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3:48 am
June 21, 2009
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Hi everyone!
I thought I would turn to my fellow Tudorphiles/Anne Fans for help with this sleuthing project.
I know we've all heard, many times, the version of Anne's execution that goes something like this: the swordsman, so awed by the Queen, \”tricked\” her into a swift death to spare her more anxiety. The story is that he hid his sword in a pile of hay near the scaffold. As Anne knelt and was blind folded, he shouted \”Boy, bring me my sword!\” (despite already having the sword in hand) and as Anne instinctively turned her head, he swung and the job was done before she even knew it was coming.
As I said, it's a well known little fable – they even used this scenario in The Tudors. But my question is, where did this originate? The reason I was prompted to search for the answer was a teenage friend of mine who actually learned this bit in school. Her history text book included this as factual information. Certainly we would all like to believe that Anne's demise was as quick as possible, but Ives is my go-to source and he doesn't mention this at all. Though several sources vouch for the fact that however the swordsman went about it, he did indeed do a fast job of it.
So… does anyone know where this version came from? I've heard it multiple times and can't even remember where. As far as I know, it wasn't from any of the contemporaries who actually attended. If Ives and Starkey don't mention it then I am reluctant to believe it, but I'm still curious about how and when it originated. I'm wondering if it was in Antonia Fraiser's book on the wives, since it was more… how do I say it? dramatic than other books.
Thoughts on this account and its believability or roots?
Noli me tangere
10:29 am
February 16, 2009
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Alison Weir's account of Anne's execution, in \”The Lady in the Tower\”, includes this story. On p271 she cites The Chronicle of King Henry VIII (The Spanish Chronicle) as saying that the sword as \”hidden under a heap of straw\” and then she says the following:-
\”The intention plainly was to distract Anne at the final moment. The executioner's English assistant had been \”told beforehand what to do\”, and as the headsman turned to the scaffold steps and called to the assistant, \”Bring me the sword\” (111), Anne blindly moved her head \”towards the steps, still with her hand on her coif, and the headsman made a sign with his right hand for them to give him the sword\”. She was aware neither of him taking it, nor of his approach, for he had removed his shoes and come up stealthily behind her (112). With his hand trembling (113), for he was \”himself distressed\” (114), he raised the sharp, heavy sword aloft, grasping it with both hands, and swung it in a circling motion around his head once or twice to gain the necessary momentum (115), then \”without being noticed by the lady\” (116), who was expecting the blow to descend from the other direction and \”not so much as shrinking at it\” (117), he brought it down and swiftly \”divided her neck at a blow\” (118), that \”fair neck\” that the poet Wyatt had once praised in his admiring verse. Smitten \”off at a stroke\” (119), the head was struck straight into the straw. (120)\”
Here are the sources that she cites:-
111 – Chronicle of King Henry VIII (Primary Source)
112 – Chronicle of King Henry VIII (Primary Source); Tytler, Sarah: Tudor Queens and Princesses 1896; Strickland, Agnes: Lives of the Queens of England 1851 (secondary soruces)
113 – Wyatt, George: Extracts from the Life of the Virtuous, Christian and Renowned Queen Anne Boleigne (Primary Source)
114 – Carles, Lancelot de: Letter containing the criminal trial brought against the Queen Anne Boleyn of England (Primary Source)
115 – Abbott, Geoffrey – 3 secondary sources of Abbott are listed in the Select Bibliography – Ghosts of the Tower of London, Mysteries of the Tower of London and Severed Heads: British Beheadings Through the Ages
116 – Chronicle of King Henry VIII (Primary Source)
117 – Wyatt, George: Extracts from the Life of the Virtuous, Christian and Renowned Queen Anne Boleigne (Primary Source)
118 – Carles, Lancelot de: Letter containing the criminal trial brought against the Queen Anne Boleyn of England (Primary Source)
119 – Wriothesley, Charles, Windsor Herald: A Chronicle of England in the Reigns of the Tudors from 1485 to 1559 (Primary Source)
120 – Chronicle of King Henry VIII (Primary Source)
Hope that's helpful. It does seem that \”The Tudors\” did their homework.
Debunking the myths about Anne Boleyn
3:10 am
June 21, 2009
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Thank you so much for typing all that out, Claire! It was exactly what I was looking for. Interesting, because I hadn't heard such a dramatic telling of it – as Weir mentions how he snuck up behind her, without shoes. I guess no matter what is the truth, we can take comfort in that it was done swiftly.
Noli me tangere
