The Lady In The Tower

May 19, 1536 - Anne Boleyn is Beheaded

"Good Christian people, 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. O Lord, have mercy on me. To God, I commend my soul.' And then she knelt down, saying, 'To Christ I commend my soul, Jesu receive my soul', divers times, till that her head was stricken off with the sword.” - Anne's execution, as reported in Hall's Chronicle (1548)

""On a scaffold made there for the said execution, the said Queen Anne said thus: 'Masters, I here humbly submit me to the law, as the law hath judged me. And as for mine offenses, I here accuse no man; God knoweth them. I remit them to God, beseeching him to have mercy on my soul. And I beseech Jesu, save my sovereign and master, the King - the most godly, noble, and gentle prince that is, and long to reign over you.' Which words were spoken with a goodly smiling countenance. And this done, she knelt down on her knees and said: "To Jesu Christ, I commend my soul'. And suddenly, the hangman smote off her head at a stroke with a sword." - Anne's execution, as reported in Wriothesley's Chronicle (1559)

May 18, 1536 - Anne's Last Confession and "A Little Neck"

"This morning, she [Anne] sent for me that I might be with her at such time as she received the good Lord [i.e. the Eucharist], to the intent I should hear her speak as touching her innocence … In the writing of this, she sent for me. And at my coming, she said, 'Master Kingston, I hear say I shall not die before noon, and I am very sorry therefore, for I thought then to be dead and past my pain.' I told her it should be no pain, it was so subtle. And then she said, 'I heard say the executioner was very good, and I have a little neck', and put her hand about it, laughing heartily. I have seen many men and also women executed, and … they have been in great sorrow. And to my knowledge, this lady hath much joy and pleasure in death." - William Kingston, Constable of the Tower, to Thomas Cromwell, May 18, 1536

May 15, 1536 - The Trial of George Boleyn

"No proof of his guilt was produced except that of his having once passed many hours in her company, and other little follies. He answered so well that many who were present at the trial, and heard what he said, had no difficulty in waging two one that he would be acquitted, the more so that no witnesses were called against him or against her…" - Eustace Chapuys (May 19, 1536)

"He made answer so prudently and wisely to all articles laid against him, that marvel it was to hear, and never would confess anything, but made himself as clear as though he had never offended." - Wriothesley's Chronicle (1559)

May 17, 1536 - The Executions of George Boleyn, Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, William Brereton, and Mark Smeaton

"Masters all, I am come hither not to preach and make a sermon, but to die. As the law hath found me, and to the law I submit me, desiring you all, and especially you, my masters of the court, that you will trust in God especially, and not in the vanities of the world. For if I had so done, I think I had been alive as ye be now. Also, I desire you to help … the setting forth of the true word of God. And whereas I am slandered by it, I have been diligent to read it and set it forth truly. But if I had been as diligent to observe it, and done and lived thereafter, as I was to read it and set it forth, I [would not have] come here. Wherefore I beseech you all to be workers and live thereafter, and not to read it and live not thereafter. As for mine offenses, it cannot prevail you to hear them that I die here for. But I beseech God that I may be an example to you all, and that all you may beware by me, and heartily I require you all to pray for me, and to forgive me if I have ever offended you. And I forgive you all. And God save the King." - George Boleyn's execution speech in Wriothesley's Chronicle

May 16, 1536 - Archbishop Cranmer Visits Anne in the Tower

"This day at dinner, the Queen said that she should go to a nunnery and is in hope of life." - William Kingston to Thomas Cromwell, May 16, 1536

"Only Anne herself, therefore, could set Henry free. What she said to Cranmer we will never know. But it was enough for the Archbishop of Canterbury to pronounce her marriage dissolved the next day. And later on the 16th, it may be by coincidence, it may not, it was determined that Anne should die, not by the agony of the fire, ut at the hands of the executioner of Calais." - David Starkey, Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII (2001)

"Did the archbishop hint at life in return for compliance? Did Anne confess to a consummated relationship with Percy or a third party, a quid pro quo, perhaps, for Henry not rejecting Elizabeth? There is no way of knowing what passed between the client, now archbishop, and his patron, now a condemned traitor. In all probability the meeting was what it purported to be, pastoral." - Eric Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn (2004)

May 15, 1536 - The Trial of Anne Boleyn

"She made so wise and discreet answers to all things laid against her, excusing herself with her words so clearly, as though she had never been faulty to the same." - Wriothesley's Chronicle (1559)

“The queen was…in command of herself and clearly of the situation. Her sparing and effective answers quietly dominated the court. Her manner [carried] conviction. […] Charles Wriothesley, who was temperamentally inclined to Katherine and Mary, expressed the common view: ‘She made so wise and discreet answers as to all things laid against her, excusing herself with her words so clearly as though she had never been faulty to the same.’ […] She knew that she had not been the waxen wife of conventional expectation, to be moulded or impressed a her husband’s will. What she did not say was that the king had pursued her precisely because of this; he had needed her steel and was only where he was because of it. | Eric Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn

“She managed, at her trial on May 15, after nearly two weeks in the Tower and the certain recognition…that she would be found guilty, to summon her renowned pride and dazzling confidence for the grim occasion. Dressed in black velvet over a scarlet petticoat…she ‘presented herself with the true dignity of a queen, and curtseyed to her judges, looking round upon them all, without any sign of fear…impatience, grief, or cowardice’ according to Crispin de Milherve, whom Alison Weir cites as an eyewitness at the trial but who may have been Lancelot de Carles.” | Susan Bordo, The Creation of Anne Boleyn

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The jig is up, the secret’s out, this is the research project I’ve been involved in for the past few months - studying one of Robert Dudley’s own books!! This opportunity sort of fell in my lap and I knew I absolutely had to take it. You can read about how it came to be in my latest blog post: 'Researching a book from Robert Dudley’s library – in partnership with the Lord Leycester Hospital'

Research is still ongoing but I've made a lot of progress already in terms of authenticating, dating and tracking the provenance. Next will be putting the book in context which is what I'm most excited for. This is going to take up a lot of my spare time outside of work so, once again, I do apologise if I'm not as active or responsive on here as I used to be. If I'm lucky, I'm hoping to get an article published in an academic journal about this research!