The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown (16 page)

There are, however, anomalies which suggest that the letter is a forgery:

• The signature "Anne Bullen" rather than the usual "Anne Boleyn", "Anne de Boulaine" or "Anne the Queen".
  
• The fact that Cromwell kept it rather than destroying it.
  
• The heading at the top: "To the King from the Lady in the Tower" – wouldn't Cromwell have referred to her as the Queen or as Anne Boleyn? "The Lady in the Tower" is rather poetic and romantic.
  
• The style, which is not consistent with Anne's other letters.
  
• The reproving tone and provocative content – The writer is claiming that the King instigated the plot so that he could marry Jane Seymour. Would Anne risk angering and insulting Henry in this way?
  

BUT these anomalies can be thrown out of the window:

• If the letter was a copy then this could have been Cromwell referring to Anne.
  
• It wasn't discovered until the 17th century so it was obviously kept hidden and not made public.
  
• Perhaps Cromwell no longer saw her as Queen and nicknamed her "The Lady in the Tower".
  
• Anne was not writing a normal letter, she had the shadow of the axe (or rather, sword) hanging over her.
  
• Anne could be provocative when she wanted to be. It may have been a huge risk to take but perhaps she wanted this one opportunity to tell the King what she thought of him and his plot.
  

The handwriting issue and the use of "Bullen" can also be explained away. The letter could have been a copy made by Cromwell. It could be, as argued by Jasper Ridley,
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a late 16th century copy of the earlier original, or Anne may have been so distraught that she dictated it to one of her ladies. Ultimately, there is no way we can be certain one way or the other, but I hope that Anne did write it or something like it. Anne's execution speech stuck to the usual rules, in that she accepted her sentence and praised the King, but I'd like to think that Anne had some opportunity to let the King know what she really thought.

7th May 1536 – A Chaplain is Searched

On Sunday 7th May 1536, Queen Anne Boleyn's chaplain, William Latymer, was searched on his arrival at Sandwich in Kent. He was returning from a business visit to Flanders, a visit he had undertaken on behalf of the Queen.

A letter from the Mayor and Jurates of Sandwich to Henry VIII recorded the search:

"On Sunday, 7 May, Sir Wm. Latymer, one of the Queen's chaplains, arrived at Sandwich, where he was told that the Queen and others were prisoners in the Tower. He said that he had come from Flanders on her business, and showed the contents of his budget and purse to the mayor and jurates, as Thos. Boys, one of the King's servants then present, can testify. Enclose a list written by him of the books he had with him, and of others in his mail, which had not yet arrived, but which were to be conveyed to London to one Mrs. Wilkinson. Boys will convey Latymer himself to the King. Sandwich, 8 May."
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It does not appear that they found in his possession any books of an heretical nature, which was fortunate for Latymer considering what was going on in May 1536. Latymer was a keen reformer and did bring religious texts back from the Continent for Anne, so he was lucky this time. After the search, Latymer was escorted to London.

William Latymer

It is thought that William Latymer was introduced to Anne Boleyn by one of her other chaplains, Matthew Parker, who knew Latymer from their Cambridge days. As I have said, Anne used Latymer to procure evangelical texts for her and Anne's patronage was often sought through Latymer. In 1536, Tristram Revell tried to present her with his version of Lambertus' "Farrago Rerum Theologicarum" through William Latymer - Anne refused it, probably because it denied transubstantiation, salvation through good deeds and the power of prayers for the dead. Radical views. We don't know for sure what Anne believed about these issues, but in 1536 she was in a rather precarious position, having miscarried a son, so she just could not put her name to such a radical text.
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William Latymer survived the fall of the Boleyns in 1536 and went on to become master of the College of St Laurence Pountney in London in 1538. He also served as rector of Witnesham in Suffolk between 1538 and 1554, and then a number of benefices in Kent, London, Nottingham and Suffolk

In 1547, Latymer voted in favour of clerical marriage at convocation and married a widow, Ellen English. In 1549, he was a key prosecution witness, with the future Marian martyr John Hooper, in the case against Bishop Edmund Bonner who subsequently lost his bishopric.
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When the Catholic Mary I came to the throne in 1553, Latymer was deprived of his living, due to his marriage. He separated from Ellen in order to serve a parish in Ipswich, Suffolk, but the couple never actually separated in reality; Ellen conceived a son, Edward, by Latymer during their separation!

When Anne Boleyn's daughter, Elizabeth I, became Queen, Latymer was appointed as one of her chaplains. In 1559, he was appointed dean of Peterborough. In addition, Elizabeth made him a prebendary of Westminster Abbey, where he also served as archdeacon and treasurer. It was during Elizabeth's reign that Latymer wrote his biography or treatise of Anne Boleyn, the "Chronickille of Anne Bulleyne". On the Queen's visit to Cambridge in August 1564, Latymer was made Clerk of the Closet and Doctor of Divinity.

Latymer died in 1583, in his early 80s, and was laid to rest in Peterborough Cathedral on 28th August 1583. He was outlived by his wife Ellen and two sons - Edward and Joshua.

Anne Boleyn's Desire for Spiritual Comfort

Also around 7th May, in a letter to Thomas Cromwell, Sir William Kingston wrote of Anne's requests to the King that "she [might] have the sacrament in the closet by her chamber" and that her almoner, John Skip, should also be permitted to visit her. Anne had asked for the sacrament when Kingston had first taken her to her lodgings in the Tower, but she had obviously reminded him of this. The problem was that Anne was charged with a sexual sin, a sin that she had not confessed to or done penance for. It would, therefore, "have been highly inappropriate for an adulteress to have the Host displayed in her rooms".
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Poor Anne - she was in the Tower of London surrounded by women who were unsympathetic to her plight and who were acting as spies, and she was being denied spiritual comfort. All she could do was pray to her Father in Heaven.

Kingston also reported Anne's hope that her bishops would appeal to the King on her behalf, but her steadfast faith in the face of death, if the appeals did not work: "And then, she said, shall I be in Heaven, for I have done many good deeds in my days".
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8th May 1536 – The Vultures Circle

While Anne Boleyn, Mark Smeaton, Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, Sir William Brereton, George Boleyn, Sir Richard Page and Sir Thomas Wyatt were in prison awaiting their trials, courtiers were already clamouring over the spoils that might result from the fall of grace of the former personages. These people were like vultures circling a corpse, like the Roman soldiers casting lots over Christ's clothes. Three of these 'vultures' were Sir Henry Fitzroy (the Duke of Richmond and the illegitimate son of the King), landowner and lawyer Richard Staverton and Lord Lisle.

Here are three letters which show the true character of these men:

Vulture One – Arthur Plantagenet, Lord Lisle

Letter from Lord Lisle to Thomas Cromwell, 8th May 1536

"And seeing there are many things now in his gracious disposition and hands by reason of the most mischievous, heinous, and most abominable treasons against his most gracious and royal Crown and person committed, I wholly trust that his Grace, being good lord unto me, will vouchsafe to employ some part of those same upon me, which I do well know may so much the rather be obtained by your good mediation and furtherance."
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Vulture Two – Richard Staverton of Warfield, Berkshire

Richard Staverton was a lawyer and landowner who may have been related by marriage to Sir Francis Weston. He wrote to Cromwell on 2nd May, just two days after Sir Henry Norris had been detained for questioning:

"It pleased you to write to me of your good will to my preferment. Various offenders have been committed to the Tower, among others Master Henry Norris, who has various rooms in the parts about me near Windsor, for which I hope you will have me in remembrance. He has the Little Park, the Park of Holy John (Foly John), Perlam (Perlaunt) Park, and the room of the Black Rod, in Windsor Castle, which I shall be glad to have, as I have 14 children."
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Vulture Three – Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond

The following is a letter from the Duke of Richmond to John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, 8th May 1536:

"As the stewardship of Banbury is like shortly to be vacant in consequence of Mr. Norres' trouble (many men thinking that there is no way but one with him,) asks the Bishop for a grant thereof under the chapter seal, that he may exercise the office by his deputy Gyles Forster, master of his horse, the bearer. London, 8 May"
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Unfortunately for Richmond, the post had already been given to Thomas Cromwell. Here is an extract from a letter from the Bishop of Lincoln to Cromwell, dated 5th May:

"If it is true that Norrys has not used himself according to his duty to his sovereign lord, offers Cromwell the stewardship of the University of Oxford, if he will accept so small a fee as 5l. When the duke of Suffolk exchanged his lands in Oxfordshire with the King, he gave up the stewardship of Banbury to the behoof of Norris, on condition that in the new grant to Norris he might be joined with him for the longest liver. Advises Cromwell to ask the Duke to give up his interest in it. The fee is only 6l. 13s. 4d. Will then give Cromwell a new patent."
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This clamouring over the spoils makes you wonder if there was any chance of justice for Anne Boleyn and these men. These 'vultures' seemed to think that it was a done deal.

9th May 1536 – Meetings

On Tuesday 9th May 1536, King Henry VIII wrote to Thomas Cromwell summoning him to meet with the King "for the treaty of such great and weighty matters as whereupon doth consist the surety of our person, the preservation of our honour, and the tranquillity and quietness of you and all other our loving and faithful subjects, like as at your arrival here ye shall more plainly perceive and understand.".
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On the same day, the King summoned a group of noblemen and gentleman to a Council meeting at Hampton Court Palace. Among their number were the Duke of Norfolk and Suffolk, the Marquis of Exeter and the Earls of Oxford, Arundel, Westmoreland, Essex, Derby, Worcester, Sussex and Huntingdon.
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We don't know what was discussed, but it is plausible that they discussed Cromwell's investigation into the alleged offences of Anne Boleyn and the men imprisoned in the Tower.

It was just one week since Anne Boleyn's arrest, but Thomas Cromwell felt that he had gathered enough evidence to move forward and start the judicial process. According to the Baga de Secretis (now held in the National Archives), 9th May was also the day that the justices of the King's Bench at Westminster ordered the sheriffs of London assemble a grand jury the following day to rule on the offences alleged to have taken place at Whitehall and Hampton Court Palace. The sheriffs were able to make a list of 48 men to go before the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, John Baldwin (Sir Henry Norris's brother-in-law), on 10th May at Westminster.
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10th May 1536 – The Middlesex Indictment

On 10th May 1536, Giles Heron, foreman of the Grand Jury of Middlesex and son-in-law of the late Sir Thomas More, announced that the jury had decided that there was sufficient evidence to suggest that Anne Boleyn, George Boleyn, Mark Smeaton, Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston and Sir William Brereton were guilty of the alleged crimes carried out at Hampton Court Palace and Whitehall, and that they should be indicted and sent to trial before a jury.

Here is the full Middlesex indictment drawn up by the Grand Jury of Middlesex:

"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, 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.