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Anne Boleyn (/ ˈ b ʊ l ɪ n, b ʊ ˈ l ɪ n /; c. 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution by beheading for treason, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation .
- Catherine of Aragon
- Jane Seymour
- Arrest and Imprisonment
- Duke of Norfolk
- Trial of Anne Boleyn
- Anne Boleyn Execution
- Sources
King Henry had become enamored of Anne Boleyn in the mid-1520s, when she returned from serving in the French court and became a lady-in-waiting to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Dark-haired, with an olive complexion and a long, elegant neck, Anne was not said to be a great beauty, but she clearly captivated the king. As Catherine had failed t...
At Queen Anne’s coronation in June 1533, she was nearly six months pregnant, and in September she gave birth to a girl, Elizabeth, rather than the much-longed-for male heir. She later had two stillborn children, and suffered a miscarriage in January 1536; the fetus appeared to be male. By that time, Anne’s relationship with Henry had soured, and he...
Seeing Anne’s weak position, her many enemies jumped at the chance to bring about the downfall of “the Concubine,” and launched an investigation that compiled evidence against her. After Mark Smeaton, a court musician, confessed (possibly under torture) that he had committed adultery with the queen, the drama was set in motion at the May Day celebr...
Led before the investigators (chief among them her own uncle, the Duke of Norfolk) to hear the charges of “evil behavior” against her, she was subsequently imprisoned in the Tower of London. The trial of Smeaton, Weston, Brereton and Norris took place in Westminster Hall on May 12. At the conclusion of the trial, the court sentenced all four men to...
As for Anne, most historians agree she was almost certainly not guilty of the charges against her. She never admitted to any wrongdoing, the evidence against her was weak and it seems highly unlikely she would have endangered her position by adultery or conspiring to harm the king, whose favor she depended upon so greatly. Still, Anne and Rochford ...
On the morning of May 19, a small crowd gathered on Tower Green as Anne Boleyn—clad in a dark grey gown and ermine mantle, her hair covered by a headdress over a white linen coif—approached her final fate. After begging to be allowed to address the crowd, Anne spoke simply: “Masters, I here humbly submit me to the law as the law hath judged me, and...
Antonia Fraser, The Wives of Henry VIII (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992). Alison Weir, The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn(New York: Ballantine Books, 2010).
SMART NEWS. Why Henry VIII Orchestrated Every Detail of Anne Boleyn’s Execution. The Tudor king had his disgraced queen killed by beheading rather than burning. Meilan Solly. Associate...
May 20, 2021 · As Anne Boleyn walked to her execution on May 19, 1536, legend has it she carried a prayer book, which she handed to a lady-in-waiting just before a sword struck off her head. Most historians...
- David Kindy
- Queen of England
- Henry VIII
- Anne Boleyn's Childhood. Anne was born in about 1500 (we don’t know exactly when). Her father, Sir Thomas Boleyn, was a respected courtier. Her mother, Elizabeth Howard, was the daughter of Sir Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, one of the most powerful men in the country.
- Anne and Mary Boleyn. By 1522, Anne had returned to England. Anne’s married sister Mary had become Henry’s mistress, and possibly remained so until 1525.
- Henry and Anne's Courtship. In 1526, the King’s interest in Anne significantly upped the stakes. Henry VIII’s long marriage to Katherine of Aragon had produced only one surviving child, Princess Mary.
- Anne's downfall. After the birth of Princess Elizabeth, Anne and Henry had no more children. Miscarriages in 1534 and 1536 may have led Henry, always spiritually superstitious, to question whether he had made the right choice in marrying Anne.
Aug 5, 2020 · On May 19, 1536, Anne Boleyn dressed herself in a crimson gown trimmed with royal ermine and walked to her execution. When she mounted the scaffold, Queen Anne faced a French executioner, who King Henry VIII paid £24 to behead her.
Nov 5, 2012 · Anne Boleyn was the first English queen to be publicly executed. Five hundred years after her death, her tragic tale is still the subject of historians and the inspiration for films.
