Claire | June 4, 2021
On this day in Tudor history, 4th June 1536, Whitsun, Jane Seymour was officially proclaimed queen at Greenwich. Jane was Henry VIII’s third wife and this proclamation took place just over two weeks after the execution of her predecessor, Anne Boleyn. Find out more about what happened on this day in 1536 in this video: […]
Claire | May 20, 2021
To commemorate the anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s execution, I did a live talk and Q&A session yesterday on the Anne Boleyn Files and Tudor Society YouTube Channel. It went really well and there were lots of excellent questions, so if you missed it then please do catch up with this replay: Please do subscribe to […]
Claire | May 20, 2021
No matter how many times I read and write about it, Henry VIII’s behaviour in 1536 always disgusts me. Obviously, the whole fall of Anne Boleyn and those five courtiers is terrible, a real miscarriage of justice, but then it’s made worse by Henry VIII moving on with his life with unseemly haste. The very […]
Claire | May 19, 2021
On 19th May 1536, Queen Anne Boleyn was executed for high treason at the Tower of London. As was customary, Anne addressed the crowd and she kept to the usual execution speech format: An acknowledgement of the spectators’ presence. An acknowledgement that she had been condemned to death by the law. A confession of her […]
Claire | May 19, 2021
Today is the anniversary of the execution of Queen Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife, on 19th May 1536. Anne was beheaded within the Tower of London confines by a swordsman ordered from Calais. There were just seventeen days between her arrest and execution. In this video, I explain exactly what happened on this day […]
Claire | May 18, 2021
Queen Anne Boleyn’s execution was scheduled to take place on this day in Tudor history, 18th May 1536, so the imprisoned queen prepared herself for her execution. However, later that day, Anne received news that her execution had been postponed. Why was her execution postponed? How did Anne prepare herself? What exactly happened on this […]
Claire | May 17, 2021
On this day in Tudor history, 17th May 1536, courtiers George Boleyn, Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, William Brereton and Mark Smeaton were beheaded on Tower Hill for high treason. All five had been found guilty of treason, for their alleged affairs with Queen Anne Boleyn, and for plotting with her to kill her husband, […]
Claire | May 16, 2021
On this day in Tudor history, 16th May 1536, just the day after she had been tried, found guilty and sentenced to death, Queen Anne Boleyn was suddenly hopeful and seemed to think her life might be spared. Why? What could have made her so hopeful? Find out more about what happened to Anne on […]
