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The Indictment of Queen Anne Boleyn

12/5/2016

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Anne Boleyn was accused of adultery with five men, including her brother George whose wife, Lady Rochford, testified that her husband had been 'intimate' with Anne. On the 10th May 1536 a jury decided that  Anne and George Boleyn along with Sir Henry Norris, Sir William Brereton, Mark Smeaton and Sir Francis Weston should be indicted and stand trial.
George's marriage had been a arranged, and was thought not to be a happy one. Jane is said to have hated both her husband and her sister in law and her words although untruths, carried a lot of weight.
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Extract from the indictment listing the charges against Anne Boleyn (catalogue reference: KB 8/9, f. 9v)
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Detail of alleged incest between Anne and George Boleyn (catalogue reference: KB 8/9, f. 10r)
It has never been proved it was Jane who set the wheels in motion regarding Anne's downfall, but someone did. However, Jane didn't learn anything from the whole affair, and went on to encourage the liaison between Catherine Howard and Thomas Culpepper. Jane must have known what would happen if Henry found out that she was involved but it didn't stop her meddling.
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                                                                                      The Indictment

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. 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, 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, 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, groom of the privy chamber, to violate her, whereby he did so at Westminster, 26 April 27 Hen. VIII.
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You can read more on on The National Archives website here
blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/six-wives-archives-trial-anne-boleyn/
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Anne Boleyn meeting with Matthew Parker

28/4/2016

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In the last week of April 1536 Anne Boleyn met with her chaplain, Matthew Parker. According to Parker, Anne had asked him to look after her daughter, the Princess Elizabeth.

In this illustration entitled Anne Boleyn Commending the Princess Elizabeth to the care of Matthew Parker, we can see that Anne Boleyn is standing in front of a portrait of Henry VIII, she is holding a book of prayer and seems to be lecturing Parker, who is kissing the hand of Princess Elizabeth.
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Two young women watch from behind a half open door in background, who do they represent? Ladies in waiting who actually cared for Ann or those whose idol gossip cost Ann here life?

Before the end of April, all the men suspected of being involved with Ann had been arrested including her brother George.

​Ann was unaware of the charges being brought against them, did she, I wonder, have any idea at this point in time of the seriousness of the situation?
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Tudors verses Plantagenet 

28/2/2016

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Hampton Court and an interesting representation of the outcome of the‪ Battle of Bosworth.
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The famous battle in which King ‪‎Richard III lost the crown of England to Henry Tudor can be seen carved in stone on part of a heraldic shield found in the moat of Hampton Court in 1910.
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Click on the link to view a video of heraldic shield​

https://www.facebook.com/HRPalaces/videos/10153516155153468/?fref=nf
You can see that the Tudors have represented the famous story of how Henry VII claimed the throne of England by having the crown carved on top of a hawthorn bush. The Hawthorn bush and the crown are highly symbolic representations of both the Battle of Bosworth, (the end of the Plantagenets) and Henry VII (the beginning of the Tudors.)​

It is interesting, isn't it, that even after thirty years of a Tudor reign this dynasty were still trying to justify their weak claim to the throne of England.
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Death of Catherine Howard and Jane Boleyn.

15/2/2016

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On the 13th February in 1542 the execution of Catherine Howard and Jane Boleyn.
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Many people believe that it was Jane Parker, the wife of George Boleyn, who was to blame for initiating the downfall of her sister in law Anne in 1536, but there were other women in the court, Elizabeth Browne for instance, whose actions history might like to take a look at. However, it was the events of 1542 that were Jane's downfall. 
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In 1541, Catherine Howard, Henry VIII fifth wife, had begun a physical relationship with one of his favourite courtier, Thomas Culpepper, and Jane Boleyn went out of her way to encourage this relationship.

Catherine wrote to Culpepper in a letter that was to be all their undoing:

                                                  “praying you that you will come when my Lady Rochford is here”

If Jane had anything to do with Anne’s downfall she must have realised that she was lucky to escape in 1536, and if she didn’t, then she doesn't seem to have learnt anything from the whole affair. Jane must have known what would happen if Henry found out that she was involved with Catherine and Culpepper and when the affair was out in the open each woman blamed the other. Jane Boleyn walked right into the Culpepper affair with her eyes open.

Following their arrest, Jane was imprisoned in the Tower of London and Catherine Howard at Syon Abbey. The night before her execution, Catherine is said to have spent it practicing laying her head upon the block, and Jane was in the throes of a nervous breakdown.

Both women were beheaded with one blow of the executioners axe and their bodies buried in the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula.

I often asked myself the question, were Catherine, Jane and Anne's 'crimes' so appalling that they warranted a death sentence? That, I think made little difference, once they stood before the justice's their fates were sealed, state trials weren't fair trials. Schauer and Schauer in their article Law as an Engine of State wrote " Laws, like armies, were an engine of state, not a mechanism for justice!" and in that lies the answer. 



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Catherine Parr at Sudeley Castle

17/12/2015

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The image below is a recreation of the lying in state of Catherine Parr.  Catherine was the sixth and last wife of Henry VIII.
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Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire was Catherine's marital home and the family home of her fourth husband Thomas Seymour.

Catherine and Thomas Seymour's marriage had been a short one, they had married in secret in the May of 1547, only four months after the death of Henry VIII to whom she had been married for four years.By 5th of September the following year Catherine was dead. Her death, six days after the birth of her daughter, was the result of an infection.

In 1782, her remains were found in the ruins of the castle's chapel, the undiscovered coffin of the queen lay in Sudeley Castle's chapel for over two hundred years. When it was opened Catherine's body was still in a good condition and described at the time as being

“soft and moist and the weight of her hand and arm as those of a living body”

Catherine's body had been wrapped in cloth and encased in lead. John Locust, who made the discovery, took a few locks of the queens hair, closed the coffin and returned it to her grave. It had evidently been badly treated during the following few years as it was later found upside down and at a bad angle. When it was opened only Cathrine's skeleton remained.

Fortunately her remains were treated respectfully from that date on, her tomb was restored, the castles chapel rebuilt and Catherine received a large ornate canopied tomb with her effigy lying on top.

In 2012, to mark the anniversary of the queens death, Sudeley Castle arranged a re enactment of her funeral, where Catherine's coffin and a procession passed out of the house through a door that had not been opened for centuries into the gardens, coming to an end in the Chapel of Ease. This is thought to be the same route Catherine's coffin would have
​followed in 1548.

Her chief mourner at the time was Lady Jane Grey who lived with her at Sudeley.

Poor Jane followed Catherine to the grave only six years later, a queenly crown given and taken away within nine days. A dowager queen and other dignities also attended.

Lady Ashcombe, the present owner of Sudeley said “I didn’t realise how important the date of her death was in the history
of the Church of England, her funeral was the first Protestant funeral service held in English.” The Rector of Winchcombe and Sudeley, who planned the service, represented Catherine's personal preacher, the Protestant theologian Miles
Coverdale and wore a black Canterbury cap, and a plain black cassock.

​David Starkey gave a live commentary.
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Tudor Livery Collars: Valuers don't know their Esses from their Elbows.

21/8/2015

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Edward Montagu, was Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and a member of Henry VIII's Privy Council. In 1546/7 Henry VIII presented Montagu with what has come to be known as the Coleridge Collar.
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 " a 20½oz gold judicial chain of office made up of 27 S-links interspersed with 26 knot-links, with an unenamelled Tudor rose flanked by portcullises at its centre" 

The Coleridge family, who owned the collar until 2006 stated that they thought that King Henry VII had given the collar to the first Chief Justice of the Common Pleas during his reign between 1485 and 1509 and that Henry VIII gifted Montagu the chain when he took up his role as Lord Chief Justice. 

Henry is thought to have given at least twenty such collars to loyal subject for 'special deeds.'  

 Lord Coleridge, fifth Baron of Ottery St Mary, whose family have owned the collar since it was given to John, Duke Coleridge, who served as the first Lord Chief Justice of England from 1880 until 1894 was being sold to help with family finances.

In 2006 Sotheby's auction house informed Lord Coleridge that the chain was a 17th century copy and on that basis it was put up for sale, eventually reaching the final selling price of £35,000. Two year later Lord Coleridge discovered that his family heirloom had been identified as the Tudor original and resold at Christie's for £300,000 and described as a

"fascinating piece of history, both as a work of art and also as a rare Tudor relic".
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A case was brought by Lord Coleridge, who sought damages based on the difference between Sotheby's valuation and the later auction price. Coleridge, argued the London auction house should have advised him that the “Coleridge Collar” was worth more than a quarter of a million pounds, but Sotheby’s disagreed and fought Lord Coleridge’s damages claim in the High Court  in London, the cost of which came to £1 million pounds.

 Lord Coleridge lost his case, it was judged that the Sotheby’s expert made a 

'“reasonable” decision when she said an aristocrat’s gold chain was worth £35,000 three years before it sold for £260,000"'

That is one hell of a difference!

What I find worrying about this is that two experts can look at the exact same object and come to two different conclusions. 
That is fine if you are looking at something from a purely historical point of view, but it is certainly not alright when it comes to authenticating a piece or when the item is someone's property that is up for auction.  

Apart from the families financial loss, it calls into question the historical expertise of valuers, surely in this case someone
got it wrong? 

These collars have their origins in the insignia of a medieval house and were used as a mark of fealty, the Yorkist collar for instance used suns and roses, the lion of March and Richard III's white boar as a pendant. The Collar of Esses, brought into use by Henry VIII, has a portcullis or a Tudor Rose hanging from it, a fine example of this judicial chain of office can be seen being worn Sir Thomas More in Rowland Lockey painting seen below. 




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Seven Faces of Henry VIII

28/6/2015

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Henry VIII was born on the 28th June 1491 at Greenwich Palace, the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.
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Henry's older brother Arthur died in 1502 which left Henry as heir to the throne. On the death of his father on the 22nd of April 1509, Henry became king Henry VIII. Henry was seen as a clever and active young man, he spoke three languages fluently, he was an excellent sportsman too. He played tennis, he wrestled, he liked archery and bowling. Henry also enjoyed hunting, jousting and hawking. Henry, of course is famous for his dealings with women, there were six wives and assorted mistresses who accompanied him through life.

This kings story has kept us enthralled for many years, his exploits viewed on the big screen and on television many many times. Lets have a look at who has played him over the years.
1613 Unknown actor in Shakespeare's Henry VIII
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Henry VIII, Shakespeare's play, was first performed at the Globe. It was this play that literally brought the house down. A cannon shot, that formed part of the scene in the home of Cardinal Wolsey ignited the thatched roof of London's Theatre and the building burnt to the ground. 
1933 Charles Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII
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Charles Laughton, in the film The Private Life of Henry VIII, portrays Henry as a pathetic and vain man. The film itself has been described as a
                                                   "Pork Gorging, Head Chopping, Liberty-Taking Romp" 
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You will know that this is a true statement if you have ever watched the famous banqueting scene. Henry's weight gain is well documented, but this film goes out of its way to give us the wrong impression of Henry. We are shown a sleazy and greedy king, chomping his way though numerous chicken legs and then discarding them over his shoulder. There is some truths here though, we do know that Henry's weight had gradually increased despite his early athleticism, he was a tall man, over six foot with a waist of 39 inches but by the time he had reached his fifties his waist had increased to 52 inches. 

Laugton's Henry is hideous, raucous, and totally unlikable.
1966 Robert Shaw in A Man for all Seasons
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In the 1966 film A Man for all Seasons, Henry VIII was played by Robert Shaw. Shaw's Henry was, for me, the most frightening. 
One minute he is very personable with a loud hearty laugh, the next he is a menacing tyrant. Shaw's Henry is not a bully, but he is clever, his presence is very threatening in the scene in the garden of Thomas More's home. Henry wants to know if More has changed his mind regarding Anne Boleyn, but we know that More could not and would not be swayed, no matter how frightened he was of him, no matter the consequences.

Both Charles Laughton and Robert Shaw show Henry VIII as childlike, where Laughton's Henry is petulant, Shaw's Henry is enthusiastic and spoilt. Robert Shaw was nominated for best actor at the Oscars for this film but it went, quite rightly, to Paul Scofield, for his portrayal of Thomas More, who was the Man for all Seasons. 
1969 Richard Burton in Anne of a Thousand Days
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Richard Burton has to be the Henry you could not help but fall in love with if you were a lady of his court, he is smoldering and rather sexy. I thought he played Henry rather well considering he thought the film was 

                                                                                   "mediocre rubbish"

Where the two previous films focus on Henry as greedy and vain, Anne of a Thousand Days is about possession and love. Burton's Henry is strong and self assured and really wants Anne, but later a stubborn streak causes Henry to be dispassionate on her 'betrayal." Richard Burton's Henry would not write the lines

                   "wishing myself specially and evening in my sweetheart's arms who pretty dukkys I trust shortly to kiss"

his Henry is far more manly than that. Richard Burton as Henry VIII is smoldering and passionate and as far away from the real Henry VIII as I think you could get.
1971 Sid James in Carry On Henry ​
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If Richard Burton's portrayal of Henry VIII in Anne of a Thousand days leaves you a hot under the collar then Sid James's portrayal has quite the opposite effect. So Henry VIII was fond of the chase and this is obvious in all the films but it is only in Carry On Henry that you see him  as a seedy character. Sid James's Henry is certainly that.  

This film is played for laughs and shouldn't really be compared to the others. To be fair to James he was working in the confines of the Carry On ethos, all slapstick and "ooh err missus" and he did write in his biography 

                                                                       "I was really having a go at him"

Nevertheless, not one of the best Henry VIII's around I must say.
1972 Keith Michell in Henry VIII and his Six Wives
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Keith Michell portrayed Henry VIII in the 1972 television series Henry VIII and his Six wives. In the forerunner of the mini series, thirty five years before we were given The Tudors, we are able to look at Henry's life in full and this is achieved as the king
lies dying, and he looks back over his life.  I watched this quite recently and although it doesn't pack a punch it felt real. Michell's young Henry appears exposed at times and is surrounded by elder statesmen and this does make you think, if only for a little while, that maybe he is not all to blame for the way he turned out. 
2007 Jonathan Rhys Meyers in The Tudors
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Well! What can you say about Jonathan Rhys Meyers Henry? Many loved his Henry VIII most called him sexy and I cannot complain too much about this because I have just said the same thing about Richard Burton. But Meyer's just didn't manage to portray the complex character of Henry VIII as Burton did. To be fair to Meyers, times have changed and what is accepted in film and on television today was a no go area in the 1960's and Burton did not have to resort to bump and grind to get the point across that Henry was a virile and passionate man. 

​Meyers played Henry's larger than life character very well, but take away the all the glitter and the gratuitous rumpy pumpy and you still don't have the real Henry VIII.
2015 Damian Lewis in Wolf Hall
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It was nearly fifty years ago when Robert Shaw played Henry VIII to Paul Scofield's Thomas More, this year Damian Lewis had to play Henry VIII to Mark Rylance's Thomas Cromwell and just like Shaw, Lewis did a terrific job.

Our new Henry was a quiet Henry, a Henry that we have not seen portrayed in this way before. There was no sign of Laughton's Henry who stuffed himself silly, no sign of the menacing tyrant of Shaw's character. None of the buffoonery that was Sid James's character. There was not even the seductiveness of Richard Burton's Henry or the vigor of Meyers character. 

So what about this new Henry?
 
Damian Lewis portrays a grounded Henry VIII, a considered Henry, an intense Henry. In fact, it was hard to see the Henry VIII we have come to know at all in Lewis's performance. Saying that, I thought that this Henry was cunning and manipulative letting everyone think they were all in charge when in fact they were not at all!

So there you have it, seven attempts at presenting King Henry VIII to us. Each portrayal showed us something of the sixteenth century kings character, but are we any nearer knowing the real Henry? Probably not, but as a whole I think the actors  are not far wrong.
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Dangerous Talk Costs Lives - The Last Days of Anne Boleyn

23/6/2015

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Dr Suzannah Lipscomb in her blog The Last Days of Anne Boleyn states

"the story of Anne Boleyn's downfall inspires extraordinarily passionate, opinionated disagreement. There's just the right amount of evidence to keep us guessing, enough to lead to great speculation and several almost sustainable theories, but ultimately not enough to nail any one entirely."
Eventually, by sifting through all the evidence a number of theories come to the forefront, these are:

                                                                                   Anne was guilty. 
                                                                     Thomas Cromwell had it in for her.
                                                                       Henry wanted to get rid of Anne. 
Talk and idle gossip within the court was Anne's undoing and as Dr Lipscomb states: 

                       "Dangerous talk cost lives and it was what Anne said – rather than what she did – that made her appear,
                                                                                   in Henry's eyes, guilty."
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In my opinion, it was a mixture of the last two theories.

Many people believe that it was Jane Boleyn who was to blame for initiating Anne’s downfall, but it has never been proved that she set the wheels in motion regarding Anne's downfall, but Jane has been called a “pathological meddler” I'm leaning towards the fact that it was probably true, events later in Henry's reign bear witness to that.

We know that Jane encouraged the relationship between Catherine Howard and Thomas Culpepper. Catherine wrote in a letter to him “praying you that you will come when my Lady Rochford is here” If Jane had anything to do with Anne’s downfall she must have realised that she was lucky to escape in 1536, and if she didn’t then she doesn't seem to have learnt anything from the whole affair. Jane must have known what would happen if Henry found out that she was involved with Catherine and Culpepper and when the affair was out in the open each woman blamed the other. With regard to Anne, maybe Jane had it in for Anne and didn’t need much encouragement to tell tales, maybe she was just repeating gossip, or maybe she was just saving her own skin. Who knows, but she walked right into the Culpepper affair with her eyes open.

If it was not Jane Boleyn, then who was it? 

Elizabeth Browne, Countess of Worcester is also considered to be a main source of gossip regarding tales of Anne's misconduct. One has Elizabeth being reprimanded by her brother for her behaviour to which she replied that she was

                                                                              “no worse than the queen” 

Another is along the same lines, it was Elizabeth herself who reprimanded a lady in waiting for comparing her behaviour 
to that of the queen. In another, Elizabeth suggests that her brother talk of Mark Smeaton and a lady in waiting about Anne's behaviour.

In the April or May of 1536, others were saying much the same. John Hussee, agent to Arthur Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle also stated:

                      “as to the queen’s accusers, my lady of Worcester is said to be the principal in raising charges”

In our time G W Bernard, a Professor of Early Modern History, writes 

               “there is strong evidence that it was the Countess of Worcester’s revelations that sparked the arrests and trials” 

We will never know who said what to whom with regard to the betrayal of Anne Boleyn, but someone did put the wheels in motion and the intimate details of what was going on and what was said in Anne's bedchamber came from someone close to Anne. Who was it then who instigated such dangerous conversations and where does Cromwell fit in? 

Predominantly, I feel it was Henry who wanted to be rid of Anne, he saw to it that someone got the ball rolling and that person 
used the loose talk in court about Anne's 'behaviour' against her. I suppose you could argue though that someone had originally planted the seeds of doubt in Henry's mind about Ann and then left to see what would germinate, was this Thomas Cromwell?

Was Anne Boleyn guilty of adultery? I find it hard to believe, Anne would not have put her soul in danger of eternal damnation by lying. She is said to have said 

               "I swear, on the damnation of my soul, that I have never been unfaithful to my lord and husband, nor ever offended                                                                                    with my body against him."
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​Dangerous talk it seems does cost lives.

Incidentally, Elizabeth Browne was the granddaughter of my 16x great grandfather.
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The Death of Margaret Countess of Salisbury.

23/5/2015

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Bishop Gardiner wrote of the date of the Countesses execution as the 27th of May but Eustace Chapuys wrote of it as the 28th, either way Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, the daughter of George Duke of Clarence and Isabel Neville was taken to her place of death at the end of May in 1541.

By the time of Margaret's execution, three years had passed since her son's Geoffrey and Henry Pole had been arrested on a charge of treason at the beginning of November 1538. It was just over a week later, the 12th November that Cromwell's henchmen came knocking on the Countesse's door.

Probably not tortured, but certainly coerced by the Earl of Southampton and the Bishop of Ely Margaret said nothing, her two interrogators eventually telling Cromwell that they had to conclude that her sons had told her nothing or that she was

                                                         "the most arrant traitress that ever lived" 

Margaret was sent to Cowdray Park, the home of the Earl of Southampton where the abuse at the hands of Cromwell's men continued. It was there in the May that a Bill of Attainder was issued and evidence of 'guilt' was presented in the form of a silk tunic embroidered on the back with the Five Wounds of Christ.  This and other trumped up charges were brought against her, and Margaret was sent to the Tower where she was kept for just under two years. The Countess was not treated well during her incarceration, the conditions were austere and inadequate for woman her age let alone her status, the room was cold and damp and she suffered as a result. 

Margaret heard of her execution only hours before it was due to happen. 

Looking pale and thin, it must have been a distressing sight as she made her way to Tower Green, but her suffering was not over. At the hands of inexperienced executioner a


              ‘wretched and blundering youth who literally hacked her head and shoulders to pieces in the most pitiful manner’ 

Margaret Pole, the last true Plantagenet was dead. 

She was sixty eight year old.
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Execution of Anne Boleyn

19/5/2015

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On the 19th May 1536, Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII was beheaded within the walls of the Tower of London. ​
Picture
A bright, intelligent woman whose strong opinions were partly the cause of her downfall, the failure to produce a male heir another but probably the real reason was the fracturing of the court regarding religion, shameful reasons to end someone's life, but the common man had his head placed in the noose for less. 

Executions were part of everyday life in Tudor times, beheading was a dignified and honourable means of execution, as opposed to hanging which was shameful, maybe it was considered more important to medieval nobility than whether it was humane or not. Beheading was carried out using a sword in Europe, whereas the axe was more commonly used in England. Execution with a sword was performed with one single stroke and generally did a better job. 

This form of execution in Britain was used as far back as Anglo-Saxon times, but was reintroduced during the reign of William the Conqueror. Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland, had his head taken off with a sword in 1076, the axe was commonly used at a later date. Hanging was the usual punishment for most crimes but down the centuries beheading was the norm for men convicted of treason along with the brutal punishment of drawing, hanging, and quartering. Women were hanged but also burnt at the stake. However, noble women often met their death on the 'block' Lady Jane Grey and Margaret Pole the Countess of Salisbury both ended their days this way. 

Anne Boleyn, as mentioned, the date of execution was set for the 19th of May and she was sentenced to death by burning at the stake or beheading. To spare Anne the pain of a potentially messy execution by axe, something he didn't do for his kinswoman Margaret Pole, who died a terrible death at the hands of an inexperienced executioner, Henry granted a special dispensation, bringing over an expert French swordsman. 

Before Anne died she said

              "a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord."

Anne's grave in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula was unmarked until the 19th century. Today her name is carved into the marble floor. 

In the image is the Martyrdom of St. Margaret of Antioch in which she is executed with a sword.
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    After ten years in the workplace I became a mother to three very beautiful daughters, I was fortunate enough to have been able to stay at home and spend my time with them as they grew into the young women they are now. I am still in the position of being able to be at home and pursue all the interests I have previously mentioned. We live in a beautiful Victorian spa town with wooded walks for the dog, lovely shops and a host of lovely people, what more could I ask for.

    All works © Andrea Povey 2014. Please do not reproduce without the expressed written consent of Andrea Povey.

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