The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown (20 page)

Lancelot de Carles, secretary to the French ambassador, described Queen Anne Boleyn as she entered the hall, commenting on her grace, her beauty, her lack of fear and how she entered the court "with the bearing of one coming to great honour",
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"comme venant a l'honneur d'un grant bien".
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Other witnesses described that she was wearing a black velvet gown, a scarlet damask petticoat and a cap decorated with a black and white feather.
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She looked every inch a queen and the proceedings did not seem to faze her. She defended her honour "soberly" and although she said little, her face showed that she was not guilty of the crimes she was accused of.
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Anne pleaded "not guilty", after which the Attorney General, Sir Christopher Hales, put forward the case against her. He accused the Queen of incest, adultery, plotting the King's death, promising to marry Sir Henry Norris after the King's death, and of making fun of the King and his dress. Chapuys also reported that Anne and George had laughed at "certain ballads that the King has composed".
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No witnesses gave evidence against her.

The chronicler Charles Wriothesley, recorded that after her indictment was read out, Anne "made so wise and discreet aunsweres to all thinges layde against her, excusing herselfe with her wordes so clearlie, as thoughe she had never bene faultie to the same".
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The Queen defended herself admirably, denying all of these preposterous charges and admitting only to giving money to Sir Francis Weston, just as she gave money to many young gentlemen at court.Notwithstanding, the jury were unanimous in their verdict: "guilty". The Queen was then stripped of her crown and her titles, all except that of "Queen". With tears running down his cheeks, Anne's uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, pronounced the sentence:

"Because thou hast offended against 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, that thou hast deserved death, and thy judgment is tis: 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."
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The shock was too much for the Earl of Northumberland, who collapsed and had to be taken out of the hall, and also for Mrs Orchard, a lady who had cared for the Queen when she was a child, who "shrieked out dreadfully".
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The Queen kept her composure. Although she did not argue against the sentence, she said that she "believed there was some other reason for which she was condemned than the cause alleged".
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Lancelot de Carles recorded that Anne then addressed the court, saying:

"I do not say that I have been as humble towards the King as he deserved, considering the humanity and kindness he showed me, and the great honour he has always paid me; I know that my fantasies have led me to be jealous... but God knows that I have never done him any other wrong."
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Victorian historian Agnes Strickland records another speech by Anne Boleyn at court that day, recorded by Crispin, Lord of Milherve:-

"My lords, I will not say your sentence is unjust, nor presume that my reasons can prevail against your convictions. I am willing to believe that you have sufficient reasons for what you have done, but then they must be other than those which have been produced in court, for I am clear of all the offences which you then laid to my charge. I have ever been a faithful wife to the king, though I do not say I have always shown him that humility which his goodness to me and the honour to which he raised me merited. I confess I have had jealous fancies and suspicions of him which I had not discretion and wisdom enough to conceal at all times. But God knows, and is my witness, that I never 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. Think not that I am so bewildered in my mind as not to lay the honour of my chastity to heart now in mine extremity, when I have maintained it all my life long, much as ever queen did. I know these my last words will avail me nothing but for the justification of my chastity and honour. As for my brother and those others who are unjustly condemned, I would willingly suffer many deaths to deliver them; but since I see it so pleases the king, I shall willingly accompany them in death, with this assurance, that I shall lead an endless life with them in peace."

Similarities can be seen between this speech and the words recorded by Lancelot de Carles and this is because, as historian John Guy has pointed out, Crispin de Milherve is actually a 'phantom' and his poem was written by Lancelot de Carles.
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Anne Boleyn was then escorted out of the court by her gaoler, Sir William Kingston, with the axe turned against her to show that she had been sentenced to death. It was now her brother's turn to face the hostile panel.

The Trial of George Boleyn

While Anne Boleyn was taken back to her lodgings in the Tower of London, her brother, George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, was taken to the King's Hall to stand before the same jury. George's trial is mentioned briefly in Letters and Papers:

"The same day, lord Rocheford is brought before the High Steward in the custody of Sir Will. Kingston, and pleads not guilty. The peers are charged, with the exception of the earl of Northumberland, who was suddenly taken ill, and each of them severally saith that he is guilty.

Judgment: - To be taken to prison in the Tower, and then drawn through the city of London, to the gallows at Tyburn, &c., as usual in high treason."
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All witnesses agree that George put up a good fight in the court room that day. In his Chronicle, Charles Wriothesley recorded that after George pleaded not guilty, "he made answer so prudently and wisely to all articles laid against him, that marvel it was to hear, but never would confess anything, but made himself as clear as though he had never offended"
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and Lancelot de Carles commented on George's good defence and his eloquence, which de Carles likened to that of Sir Thomas More.
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But George wasn't just prudent, he was also rather spirited, as my friend Clare Cherry says in her research into George Boleyn's life:

"Ironically, during life it was Anne who was the more tempestuous and reckless of the two siblings. Yet she faced her accusers with the quiet and restrained dignity of a true Queen. It was her brother who approached the trial with all guns blazing."
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When the only evidence for George committing incest with Anne was that "he had been once found a long time with her", George "replied so well that several of those present wagered 10 to 1 that he would be acquitted, especially as no witnesses were produced against either him or her".
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And when he was handed a note regarding the King's impotence, George recklessly read it aloud even though he had been commanded not to. Chapuys recorded this incident in a letter to Charles V:

"I must not omit, that among other things charged against him as a crime was, that his sister had told his wife that the King "nestoit habile en cas de soy copuler avec femme, et quil navoit ne vertu ne puissance." This he was not openly charged with, but it was shown him in writing, with a warning not to repeat it. But he immediately declared the matter, in great contempt of Cromwell and some others, saying he would not in this point arouse any suspicion which might prejudice the King's issue. He was also charged with having spread reports which called in question whether his sister's daughter was the King's child."
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Not only had George joked or gossiped about the King's sexual problems, his lack of sexual prowess, he had also joked about Elizabeth not being the King's daughter. This meant that he had unwittingly committed treason because this kind of talk impugned the King's issue. What was worse was that George had disobeyed instructions and read out this note in court, embarrassing the King and not endearing himself to the jury.

George Wyatt, Thomas Wyatt's grandson, wrote a few years later that "the young nobleman the Lord Rochford, by the common opinion of men of best understanding in those days, was counted and then openly spoken, condemned only upon some point of a statute of words then in force".
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Even "the judges at first were of different opinions".
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However, they were able to give an unanimous decision in the end. No witnesses and an eloquent defence, but George was still found guilty by a jury of his peers. His uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, then sentenced George to a traitor's death:

"that he should goe agayne to prison in the Tower from whence he came, and to be drawne from the saide Tower of London thorowe the Cittie of London to the place of execution called Tyburne, and there to be hanged, beinge alyve cutt downe, and then his members cutt of and his bowells taken owt of his bodie and brent[burnt] before him, and then his head cutt of and his bodie to be divided into quarter peeces, and his head and bodie to be sett at suche places as the King should assigne."
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Chapuys records George's reaction to his sentence:

"Her brother, after his condemnation, said that since he must die, he would no longer maintain his innocence, but confessed that he had deserved death. He only begged the King that his debts, which he recounted, might be paid out of his goods."
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Some might read Chapuys' words and conclude that George Boleyn thought it was not worth maintaining the pretence any more and so confessed to committing incest with his sister, but I do not agree. I think that George was simply admitting to being a sinner, a sinner who deserved judgement from God. People who were convicted of a crime, even if they were innocent, "did not doubt that they deserved to die"
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and that it was a punishment from God for their sinful life. There was a strong belief in original sin.

George Boleyn was then taken back to his prison in the Tower to prepare himself for death.

16th May 1536 – Archbishop Cranmer Visits Anne Boleyn

In a letter to Thomas Cromwell, on 16th May, Sir William Kingston wrote of how he had seen the King that day regarding "the petitions of my Lord of Rochford", which must have been about the debts that George Boleyn was worrying about during his imprisonment, things that were "touching his conscience." Kingston wrote that the King had told him that the men were going to be executed the next day but that Kingston needed to know from Cromwell "the preparation for the scaffolds and other necessaries concerning".
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Kingston also reported that the King had finally agreed to Anne Boleyn's request to have a confessor. In addition, he states that Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the man who had once Anne Boleyn's family chaplain and a man she had helped rise to prominence at the English court, had visited her that day. Cranmer may have been chosen as the Queen's confessor, but that was not the real reason for his visit.

Archbishop Cranmer was actually visiting Anne Boleyn to get her to confess to an impediment to her marriage. He wanted obtain her consent to dissolve the marriage and to disinherit and bastardise her daughter Elizabeth. In the same letter to Cromwell, Kingston reported that "Yet this day at dinner the Queen said she would go to "anonre" [a nunnery], and is in hope of life",
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which suggests that Anne was offered a deal by Cranmer – say yes to an annulment and you can go to a nunnery. Of course, even though she did comply she was not sent to a nunnery. Perhaps the more merciful death by a sword, rather than by axe, was her reward. What we don't know is whether Cranmer was, himself, being misled by Cromwell and the King, or whether he was lying to Anne.

While Cranmer was visiting Anne in the Tower, Henry VIII's new flame, Jane Seymour, was receiving guests at her lodgings in Chelsea – courtiers who were there to curry favour with the woman who was sure to be their new queen. As for the King, he was signing death warrants, one of them his wife's.

George Boleyn, Sir Francis Weston, Sir Henry Norris, Sir William Brereton and Mark Smeaton prepared for their deaths by confessing their sins to Dr Allryge (or Alridge), the chaplain sent to them.
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Sir Francis Weston wrote out a list of his debts, which can be found in Letters and Papers,
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and then wrote a farewell letter to his parents, which was to be included with the list of creditors:

"Father and mother and wife, I shall humbly desire you, for the salvation of my soul, to discharge me of this bill, and for to forgive me of all the offences that I have done to you, and in especial to my wife, which I desire for the love of God to forgive me, and to pray for me: for I believe prayer will do me good. God's blessing have my children and mine.

By me, a great offender to God."

As Alison Weir points out,
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Weston is not confessing to his alleged crimes; he is simply asking his family's forgiveness for the sins he had committed during his lifetime. As I said earlier, Tudor people believed very strongly in the concept of original sin and their sinful natures.