RIP Queen Anne Boleyn ~ May 19, 1536

Hever portrait

Not many people know exactly how I got hooked on the Tudor time period. It was by mistake really. Of course, I had studied History in college and I’m sure at some point I had heard in passing about the “tyrant” Henry VIII. Looking back on my course catalog book, there was even a class that I could have taken specifically for the Tudor time period (1485-1603). I am now kicking myself that I didn’t take that class. Fortunately, as a side note, the Master’s program in Colorado allows you to take an undergraduate class as an elective…so here’s hoping there’s a Tudor class. :) Anyway! So there I was in Target in 2008. Wasting time by just walking around and I happened upon the book aisle. I was looking around and saw “The Other Boleyn Girl” book. It caught my eye because I saw actual actors on the cover, since the movie had just come out. I hadn’t heard of the movie being talked about on any previews or anything so I was intrigued. I picked it up and read the first few lines… Spring 1521 “I could hear a roll of muffled drums. But I could see nothing but the lacing on the bodice of the lady standing in front of me, blocking my view of the scaffold.” Hooked. I went ahead and bought the book and sitting down in the food area of Target, I read 100 pages. It was a book I couldn’t put down. I hadn’t really experienced that before. Matt noticed this and looked online to see if there were other books that had been written by the author, Phillipa Gregory. Yep! Apparently, it was a series! Score! He started looking further into it and ended up on Wikipedia. Reading on with a few clicks here and there and suddenly he said those words… “this book is based on real people…” Wait. What??? Real people? You mean this crazy stuff actually happened in history? This man had how many wives?? And it started. I really attribute Matt for sparking the passion. Which is something I enjoy talking about, because he really encouraged me when he saw I had a liking for the subject. I wanted to know more. Of course as time has gone on, I’ve found out that the book is based very loosely on what actually happened. Don't get me wrong. It's a good read, as are the others!! However, Claire, from The Anne Boleyn Files (a great website I started following in 2009), has really done a lot of damage control for it—trying to make up for the lies in that book. However, she admits, and I agree, that although it makes us aggravated…many people learned about Anne and her time period through researching after reading the book. It was a catalyst if you will. Since then I have read and learned so much, not only on the website, but in the many books I've gotten.

I know it's crazy to be so passionate about someone or something that happened close to 500 years ago. Believe me. I've seen people's faces when I start talking about it. But I think the reason I'm so passionate for Anne and for that time period is that she's someone who all women can look up to. During her time she was considered fashionable, quick witted. Someone who everyone noticed! She was strong, passionate, learned, opinionated. Definitely a woman who challenged things in a man dominated world. I'm sure that's why Henry VIII first fell in love with her. She made him think. They were in the same mind and thought on topics of the day. I truly believe they were a dynamic couple. And that's why I feel she's someone to look up to. Who doesn't want to be a strong woman? Someone who isn't afraid to speak up for what she believes in. It's a strength that many people, myself included, strive for. But thinking of this strength she had leads my thoughts to her horrible death because not only was she strong during her life, she was even more so as she faced death. Anne was sent to death on trumped up charges which included adultery and incest of all things. Five men (George Boleyn {her brother}, Henry Norris, William Brereton, Francis Weston, and Mark Smeaton) were all tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death because of these charges of adultery and incest. Anne was also tried and found guilty. The King commuted her sentence of burning to beheading (how nice of him) and went one step further in ordering a well trained expert French swordsman from Calais. This, to me, was ironic and I'm sure was some what of a jab from Henry VIII because Anne spent many years in France and had a very large soft spot in her heart for France. So how appropriate to have someone from France come execute her. The five men were executed one after the other on May 17, 1536. Anne was scheduled to be executed the following day, but the swordsman was held up so her execution was finally scheduled for the morning of May 19th. Contemporary accounts of her execution talk of how dignified she was. How at peace she looked. Can you imagine??? I'd be shaking! I think, though, she was truly at peace knowing that all would be well. She would be taken from a world that had turned it's back on her. Her daughter would be taken care of. Everything would be okay. She climbed the scaffold and composed herself, then spoke.

“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 therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak of that whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the King and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never, and to me he was ever a good, a gentle, and 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 Tudors' scene of Anne's death

After she spoke, her ladies readied her for her death. She paid the executioner, who asked her to forgive him for the job he was about to do. She was blindfolded and then knelt in the straw. The crowd that had gathered knelt down too...one by one. Anne prayed several times, “O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul. To Jesus Christ I commend my soul; Lord Jesu receive my soul.” The executioner noticed Anne turning her head waiting for the blow, so he called out to his assistant for his sword. Her head followed the noise, the executioner came behind her and with that Anne's life was ended. Her turmoil was over. She was buried in an arrow chest in St. Peter ad Vincula, the chapel within the Tower grounds. 

Memorial plaque within St. Peter ad Vincula

I say all this to show you how strong she was until the end. I know many people have their opinions on whether she was guilty or not. I personally believe she wasn't guilty at all--merely the victim of the politics of her day. But that's not the point here. The point is that a life was taken far too soon. The point is that I'm passionate about this person because of her strength and because of how she was in life and how she left this world--dignified and a true Queen. She left her print on this life and people are still talking about her, remembering her, fighting for her. She left a legacy in her daughter, Elizabeth I, who led the world into a Golden Age. In the end, even if she died a traitor's death, she still affected people then and now and her story will always spark an interest in those who read about her. So today, I remember Queen Anne Boleyn...not only to commemorate her death, but to celebrate her life! 

Memorial at the Scaffold site