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| 8 | <title>Primary Sources: The fall of Anne Boleyn, 1536</title>
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| 20 | <p align="center"> <br>
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| 21 | <p align="center">
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| 22 | <img border="0" src="boleynex.gif" alt="Primary Sources: 1536: The execution of Anne Boleyn" width="372" height="167"><p align="center"> </td>
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| 23 | </tr>
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| 29 | <tr>
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| 30 | <td valign="top" width="48%" bgcolor="#FFFFE8"><p>
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| 31 | <img border="0" src="monarchs/boleyn-sketch1.jpg" alt="sketch of Anne Boleyn by Hans Holbein the Younger" align="left" width="175" height="157"><font size="-1">This
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| 32 | account of Anne Boleyn's fall from royal favor was written by the Spanish
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| 33 | ambassador Eustace Chapuys,
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| 34 |
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| 35 | in a letter to Emperor Charles V.</font><p>
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| 36 | <font size="-1">Chapuys despised Anne; she returned the feeling. He
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| 37 | was the chief adviser and confidante of Henry VIII's first wife, Katharine
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| 38 | of Aragon. He did not recognize the king's marriage to Anne and
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| 39 | referred to her as 'the concubine' and 'the whore' in his official
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| 40 | dispatches. Like many, Chapuys blamed Anne for the king's poor
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| 41 | treatment of Katharine and their daughter, Princess Mary. </font><p>
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| 42 | <font size="-1">Chapuys had confidently predicted Anne's fall for several
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| 43 | years. When it actually happened, he was quite surprised. He had
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| 44 | not recognized the depth of Henry's feelings for the woman who would become
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| 45 | his third wife, Jane Seymour.</font><p>
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| 46 | <font size="-1">Despite Chapuys's dislike of Anne, his account gives little
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| 47 | credit to the king. He clearly considered Henry's behavior to be
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| 48 | inappropriate; it was also unpopular.</font></td>
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| 49 | <td width="4%"></td>
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| 50 | <td valign="top" width="48%">
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| 51 |
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| 52 | <p>
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| 53 | The joy shown by the people every day, not only at the ruin of the concubine
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| 54 | but at the hope of princess Mary's restoration is inconceivable, but as
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| 55 | yet the king shows no great disposition towards the latter; indeed he has
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| 56 | twice shown himself obstinate when spoken to on the subject by his council.
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| 57 | I hear that, even before the arrest of the concubine, the king, speaking
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| 58 | with Mistress Jane Seymour of their future marriage, the latter suggested
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| 59 | that the princess should be replaced in her former position; and the king
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| 60 | told her she was a fool, and ought to solicit the advancement of the children
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| 61 | they would have between them, and not any others. She replied that
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| 62 | in asking for the restoration of the princess she was seeking the rest
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| 63 | and tranquility of the king, herself, her future children, and the whole
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| 64 | realm; for, without that neither your majesty nor this people would ever
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| 65 | be content.
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| 66 | <p>I will endeavor by all means to make her continue in this vein; I hope
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| 67 | also to go and speak with the king within three days, and with members
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| 68 | of the council in general. I think the concubine's little bastard
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| 69 | Elizabeth will be excluded from the succession, and that the king will
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| 70 | get himself requested by parliament to marry. To cover the affection
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| 71 | he has for the said Seymour he has lodged her seven miles away in the house
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| 72 | of a grand esquire, and says publicly that he has no desire in the world
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| 73 | to marry again, unless he is constrained by his subjects to do so.
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| 74 | Several have already told me and sent to say that, if it cost them their
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| 75 | lives, when parliament meets they will urge the cause of the princess to
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| 76 | the utmost.
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| 77 | <p>The very evening the concubine was brought to the Tower of London, when
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| 78 | the duke of Richmond went to say goodnight to his father, and ask his blessing
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| 79 | after the English custom, the king began to weep, saying that he and his
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| 80 | sister, meaning the princess, were greatly bound to God for having escaped
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| 81 | the hands of that accursed whore, who had determined to poison them; from
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| 82 | which it is clear that the king knew something about it.
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| 83 | <p>Master Norris, the king's chief butler, Master Weston who used to lie
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| 84 | with the king, Master Brereton gentleman of the chamber, and the groom
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| 85 | of whom I wrote to your majesty by my man, were all condemned as traitors.
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| 86 | Only the groom confessed that he had been three times with the said whore
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| 87 | and concubine. The others were condemned upon presumption and certain
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| 88 | indications, without valid proof or confession.
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| 89 | <p>The concubine and her brother were condemned for treason by all the
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| 90 | principal lords of England, and the duke of Norfolk pronounced sentence.
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| 91 | I am told the earl of Wiltshire was quite as ready to assist at the judgement
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| 92 | as he had done at the condemnation of the other four. Neither the
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| 93 | whore nor her brother was brought to Westminster like the other criminals.
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| 94 | They were condemned within the Tower of London, but the thing was not done
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| 95 | secretly, for there were more than 2,000 persons present. What she
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| 96 | was principally charged with was having cohabited with her brother and
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| 97 | other accomplices; that there was a promise between her and Norris to marry
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| 98 | after the king's death, which it thus appeared they hoped for; and that
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| 99 | she had received and given to Norris certain medals, which might be interpreted
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| 100 | to mean that she had poisoned the late queen, and intrigued to do the same
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| 101 | to the princess. These things she totally denied and gave to each
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| 102 | a plausible answer. Yet she confessed she had given money to Weston,
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| 103 | as she had often done to other young gentlemen. She was also charged,
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| 104 | and her brother likewise, with having laughed at the king and his dress,
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| 105 | and that she showed in various ways she did not love the king, but was
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| 106 | tired of him. Her brother was charged with having cohabited with
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| 107 | her by presumption, because he had once been found a long time with her,
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| 108 | and with certain other little follies. To all he replied so well
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| 109 | that several of those present wagered 10 to 1 that he would be acquitted,
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| 110 | especially as no witnesses were produced against either him or her, as
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| 111 | it is usual to do, particularly when the accused denies the charge.
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| 112 | <p>I must not omit that among other things charged against him as a crime
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| 113 | was, that his sister had told his wife that the king was impotent.
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| 114 | This he was not openly charged with, but it was shown him in writing, with
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| 115 | a warning not to repeat it. But he immediately declared the matter,
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| 116 | in great contempt of Cromwell and some others, saying he would not in this
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| 117 | point arouse any suspicion which might prejudice the king's issue.
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| 118 | He was also charged with having spread reports which called in question
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| 119 | whether his sister's daughter was the king's child. To which he made
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| 120 | no reply. They were judged separately and did not see each other.
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| 121 | The concubine was condemned first, and having heard the sentence, which
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| 122 | was to be burnt or beheaded at the king's pleasure, she preserved her composure,
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| 123 | saying that she held herself ready to greet death and that what she regretted
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| 124 | most was that the above persons, who were innocent and loyal to the king,
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| 125 | were to die for her. She only asked a short time for confession.
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| 126 | Her brother, after his condemnation, said that since he must die, he would
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| 127 | no longer maintain his innocence, but confessed that he had deserved death.
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| 128 | He only begged the king that his debts, which he recounted, might be paid
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| 129 | out of his goods.
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| 130 | <p>Although everybody rejoices at the execution of the whore there are
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| 131 | some who murmur at the mode of procedure against her and the others, and
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| 132 | people speak variously of the king; and it will not pacify the world when
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| 133 | it is known what has passed and is passing between him and Jane Seymour.
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| 134 | Already it sounds ill in the ears of the people, that the king, having
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| 135 | received such ignominy, has shown himself more glad than ever since the
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| 136 | arrest of the whore; for he has been going about banqueting with ladies,
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| 137 | sometimes remaining after midnight, and returning by the river. Most
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| 138 | of the time he was accompanied by various musical instruments, and, on
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| 139 | the other hand, by the singers of his chamber, which many interpret as
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| 140 | showing his delight at getting rid of a thin, old and wicked fool with
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| 141 | hope of change, which is a thing especially agreeable to this king.
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| 142 | He supped lately with several ladies in the house of the bishop of Carlisle,
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| 143 | and showed an extravagant joy, as the said bishop came to tell me next
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| 144 | morning, who reported moreover that the king had said to him, among other
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| 145 | things, that he had long expected the issue of these affairs, and that
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| 146 | thereupon he had before composed a tragedy, which he carried with him;
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| 147 | and so saying the king drew from his bosom a little book written in his
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| 148 | own hand, but the bishop did not read the contents. It may have been
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| 149 | certain ballads that the king had composed, at which the whore and her
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| 150 | brother laughed as foolish things, which was objected to them as a great
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| 151 | crime.
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| 152 | <p>Three days after the concubine's imprisonment the princess was removed,
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| 153 | and was honourably accompanied both by the servants of the little bastard
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| 154 | and by several gentlemen who came of their own accord. Many of her
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| 155 | old servants and maids at this news went to her, and although her governess
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| 156 | allowed them to remain, she was warned by me not to accept or retain anyone
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| 157 | but those given her by the king her father. What I most fear as regards
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| 158 | her is, that when the king is asked by parliament to restore her to her
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| 159 | rights, he will refuse his consent unless the princess first swears to
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| 160 | the statutes invalidating the first marriage and the pope's authority.
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| 161 | To this, I think, she will not easily yield, although I should advise her
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| 162 | to acquiesce in everything as far as she can without prejudice to her conscience.<blockquote>
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| 163 | <p> </blockquote>
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| 164 | <p align="center">
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| 165 | <a href="monarchs/boleyn.html">
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| 166 | <font size="2">to the Anne
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| 167 | Boleyn website</font></a></p>
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| 168 | <p align="center"><a href="primary.html">
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| 169 | <font size="2">to Primary Sources</font></a></td>
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| 170 | </tr>
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| 171 | </table>
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| 173 | </div>
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