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The execution took place on 19 May 1536 at 8 o'clock in the morning. It was the first public execution of an English queen. This account mentions the famous 'hangman of Calais' who was brought to London for the execution. |
All these being on a scaffold made there for the execution, the said Queen Anne said as followeth: Masters, I here humbly submit me to the law, as the law hath judged me, and as for mine offences, 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 goodliest, and gentlest Prince that is, and long to reign over you, which words she spake with a smiling countenance: which done, she kneeled down on both her knees, and said, To Jesu Christ I commend my soul and with that word suddenly the hangman of Calais smote off her head at one stroke with a sword: her body with the head was buried in the choir of the Chapel in the Tower.
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This
account of Anne Boleyn's speech at her execution was recorded in the Annals of John Stow.