December 24, 2024 • 25 mins
Anne Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry VIII.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
This is Danish Wort's host of Noble Blood. I'm taking
a brief maternity leave right now, and so this week
we're continuing our trip back to the archives, back to
the series I did on Henry the Eighth's Six Wives.
This week Anne Bolin. Anne Bolin is such an exciting
and captivating figure. It truly is no wonder she receives
(00:32):
the amount of attention from historians that she does. For
this episode, I focused on the most notorious moment of
her life, her beheading.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Enjoy They say that after decapitation, the human brain can
remain conscious for several seconds, maybe even up to a minute,
even without fresh blood being pumped up from the heart.
The brain still has oxygen and neurons firing rapidly in
(01:06):
confusion her pain. They say that when Anne Boleyn's head
fell from her body into the straw waiting below, her dark,
intelligent eyes still flickered and blinked, and that her white
lips pressed together and apart, as if she was trying
to say one last thing. It seems fitting that even
(01:28):
in death, Anne would try to continue to speak. It
was her silver tongue that had initially charmed the king
back when Anne was just a lady in waiting. No
one ever described her as the most beautiful girl at court,
although she was striking with her dark hair and her
milky skin so pale it was almost translucent. No, it
(01:48):
was her wit and her intelligence, her innate ability to
know exactly how to flirt without seeming like she was
trying to flirt. Anne engaged with poets and phalots, and
debated issues of politics and religion. Henry had loved that
about Anne back when he was pursuing her, that she
had challenged and teased him, but he found those qualities
(02:11):
far less compelling in a wife. Henry the Eighth did
Anne one kindness in her beheading. He had brought in
the hangman of Calais, known for his skill and accuracy
with the sword, to do her decapitation, to liberate her
head from her neck in one smooth motion, instead of
the typical englishman with an axe, who was known to
(02:33):
sometimes take two or even three swings to get the
job done. The five men accused of being Anne's lovers
had been executed by Englishmen. Back when Henry was in
love with Anne, he disposed of his loyal wife twenty
four years and completely overthrew the foundation of religion in
(02:53):
England along the way. It was all for the promise
of being with Anne, and for the promise of the
son that she would bear him. When that son didn't come,
obsession soured in Henry into something corrosive and hateful. It
would cost Anne her life. She had played the game
(03:15):
well enough, masterfully really, to become a queen, but in
the end there was nothing she could do to save
her own life. I'm Danish wartz and this is noble blood.
When Anne Boleyn found out that Henry's first wife, Catherine
(03:37):
of Aragon, died, Anne exhaled with a mixture of relief
and pleasure. As head of the Church of England, Henry
had officially declared himself divorced from Catherine and he had
married Anne, but Catherine still was calling herself the Queen
of England. And as much as Anne hated to admit it,
the people had loved Catherine. They hissed Anne in the streets,
(04:01):
called her Henry's goggle eyed whore. But now that Catherine
was dead. There was to be no more confusion. There
was one queen of England, one wife of Henry the eighth,
Anne Boleyn. Anne had entranced Henry when she returned from
a childhood in the French court, instantly astonishing the English
(04:21):
with her wit and daring French fashion and her allegedly
dazzling repertoire of sexual foreplay. When Anne arrived all glamour
and fresh promise, Henry the eighth was facing the massive
issue of his wife, Catherine. After two decades of marriage
and half a dozen miscarriages, Catherine was entering menopause, having
(04:44):
only given Henry a single daughter. The Tudor dynasty, started
only by Henry's father, needed sons if it were to
continue to survive. Without a clear line of succession, England
could once again be plunged into one wan miserable civil war.
But what were Henry's options. His Spanish wife was powerful
(05:06):
and connected. Her nephew was the Holy Roman Emperor who
had the Vatican under his thumb. But if everything was
supposed to work out with Catherine, if everything was so perfect,
then why hadn't God given them a son? That was
the nagging voice in the back of Henry's head. After all,
Catherine had been married to Henry's older brother, Arthur First
(05:28):
for six months until Arthur died of the sweating sickness.
Didn't the Bible forbid marrying your brother's wife. Catherine had
sworn that the marriage had never been consummated, and the
Vatican offered special dispensation. But what if she had been lying?
What if that was the reason that God was cursing
Henry with a lack of sons? And then Anne appeared, flirting,
(05:52):
making Henry feel a way that he couldn't remember feeling
for a long time. He was still in his thirties, vital.
With a new wife, he could have a dozen sons.
Although he begged Anne, she refused to be his royal mistress,
refused to even sleep with him unless they were married.
Unless you divorce Catherine and marry me, Anne said. Catherine
(06:17):
of Aragon was banished to a remote palace and told
she was no longer queen. Henry declared himself head of
the Church of England while the nation protested and hurled
insults Anne. Henry married her in a secret ceremony. Within months,
she was pregnant all of Henry's advisers, all of the doctors,
(06:38):
and the soothsayers said that this would be the son
he was waiting for, the boy that would show that
God was pleased with him and that he made the
right choice. When the doctor nervously announced that Queen Anne
had given birth to a healthy baby girl, Henry couldn't
(07:00):
hide his disdain or his anger. But Anne loved her daughter,
the little girl they named Elizabeth. Anne played with her
dangling fingers over her basinet, cooing at her beautiful daughter
with golden curls. Anne knew that there was still time
for her to have a son, still time for her
to secure her position, even if Henry's eye had already
(07:22):
begun to wander while Anne was on bed rest for
her pregnancy, while Catherine of Arragon had diplomatically turned a
blind eye to Henry's philandering, Anne became furious. She was
jealous and hot headed, with a biting tongue that never
demurred from a fight. But also Catherine had been born
(07:43):
and raised a princess. Anne had once been a commoner.
She had been a lady in waiting who caught Henry's
eye and usurped a queen, and so she was perfectly
aware that the exact same thing could happen to her.
Nothing protected her except the possibility of a son. Anne
(08:05):
got pregnant again, and the court instantly began celebrating. When
she miscarried just three months later, it was so embarrassing
that it wasn't publicly announced, just a shameful whisper that
circulated amongst the court, starting with the woman who had
changed Anne's bed sheets. Henry and Anne both believed what
(08:26):
everyone believed back in the fifteen hundreds, that a miscarriage
was a failure on the part of the woman, a
sign of God's ultimate displeasure. The next miscarriage, too, was
another tightly kept secret, and the third was so well
hidden that it's impossible to trace when it actually occurred.
(08:46):
By the time Catherine of Arragon finally died, Anne was
well aware that she was carrying what could very well
be her final hope. Anne and Henry had been married
for three years, but already he had stopped coming to
her bedroom. He ignored her when he could, spending most
of his time doting on one of Anne's own ladies,
(09:06):
Jane Seymour. Plain, obedient, soft spoken Jane Seymour, the exact
opposite of Anne in every conceivable way. Henry newly besought it,
gave Jane Seymour a locket containing his portrait. Jane made
the mistake of wearing it and flicking it open and
shut like a schoolgirl in love. When Anne entered the
(09:30):
room and saw the necklace, she ripped it off Jane's
neck with so much force that Anne's fingers bled. The
country already hated Anne, and she had made powerful enemies
in court by pulling Henry away from Catherine and away
from the Catholic Church. Anne had very few cards left
to play. The only thing keeping her in power was
(09:52):
the child in her belly and Henry's love for her,
and that seemed to be diminishing every day. Neither Henry
nor Anne attended Catherine of Argen's funeral, where she was
laid to rest, not with the title of former queen
but of dowager Princess. That exact day, miles away, Anne
(10:14):
Boleyn miscarried a baby boy. Reports at the time say
that the cold, sill, tiny boy was perfect and beautiful.
Years later people would write that it was misshapen, that
it had physical deformities, evidence of its mother committing some
truly awful sin, adultery, incest, or witchcraft. But at the
(10:39):
time there didn't need to be any further proof. The
son that could have saved her life was dead, and
Anne Boleyn's fate was sealed. Anne's behavior became panicked and erratic.
The man who had once been so wildly in love
with her he overthrew the entire religious foundation of a
(10:59):
nation was now writing love letters to another woman. Henry
had stopped coming to her bed. She was the queen,
but she was also becoming increasingly aware of what a
precarious position that was. When her king was Henry the Eighth.
Anne engaged one of the king's close friends, Sir Henry Norris,
(11:21):
one afternoon to ask him why he was still unmarried.
Anne's flirtation was normal, expected even of a queen. A
queen was meant to be beloved by all the knightly
men of a kingdom, to inspire love and loyalty in them.
But when Sir Henry Norris demured, Anne continued pressing closer
to him in the hallway than might have been prudent.
(11:44):
I think Anne purred that you're waiting to marry a
rich widow, you look for dead men's shoes. Is that so,
Sir Henry Norris replied, smiling just a little bit. Anne
looked into his eyes. I think if if something were
to happen to the King, you would look to marry me.
(12:04):
Sir Henry Norris's smile disappeared. To even think such a
thing would cost me my head? He said. Anne had
crossed the line from courtly flirtation to outright treason. It
was a good thing. Anne thought, as she returned to
her chamber that night that no one had heard them.
Another night, one of Anne Boleyn's ladies in waiting, Lady Wooster,
(12:28):
spent a banquet drinking slightly too much wine and dancing
slightly too close to one or two eligible men. The
next day, Lady Worcester's brother confronted her and told her
that she needed to stop her behavior before her reputation
was ruined. Lady Wooster just laughed. If you think I'm bad,
she said, I'm nothing compared to the Queen Anne has
(12:50):
met in her bed chamber late at night all the time,
including a certain Mark Smeaton. Smeaton was a court musician,
and Lady Wooster wasn't the old only one who noticed
that Anne seemed to particularly enjoy his company. Within days
of the conversation between Lady Wooster and her brother, Mark
Smeaton was taken in for questioning by the King's Chief Minister,
(13:14):
Thomas Cromwell. We don't know what happened behind closed doors,
whether Smeaton was tortured or coerced. He might have even
been telling the truth. It's impossible to know, but Mark
Smeaton confessed to Thomas Cromwell that he had slept with
Queen Anne Boleyn on three separate occasions. Anne Boleyn was
(13:36):
arrested while she was watching a tennis match and brought
to a dim room where she was interrogated by three
men on charges of adultery and treason. They asked her
about Mark Smeaton. Anne was completely baffled and indignant. She
denied ever sleeping with anyone except her husband, the King.
They asked about the conversation she had had with Sir
(13:59):
Hena hen Norris. This time Anne sputtered a little, but
still her point was clear. She hadn't sinned against the King.
The three men interrogating her were stony faced and cruel,
completely unmoved. Her lovers had already confessed. They told her.
(14:19):
Anne was escorted back to her chamber. She and her
ladies sat down to a silent dinner. None of Anne's
ladies made eye contact with her. The few servants standing
nearby barely managed to conceal her tears. That very afternoon,
Anne was brought to the Tower of London. She was
(14:41):
given no time to pack clothes or any personal belongings,
and though she begged to say goodbye to her daughter Elizabeth,
the guards pretended not to hear her. Most criminals were
brought to the tower in the middle of the night.
Anne was brought by barge down on the River Thames
in broad daylight, with crowds gawking at her and shouting
(15:05):
as she went by. Anne begged to see the King.
If she could see Henry face to face, if she
could just talk to him, she could charm him like
she had before, She could remind him of his love
for her. He must have some tiny ounce of affection
for her left in his heart. Anne didn't know that
she and Henry would never lay eyes on each other
(15:27):
ever again. At five p m. She arrived at the
Tower of London dazed, and terrified. Am I to be
put in the dungeons? She said? The guard shook his head.
Anne was to be brought to the Royal Apartments, the
very same rooms that she had stayed in the night
before her coronation. The rooms had been unused since. Hearing that,
(15:51):
Anne flung herself onto the cobblestones. It is too good
for me, she sobbed a cannon on the tower wharf thundered.
It was the sound that rang when a person of
nobility was brought to be imprisoned in the fortress. It
echoed through the city, causing excitement and speculation. King Henry,
(16:12):
deep inside the palace, didn't hear it. He wouldn't make
another public appearance until after Anne was dead and buried.
The man in charge of Anne's custody while she was
in the Tower of London was a former knight named
Sir William Kingston. Kingston was tall, and in his youth
(16:32):
had been a strong and triumphant jouster, even facing off
against the King. He had been devoted to Queen Catherine
throughout his long career, but even so, during Anne's imprisonment,
he would only ever treat her with courtesy and kindness.
All of Anne's servants had been dismissed, replaced by five
new ladies, all spies who were tasked with asking Anne
(16:56):
about her alleged lovers and her treasonous conversations, and then
reporting back her answers to Thomas Cromwell. But Anne never
said anything incriminating. Instead, her spies just reported that her
mood shifted wildly from wretching sobs to ecstatic laughter. Sometimes
Anne would just burst out laughing and say that history
(17:17):
would remember her as Anne the Headless. My innocence will
save me, won't it. I am innocent, and so the
law will save me. Anne thought maybe Henry was just
testing her. He loved her, didn't he. Even if he
had tired of her, he probably wouldn't kill her. Anne
was accused of adultery with five men, including her own brother,
(17:40):
even though all of the men, with the exception of
Mark Smeaton, had proclaimed their innocence. The number was a
calculated move on the part of Thomas Cromwell and the King.
One man could be a mistake, but Anne being accused
of intimacy with five men, the accusation alone cemented her guilt.
When Anne was called to her tribunal to stand before
(18:04):
the jury of twenty six men and listen to the
allegations against her. She didn't dress like she was walking
to her death sentence. Instead, Anne wore a black velvet
gown and a red petticoat, as if she were dressed
to be awarded a medal at some noble ceremony. She
wasn't allowed to bring any witnesses or have any legal counsel.
(18:25):
All Anne could do was continue to proclaim her innocence
to offer the best defense she could, speaking with the
eloquence and the intelligence that Henry had once fallen in
love with. Never before in English history had a queen
been sentenced to death. Henry was just trying to scare her,
(18:48):
and thought trying to soothe herself to stave off the panic.
Maybe she would just be banished. The Duke of Norfolk
had tears in his eyes when he read out the sentence.
Anne was his niece, his own sister's child. Some might
have thought that he was crying in grief or pity. Really,
though it was more likely he was crying for his
(19:09):
own lost honor and status. Hugh read aloud, for offending
our sovereign, the King in committing treason against his person.
Anne Boleyn is sentenced to be burned within the Tower
of London on the Green, or else to have her
head cut off. Anne's expression didn't change when they read
(19:31):
her sentence. She lifted her eyes at the sky, but
she didn't cry. She maintained her innocence. I am ready
to greet death, she said. Finally, I am just sorry
for the others who are innocent and the King's loyal subjects,
that they should share my fate and die because of me.
Kingston escorted Anne back to her chambers, and Anne asked
(19:55):
to see a priest so that she could confess. The
arch Bishop of Canterbury arrived to take Anne's final confession.
Anne was already sentenced to death. There was nothing she
could lose in confessing her sins now and Anne knew
that if she told a lie in confession, she would
be damning her soul to eternal torment. She confessed to jealousy,
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but nothing else. The archbishop asked if she was sure
she was done. Anne lowered her head. God knows that
I have not sinned against him in any other way.
Anne watched from her window as all five men, including
her own brother were beheaded on the Tower Green. There
were whispers that Henry had put her in those rooms
(20:39):
specifically so that she could see those deaths. Anne's own
death was still a ways away. They were specifically constructing
a new scaffolding for her so more crowds could gather
and see their fallen queen end in a rush of blood.
Anne turned away from the constructions she could see from
the window. I wish all this was over, that the
(21:02):
pain would just be finished already, she said to Kingston.
Kingston softly replied that he believed that when the end
finally came, there would be no pain, and when that
day finally came, Kingston helped Anne up the wooden steps
to the stage on the Green, accompanied by four ladies.
(21:24):
The ladies helped Anne to undress her neck, taking off
her head dress and the small white fur cloak she
wore a symbol of royalty. They gathered Anne's hair in
a linen cap so it wouldn't get in the way
of a sword. Anne whispered to her ladies and asked
them to pray for her. Unlike in an axe beheading,
(21:45):
a decapitation by sword required the victim to kneel very tall,
upright on both knees. Anne took the position with as
much grace as she could, but there was still fear
in her eyes. Anne knew she had to keep very
still if the death was to be quick, but she
kept looking around, terrified for the moment when the man
(22:06):
with the sword would make his attack. Madam, do not fear,
the swordman said, I will wait until you are ready.
Anne said a few words before her death to the
crowd below, the nearly two thousand Englishmen who had gathered
for the spectacle. She accepted death, reasserted her innocence once more,
(22:29):
and asked for the good people to pray for Henry
and those who were sending her to death. While Anne
was looking away, the swordsman pulled his blade from a
pile of straw, where it had been hidden so Anne
wouldn't see. He wore no shoes so that his step
would be silent, so that when he came up behind Anne,
(22:51):
she wouldn't hear him. And then in one stroke, her
head was gone, fallen in a bloody mass into the
pilot of straw and sawdust. Waiting to welcome it, one
of Anne's ladies threw a white handkerchief over the head,
and the crowd watched as it slowly dappled with red blood.
(23:14):
The Queen of England was dead. Eleven days later, Henry
the Eighth married Anne's lady in waiting, Jane Seymour. That's
the story of Anne Boleyn's death, but stick around after
a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit about
(23:35):
Anne's after life. Anne Boleyn is one of the most
famous and enigmatic figures in English history, and she's also
one of England's most ubiquitous ghosts. According to a Victorian legend,
(23:58):
on certain nights, if you're on the road toward Blickling
Hall in Norfolk, where Anne was born, you might see
a carriage pass by. If you happen to look inside,
you'll see Anne bathed in a red glow and wearing
a pure white dress, holding her head gently in her lap.
(24:19):
The moment that the carriage arrives at the front of
the house, it vanishes into mist Anne can arrive at
her destination, but she can't stay. Alison Weir has written
extensively about Anne Bolyn and the myths and rumors surrounding
her death, and so I defer to her expertise on
the subject of Anne's ghosts, on which she writes, as
(24:43):
a historian, I make no further comment on the veracity
of these stories or the existence of ghosts. Noble Blood
is a production of iHeartRadio Anne Grim and Mild from
Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz,
(25:05):
with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender,
Amy Hit and Julia Melaney. The show is edited and
produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producerrima il Kaali and
executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
(25:30):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
This is Danish Wort's host of Noble Blood. I'm taking
a brief maternity leave right now, and so this week
we're continuing our trip back to the archives, back to
the series I did on Henry the Eighth's Six Wives.
This week Anne Bolin. Anne Bolin is such an exciting
and captivating figure. It truly is no wonder she receives
(00:32):
the amount of attention from historians that she does. For
this episode, I focused on the most notorious moment of
her life, her beheading.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Enjoy They say that after decapitation, the human brain can
remain conscious for several seconds, maybe even up to a minute,
even without fresh blood being pumped up from the heart.
The brain still has oxygen and neurons firing rapidly in
(01:06):
confusion her pain. They say that when Anne Boleyn's head
fell from her body into the straw waiting below, her dark,
intelligent eyes still flickered and blinked, and that her white
lips pressed together and apart, as if she was trying
to say one last thing. It seems fitting that even
(01:28):
in death, Anne would try to continue to speak. It
was her silver tongue that had initially charmed the king
back when Anne was just a lady in waiting. No
one ever described her as the most beautiful girl at court,
although she was striking with her dark hair and her
milky skin so pale it was almost translucent. No, it
(01:48):
was her wit and her intelligence, her innate ability to
know exactly how to flirt without seeming like she was
trying to flirt. Anne engaged with poets and phalots, and
debated issues of politics and religion. Henry had loved that
about Anne back when he was pursuing her, that she
had challenged and teased him, but he found those qualities
(02:11):
far less compelling in a wife. Henry the Eighth did
Anne one kindness in her beheading. He had brought in
the hangman of Calais, known for his skill and accuracy
with the sword, to do her decapitation, to liberate her
head from her neck in one smooth motion, instead of
the typical englishman with an axe, who was known to
(02:33):
sometimes take two or even three swings to get the
job done. The five men accused of being Anne's lovers
had been executed by Englishmen. Back when Henry was in
love with Anne, he disposed of his loyal wife twenty
four years and completely overthrew the foundation of religion in
(02:53):
England along the way. It was all for the promise
of being with Anne, and for the promise of the
son that she would bear him. When that son didn't come,
obsession soured in Henry into something corrosive and hateful. It
would cost Anne her life. She had played the game
(03:15):
well enough, masterfully really, to become a queen, but in
the end there was nothing she could do to save
her own life. I'm Danish wartz and this is noble blood.
When Anne Boleyn found out that Henry's first wife, Catherine
(03:37):
of Aragon, died, Anne exhaled with a mixture of relief
and pleasure. As head of the Church of England, Henry
had officially declared himself divorced from Catherine and he had
married Anne, but Catherine still was calling herself the Queen
of England. And as much as Anne hated to admit it,
the people had loved Catherine. They hissed Anne in the streets,
(04:01):
called her Henry's goggle eyed whore. But now that Catherine
was dead. There was to be no more confusion. There
was one queen of England, one wife of Henry the eighth,
Anne Boleyn. Anne had entranced Henry when she returned from
a childhood in the French court, instantly astonishing the English
(04:21):
with her wit and daring French fashion and her allegedly
dazzling repertoire of sexual foreplay. When Anne arrived all glamour
and fresh promise, Henry the eighth was facing the massive
issue of his wife, Catherine. After two decades of marriage
and half a dozen miscarriages, Catherine was entering menopause, having
(04:44):
only given Henry a single daughter. The Tudor dynasty, started
only by Henry's father, needed sons if it were to
continue to survive. Without a clear line of succession, England
could once again be plunged into one wan miserable civil war.
But what were Henry's options. His Spanish wife was powerful
(05:06):
and connected. Her nephew was the Holy Roman Emperor who
had the Vatican under his thumb. But if everything was
supposed to work out with Catherine, if everything was so perfect,
then why hadn't God given them a son? That was
the nagging voice in the back of Henry's head. After all,
Catherine had been married to Henry's older brother, Arthur First
(05:28):
for six months until Arthur died of the sweating sickness.
Didn't the Bible forbid marrying your brother's wife. Catherine had
sworn that the marriage had never been consummated, and the
Vatican offered special dispensation. But what if she had been lying?
What if that was the reason that God was cursing
Henry with a lack of sons? And then Anne appeared, flirting,
(05:52):
making Henry feel a way that he couldn't remember feeling
for a long time. He was still in his thirties, vital.
With a new wife, he could have a dozen sons.
Although he begged Anne, she refused to be his royal mistress,
refused to even sleep with him unless they were married.
Unless you divorce Catherine and marry me, Anne said. Catherine
(06:17):
of Aragon was banished to a remote palace and told
she was no longer queen. Henry declared himself head of
the Church of England while the nation protested and hurled
insults Anne. Henry married her in a secret ceremony. Within months,
she was pregnant all of Henry's advisers, all of the doctors,
(06:38):
and the soothsayers said that this would be the son
he was waiting for, the boy that would show that
God was pleased with him and that he made the
right choice. When the doctor nervously announced that Queen Anne
had given birth to a healthy baby girl, Henry couldn't
(07:00):
hide his disdain or his anger. But Anne loved her daughter,
the little girl they named Elizabeth. Anne played with her
dangling fingers over her basinet, cooing at her beautiful daughter
with golden curls. Anne knew that there was still time
for her to have a son, still time for her
to secure her position, even if Henry's eye had already
(07:22):
begun to wander while Anne was on bed rest for
her pregnancy, while Catherine of Arragon had diplomatically turned a
blind eye to Henry's philandering, Anne became furious. She was
jealous and hot headed, with a biting tongue that never
demurred from a fight. But also Catherine had been born
(07:43):
and raised a princess. Anne had once been a commoner.
She had been a lady in waiting who caught Henry's
eye and usurped a queen, and so she was perfectly
aware that the exact same thing could happen to her.
Nothing protected her except the possibility of a son. Anne
(08:05):
got pregnant again, and the court instantly began celebrating. When
she miscarried just three months later, it was so embarrassing
that it wasn't publicly announced, just a shameful whisper that
circulated amongst the court, starting with the woman who had
changed Anne's bed sheets. Henry and Anne both believed what
(08:26):
everyone believed back in the fifteen hundreds, that a miscarriage
was a failure on the part of the woman, a
sign of God's ultimate displeasure. The next miscarriage, too, was
another tightly kept secret, and the third was so well
hidden that it's impossible to trace when it actually occurred.
(08:46):
By the time Catherine of Arragon finally died, Anne was
well aware that she was carrying what could very well
be her final hope. Anne and Henry had been married
for three years, but already he had stopped coming to
her bedroom. He ignored her when he could, spending most
of his time doting on one of Anne's own ladies,
(09:06):
Jane Seymour. Plain, obedient, soft spoken Jane Seymour, the exact
opposite of Anne in every conceivable way. Henry newly besought it,
gave Jane Seymour a locket containing his portrait. Jane made
the mistake of wearing it and flicking it open and
shut like a schoolgirl in love. When Anne entered the
(09:30):
room and saw the necklace, she ripped it off Jane's
neck with so much force that Anne's fingers bled. The
country already hated Anne, and she had made powerful enemies
in court by pulling Henry away from Catherine and away
from the Catholic Church. Anne had very few cards left
to play. The only thing keeping her in power was
(09:52):
the child in her belly and Henry's love for her,
and that seemed to be diminishing every day. Neither Henry
nor Anne attended Catherine of Argen's funeral, where she was
laid to rest, not with the title of former queen
but of dowager Princess. That exact day, miles away, Anne
(10:14):
Boleyn miscarried a baby boy. Reports at the time say
that the cold, sill, tiny boy was perfect and beautiful.
Years later people would write that it was misshapen, that
it had physical deformities, evidence of its mother committing some
truly awful sin, adultery, incest, or witchcraft. But at the
(10:39):
time there didn't need to be any further proof. The
son that could have saved her life was dead, and
Anne Boleyn's fate was sealed. Anne's behavior became panicked and erratic.
The man who had once been so wildly in love
with her he overthrew the entire religious foundation of a
(10:59):
nation was now writing love letters to another woman. Henry
had stopped coming to her bed. She was the queen,
but she was also becoming increasingly aware of what a
precarious position that was. When her king was Henry the Eighth.
Anne engaged one of the king's close friends, Sir Henry Norris,
(11:21):
one afternoon to ask him why he was still unmarried.
Anne's flirtation was normal, expected even of a queen. A
queen was meant to be beloved by all the knightly
men of a kingdom, to inspire love and loyalty in them.
But when Sir Henry Norris demured, Anne continued pressing closer
to him in the hallway than might have been prudent.
(11:44):
I think Anne purred that you're waiting to marry a
rich widow, you look for dead men's shoes. Is that so,
Sir Henry Norris replied, smiling just a little bit. Anne
looked into his eyes. I think if if something were
to happen to the King, you would look to marry me.
(12:04):
Sir Henry Norris's smile disappeared. To even think such a
thing would cost me my head? He said. Anne had
crossed the line from courtly flirtation to outright treason. It
was a good thing. Anne thought, as she returned to
her chamber that night that no one had heard them.
Another night, one of Anne Boleyn's ladies in waiting, Lady Wooster,
(12:28):
spent a banquet drinking slightly too much wine and dancing
slightly too close to one or two eligible men. The
next day, Lady Worcester's brother confronted her and told her
that she needed to stop her behavior before her reputation
was ruined. Lady Wooster just laughed. If you think I'm bad,
she said, I'm nothing compared to the Queen Anne has
(12:50):
met in her bed chamber late at night all the time,
including a certain Mark Smeaton. Smeaton was a court musician,
and Lady Wooster wasn't the old only one who noticed
that Anne seemed to particularly enjoy his company. Within days
of the conversation between Lady Wooster and her brother, Mark
Smeaton was taken in for questioning by the King's Chief Minister,
(13:14):
Thomas Cromwell. We don't know what happened behind closed doors,
whether Smeaton was tortured or coerced. He might have even
been telling the truth. It's impossible to know, but Mark
Smeaton confessed to Thomas Cromwell that he had slept with
Queen Anne Boleyn on three separate occasions. Anne Boleyn was
(13:36):
arrested while she was watching a tennis match and brought
to a dim room where she was interrogated by three
men on charges of adultery and treason. They asked her
about Mark Smeaton. Anne was completely baffled and indignant. She
denied ever sleeping with anyone except her husband, the King.
They asked about the conversation she had had with Sir
(13:59):
Hena hen Norris. This time Anne sputtered a little, but
still her point was clear. She hadn't sinned against the King.
The three men interrogating her were stony faced and cruel,
completely unmoved. Her lovers had already confessed. They told her.
(14:19):
Anne was escorted back to her chamber. She and her
ladies sat down to a silent dinner. None of Anne's
ladies made eye contact with her. The few servants standing
nearby barely managed to conceal her tears. That very afternoon,
Anne was brought to the Tower of London. She was
(14:41):
given no time to pack clothes or any personal belongings,
and though she begged to say goodbye to her daughter Elizabeth,
the guards pretended not to hear her. Most criminals were
brought to the tower in the middle of the night.
Anne was brought by barge down on the River Thames
in broad daylight, with crowds gawking at her and shouting
(15:05):
as she went by. Anne begged to see the King.
If she could see Henry face to face, if she
could just talk to him, she could charm him like
she had before, She could remind him of his love
for her. He must have some tiny ounce of affection
for her left in his heart. Anne didn't know that
she and Henry would never lay eyes on each other
(15:27):
ever again. At five p m. She arrived at the
Tower of London dazed, and terrified. Am I to be
put in the dungeons? She said? The guard shook his head.
Anne was to be brought to the Royal Apartments, the
very same rooms that she had stayed in the night
before her coronation. The rooms had been unused since. Hearing that,
(15:51):
Anne flung herself onto the cobblestones. It is too good
for me, she sobbed a cannon on the tower wharf thundered.
It was the sound that rang when a person of
nobility was brought to be imprisoned in the fortress. It
echoed through the city, causing excitement and speculation. King Henry,
(16:12):
deep inside the palace, didn't hear it. He wouldn't make
another public appearance until after Anne was dead and buried.
The man in charge of Anne's custody while she was
in the Tower of London was a former knight named
Sir William Kingston. Kingston was tall, and in his youth
(16:32):
had been a strong and triumphant jouster, even facing off
against the King. He had been devoted to Queen Catherine
throughout his long career, but even so, during Anne's imprisonment,
he would only ever treat her with courtesy and kindness.
All of Anne's servants had been dismissed, replaced by five
new ladies, all spies who were tasked with asking Anne
(16:56):
about her alleged lovers and her treasonous conversations, and then
reporting back her answers to Thomas Cromwell. But Anne never
said anything incriminating. Instead, her spies just reported that her
mood shifted wildly from wretching sobs to ecstatic laughter. Sometimes
Anne would just burst out laughing and say that history
(17:17):
would remember her as Anne the Headless. My innocence will
save me, won't it. I am innocent, and so the
law will save me. Anne thought maybe Henry was just
testing her. He loved her, didn't he. Even if he
had tired of her, he probably wouldn't kill her. Anne
was accused of adultery with five men, including her own brother,
(17:40):
even though all of the men, with the exception of
Mark Smeaton, had proclaimed their innocence. The number was a
calculated move on the part of Thomas Cromwell and the King.
One man could be a mistake, but Anne being accused
of intimacy with five men, the accusation alone cemented her guilt.
When Anne was called to her tribunal to stand before
(18:04):
the jury of twenty six men and listen to the
allegations against her. She didn't dress like she was walking
to her death sentence. Instead, Anne wore a black velvet
gown and a red petticoat, as if she were dressed
to be awarded a medal at some noble ceremony. She
wasn't allowed to bring any witnesses or have any legal counsel.
(18:25):
All Anne could do was continue to proclaim her innocence
to offer the best defense she could, speaking with the
eloquence and the intelligence that Henry had once fallen in
love with. Never before in English history had a queen
been sentenced to death. Henry was just trying to scare her,
(18:48):
and thought trying to soothe herself to stave off the panic.
Maybe she would just be banished. The Duke of Norfolk
had tears in his eyes when he read out the sentence.
Anne was his niece, his own sister's child. Some might
have thought that he was crying in grief or pity. Really,
though it was more likely he was crying for his
(19:09):
own lost honor and status. Hugh read aloud, for offending
our sovereign, the King in committing treason against his person.
Anne Boleyn is sentenced to be burned within the Tower
of London on the Green, or else to have her
head cut off. Anne's expression didn't change when they read
(19:31):
her sentence. She lifted her eyes at the sky, but
she didn't cry. She maintained her innocence. I am ready
to greet death, she said. Finally, I am just sorry
for the others who are innocent and the King's loyal subjects,
that they should share my fate and die because of me.
Kingston escorted Anne back to her chambers, and Anne asked
(19:55):
to see a priest so that she could confess. The
arch Bishop of Canterbury arrived to take Anne's final confession.
Anne was already sentenced to death. There was nothing she
could lose in confessing her sins now and Anne knew
that if she told a lie in confession, she would
be damning her soul to eternal torment. She confessed to jealousy,
(20:18):
but nothing else. The archbishop asked if she was sure
she was done. Anne lowered her head. God knows that
I have not sinned against him in any other way.
Anne watched from her window as all five men, including
her own brother were beheaded on the Tower Green. There
were whispers that Henry had put her in those rooms
(20:39):
specifically so that she could see those deaths. Anne's own
death was still a ways away. They were specifically constructing
a new scaffolding for her so more crowds could gather
and see their fallen queen end in a rush of blood.
Anne turned away from the constructions she could see from
the window. I wish all this was over, that the
(21:02):
pain would just be finished already, she said to Kingston.
Kingston softly replied that he believed that when the end
finally came, there would be no pain, and when that
day finally came, Kingston helped Anne up the wooden steps
to the stage on the Green, accompanied by four ladies.
(21:24):
The ladies helped Anne to undress her neck, taking off
her head dress and the small white fur cloak she
wore a symbol of royalty. They gathered Anne's hair in
a linen cap so it wouldn't get in the way
of a sword. Anne whispered to her ladies and asked
them to pray for her. Unlike in an axe beheading,
(21:45):
a decapitation by sword required the victim to kneel very tall,
upright on both knees. Anne took the position with as
much grace as she could, but there was still fear
in her eyes. Anne knew she had to keep very
still if the death was to be quick, but she
kept looking around, terrified for the moment when the man
(22:06):
with the sword would make his attack. Madam, do not fear,
the swordman said, I will wait until you are ready.
Anne said a few words before her death to the
crowd below, the nearly two thousand Englishmen who had gathered
for the spectacle. She accepted death, reasserted her innocence once more,
(22:29):
and asked for the good people to pray for Henry
and those who were sending her to death. While Anne
was looking away, the swordsman pulled his blade from a
pile of straw, where it had been hidden so Anne
wouldn't see. He wore no shoes so that his step
would be silent, so that when he came up behind Anne,
(22:51):
she wouldn't hear him. And then in one stroke, her
head was gone, fallen in a bloody mass into the
pilot of straw and sawdust. Waiting to welcome it, one
of Anne's ladies threw a white handkerchief over the head,
and the crowd watched as it slowly dappled with red blood.
(23:14):
The Queen of England was dead. Eleven days later, Henry
the Eighth married Anne's lady in waiting, Jane Seymour. That's
the story of Anne Boleyn's death, but stick around after
a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit about
(23:35):
Anne's after life. Anne Boleyn is one of the most
famous and enigmatic figures in English history, and she's also
one of England's most ubiquitous ghosts. According to a Victorian legend,
(23:58):
on certain nights, if you're on the road toward Blickling
Hall in Norfolk, where Anne was born, you might see
a carriage pass by. If you happen to look inside,
you'll see Anne bathed in a red glow and wearing
a pure white dress, holding her head gently in her lap.
(24:19):
The moment that the carriage arrives at the front of
the house, it vanishes into mist Anne can arrive at
her destination, but she can't stay. Alison Weir has written
extensively about Anne Bolyn and the myths and rumors surrounding
her death, and so I defer to her expertise on
the subject of Anne's ghosts, on which she writes, as
(24:43):
a historian, I make no further comment on the veracity
of these stories or the existence of ghosts. Noble Blood
is a production of iHeartRadio Anne Grim and Mild from
Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz,
(25:05):
with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender,
Amy Hit and Julia Melaney. The show is edited and
produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producerrima il Kaali and
executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
(25:30):
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Host
Dana Schwartz
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