On this day in 1536, one of the most infamous and tragic trials in English history unfolded within the walls of the Tower of London. Queen Anne Boleyn and her brother, George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, were tried separately for high treason. The charges were nothing short of sensational: adultery, incest, and conspiring the death of the King.
A Stage Fit for a Queen’s Fall
The trials took place in the King’s Hall of the royal palace within the Tower of London. Sir William Kingston, the Lieutenant of the Tower, had prepared the hall for what was clearly intended to be a theatrical public spectacle. A large platform was erected in the centre of the hall so that all 2,000 spectators could see Anne and George face judgment.1 Seating was arranged for the nobles, and at the far end of the room sat the Lord High Steward – Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk – under a canopy bearing the royal arms. He presided over the trials on behalf of the King, even though Anne and George were his niece and nephew.
Flanking Norfolk were some of the most powerful men in the kingdom: Sir Thomas Audley, the Lord Chancellor; Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk (who openly despised Anne); and other high-ranking peers. The court was stacked with Anne’s enemies.
Tried by Their Peers, and Condemned by Them Too
Anne and George, unlike the other men accused, were entitled to be tried by a jury of their peers. But as with everything else in this case, that “privilege” was merely a formality. The list of peers makes grim reading fro anyone hoping for even a hint of justice.
The panel included:
- Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk – Henry VIII’s brother-in-law and no friend to Anne
- Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland – Anne’s former love, now a bitter and ailing man
- Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk – presiding judge and Anne’s uncle
- The Marquis of Exeter and Lord Montague – allies of Mary Tudor
- Edward, Earl of Derby – a royal favourite
- Lord Morley – George Boleyn’s father-in-law and a staunch conservative
- Lord Clinton – stepfather to the Duke of Richmond, Henry’s illegitimate son
- Lord Wentworth – related to Jane Seymour2
Many of these men were closely connected to the King, to Anne’s rivals, or to those eager to see the Boleyns fall. The verdict was never in doubt.
Anne’s Trial: Composure in the Face of Condemnation
Anne was tried first. She walked into the hall with the dignity and poise of a queen, wearing a black velvet gown over a scarlet petticoat and a headdress adorned with black and white feathers.3 Anne “walked forth in fearful beauty” and curtseyed to her judges before taking her place calmy on the scaffold in the middle of the room.4
Anne faced numerous accusations:
- Adultery with five men
- Incest with her brother
- Conspiring with her lovers to kill the King
- Laughing at the King behind his back
- Promising to marry Henry Norris upon Henry VIII’s death
It sounds ludicrous today, and many at the time thought the same, but truth did not matter. This was not about justice; it was about removing Anne.
Anne pleaded not guilty to every charge. The Attorney General, Sir Christopher Hales, laid out the Crown’s case, and Anne responded with intelligence, clarity, and remarkable composure. Contemporary sources remarked on her wise answers and her calm demeanor.
But nothing could sway the jury. They delivered a unanimous verdict: guilty.
Once the verdict was read, Anne was stripped of her crown and noble titles. Her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, pronounced the sentence through tears.
“Thou shalt be burned here within the Tower of London on the Green, else to have thy head smitten off, as the King’s pleasure shall be further known.”5
Anne was not even told whether she would be burned or beheaded, only that she would die.
The Earl of Northumberland, Henry Percy, collapsed at the reading of the sentence and had to be carried out of the hall.6 One of Anne’s ladies, Mrs Orchard (believed to have once been her childhood nurse) screamed in horror.7 Anne, however, remained composed.
She expressed sorrow that innocent men were dying because of her, and according to Chapuys, said she was ready to face death. She asked for time to prepare her soul.
Anne’s Final Speech to the Court
There are several versions of Anne’s speech. In one, reported by Lancelot de Carles, she confessed she had sometimes failed in humility towards the King, and perhaps had been jealous. She still, however, denied all charges of wrongdoing.8
Another version, quoted by Alison Weir from Crispin de Milherve, has Anne saying:
“My lords, I will not say your sentence is unjust, nor presume that my reasons can prevail against your convictions. I am willing to believe that you have sufficient reasons for what you have done; but then they must be other than those which have been produced in court, for I am clear of all the offences which you then laid to my charge. I have ever been a faithful wife to the King, though I do not say I have always shown him that humility which his goodness to me, and the honours to which he raised me, merited. I confess I have had jealous fancies and suspicions of him, which I had not discretion enough, and wisdom, to conceal at all times. But God knows, and is my witness, that I have not sinned against him in any other way. Think not I say this in the hope to prolong my life, for He who saveth from death hath taught me how to die, and He will strengthen my faith. Think not, however, that I am so bewildered in my mind as not to lay the honour of my chastity to heart now in mine extremity, when I have maintained it all my life long, much as ever queen did. I know these, my last words, will avail me nothing but for the justification of my chastity and honour. As for my brother and those others who are unjustly condemned, I would willingly suffer many deaths to deliver them, but since I see it so pleases the King, I shall willingly accompany them in death, with this assurance, that I shall lead an endless life with them in peace and joy, where I will pray to God for the King and for you, my lords.“9
She was then led out of the hall by Sir William Kingston, the axe turned towards her; a chilling sign that she had been condemned.
George’s Trial: A Brave Defence
Later that same day, it was George Boleyn’s turn. He too pleaded not guilty, and, like his sister, mounted an intelligent and brave defence. Charles Wriothesley noted that George “made answer so prudently and wisely to all articles laid against him, that marvel it was to hear.”10 Even his enemies could not deny the brilliance of his defence, though they remained unmoved by it.
One of the most remarkable moments of the trial came when George was handed a note regarding the King’s impotence. George was asked, or commanded, not to read this note out loud. However, realising this would publicly humiliate the King, chose to read it aloud anyway, perhaps to expose how low the prosecution would sink, or perhaps because he had nothing left to lose.11
George pleaded not guilty on all counts.
Just like Anne, George was found guilty. The sentence was terrifying: to be drawn on a hurdle, hanged, cut down alive, disembowelled, and quartered; the full traitor’s death.12 As a nobleman, it was likely always intended he would be spared the more gruesome parts and be beheaded instead, but the wording of the sentence was still meant to intimidate and humiliate. Norfolk, the presiding judge and George’s own uncle, delivered the sentence.
A Miscarriage of Justice
Anne and George were doomed before they entered the courtroom. The trials were carefully staged performances. The charges were fabricated. The verdicts were fixed. These trials were nothing more than formalities.
Anne Boleyn may have lost her crown, her titles, and her life, but on that scaffold in the courtroom, she showed the world her strength, her courage, and her dignity. George was equally as brave and dignified, refusing to crumble under pressure. Their enemies may have been one step closer to destroying them, but they could never truly erase Anne and George Boleyn.
- Wriothesley, Charles, A chronicle of England during the reigns of the Tudors, from A.D. 1485 to 1559, p. 37. ↩︎
- L&P x. 876 ↩︎
- Weir, Alison, The Lady in the Tower, p. 212 ↩︎
- Weir, Alison, The Lady in the Tower, p. 213 ↩︎
- Ives, Eric, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, p. 341 ↩︎
- Weir, Alison, The Lady in the Tower, p. 218 ↩︎
- LP x.908 ↩︎
- Weir, Alison, The Lady in the Tower, p. 219 ↩︎
- Ives, Eric, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, p. 341 ↩︎
- Wriothesley, Charles, A chronicle of England during the reigns of the Tudors, from A.D. 1485 to 1559, p. 39 ↩︎
- LP x.908 ↩︎
- Weir, Alison, The Lady in the Tower, p. 227 ↩︎
