King's Hall of the tower of London to serve as judges in the trial of Anne Boleyn , Queen of England ...

                                  In the centre of the Hall , a chair had been placed on a raised platform before a bar . Nearby , glistening in the light was the queen crown - probably the one made of gold and decorated with sapphires , rubies and pearls with crosses and fkleurs-de-lis around the rim, which the Queen had ordered for her coronation three years earlier .

The Trial of Anne Boleyn

Posted By  Claire on May 15, 2009 

It’s a sad day today here at The Anne Boleyn Files, as we think about the trial of Anne Boleyn, and her brother George, that took place on this day (15th May) in 1536 in the King’s Hall, the Tower of London. The day when our heroine was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to death.

Here are the events of this dark day in English history:-

The Charges

Anne Boleyn, Queen of England and second wife of Tudor monarch, Henry VIII, was accused of treason under statute 26 (Henry VIII c.13), a statute which had actually been brought into force to protect her and Princess Elizabeth, and also with slandering the royal issue (statute 25 Henry VIII c.22, March 1534). Her indictment accused Anne of:

“despising her marriage and entertaining malice against the King, and following daily her frail and carnal lust.”

According to her indictment, she had seduced the five men who were also charged with treason and had plotted the King’s death. It was said that:

“On 6th October at the palace of Westminster… and on various other days before and after, by sweet words, kissings, touchings, and other illicit means… she did procure and incite… Henry Norris… a gentleman of the Privy Chamber of our lord the King, to violate and carnally know her, by reason whereof the same Henry Norris on 12th October… violated, stained and carnally knew her…”

Anne Boleyn was also accused of committing adultery with Henry Norris on 12th and 19th November 1533, with Sir William on 16th  and 27th November, and the 3rd and 8th Decemer 1533, with Sir Francis Weston on 8th and 20th May, and the 6th and 20th June 1534, and with Mark Smeaton on 13th and 19th May 1534. Additionally, Anne was accused of committing incest with her brother George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, on 2nd November and the 22nd and 29th December 1535. In all, Anne was accused of twenty acts of adultery.

As for the incest, according to court records, Anne:

“tempted her brother with her tongue in the said George’s mouth and the said George’s tongue in hers.”

Completely innocent actions, such as giving money to courtiers and dancing with her brother, were used as evidence against Anne and Anne did not stand a chance. Even the fact that Anne had alibis for 12 of the occasions when she was meant to be committing adultery did not seem to matter, after all, Anne Boleyn was a witch and witches could do anything!

The five men, apart from Norris, were also charged with sodomy (Note: Joanna Denny writes this and Retha Warnicke is also of the view that the men had committed sodomy but according to their indictments and the work of other historians they were not actually charged with it, it was just hinted at), so not only had Anne Boleyn committed adultery, she had slept with satanic homosexuals!

The Trial

The court, presided over by Anne’s uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, as lord steward, unanimously declared Anne Boleyn guilty of all charges, although she had pled “not guilty”, and Norfolk said:

“Because thou has offended our sovereign the King’s grace in committing treason against his person and here attainted of the same, the law of the realm is this, thou hast deserved death, and thy judgement is this: that thou shalt be burned here within the Tower of London, on the Green, else to have thy head smitten off, as the King’s pleasure shall be further known of the same.”

Anne Boleyn then gave the following speech:

“I do not say that I have always borne towards the King the humility which I owed him, considering his kindness and the great honour he showed me and the great respect he always paid me; I admit too, that often I have taken it into my head to be jealous of him… But may God be my witness if I have done him any other wrong.”

It was then that Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and Anne’s former sweetheart, collapsed and had to be taken out of the courtroom. The sentence and Anne’s speech were obviously too much for him, especially as he had also had to pronounce her “guilty”. It was then the turn of George Boleyn to be tried and sentenced. Like Anne, he pled “not guilty”, but was found guilty and sentenced to death also.

A False Trial

We now know that all of the charges against Anne were complete fiction created by Cromwell and his fellow plotters, Chapuys and the Catholic Conservatives. We also know that Anne had absolutely no chance of winning her case, seeing as her household was broken up two days before her court case and that Chapuys recorded that Henry VIII told Jane Seymour on the morning of Anne’s trial that Anne would be condemned that day. The King was also busy planning his wedding to Jane Seymour, something he could not do if Anne was found inocent.

Although many put all of the blame for Anne’s death on the shoulders of Thomas Cromwell, I have to agree with Joanna Denny when she says:

“Henry’s hand in the whole sordid business is clearly seen: the real blood-guilt lies with the King. The source of all the horror and brutality was Henry. The whole world revolved around him and his ego.”

There’s no way that Henry was ignorant of what Cromwell was doing. The King knew everything that went on around him and even though he may not have been guilty of trumping up these charges, he certainly was not disputing them.

I will end this post here, but watch out for my next blog on Anne Boleyn in the Tower. You can read more about the Fall of Anne Boleyn in my FREE report – click here for more information.

You can read a letter Anne wrote to Henry from the Tower and poems she is said to have written (see Pages on the left hand menu bar or click links).

****P.S. Remember to enter the article competition by midnight 18th May to have a chance of winning the lovely Anne Boleyn necklace – click here for details.****

****P.P.S. Remember to order your Anne Boleyn B Necklace****

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The True Facts of The Trial of Queen Anne Boleyn

See also :

Historical Timeline leading up to Trial and execution of Anne Boleyn

Margery S. Schauer and Frederick Schauer, Law as the Engine of State: The Trial of Anne Boleyn, 22 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 49 (1980), http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol22/iss1/3.

An Unprecedented Conviction

Earlier English Queens had been unfaithful and done treasonable acts, notably: -

Isabella of Angouleme (1186/8 -1246) It is said that her husband King John had ordered her lovers to be strung up and hanged above her bed.Isabella of France (c. 1295 – 1358) unquestionably committed adultery with Roger Mortimer while she was married to the homosexual Edward II & deposed him.Isabella was not punished, however, and lived for many years in  considerable style, although not at court, until her death.Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 – 1204) abetted her sons in a treasonous rebellion against her husband and King, Henry II that nearly cost him his throne and led to her being held under house arrest for 16 yearsMatilda of Flanders (c. 1031 – 1083 wife of William the Conqueror had also supported a renegade son against her husband, earning little more than a ticking-offJoan of Navarre (c. 1370 – 1437) widow of Henry IV had been accused (falsely, as it turned out) of witchcraft to poison Henry V, for which she was imprisoned for just 3 yearsEleanor Cobham (c.1400 – 1452) Duchess of Gloucester & wife of the Heir apparent , had schemed the death of her nephew Henry VI by witchcraft, but escaped execution; instead she was condemned to perpetual imprisonment

NO English royal lady, therefore had ever been sentenced to death for the kind of crimes of which Anne Boleyn was accused.

"Nor  had this happened in France, where in 1314, three french princesses,  among them the wife of the heir to the throne were found guilty of  committing adultery; but while their lovers were savagely butchered on  the scaffold, they themselves were condemned only to divorce and  imprisonment."

[source: Alison Weir The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn 2010]

The Indictment

 Source : British History online - primary sources
Indictment found at Westminster on Wednesday next after three weeks of Easter, 28 Hen. VIII.   before Sir John Baldwin, &c., by the oaths of Giles Heron, Roger More, Ric. Awnsham, Thos. Byllyngton, Gregory Lovell, Jo. Worsop, Will. Goddard, Will. Blakwall, Jo. Wylford, Will. Berd, Hen. Hubbylthorn, Will. Hunyng, Rob. Walys, John England, Hen. Lodysman, and John Averey; who present that whereas queen Anne has been the wife of Henry VIII. for three years and more, she, despising her marriage,  and entertaining malice against the King, and following daily her frail and  carnal lust, did falsely and traitorously procure by base conversations and kisses,  touchings, gifts, and other infamous incitations, divers of the King's daily and  familiar servants to be her adulterers and concubines, so that several of the  King's servants yielded to her vile provocations; viz., on 6th Oct. 25 Hen.  VIII., at Westminster, and divers days before and after, she procured, by sweet words, kisses, touches, and otherwise, Hen. Noreys [Henry Norris], of Westminster,  gentle  man of the privy chamber, to violate her, by reason whereof he did so at Westminster on the 12th Oct. 25 Hen. VIII.; and they had illicit  intercourse at various other times, both before and after, sometimes by his  procurement, and sometimes by that of the Queen. Also the Queen, 2 Nov. 27 Hen. VIII. and several times before and after, at Westminster, procured and incited  her own natural brother, George Boleyn, lord Rocheford, gentleman of the privy chamber, to violate her, alluring him with her tongue in the said  George's mouth, and the said George's tongue in hers, and also with kisses,  presents, and jewels; whereby he, despising the commands of God, and all human laws, 5 Nov. 27 Hen. VIII., violated and carnally knew the said Queen, his own sister, at Westminster; which he also did on divers other days before  and after at the same place, sometimes by his own procurement and sometimes  by the Queen's. Also the Queen, 3 Dec. 25 Hen. VIII., and divers days  before and after, at Westminster, procured one Will. Bryerton [William Brereton], late of  Westminster, gentleman of the privy chamber, to violate her, whereby he did so on 8  Dec. 25 Hen. VIII., at Hampton Court, in the parish of Lytel Hampton, and on several other days before and after, sometimes by his own procurement  and sometimes by the Queen's. Also the Queen, 8 May 26 Hen. VIII., and at  other times before and since, procured Sir Fras. Weston [Francis Weston], of Westminster,  gentleman of the privy chamber, &c., whereby he did so on the 20 May, &c.  Also the Queen, 12 April 26 Hen. VIII., and divers days before and since, at  Westminster, procured Mark Smeton [Mark Smeaton], groom of the privy chamber, to  violate her, whereby he did so at Westminster, 26 April 27 Hen. VIII.

Moreover, the said lord Rocheford, Norreys, Bryerton, Weston, and  Smeton, being thus inflamed with carnal love of the Queen, and having become  very jealous of each other, gave her secret gifts and pledges while carrying  on this illicit intercourse; and the Queen, on her part, could not endure any of  them to converse with any other woman, without showing great displeasure; and on the 27 Nov. 27 Hen. VIII., and other days before and after, at  Westminster, she gave them great gifts to encourage them in their  crimes. And further the said Queen and these other traitors, 31 Oct. 27 Hen. VIII.,  at Westminster, conspired the death and destruction of the King, the  Queen often saying she would marry one of them as soon as the King died, and  affirming that she would never love the King in her heart. And the King having a short time since become aware of the said abominable crimes and treasons against himself, took such inward displeasure and heaviness, especially  from his said Queen's malice and adultery, that certain harms and perils have befallen his royal body.
And thus the said Queen and the other traitors aforesaid have committed their treasons in contempt of the Crown, and of the issue and heirs of the said King and Queen.

"Sir Christopher Hales, Attorney General, was the chief prosecutor for the King. Hales was educated at Gray's Inn and was a member of a family of lawyers. He rose to be Attorney General after having served as Solicitor General, and two months after the trial of Anne Boleyn he succeeded Thomas Cromwell as Master of the Rolls."' He had previously represented the Crown at the trials of Cardinal Wolsey, Sir Thomas More, and Bishop Fisher. Like Audley, he performed his duties conscientiously and with neither undue harshness nor undue charity. Cromwell, who also had legal training, assisted with the prosecution. The words spoken by these men in prosecuting the case have not been preserved, but it is known that they presented no witnesses. In this sense the entire case for the prosecution was much like a prosecutor's opening statement: describing the evidence and the results of the investigation but offering no "live" evidence to support the conclusions.
In the usual trial of this nature, someone whom the powerful wanted destroyed was accused of having said or done something that according to law was treason, and witnesses were found to swear to it. In this case, however, treason was constructed from the words that the Queen admittedly had spoken; these words were embellished until they constituted treason under three different statutes. Anne had discussed marriage with Norris, and this could not be denied; but alone it meant nothing. It was reasoned, however, that since she had spoken of marriage to Norris, she wanted to marry him. It followed that she must have wanted the King dead, and therefore she must have contrived to kill him. This last step in the reasoning may have been unnecessary. To wish the King dead in itself could be treason. Under the most important of the treason statutes, the 1352 law of Edward III, . it was treason to "compass ... or imagine . . . the death of the King, his consort, or his eldest son. ' Some dispute has existed whether this statute required some overt act or whether it allowed the punishment of treason committed by words alone. Authority does support the view that even by the end of the fifteenth century, treason by words alone was sufficient. Thus even under the 1352 statute, the words of Anne Boleyn, if construed as argued by the prosecution, would support a charge of treason.....
After having been presented with the case for the King, the peers heard Anne Boleyn's defense. She was unassisted, and there is no indication that she made what would have been a futile request for counsel. The Queen might have been permitted to present the testimony of others on her behalf, but in light of her lack of knowledge before the trial of the specific charges against her and her imprisonment prior to trial, the granting of this request would have done her little good... the defense in the trial of Anne Boleyn consisted only of her own speech, in which she eloquently protested her innocence of all the charges. Because Anne had not seen the indictment in advance, she could not reply to each specific charge by producing an alibi for each date. Despite her lack of evidence, Anne's defense persuaded many spectators, including magistrates of London, that there was no evidence against her, but that it had been decreed that she must be disposed of once and for all."

Anne's Letter ?

Arrested May 2nd, 1536,

4 days later it was said that Anne sent a letter to Henry. Allegedly found in Thomas Cromwell's papers after his execution in 1540. Scrawled across the top in what seems to be Cromwell’s handwriting: “To the King from the Lady in the Tower”.  The letter is disputed by most historians saying that the handwriting isn't her usual neat style and she refers to herself as Anne Bullen, however, some historians believe it mirrors her psychology and is a copy of an original. Notably, Jasper Ridley who rejected the letter as “a forgery, written in the reign of her daughter, Elizabeth,” in his 1984 biography Henry VIII, he later changed his mind in The Love Letters of Henry VIII (1987),  in which he claimed every element of the letter fits with what we know  of Anne’s psychology at this stage in her imprisonment.  

Sir,
Your Grace's displeasure and my imprisonment are things so strange unto  me, that 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 favour), by such a one, whom you know to be mine 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 duty. But let not Your Grace ever imagine that your poor wife will  be brought to acknowledge a fault, where not so much as a thought ever  proceeded. And to speak a truth, never a prince had wife more loyal in  all duty, and in all true affection, than you have ever found in Anne  Bullen - 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 alteration as I now find;  for the ground of my preferment being on no surer foundation than your  Grace's fancy, the least alteration was fit and sufficient (I knew) to  draw that fancy to some other subject.
You have chosen me from 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 counsel of my  enemies withdraw your princely favour from me; neither let that stain -  that unworthy stain - of a disloyal heart towards your good grace ever  cast so foul a blot on me, and on 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 as my judges; yea, let me receive an open  trial, for my truth shall fear no open shame. Then you shall see either  my innocency cleared, your suspicions and conscience satisfied, the  ignominy and slander of the world stopped, or my guilt openly declared.  So that, whatever God and you may determine of, your Grace may be freed  from an open censure; and my offense being so lawfully proved, your  Grace may be at liberty, both before God and man, not only to execute  worthy punishment on me as an unfaithful 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 while since have pointed unto - your Grace  being not ignorant of my suspicions therein.
But if you have already determined of me, and that not only my death,  but an infamous slander must bring your the joying of your desired  happiness, then I desire of God that He will pardon your great sin  herein, and likewise my enemies, the instruments thereof; and that He  will not call you to a strait account for your unprincely and cruel  usage of me at His general judgment seat, where both you and myself must  shortly appear; and in whose just judgment, I doubt not (whatsoever the  world may think of me), mine innocency shall be openly known and  sufficiently cleared.
My last and only request shall be, that myself only bear the burden of  your Grace's displeasure, and that it may not touch the innocent souls  of those poor gentlemen, whom, as I understand, are likewise in strait  imprisonment for my sake. If ever I have found favour in your sight - if  ever the name of Anne Bulen have been pleasing in your ears - then let  me obtain this request; and so I will leave to trouble your grace any  further, with mine earnest prayer 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, the 6th May.
Your most loyal and ever-faithful wife, Anne Bullen

The Trials of Anne and the five men

"On Tuesday, 9 May [1536] the  sheriffs of London were ordered to assemble the next day a grand jury  of 'discreet and sufficient persons' to decide prima facie on the  offences alleged at Whitehall and Hampton Court. Despite the short  notice the sheriffs produced a list of 48 men, three quarters of whom,  as instructed, turned up at Westminster before John Baldwin, chief justice of the common pleas, and six of his judicial colleagues".
John Baldwin was Henry Norris' brother in law and puzzlingly not the obvious choice.

Jurymen: Giles Heron - Sir Thomas More's son-in-law. Edward Willoughby - owed William Brereton money. William Askew - a welcome guest in Princess Mary Tudor's household William Hungerford - a dependant of Cromwell's and a homosexual Giles Alington - married to Sir Thomas More's stepdaughter Sir John Hampdens daughter - sister-in-law to William Paulet, controller of the Royal household William Musgrave - government witness for another case who was known to be in Cromwell's favour Thomas Palmer - one of Henry's gambling cronies Robert Dormer - known opponent of the breach with Rome Richard Tempest - related to and an ally of Lord Darcy who was on good terms with Cromwell William Drury - esquire of the body and associate of John Russell Thomas   Wharton - a leech clinging to the earl of Northumberland, who was   desperately afraid that his earlier courtship of Anne would drag him   down too.

Mark Smeaton confessed to adultery, but pleaded not guilty to the rest of the charges; Henry Norris, Francis Weston and William Brereton pleaded not guilty to all.

"The only way in which Anne Boleyn's trial seems questionable,by the standards of the times, was in the probable but unconfirmed torture (or threat thereof) of Mark Smeaton. Torture for the purpose of extracting evidence was quite common in the fifteenth century and again in the latter part of the sixteenth century but was not so prevalent when Anne Boleyn was tried. Torture was an available procedure under the law, but only by the King's written authority, or by the Council in the Marches of Wales. Smeaton's torture clearly would have violated the law in force at the time. If Smeaton was tortured, this is the only aspect of the trial that one could call "illegal," and a look at the entire proceedings hardly suggests that Smeaton's torture or confession were dispositive of the result, helpful as they may have been." [Source: William and Mary Law Review]

Even  where a jury was not loaded in advance, defendants in a Tudor criminal  trial - even more, a state trial - were at an enormous disadvantage.  They had no advance warning of the evidence to be put, and since defence  counsel was not allowed, they were reduced to attempting to rebut a  public interrogation by hostile and well-prepared Crown prosecutors  determined not so much to present the government case as to secure a  conviction by fair questions - or foul.

The expected verdict came - guilty. And the judgement - drawing hanging and quartering in all its horror.

Anne and her brother George were tried on Monday, 15 May [1536].

the French Bishop of Riez, ensconced in the viewing gallery above, was impressed by the Queen’s behaviour: "She walked forth in fearful beauty," he wrote later, "and seemed unmoved. She came not as one who had to defend her cause, but with the bearing of one coming to great honour."

Their uncle Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk  sitting as Lord Steward with his son [Henry Howard] at his feet plus a jury of 26  peers assisted by the chancellor and the royal justices. Anne sat in  chair provided, raised her right hand when called and pleaded 'not  guilty' to the indictment. The jury deliberated under the watchful eye  of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk.

The  peers gave their verdict,...guilty as charged. Norfolk pronounced   sentence, weeping as he did - perhaps with relief more than sympathy?

"Because  thou has offended our sovereign the king's grace in committing treason against his person and here attainted of the same, the law of this realm  is this, that thou has deserved death and they judgement is this: that  thou shalt be burned here within the Tower of London, on the Green, else to have thy head smitten off, as the king's pleasure shall be further known of the same".

Anne spoke up saying , as God was her witness she had done the King no wrong except for her jealousy.

"I do not say I have always shown him [King Henry] that humility which his goodness to me merited. I confess I have had jealous fancies and suspicions of him, which I had not discretion enough, and wisdom, to conceal.But God knows, and is my witness, that I have not sinned against him in any other way.   Think not I say this in the hope to prolong my life. God hath taught  me  how to die, and He will strengthen my faith. As for my brother, and   those others who are unjustly condemned [to die], I would willingly   suffer many deaths to deliver them, but since I see it pleases the King,   I shall willingly accompany them in death, with this assurance, that I   shall lead an endless life with them in peace."
[source : The Six Wives of Henry VIII, by Alison Weir]

The earl of Northumberland, Henry Percy  who had given his verdict along with the rest against the woman he had  once courted, collapsed and had to be helped out. Next was George Boleyn's turn.
Tudor  criminal trials were more about securing condemnation by due process  than evaluating evidence, but two grand juries, a petty jury and a jury  of peers sitting twice rejected the defence presented by Anne Boleyn  and her alleged lovers. ..... When the duke of Suffolk's 'guilty'  completed the Rochford verdict, 95 successive voices had spoken against  them.
Ten years later, even Henry himself would admit that a victim in the Tower had no defence against false evidence."
[source: Eric Ives' Life and Death of Anne Boleyn]

 Anne Boleyn at the Tower
A short film regarding Anne Boleyn's second (and last) stay at the Tower of London in 1536. It includes a little seen view of the fake 'Anne Boleyn' room within the Queen's House. In reality, Anne's apartments have now decayed. The  song playing at the end is a musical version of 'O Death Rock me  Asleep' which Anne is supposed to have written during her imprisonment.  It is highly unlikely that this is the case, despite the fact that it  can be traced back to 1536.
[source: TheBullen1]

                  The Execution of the Queen

                                                                                                        Actress Miss Natalie Dormer

    From " the Tudors " the Anne execution ...

Anne Boleyn’s execution speech shows her dignity, courage and strong religious faith:-

“Good Christian 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 thereof 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 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.”

                                                       The movie of the execution

                                                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6-ThCEeTJU

  God save the queen of England mother of Elisabeth  !!!

The young girl was raised in Netherlands before leaving for France . Indeed the charming Anne accompagnied the young Marie Tudor , the sister of the king of England , so that she wife Louis XII , widower of Anne of Britanny .

  Endowed with one very great beauty , Anne very fast gets notice in the Court of France .

  At the death of Louis XII in 1515 , his cousin François of Angoulème rises on the throne under the name of  François the first .

  Womanizer , the king is seduced by Anne Boleyn and  his mistress . Having heard about her great beauty in particular by the own sister of Anne who was a time his mistress Henri VIII obtains from the french king that the elder sister of the Boleyns is connected with the queen of England.

  So in 1525 Anne Boleyn turns around in England .

 Since 1509 Henri VIII is married with the infanta of Castile who gave him only girls and very young dead sons . Been in love of Anne , Henri wishes to make his favorite , covers her with presents and with burning letters - although he does not particularly like writing - and goes as far as making her dear Anne " Marchioness de Pembroke " .

                            The King pays court to Anne ...

But , instead of succombing , Anne leaves the Court  and makes listen to king that she will not be only a mistress that he will abandon for an other one .

  She resists his advances .

                                            1532 Anne and Henri in Calais

" At just  before dawn on 11 October 1532 , Henri VIII and Anne Boleyn , Marquis of Pembroke , set sail on the KING ship , the Swallow , from Dover . They arrived at their destination , Calais , at 10 o'clock in the morning and were greeted by a " greate peale of gonnes " and procession which included the Mayor of Calais , the Lord Deputy and various knights . They were then taken to the church of St Nicholas where they heard mass before retiring to their lodging at the Exchequer .

   The couple stayed together until 21 th October when Henri left Anne to meet Francis I and travel on to Boulogne . "

To possess Anne , Henri has to marry her . Being worried of having a descent Henri VIII asks the pope Clement VII to cancel his union with Katherine , so that he can marry Anne ; the latter refuses , the marriage having been consumed and not having be sterile , it is impossible to dissolve it . Of more , King of Spain Charles V - relative of Katherine - threatens the pope to invade Roma if he obeys to the King of England . Furious , Henri VIII crosses besides ; gives up the catholic religion and he wifes Anne on January 25 th 1533 having rejected his first wife .

                                                                   The Marriage

                      On this day on history , 25 January 1533 , Henry VIII of England married his second wife , Anne Boleyn , in secret at Whitehall palace . Archbishop Cranmer wrote to Archdeacon Hawkins that ' She ( Anne) was married much about St Paul's Day ' , which fell on 25 January . The marriage was kept so secret that the usually well - informed spanish ambassador Eutace Chapuys was writing in March of rumors of a wedding in April .         

25 January 1533 – Marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

According to Thomas Cranmer, Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn on St Paul’s Day, the 25th January 1533. In a letter to Archdeacon Hawkyns, written in June 1533 and recording Anne Boleyn’s coronation, Cranmer wrote:-

“But now, sir, you may not imagine that this coronation was before her marriage; for she was married much about St Paul’s Day last, as the condition thereof doth well appear, by reason she is now somewhat big with child.”1

Cranmer went on to challenge the rumours that he had performed the ceremony:-

“Notwithstanding it hath been reported throughout a great part of the realm that I married her; which was plainly false, for I myself knew not thereof a fortnight after it was done.”2

So secret was the marriage ceremony that even Cranmer had been kept in the dark until a couple of weeks afterwards and Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, was still writing to the Emperor at the end of March about rumours of a wedding being planned before Easter, little did he know that Anne and Henry were already married! Of course, the reason why it was kept secret was because Henry VIII was still married to Catherine of Aragon.

The Catholic apologist, Nicholas Harpsfield gave more details of the wedding in his “A Treatise on the Pretended Divorce between Henry VIII and Catharine of Aragon” written in Mary I’s reign:-

“The first whereof was that the King was married to [the] Lady Anne Bulleyne long ere there was any divorce made by the said Archbishop [of Canterbury]. The which marriage a was secretly made at Whitehall very early before day, none being present but Mr Norris and Mr Henage of the Privy Chamber and the Lady Barkeley, with Mr. Rowland the King’s chaplain, that was afterward made Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. To whom the King told that now he had gotten of the Pope a lycence to marry another wife, and yet to avoid business and tumult the thing must be done (quoth the King) very secretly ; and thereupon a time and place was appointed to the said Master Rowland to solemnize the said marriage.”3

Harpsfield goes on to describe how when a troubled Lee asked to see the licence so that it could be read to all present “or else we run all and I more deep than any other into excommunication in marrying your grace without any baynes asking, and in a place unhallowed, and no divorce as yet promulged of the first matrimony”, the King replied, “I have truly a lycence, but it is reposed in another sure[r] place whereto no man resorteth but myself, which, if it were seen, should discharge us all. But if I should, now that it waxeth towards day, fetch it, and be seen so early abroad, there would rise a rumour and talk thereof other than were convenient. Goe forth in God’s name, and do that which appertaineth to you. I will take upon me all other danger.”4 Lee had two choices: ask for the licence, showing that he did not trust his King, or get on with the ceremony, and I don’t think he can be blamed for going ahead with the marriage!

As I have said in previous posts, some sources actually give St Erkenwald’s Day 1532, the 14th November, as Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII’s wedding date. The chronicler Edward Hall wrote:-

“The kyng, after his returne [from Calais] maried priuily[privily] the lady Anne Bulleyn on sainet Erkenwaldes daie, whiche mariage was kept so secrete, that very fewe knewe it, til she was greate with child, at Easter after.”5

This was straight after their return from Calais, from a trip where Anne Boleyn had played the part of Henry VIII’s consort and where she had been accepted by Francis I. We know that they started co-habiting after this trip and that Anne was pregnant by the time of the ceremony in January 1533, so a marriage or a betrothal in November 1532 does make sense.

Why Get Married Before the Annulment?

As I have mentioned above, both the November and January wedding dates were before Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon was annulled. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer did not make the declaration of annulment until the 23rd May 1533 so Henry was still legally married to Catherine of Aragon BUT an annulment isn’t like a divorce, it doesn’t just bring a marriage to an end, it declares that a marriage was never valid. Cranmer’s ruling in May 1533 meant that Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon had never been valid, there had never been a marriage, so his marriage to Anne, regardless of when it had taken place, was thereby legal – complicated!

So, in my opinion (and it’s a very humble one!), Henry and Anne knew exactly what they were doing in the autumn and winter of 1532/1533. Anne had been accepted as Henry’s consort by Francis I in October and Cranmer was on the case, Henry and Anne were sure that Henry’s marriage to Catherine would be annulled shortly so they made the decision to start living together as man and wife. I believe that they became betrothed, consummated that betrothal and then ‘rubber stamped’ that commitment with a marriage ceremony in the January. They had to make sure that if Anne got pregnant, as she did, that the baby would be seen as legitimate and Anne was obviously pregnant months before the ruling on the annulment. A marriage before the annulment was therefore imperative as their legal union would be ‘back dated’ to that and Anne’s baby would be legitimate. That’s how I see it anyway! Protestants in Elizabeth I’s reign emphasised the St Erkenwald’s Day marriage date so that Elizabeth was seen as definitely being conceived during a legal marriage

                                                                          The Coronation     

                                                           Sir Edward's crown used in 1533 for the coronation of Anne Boleyn

  The royal progress of 1535

    Anne and Henri at Never Castle

                                       From " The Tudors "

                                    Actress Miss Natalie Dormer

Il était temps : peut-être allait-il se lasser ? En tout cas, le calcul est payant. Elle tombe enceinte. Maintenant, il faut se hâter pour que l'enfant naisse légitime.

Les événements se bousculent. Justement, l'archevêque de Cantorbéry, hostile au divorce, meurt. Henri VIII le remplace par Cranmer, qui, aussitôt prononce le divorce (23 mai 1533) et dans la foulée, unit le roi et la favorite le 28 mai. Tout le monde a été pris de court. Anne est enfin reine ; Catherine est exilée de la cour et devient « princesse de Galles douai­rière ». Par la même occasion, sa fille Marie Tudor est déclarée bâtarde.

La reine Anne

Henri VIII, tout à sa joie, fait les choses en grand. Anne est couronnée à Westminster le 1er juin 1533, dans un grand luxe de sonneries de cloches, processions et festivités. D'ailleurs, le 7 septembre suivant, elle donne naissance à l'enfant tant attendu – mais, hélas, c'est une fille. On la prénomme Élisabeth. Elle sera la grande  Elisabeth 1  mais que de drames d'ici là !

À la cour d'Angleterre, le « clan Boleyn » triomphe. Le père d'Anne, son frère Georges, son oncle le duc de Norfolk, disposent de la faveur royale. Ils en profitent pour favoriser la nouvelle religion, au grand scandale de la plupart des évêques et du nouveau chancelier Thomas More,

qui y laissera sa tête.

Le Parlement poursuit son œuvre de destruction du pouvoir papal. Enfin, à l'automne 1534, il votera le fameux Acte de Suprématie, qui déclare le roi « chef suprême de l'Église d'An­gleterre ». C'est l'acte de fondation de l'Église anglicane, jusqu'à nos jours. Le mariage d'Anne Boleyn se révèle ainsi être l'un des événements les plus considérables de l'histoire européenne au XVIe siècle.

Mais ce mariage était violemment impopulaire dans le pays. Derrière les applaudissements officiels, Anne est « la putain aux gros yeux ». Dans les églises, quand on prie pour elle les fidèles sortent de l'édifice. En Europe, à l'exception des – rares – pays sympathisants de Luther, c'est l'indignation qui s'exprime. Pour les diplomates espagnols et même français, la reine Anne sera toujours « la concubine ». Bien entendu, aucun catholique ne reconnaît la validité de l'union ; pour eux, Élisabeth est « la bâtarde » – source de maints drames à l'avenir.

Anne, du reste, n'est pas heureuse. Maintenant qu'il la possède, Henri ne la désire plus autant. La déception de ne pas avoir de fils – car Anne ne fera plus désormais que des fausses couches – lui apparaît comme une punition de Dieu.

Pis : le caractère de la nouvelle reine devient bizarre, inquiétant. Elle a des périodes de dépression, d'autres d'exci­tation incontrôlable. Un jour, elle éclate de rire, sans raison, devant l'ambassadeur de France stupéfait. Elle sent que le roi lui échappe, qu'il fait une cour pressante à une nouvelle venue, Jeanne Seymour. Et surtout, elle commet des imprudences incom­préhensibles. Avec un jeune courtisan nommé Norris, elle plaisante sur son éventuel veuvage – crime capital. On parle aussi de ses amabilités pour un musicien, Mark Smeton, qui est ouvertement amoureux d'elle.

Et soudain, le coup de tonnerre ! Au matin du 30 avril 1536, Smeton est arrêté et, sous la torture il confesse avoir été l'amant de la reine. Aussitôt après, Norris

est arrêté à son tour, puis William Brereton

un familier des Boleyn, Francis Weston, ancien page du roi, et pour finir le propre frère d'Anne, Lord Rochford. Tous sont accusés d'adultère avec la reine ; Henri est comme frappé d'un coup de massue. En toute hâte, il convoque l'archevêque Cranmer qui, sans se faire prier, déclare nul le mariage d'Anne, sans doute pour cause de sorcellerie – le jugement ne fut jamais rendu public. Le 16 mai, Anne est con­damnée à mort après un procès expéditif. La veille de son exécution, dit-on, elle remarqua qu'elle avait le cou bien court, et éclata de rire. Sa tête tomba à la tour de Londres le 19 mai.

Ce meurtre judiciaire frappa pour longtemps les imaginations. Avant Anne, tous ses amants supposés avaient été décapités, y compris son frère. Élisabeth fut déclarée bâtarde et ne fut « relégitimée » que vingt ans plus tard, au moment de monter sur le trône qu'elle devait occuper quarante-quatre ans.

Héroïne romantique, ambitieuse calculatrice, victime innocentée ?

De ces trois images posthumes d'Anne Boleyn, laquelle retenir ? Ambitieuse, sûrement. La façon dont elle sut tenir la dragée haute à Henri VIII pour se faire épouser est un modèle du genre. Elle est l'exemple type de la maîtresse qui manœuvre pour évincer l'épouse légitime. De cela il ne peut pas y avoir le moindre doute.

Amoureuse, c'est moins sûr. À aucun moment on ne décèle chez elle l'ombre d'une attirance réelle pour le gros roi quadra­génaire – qui, lui, au contraire, était follement épris, et le resta… jusqu'au moment où elle céda.

Mais elle a été aussi, consciemment ou non, un pion dans le jeu politique des factions de cour. Son père et son oncle ont profité de la passion du roi pour elle et ont joué cette carte en toute lucidité.

L'intervention de l'élément religieux dans cette aventure personnelle a eu des conséquences incalculables, puisque c'est à elle que l'Angleterre doit d'être devenue protestante. Anne l'a pleinement assumé. Sa mémoire en est restée marquée, honnie des catholiques, idéalisée des protestants.

Reste la question finale : fut-elle vraiment coupable d'adultère, voire d'inceste avec son frère comme en décidèrent les juges de 1536 ? Ses biographes modernes en doutent forte­ment. Les contemporains, en majorité, y ont cru. Élisabeth, sa fille, devenue reine, eut la sagesse de ne pas rouvrir le procès comme certains le lui conseillaient. Légalement, Anne Boleyn reste donc coupable.

Le seul qui, en tout cas, n'eut jamais de doute sur ce point est Henri VIII. Il épousa Jeanne Seymour, « le paradis après l'enfer », onze jours après l'exécution d'Anne. Elle fut sa troisième épouse. Trois autres suivraient encore, et l'une d'elles y laisserait aussi sa tête – mais cela est une autre histoire.

Anne Boleyn, attributed to John Hoskins
More Images

Born: Between 1500 and 1509
Probably at Blickling Hall

Married to Henry VIII: 25 January 1533
Probably at the Palace of Whitehall

Executed: 19 May 1536
The Tower of London

Buried: 19 May 1536
Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London

Anne's Early Years

For a woman who played such an important part in English history, we know remarkably little about her earliest years. Antonia Fraser puts Anne's birth at 1500 or 1501, probably at Blickling (Norfolk) and the date of birth seems to be at the end of May or early June. Other historians put Anne's birth as late as 1507 or 1509.

Anne spent part of her childhood at the court of the Archduchess Margaret. Fraser puts her age at 12-13, as that was the minimum age for a 'fille d'honneur'. It was from there that she was transferred to the household of Mary, Henry VIII's sister, who was married to Louis XII of France. Anne's sister Mary was already in 'the French Queen's' attendance. However, when Louis died, Mary Boleyn returned to England with Mary Tudor, while Anne remained in France to attend Claude, the new French queen. Anne remained in France for the next 6 or 7 years. Because of her position, it is possible that she was at the Field of Cloth of Gold, the famous meeting between Henry VIII and the French king, Francis I.

During her stay in France she learned to speak French fluently and developed a taste for French clothes, poetry and music.

Anne's Appearance

The legend of Anne Boleyn always includes a sixth finger and a large mole or goiter on her neck. However, one would have to wonder if a woman with these oddities (not to mention the numerous other moles and warts she was said to have) would be so captivating to the king. She may have had some small moles, as most people do, but they would be more like the attractive 'beauty marks'.

A quote from the Venetian Ambassador said she was 'not one of the handsomest women in the world...'. She was considered moderately pretty. But, one must consider what 'pretty' was in the 16th century. Anne was the opposite of the pale, blonde-haired, blue-eyed image of beauty. She had dark, olive-colored skin, thick dark brown hair and dark brown eyes which often appeared black. Those large dark eyes were often singled out in descriptions of Anne. She clearly used them, and the fascination they aroused, to her advantage whenever possible.

She was of average height, had small breasts and a long, elegant neck. The argument continues as to whether or not she really had an extra finger on one of her hands, but it seems to be unlikely.

Life in England and the Attentions of the King

Anne returned to England around 1521 for details for her marriage were being worked out. Meanwhile she went to court to attend Queen Catherine. Her first recorded appearance at Court was March 1, 1522 at a masque.

After her marriage to the heir of Ormonde fell through, she began an affair with Henry Percy, also a rich heir. Cardinal Wolsey put a stop to the romance, which could be why Anne engendered such a hatred of him later in life. It has been suggested that Wolsey stepped in on behalf of the King to remove Percy from the scene because he had already noticed Anne and wanted her for himself. Fraser asserts that this is not the case since the romance between Anne and Percy ended in 1522 and the King didn't notice Anne until 1526. It is possible that Anne had a precontract with Percy.

Somewhere in this time, Anne also had a relationship of some sort with the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt. Wyatt was married in 1520, so the timing of the supposed affair is uncertain. Wyatt was separated from his wife, but there could be little suggestion of his eventual marriage to Anne. Theirs appears to be more of a courtly love.

Exactly when and where Henry VIII first noticed Anne is not known. It is likely that Henry sought to make Anne his mistress, as he had her sister Mary years before. Maybe drawing on the example of Elizabeth Woodville, Queen to Edward IV (and maternal grandmother to Henry VIII) who was said to have told King Edward that she would only be his wife, not his mistress, Anne denied Henry VIII sexual favors. We don't know who first had the idea of marriage, but eventually it evolved into "Queen or nothing" for Anne.

At first, the court probably thought that Anne would just end up as another one of Henry's mistresses. But, in 1527 we see that Henry began to seek an annulment of his marriage to Catherine, making him free to marry again.

King Henry's passion for Anne can be attested to in the love letters he wrote to her when she was away from court. Henry hated writing letters, and very few documents in his own hand survive. However, 17 love letters to Anne remain and are preserved in the Vatican library.

The Rise of Anne Boleyn

In 1528, Anne's emergence at Court began. Anne also showed real interest in religious reform and may have introduced some of the 'new ideas' to Henry, and gaining the hatred of some members of the Court. When the court spent Christmas at Greenwich that year, Anne was lodged in nice apartments near those of the King.

The legal debates on the marriage of Henry and Catherine of Aragon continued on. Anne was no doubt frustrated by the lack of progress. Her famous temper and tongue showed themselves at times in famous arguments between her and Henry for all the court to see. Anne feared that Henry might go back to Catherine if the marriage could not be annulled and Anne would have wasted time that she could have used to make an advantageous marriage.

Anne was not popular with the people of England. They were upset to learn that at the Christmas celebrations of 1529, Anne was given precedence over the Duchesses of Norfolk and Suffolk, the latter of which was the King's own sister, Mary.

In this period, records show that Henry began to spend more and more on Anne, buying her clothes, jewelry, and things for her amusement such as playing cards and bows and arrows.

The waiting continued and Anne's position continued to rise. On the first day of September 1532, she was created Marquess of Pembroke, a title she held in her own right. In October, she held a position of honor at meetings between Henry and the French King in Calais.

Queen Anne

Sometime near the end of 1532, Anne finally gave way and by December she was pregnant. To avoid any questions of the legitimacy of the child, Henry was forced into action. Sometime near St. Paul's Day (January 25) 1533, Anne and Henry were secretly married. Although the King's marriage to Catherine was not dissolved, in the King's mind it had never existed in the first place, so he was free to marry whomever he wanted. On May 23, the Archbishop officially proclaimed that the marriage of Henry and Catherine was invalid.

Plans for Anne's coronation began. In preparation, she had been brought by water from Greenwich to the Tower of London dressed in cloth of gold. The barges following her were said to stretch for four miles down the Thames. On the 1st of June, she left the Tower in procession to Westminster Abbey, where she became a crowned and anointed Queen in a ceremony led by

Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

By August, preparations were being made for the birth of Anne's child, which was sure to be a boy. Names were being chosen, with Edward and Henry the top choices. The proclamation of the child's birth had already been written with 'prince' used to refer to the child.

Anne took to her chamber, according to custom, on August 26, 1533 and on September 7, at about 3:00 in the afternoon, the Princess Elizabeth was born. Her christening service was scaled down, but still a pleasant affair. The princess' white christening robes can currently be seen on display at Sudeley Castle in England.

Anne now knew that it was imperative that she produce a son. By January of 1534, she was pregnant again, but the child was either miscarried or stillborn. In 1535, she became pregnant again but miscarried by the end of January. The child was reported to have been a boy. The Queen was quite upset, and blamed the miscarriage on her state of mind after hearing that Henry had taken a fall in jousting. She had to have known at this point that her failure to produce a living male heir was a threat to her own life, especially since the King's fancy for one of her ladies-in-waiting, Jane Seymour, began to grow.

                The Fall of Anne Boleyn

Anne's enemies at court began to plot against her using the King's attentions to Jane Seymour as the catalyst for action. Cromwell began to move in action to bring down the Queen. He persuaded the King to sign a document calling for an investigation that would possibly result in charges of treason.

On April 30, 1536, Anne's musician and friend for several years, Mark Smeaton, was arrested and probably tortured into making 'revelations' about the Queen. Next, Sir Henry Norris was arrested and taken to the Tower of London. Then the Queen's own brother, George Boleyn, Lord Rochford was arrested.

On May 2, the Queen herself was arrested at Greenwich and was informed of the charges against her: adultery, incest and plotting to murder the King. She was then taken to the Tower by barge along the same path she had traveled to prepare for her coronation just three years earlier. In fact, she was lodged in the same rooms she had held on that occasion.

There were several more arrests. Sir Francis Weston and William Brereton were charged with adultery with the Queen. Sir Thomas Wyatt was also arrested, but later released. They were put on trial with Smeaton and Norris at Westminster Hall on May 12, 1536. The men were not allowed to defend themselves, as was the case in charges of treason. They were found guilty and received the required punishment: they were to be hanged at Tyburn, cut down while still living and then disemboweled and quartered.

On Monday the 15th, the Queen and her brother were put on trial at the Great Hall of the Tower of London. It is estimated that some 2000 people attended. Anne conducted herself in a calm and dignified manner, denying all the charges against her. Her brother was tried next, with his own wife testifying against him (she got her due later in the scandal of Kathryn Howard). Even though the evidence against them was scant, they were both found guilty, with the sentence being read by their uncle, Thomas Howard , the Duke of Norfolk. They were to be either burnt at the stake (which was the punishment for incest) or beheaded, at the discretion of the King.

The Executions

On May 17, George Boleyn was executed on Tower Hill. The other four men condemned with the Queen had their sentences commuted from the grisly fate at Tyburn to a simple beheading at the Tower with Lord Rochford.

Anne knew that her time would soon come and started to become hysterical, her behavior swinging from great levity to body- wracking sobs. She received news that an expert swordsman from Calais had been summoned, who would no doubt deliver a cleaner blow with a sharp sword than the traditional axe. It was then that she made the famous comment about her 'little neck'.                                     

Interestingly, shortly before her execution on charges of adultery, the Queen's marriage to the King was dissolved and declared invalid. One would wonder then how she could have committed adultery if she had in fact never been married to the King, but this was overlooked, as were so many other lapses of logic in the charges against Anne.

They came for Anne on the morning of May 19 to take her to the Tower Green, where she was to be afforded the dignity of a private execution.  She made a short speech before kneeling on the scaffold. She removed her headdress (which was an English gable hood and not her usual French hood, according to contemporary reports) and her ladies tied a blindfold over her eyes. The sword itself had been hidden under the straw. The swordsman cut off her head with one swift stroke.

Anne's body and head were put into an arrow chest and buried in an unmarked grave in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula which adjoined the Tower Green. Her body was one that was identified in renovations of the chapel under the reign of Queen Victoria, so Anne's final resting place is now marked in the marble floor.

The young girl was raised in Netherlands before leaving for France . Indeed the charming Anne accompagnied the young Marie Tudor , the sister of the king of England , so that she wife Louis XII , widower of Anne of Britanny .

  Endowed with one very great beauty , Anne very fast gets notice in the Court of France .

  At the death of Louis XII in 1515 , his cousin François of Angoulème rises on the throne under the name of  François the first .

  Womanizer , the king is seduced by Anne Boleyn and  his mistress . Having heard about her great beauty in particular by the own sister of Anne who was a time his mistress Henri VIII obtains from the french king that the elder sister of the Boleyns is connected with the queen of England.

  So in 1525 Anne Boleyn turns around in England . 

 Since 1509 Henri VIII is married with the infanta of Castile who gave him only girls and very young dead sons . Been in love of Anne , Henri wishes to make his favorite , covers her with presents and with burning letters - although he does not particularly like writing - and goes as far as making her dear Anne " Marchioness de Pembroke " .

                            The King pays court to Anne ...

But , instead of succombing , Anne leaves the Court  and makes listen to king that she will not be only a mistress that he will abandon for an other one .

  She resists his advances .

                                            1532 Anne and Henri in Calais

" At just  before dawn on 11 October 1532 , Henri VIII and Anne Boleyn , Marquis of Pembroke , set sail on the KING ship , the Swallow , from Dover . They arrived at their destination , Calais , at 10 o'clock in the morning and were greeted by a " greate peale of gonnes " and procession which included the Mayor of Calais , the Lord Deputy and various knights . They were then taken to the church of St Nicholas where they heard mass before retiring to their lodging at the Exchequer .

   The couple stayed together until 21 th October when Henri left Anne to meet Francis I and travel on to Boulogne . "

To possess Anne , Henri has to marry her . Being worried of having a descent Henri VIII asks the pope Clement VII to cancel his union with Katherine , so that he can marry Anne ; the latter refuses , the marriage having been consumed and not having be sterile , it is impossible to dissolve it . Of more , King of Spain Charles V - relative of Katherine - threatens the pope to invade Roma if he obeys to the King of England . Furious , Henri VIII crosses besides ; gives up the catholic religion and he wifes Anne on January 25 th 1533 having rejected his first wife .

                                  The Marriage

                      On this day on history , 25 January 1533 , Henry VIII of England married his second wife , Anne Boleyn , in secret at Whitehall palace . Archbishop Cranmer wrote to Archdeacon Hawkins that ' She ( Anne) was married much about St Paul's Day ' , which fell on 25 January . The marriage was kept so secret that the usually well - informed spanish ambassador Eutace Chapuys was writing in March of rumors of a wedding in April .         

25 January 1533 – Marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

According to Thomas Cranmer, Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn on St Paul’s Day, the 25th January 1533. In a letter to Archdeacon Hawkyns, written in June 1533 and recording Anne Boleyn’s coronation, Cranmer wrote:-

“But now, sir, you may not imagine that this coronation was before her marriage; for she was married much about St Paul’s Day last, as the condition thereof doth well appear, by reason she is now somewhat big with child.”1

Cranmer went on to challenge the rumours that he had performed the ceremony:-

“Notwithstanding it hath been reported throughout a great part of the realm that I married her; which was plainly false, for I myself knew not thereof a fortnight after it was done.”2

So secret was the marriage ceremony that even Cranmer had been kept in the dark until a couple of weeks afterwards and Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, was still writing to the Emperor at the end of March about rumours of a wedding being planned before Easter, little did he know that Anne and Henry were already married! Of course, the reason why it was kept secret was because Henry VIII was still married to Catherine of Aragon.

The Catholic apologist, Nicholas Harpsfield gave more details of the wedding in his “A Treatise on the Pretended Divorce between Henry VIII and Catharine of Aragon” written in Mary I’s reign:-

“The first whereof was that the King was married to [the] Lady Anne Bulleyne long ere there was any divorce made by the said Archbishop [of Canterbury]. The which marriage a was secretly made at Whitehall very early before day, none being present but Mr Norris and Mr Henage of the Privy Chamber and the Lady Barkeley, with Mr. Rowland the King’s chaplain, that was afterward made Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. To whom the King told that now he had gotten of the Pope a lycence to marry another wife, and yet to avoid business and tumult the thing must be done (quoth the King) very secretly ; and thereupon a time and place was appointed to the said Master Rowland to solemnize the said marriage.”3

Harpsfield goes on to describe how when a troubled Lee asked to see the licence so that it could be read to all present “or else we run all and I more deep than any other into excommunication in marrying your grace without any baynes asking, and in a place unhallowed, and no divorce as yet promulged of the first matrimony”, the King replied, “I have truly a lycence, but it is reposed in another sure[r] place whereto no man resorteth but myself, which, if it were seen, should discharge us all. But if I should, now that it waxeth towards day, fetch it, and be seen so early abroad, there would rise a rumour and talk thereof other than were convenient. Goe forth in God’s name, and do that which appertaineth to you. I will take upon me all other danger.”4 Lee had two choices: ask for the licence, showing that he did not trust his King, or get on with the ceremony, and I don’t think he can be blamed for going ahead with the marriage!

As I have said in previous posts, some sources actually give St Erkenwald’s Day 1532, the 14th November, as Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII’s wedding date. The chronicler Edward Hall wrote:-

“The kyng, after his returne [from Calais] maried priuily[privily] the lady Anne Bulleyn on sainet Erkenwaldes daie, whiche mariage was kept so secrete, that very fewe knewe it, til she was greate with child, at Easter after.”5

This was straight after their return from Calais, from a trip where Anne Boleyn had played the part of Henry VIII’s consort and where she had been accepted by Francis I. We know that they started co-habiting after this trip and that Anne was pregnant by the time of the ceremony in January 1533, so a marriage or a betrothal in November 1532 does make sense.

Why Get Married Before the Annulment?

As I have mentioned above, both the November and January wedding dates were before Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon was annulled. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer did not make the declaration of annulment until the 23rd May 1533 so Henry was still legally married to Catherine of Aragon BUT an annulment isn’t like a divorce, it doesn’t just bring a marriage to an end, it declares that a marriage was never valid. Cranmer’s ruling in May 1533 meant that Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon had never been valid, there had never been a marriage, so his marriage to Anne, regardless of when it had taken place, was thereby legal – complicated!

So, in my opinion (and it’s a very humble one!), Henry and Anne knew exactly what they were doing in the autumn and winter of 1532/1533. Anne had been accepted as Henry’s consort by Francis I in October and Cranmer was on the case, Henry and Anne were sure that Henry’s marriage to Catherine would be annulled shortly so they made the decision to start living together as man and wife. I believe that they became betrothed, consummated that betrothal and then ‘rubber stamped’ that commitment with a marriage ceremony in the January. They had to make sure that if Anne got pregnant, as she did, that the baby would be seen as legitimate and Anne was obviously pregnant months before the ruling on the annulment. A marriage before the annulment was therefore imperative as their legal union would be ‘back dated’ to that and Anne’s baby would be legitimate. That’s how I see it anyway! Protestants in Elizabeth I’s reign emphasised the St Erkenwald’s Day marriage date so that Elizabeth was seen as definitely being conceived during a legal marriage

                                                                                                      The Coronation     

                                                           Sir Edward's crown used in 1533 for the coronation of Anne Boleyn

CORONATION

Anne Boleyn, épouse et victime d'Henry VIII

Née vers 1507 en Angleterre dans le comté de Norfolk, Anne Boleyn était la fille de Thomas Boleyn et d’Elisabeth Howard. La jeune fille fut élevée aux Pays-Bas avant de partir pour la France. En effet, la ravissante Anne accompagnait la jeune Marie Tudor, sœur du roi d’Angleterre Henry VIII afin qu’elle épouse Louis XII, veuf d’Anne de Bretagne. Dotée d’une grande beauté, Anne se fait très vite remarquer à la cour de France. A la mort de Louis XII en 1515, son cousin François d’Angoulême monte sur le trône sous le nom de François Ier ; Homme à femmes, le roi est séduit par Anne Boleyn et en fait sa maîtresse. Ayant entendu parler de sa grande beauté, -notamment par la sœur Mary Boleyn qui fut un temps sa maîtresse- Henry VIII obtient de François Ier qu’Anne soit attachée à la reine d’Angleterre Catherine d’Aragon. Ainsi, en 1525, Anne Boleyn s’en retourne en Angleterre. Depuis 1509, le roi d’Angleterre est marié à l’Infante de Castille qui ne lui a donné que des filles ou des fils morts en bas âge. Epris d’Anne, Henry VIII désire en faire sa favorite, la couvre de cadeaux et de lettres enflammées –bien qu’il n’aime pas particulièrement écrire- et va jusqu’à faire sa chère Anne marquise de Pembroke Or, au lieu de succomber, Anne Boleyn quitte la cour et fait entendre au roi qu’elle ne veut pas n’être qu’une maîtresse qu’il délaissera pour une autre. Elle résiste à ses avances. Pour l’avoir, Henry VIII doit l’épouser. Etant soucieux d’avoir une descendance, Henry VIII demande au Pape Clément VII de bien vouloir faire annuler son union avec Catherine d’Aragon afin qu’il puisse épouser Anne Boleyn. Ce dernier refuse, le mariage ayant été consommé et n’ayant pas été stérile, il est impossible de le dissoudre. De plus, le roi d’Espagne Charles Quint –parent de Catherine d’Aragon- menace le Pape d’envahir Rome si il cède au roi d’Angleterre. Furieux, Henry VIII passe outre, abandonne la religion catholique et épouse Anne le 25 janvier 1533 après avoir répudié sa première femme. Le roi honora Anne en la faisant marquise de Pembroke. Très vite la reine est enceinte : le 3 septembre 1533, Anne met au monde un héritier. Tout le monde s’attend à un fils et le roi est d’ailleurs persuadé que sa reine n’a pu lui faire qu’un garçon. Hélas, c’est une fille qu’on baptisera Elisabeth. Le roi est extrêmement déçu et n’assiste même pas au baptême de l’enfant. Certain parlent d’une punition de Dieu qu’Henry VIII a renié pour devenir chef de l’Eglise Anglicane et épouser Anne Boleyn. D’ailleurs si on en croit les dires de l’époque, Anne n’est pas d’une grande beauté, s’emporte facilement, est d’un tempérament coléreux. Elle aurait une verrue dans le cou, un sein plus gros que l’autre et un sixième doigt à la main gauche. En 1534, la reine met au monde un garçon, Henry duc de Cornwall mais ce dernier ne survit pas. Henry VIII est-il victime d’une malédiction ? Le 29 janvier 1536, Anne Boleyn fait une fausse-couche d’un fils. Pour le roi s’en est trop. Il se détourne de son épouse, passant de plus en plus de temps avec la jeune Jane Seymour, appréciée par beaucoup à la cour à l’inverse d’Anne qui compte de nombreux ennemis. En mai 1536, la reine est enfermée à la Tour de Londres : on l’accuse de sorcellerie – son sixième doigt en est la preuve, d’avoir envouté le roi et voulu l’empoisonner, d’avoir envisagé de tuer Catherine d’Aragon et d’avoir commis l’adultère ainsi que l’inceste : en effet sous la torture, le musicien favori de la reine avoue être son amant. Quant à l’inceste, elle l’aura commis avec son frère Georges Boleyn vicomte de Rochefort. Les accusations émanent de l’épouse de ce dernier, Jane Parker. Condamnée à mort, Anne Boleyn est décapitée à l’épée le 19 mai, deux jours après son frère et mille jours après son mariage avec Henry VIII. Catherine d’Aragon étant morte en janvier, le roi d’Angleterre épouse le lendemain même, le 20 mai, sa favorite Jane Seymour. Avant de mourir, Anne Boleyn avait déclaré être innocente des crimes dont on l’accusait et qu’elle n’avait jamais été infidèle au roi. Pour le peuple et surtout pour le roi Henry VIII, la jeune femme était indigne d’être reine car elle avait manqué à sa tache : donner un fils vivant à l’Angleterre. Bien que le roi en était amoureux, Anne Boleyn n’avait pas été à la hauteur. En 1542, Jane Parker était elle aussi exécutée avec la cinquième épouse d’Henry VIII, Catherine Howard –accusée d’infidélité- car elle aurait été la complice de la reine. Avant de mourir, Jane Parker déclarera «Je suis innocente du crime dont on m'accuse mais je meurs justement car j'ai menti, jadis, en accusant d'inceste mon mari George et la reine Anne ». Après la mort d’Henry VIII en 1547, son unique fils (que lui avait donné Jane Seymour) monta sur le trône d’Angleterre sous le nom d’Edouart IV. Il mourut en 1553 à 15 ans sans laisser d’héritier. La couronne passa à Mary Ire fille aîné d’Henry VIII et de sa première épouse Catherine de Castille. Celle-ci disparu en 1558 sans enfants. La seule héritière qu’il restait alors était Elisabeth, fille d’Anne Boleyn qui devint la légendaire « reine vierge » sous le nom d’Elisabeth Ire, régnant jusqu’en 1603. L’histoire d’Anne de Boleyn ne devait pourtant pas s’arrêter là. Après son exécution, on ne trouve pas de cercueil pour la reine. Son corps fut enfermé dans une boite trop petite puis enterré à la hâte sous la chapelle Saint-Pierre dans la Tour où elle avait fini ses jours. En 1864, la victime d’Henry VIII commençait à faire trembler l’Angleterre : durant une nuit d’hiver, une sentinelle aperçu son fantôme, une forme blanche flottant dans un épais brouillard. La dernière apparition d’Anne Boleyn date de 1936, 400 ans après sa mort : un garde vit une femme sans tête dans un des couloirs de la tour. Bien souvent, le fantôme de la reine avait été aperçu dans la chapelle sous laquelle se trouvait son corps. La Tour de Londres devait encore refermer bien des gens assassinés et devint la Tour Sanglante.

  The royal progress of 1535

    Anne and Henri at Never Castle

                                       From " The Tudors "

                                    Actress Miss Natalie Dormer

                   The Fall of the Queen

                     The Queen's Trial

                                  " On May 15 th 1536 , twenty six peers of the Realm congregated in the King's Hall of the tower of London to serve as judges in the trial of Anne Boleyn , Queen of England ...

                                  In the centre of the Hall , a chair had been placed on a raised platform before a bar . Nearby , glistening in the light was the queen crown - probably the one made of gold and decorated with sapphires , rubies and pearls with crosses and fkleurs-de-lis around the rim, which the Queen had ordered for her coronation three years earlier .

                                                                                                  Actress Miss Dorothy Tutin

The Trial of Anne Boleyn

Posted By  Claire on May 15, 2009 

It’s a sad day today here at The Anne Boleyn Files, as we think about the trial of Anne Boleyn, and her brother George, that took place on this day (15th May) in 1536 in the King’s Hall, the Tower of London. The day when our heroine was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to death.

Here are the events of this dark day in English history:-

The Charges

Anne Boleyn, Queen of England and second wife of Tudor monarch, Henry VIII, was accused of treason under statute 26 (Henry VIII c.13), a statute which had actually been brought into force to protect her and Princess Elizabeth, and also with slandering the royal issue (statute 25 Henry VIII c.22, March 1534). Her indictment accused Anne of:

“despising her marriage and entertaining malice against the King, and following daily her frail and carnal lust.”

According to her indictment, she had seduced the five men who were also charged with treason and had plotted the King’s death. It was said that:

“On 6th October at the palace of Westminster… and on various other days before and after, by sweet words, kissings, touchings, and other illicit means… she did procure and incite… Henry Norris… a gentleman of the Privy Chamber of our lord the King, to violate and carnally know her, by reason whereof the same Henry Norris on 12th October… violated, stained and carnally knew her…”

Anne Boleyn was also accused of committing adultery with Henry Norris on 12th and 19th November 1533, with Sir William on 16th  and 27th November, and the 3rd and 8th Decemer 1533, with Sir Francis Weston on 8th and 20th May, and the 6th and 20th June 1534, and with Mark Smeaton on 13th and 19th May 1534. Additionally, Anne was accused of committing incest with her brother George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, on 2nd November and the 22nd and 29th December 1535. In all, Anne was accused of twenty acts of adultery.

As for the incest, according to court records, Anne:

“tempted her brother with her tongue in the said George’s mouth and the said George’s tongue in hers.”

Completely innocent actions, such as giving money to courtiers and dancing with her brother, were used as evidence against Anne and Anne did not stand a chance. Even the fact that Anne had alibis for 12 of the occasions when she was meant to be committing adultery did not seem to matter, after all, Anne Boleyn was a witch and witches could do anything!

The five men, apart from Norris, were also charged with sodomy (Note: Joanna Denny writes this and Retha Warnicke is also of the view that the men had committed sodomy but according to their indictments and the work of other historians they were not actually charged with it, it was just hinted at), so not only had Anne Boleyn committed adultery, she had slept with satanic homosexuals!

The Trial

The court, presided over by Anne’s uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, as lord steward, unanimously declared Anne Boleyn guilty of all charges, although she had pled “not guilty”, and Norfolk said:

“Because thou has offended our sovereign the King’s grace in committing treason against his person and here attainted of the same, the law of the realm is this, thou hast deserved death, and thy judgement is this: that thou shalt be burned here within the Tower of London, on the Green, else to have thy head smitten off, as the King’s pleasure shall be further known of the same.”

Anne Boleyn then gave the following speech:

“I do not say that I have always borne towards the King the humility which I owed him, considering his kindness and the great honour he showed me and the great respect he always paid me; I admit too, that often I have taken it into my head to be jealous of him… But may God be my witness if I have done him any other wrong.”

It was then that Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and Anne’s former sweetheart, collapsed and had to be taken out of the courtroom. The sentence and Anne’s speech were obviously too much for him, especially as he had also had to pronounce her “guilty”. It was then the turn of George Boleyn to be tried and sentenced. Like Anne, he pled “not guilty”, but was found guilty and sentenced to death also.

A False Trial

We now know that all of the charges against Anne were complete fiction created by Cromwell and his fellow plotters, Chapuys and the Catholic Conservatives. We also know that Anne had absolutely no chance of winning her case, seeing as her household was broken up two days before her court case and that Chapuys recorded that Henry VIII told Jane Seymour on the morning of Anne’s trial that Anne would be condemned that day. The King was also busy planning his wedding to Jane Seymour, something he could not do if Anne was found inocent.

Although many put all of the blame for Anne’s death on the shoulders of Thomas Cromwell, I have to agree with Joanna Denny when she says:

“Henry’s hand in the whole sordid business is clearly seen: the real blood-guilt lies with the King. The source of all the horror and brutality was Henry. The whole world revolved around him and his ego.”

There’s no way that Henry was ignorant of what Cromwell was doing. The King knew everything that went on around him and even though he may not have been guilty of trumping up these charges, he certainly was not disputing them.

I will end this post here, but watch out for my next blog on Anne Boleyn in the Tower. You can read more about the Fall of Anne Boleyn in my FREE report – click here for more information.

You can read a letter Anne wrote to Henry from the Tower and poems she is said to have written (see Pages on the left hand menu bar or click links).

****P.S. Remember to enter the article competition by midnight 18th May to have a chance of winning the lovely Anne Boleyn necklace – click here for details.****

****P.P.S. Remember to order your Anne Boleyn B Necklace****

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The True Facts of The Trial of Queen Anne Boleyn

See also :

Historical Timeline leading up to Trial and execution of Anne Boleyn

Margery S. Schauer and Frederick Schauer, Law as the Engine of State: The Trial of Anne Boleyn, 22 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 49 (1980), http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol22/iss1/3.

An Unprecedented Conviction

Earlier English Queens had been unfaithful and done treasonable acts, notably: -

Isabella of Angouleme (1186/8 -1246) It is said that her husband King John had ordered her lovers to be strung up and hanged above her bed.Isabella of France (c. 1295 – 1358) unquestionably committed adultery with Roger Mortimer while she was married to the homosexual Edward II & deposed him.Isabella was not punished, however, and lived for many years in  considerable style, although not at court, until her death.Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 – 1204) abetted her sons in a treasonous rebellion against her husband and King, Henry II that nearly cost him his throne and led to her being held under house arrest for 16 yearsMatilda of Flanders (c. 1031 – 1083 wife of William the Conqueror had also supported a renegade son against her husband, earning little more than a ticking-offJoan of Navarre (c. 1370 – 1437) widow of Henry IV had been accused (falsely, as it turned out) of witchcraft to poison Henry V, for which she was imprisoned for just 3 yearsEleanor Cobham (c.1400 – 1452) Duchess of Gloucester & wife of the Heir apparent , had schemed the death of her nephew Henry VI by witchcraft, but escaped execution; instead she was condemned to perpetual imprisonment

NO English royal lady, therefore had ever been sentenced to death for the kind of crimes of which Anne Boleyn was accused.

"Nor  had this happened in France, where in 1314, three french princesses,  among them the wife of the heir to the throne were found guilty of  committing adultery; but while their lovers were savagely butchered on  the scaffold, they themselves were condemned only to divorce and  imprisonment."

[source: Alison Weir The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn 2010]

The Indictment

 Source : British History online - primary sources
Indictment found at Westminster on Wednesday next after three weeks of Easter, 28 Hen. VIII.   before Sir John Baldwin, &c., by the oaths of Giles Heron, Roger More, Ric. Awnsham, Thos. Byllyngton, Gregory Lovell, Jo. Worsop, Will. Goddard, Will. Blakwall, Jo. Wylford, Will. Berd, Hen. Hubbylthorn, Will. Hunyng, Rob. Walys, John England, Hen. Lodysman, and John Averey; who present that whereas queen Anne has been the wife of Henry VIII. for three years and more, she, despising her marriage,  and entertaining malice against the King, and following daily her frail and  carnal lust, did falsely and traitorously procure by base conversations and kisses,  touchings, gifts, and other infamous incitations, divers of the King's daily and  familiar servants to be her adulterers and concubines, so that several of the  King's servants yielded to her vile provocations; viz., on 6th Oct. 25 Hen.  VIII., at Westminster, and divers days before and after, she procured, by sweet words, kisses, touches, and otherwise, Hen. Noreys [Henry Norris], of Westminster,  gentle  man of the privy chamber, to violate her, by reason whereof he did so at Westminster on the 12th Oct. 25 Hen. VIII.; and they had illicit  intercourse at various other times, both before and after, sometimes by his  procurement, and sometimes by that of the Queen. Also the Queen, 2 Nov. 27 Hen. VIII. and several times before and after, at Westminster, procured and incited  her own natural brother, George Boleyn, lord Rocheford, gentleman of the privy chamber, to violate her, alluring him with her tongue in the said  George's mouth, and the said George's tongue in hers, and also with kisses,  presents, and jewels; whereby he, despising the commands of God, and all human laws, 5 Nov. 27 Hen. VIII., violated and carnally knew the said Queen, his own sister, at Westminster; which he also did on divers other days before  and after at the same place, sometimes by his own procurement and sometimes  by the Queen's. Also the Queen, 3 Dec. 25 Hen. VIII., and divers days  before and after, at Westminster, procured one Will. Bryerton [William Brereton], late of  Westminster, gentleman of the privy chamber, to violate her, whereby he did so on 8  Dec. 25 Hen. VIII., at Hampton Court, in the parish of Lytel Hampton, and on several other days before and after, sometimes by his own procurement  and sometimes by the Queen's. Also the Queen, 8 May 26 Hen. VIII., and at  other times before and since, procured Sir Fras. Weston [Francis Weston], of Westminster,  gentleman of the privy chamber, &c., whereby he did so on the 20 May, &c.  Also the Queen, 12 April 26 Hen. VIII., and divers days before and since, at  Westminster, procured Mark Smeton [Mark Smeaton], groom of the privy chamber, to  violate her, whereby he did so at Westminster, 26 April 27 Hen. VIII.

Moreover, the said lord Rocheford, Norreys, Bryerton, Weston, and  Smeton, being thus inflamed with carnal love of the Queen, and having become  very jealous of each other, gave her secret gifts and pledges while carrying  on this illicit intercourse; and the Queen, on her part, could not endure any of  them to converse with any other woman, without showing great displeasure; and on the 27 Nov. 27 Hen. VIII., and other days before and after, at  Westminster, she gave them great gifts to encourage them in their  crimes. And further the said Queen and these other traitors, 31 Oct. 27 Hen. VIII.,  at Westminster, conspired the death and destruction of the King, the  Queen often saying she would marry one of them as soon as the King died, and  affirming that she would never love the King in her heart. And the King having a short time since become aware of the said abominable crimes and treasons against himself, took such inward displeasure and heaviness, especially  from his said Queen's malice and adultery, that certain harms and perils have befallen his royal body.
And thus the said Queen and the other traitors aforesaid have committed their treasons in contempt of the Crown, and of the issue and heirs of the said King and Queen.

"Sir Christopher Hales, Attorney General, was the chief prosecutor for the King. Hales was educated at Gray's Inn and was a member of a family of lawyers. He rose to be Attorney General after having served as Solicitor General, and two months after the trial of Anne Boleyn he succeeded Thomas Cromwell as Master of the Rolls."' He had previously represented the Crown at the trials of Cardinal Wolsey, Sir Thomas More, and Bishop Fisher. Like Audley, he performed his duties conscientiously and with neither undue harshness nor undue charity. Cromwell, who also had legal training, assisted with the prosecution. The words spoken by these men in prosecuting the case have not been preserved, but it is known that they presented no witnesses. In this sense the entire case for the prosecution was much like a prosecutor's opening statement: describing the evidence and the results of the investigation but offering no "live" evidence to support the conclusions.
In the usual trial of this nature, someone whom the powerful wanted destroyed was accused of having said or done something that according to law was treason, and witnesses were found to swear to it. In this case, however, treason was constructed from the words that the Queen admittedly had spoken; these words were embellished until they constituted treason under three different statutes. Anne had discussed marriage with Norris, and this could not be denied; but alone it meant nothing. It was reasoned, however, that since she had spoken of marriage to Norris, she wanted to marry him. It followed that she must have wanted the King dead, and therefore she must have contrived to kill him. This last step in the reasoning may have been unnecessary. To wish the King dead in itself could be treason. Under the most important of the treason statutes, the 1352 law of Edward III, . it was treason to "compass ... or imagine . . . the death of the King, his consort, or his eldest son. ' Some dispute has existed whether this statute required some overt act or whether it allowed the punishment of treason committed by words alone. Authority does support the view that even by the end of the fifteenth century, treason by words alone was sufficient. Thus even under the 1352 statute, the words of Anne Boleyn, if construed as argued by the prosecution, would support a charge of treason.....
After having been presented with the case for the King, the peers heard Anne Boleyn's defense. She was unassisted, and there is no indication that she made what would have been a futile request for counsel. The Queen might have been permitted to present the testimony of others on her behalf, but in light of her lack of knowledge before the trial of the specific charges against her and her imprisonment prior to trial, the granting of this request would have done her little good... the defense in the trial of Anne Boleyn consisted only of her own speech, in which she eloquently protested her innocence of all the charges. Because Anne had not seen the indictment in advance, she could not reply to each specific charge by producing an alibi for each date. Despite her lack of evidence, Anne's defense persuaded many spectators, including magistrates of London, that there was no evidence against her, but that it had been decreed that she must be disposed of once and for all."

Anne's Letter ?

Arrested May 2nd, 1536,

4 days later it was said that Anne sent a letter to Henry. Allegedly found in Thomas Cromwell's papers after his execution in 1540. Scrawled across the top in what seems to be Cromwell’s handwriting: “To the King from the Lady in the Tower”.  The letter is disputed by most historians saying that the handwriting isn't her usual neat style and she refers to herself as Anne Bullen, however, some historians believe it mirrors her psychology and is a copy of an original. Notably, Jasper Ridley who rejected the letter as “a forgery, written in the reign of her daughter, Elizabeth,” in his 1984 biography Henry VIII, he later changed his mind in The Love Letters of Henry VIII (1987),  in which he claimed every element of the letter fits with what we know  of Anne’s psychology at this stage in her imprisonment.  

Sir,
Your Grace's displeasure and my imprisonment are things so strange unto  me, that 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 favour), by such a one, whom you know to be mine 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 duty. But let not Your Grace ever imagine that your poor wife will  be brought to acknowledge a fault, where not so much as a thought ever  proceeded. And to speak a truth, never a prince had wife more loyal in  all duty, and in all true affection, than you have ever found in Anne  Bullen - 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 alteration as I now find;  for the ground of my preferment being on no surer foundation than your  Grace's fancy, the least alteration was fit and sufficient (I knew) to  draw that fancy to some other subject.
You have chosen me from 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 counsel of my  enemies withdraw your princely favour from me; neither let that stain -  that unworthy stain - of a disloyal heart towards your good grace ever  cast so foul a blot on me, and on 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 as my judges; yea, let me receive an open  trial, for my truth shall fear no open shame. Then you shall see either  my innocency cleared, your suspicions and conscience satisfied, the  ignominy and slander of the world stopped, or my guilt openly declared.  So that, whatever God and you may determine of, your Grace may be freed  from an open censure; and my offense being so lawfully proved, your  Grace may be at liberty, both before God and man, not only to execute  worthy punishment on me as an unfaithful 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 while since have pointed unto - your Grace  being not ignorant of my suspicions therein.
But if you have already determined of me, and that not only my death,  but an infamous slander must bring your the joying of your desired  happiness, then I desire of God that He will pardon your great sin  herein, and likewise my enemies, the instruments thereof; and that He  will not call you to a strait account for your unprincely and cruel  usage of me at His general judgment seat, where both you and myself must  shortly appear; and in whose just judgment, I doubt not (whatsoever the  world may think of me), mine innocency shall be openly known and  sufficiently cleared.
My last and only request shall be, that myself only bear the burden of  your Grace's displeasure, and that it may not touch the innocent souls  of those poor gentlemen, whom, as I understand, are likewise in strait  imprisonment for my sake. If ever I have found favour in your sight - if  ever the name of Anne Bulen have been pleasing in your ears - then let  me obtain this request; and so I will leave to trouble your grace any  further, with mine earnest prayer 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, the 6th May.
Your most loyal and ever-faithful wife, Anne Bullen

The Trials of Anne and the five men

"On Tuesday, 9 May [1536] the  sheriffs of London were ordered to assemble the next day a grand jury  of 'discreet and sufficient persons' to decide prima facie on the  offences alleged at Whitehall and Hampton Court. Despite the short  notice the sheriffs produced a list of 48 men, three quarters of whom,  as instructed, turned up at Westminster before John Baldwin, chief justice of the common pleas, and six of his judicial colleagues".
John Baldwin was Henry Norris' brother in law and puzzlingly not the obvious choice.

Jurymen: Giles Heron - Sir Thomas More's son-in-law. Edward Willoughby - owed William Brereton money. William Askew - a welcome guest in Princess Mary Tudor's household William Hungerford - a dependant of Cromwell's and a homosexual Giles Alington - married to Sir Thomas More's stepdaughter Sir John Hampdens daughter - sister-in-law to William Paulet, controller of the Royal household William Musgrave - government witness for another case who was known to be in Cromwell's favour Thomas Palmer - one of Henry's gambling cronies Robert Dormer - known opponent of the breach with Rome Richard Tempest - related to and an ally of Lord Darcy who was on good terms with Cromwell William Drury - esquire of the body and associate of John Russell Thomas   Wharton - a leech clinging to the earl of Northumberland, who was   desperately afraid that his earlier courtship of Anne would drag him   down too.

Mark Smeaton confessed to adultery, but pleaded not guilty to the rest of the charges; Henry Norris, Francis Weston and William Brereton pleaded not guilty to all.

"The only way in which Anne Boleyn's trial seems questionable,by the standards of the times, was in the probable but unconfirmed torture (or threat thereof) of Mark Smeaton. Torture for the purpose of extracting evidence was quite common in the fifteenth century and again in the latter part of the sixteenth century but was not so prevalent when Anne Boleyn was tried. Torture was an available procedure under the law, but only by the King's written authority, or by the Council in the Marches of Wales. Smeaton's torture clearly would have violated the law in force at the time. If Smeaton was tortured, this is the only aspect of the trial that one could call "illegal," and a look at the entire proceedings hardly suggests that Smeaton's torture or confession were dispositive of the result, helpful as they may have been." [Source: William and Mary Law Review]

Even  where a jury was not loaded in advance, defendants in a Tudor criminal  trial - even more, a state trial - were at an enormous disadvantage.  They had no advance warning of the evidence to be put, and since defence  counsel was not allowed, they were reduced to attempting to rebut a  public interrogation by hostile and well-prepared Crown prosecutors  determined not so much to present the government case as to secure a  conviction by fair questions - or foul.

The expected verdict came - guilty. And the judgement - drawing hanging and quartering in all its horror.

Anne and her brother George were tried on Monday, 15 May [1536].

the French Bishop of Riez, ensconced in the viewing gallery above, was impressed by the Queen’s behaviour: "She walked forth in fearful beauty," he wrote later, "and seemed unmoved. She came not as one who had to defend her cause, but with the bearing of one coming to great honour."

Their uncle Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk  sitting as Lord Steward with his son [Henry Howard] at his feet plus a jury of 26  peers assisted by the chancellor and the royal justices. Anne sat in  chair provided, raised her right hand when called and pleaded 'not  guilty' to the indictment. The jury deliberated under the watchful eye  of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk.

The  peers gave their verdict,...guilty as charged. Norfolk pronounced   sentence, weeping as he did - perhaps with relief more than sympathy?

"Because  thou has offended our sovereign the king's grace in committing treason against his person and here attainted of the same, the law of this realm  is this, that thou has deserved death and they judgement is this: that  thou shalt be burned here within the Tower of London, on the Green, else to have thy head smitten off, as the king's pleasure shall be further known of the same".

Anne spoke up saying , as God was her witness she had done the King no wrong except for her jealousy.

"I do not say I have always shown him [King Henry] that humility which his goodness to me merited. I confess I have had jealous fancies and suspicions of him, which I had not discretion enough, and wisdom, to conceal.But God knows, and is my witness, that I have not sinned against him in any other way.   Think not I say this in the hope to prolong my life. God hath taught  me  how to die, and He will strengthen my faith. As for my brother, and   those others who are unjustly condemned [to die], I would willingly   suffer many deaths to deliver them, but since I see it pleases the King,   I shall willingly accompany them in death, with this assurance, that I   shall lead an endless life with them in peace."
[source : The Six Wives of Henry VIII, by Alison Weir]

The earl of Northumberland, Henry Percy  who had given his verdict along with the rest against the woman he had  once courted, collapsed and had to be helped out. Next was George Boleyn's turn.
Tudor  criminal trials were more about securing condemnation by due process  than evaluating evidence, but two grand juries, a petty jury and a jury  of peers sitting twice rejected the defence presented by Anne Boleyn  and her alleged lovers. ..... When the duke of Suffolk's 'guilty'  completed the Rochford verdict, 95 successive voices had spoken against  them.
Ten years later, even Henry himself would admit that a victim in the Tower had no defence against false evidence."
[source: Eric Ives' Life and Death of Anne Boleyn]

 Anne Boleyn at the Tower
A short film regarding Anne Boleyn's second (and last) stay at the Tower of London in 1536. It includes a little seen view of the fake 'Anne Boleyn' room within the Queen's House. In reality, Anne's apartments have now decayed. The  song playing at the end is a musical version of 'O Death Rock me  Asleep' which Anne is supposed to have written during her imprisonment.  It is highly unlikely that this is the case, despite the fact that it  can be traced back to 1536.
[source: TheBullen1]

                  The Execution of the Queen

                                                                                                        Actress Miss Natalie Dormer

    From " the Tudors " the Anne execution ...

Anne Boleyn’s execution speech shows her dignity, courage and strong religious faith:-

“Good Christian 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 thereof 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 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.”

                                                       The movie of the execution

                                                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6-ThCEeTJU

  God save the queen of England mother of Elisabeth  !!!

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