Petition to give Anne Boleyn a Royal Pardon – Why I’m not signing

This is a valid point. Elizabeth had good reasons and every opportunity to have had her mother given a grander memorial more suited to the mother of the Queen. But she didn’t. She did wear a ring with a tiny portrait of her mother (or assumed to be her mother) hidden within. She may have heard enough as she grew up, to think that it was best to keep quiet about her mother. Elizabeth did keep in touch with her two cousins, children of Anne’s sister Mary, and both held trusted positions at her court. In fact they have many posh and famous descendants, which include current Royals so Mary Boleyn, not Anne, was the founder of a great dynasty and ancestor of the future King of England.

Pregnant by who? Someone said earlier that Henry VIII was impotent and she was desperate to give him a son as Henry’s wandering eye was on Jane Seymour.
Where does the claim that he was impotent come from? Because he went onto marry other women. What has Elizabeth II got to do with the princes bones? Have they been found? Where and when? I live in England and this is news to me.

Why does Anne Boleyn deserve a pardon anymore than any other person executed on trumped up charges of treason? As a pardon implies guilt and the person is normally being spared punishment in this case it is useless. Anne Boleyn was innocent, full stop. It’s not a pardon the General should be asking for but to overturn or set aside her conviction. It’s the latter, quashing a conviction that is difficult as no new evidence or legal grounds technically exist to allow this. Even the setting aside by the criminal justice trial board, without the court of appeal, or need for a retrial needs solid legal grounds to do so. Anne was found guilty of 21 accounts of adultery plus a number of other crimes such as plotting with her lover to kill the King, and put her own bastard child on the throne. The first charges against her are not even criminal offences, the church courts which still existed, should have been called to hear the case and adultery was not made a sin punished by death until the benelevant reign of William and Mary. It’s the second crimes, clearly added as presumptive treason, were made so as Anne et al, could be executed. Please note that the damming evidence of her stupid conversations with Henry Norris was not included in the evidence or inditements. Cromwell was being clever here, it could be implied that Anne and her lovers plotted the Kings death during one of their numerous meetings, and as she was alleged to have been trying to or actually gotten a child by one of those innocent men, namely Norris, then to the court it followed they intended to either pass the child off as the King’s or to do away with Henry and Anne plus lover to rule through child. It’s happened before, Isabella and lover Roger Mortimer allegedly killed Edward ll, although Isabella eas cleared, and ruled while her son was a minor.

For these latter criminal charges to be set aside new evidence has to be provided. It’s not enough for Anne Boleyn fans to say we believe that she is innocent. The legal system is more sophisticated in the rules and how it works than the belief in innocence or guilt. It’s not even enough that most experts see Anne as innocent. Yes, the inditements can be torn apart, unfortunately these are a list of charges, not evidence. The dates can be disputed, Anne or the men were not there, we know today that pregnancy does not make sex out of the question, back then it was considered dangerous, plus childbirth and confinement exclusively were female affairs. Experts can confirm that Anne Boleyn would be unlikely to have sex at such times. However, this is not enough to throw out all of the charges. Today each count is considered separately and for five or more dates Anne does not have a defense. In the context of the case as a whole they fall flat but you cannot guarantee a jury would have found her not guilty of every single incitement. You only have to look at recent historical sex abuse trials in which people have been found guilty on some points and not on others, for the reasons, you cannot prove or disprove most of these things, memory is not trusted, time has passed, the dates and events don’t match or witnesses imagine things or don’t recall them, or the accused cannot give a good account of the alleged dates or times. The same can be seen in Ann’s case, in many cases there is no evidence, no witness, and nothing to assist a modern jury or judge either way. No evidence can be proven to have been excluded, as we don’t have the trial transcripts, the testimony or full details of the investigation and witnesses.

If you can argue that evidence is excluded from the court, you can argue for a fresh trial. One thing a modern court would have done is to scrutinize the dates, where the men were, the so called evidence, the character of witnesses, even if the accused was honest, eeven the queen, hearsay would not be allowed, most of the crimes would fall down, the rest should be, but they are not clear, or they could be dismissed today as sins not criminal charges. Anne would make a credible witness. Today the defense would be allowed rights, then you did not, but we cannot apply legal standards to historical cases. No contemporary case can match modern legal assessments as they did not have the same rights or rigour of modern times and thinking. No contemporary case can claim that a witness or evidence was excluded from the original court as we don’t have the information to support this. A new case cannot be presented because we don’t have the original sources to give a full picture of the evidence against Anne Boleyn. All we have are the inditements, not a full transcript. This is not enough for a modern court to go on, nor does any new evidence exist to have a new trial or appeal. Sad and terribly wrong that this is, we will never see the wrongful conviction of Anne overturned as this is legally impossible. Now I know that some of the less well informed of you will find this post annoying but I am trained and know exactly how the legal system works and what you need to overturn a conviction. Being emotionally connected to Anne Boleyn or a historian who can rationally argue that she is innocent is going to change that cruel reality. Anne was innocent, but other than declaring it in black and white, there is nothing more to be done about it.

I feel a royal pardon is futile, Anne is not here to have the benefit of this. It also is meant to exclude a guilty person from further punishment. There are some potential arguments as way of rehabilitation to turn the convictions of people charged with ridiculous crimes that are not offenses today, but this is limited to issues of moral code or other things that can be dismissed by reason of the circumstances or their mental health. Men killed for cowardly acts in the first world war suffered from mental illness known about at the time, and ignored by courts and commanders, plus the medical and religious people from the time. The case for a royal pardon for men punished for being gay also may have merit, although in reality they should have their cases overturned as the law that convicted them no longer exists and was without merit to begin with. It’s also sufficiently recent to examine in detail. The case of Anne Boleyn is too far distant, the law did have merit, and most of the evidence is missing.

I personally believe that the charges against her are rubbish, Anne Boleyn and the five men were innocent. All we can do is repeat this as a fact. Most historians say that these people were innocent. History, the greatest judge of all has declared Anne innocent. Few people believe otherwise. A royal pardon to me says different and is not enough. There is no reason why a monument to Anne cannot be made in the Tower or a public place, in Hever Castle, elsewhere stating that she is innocent. This would have more impact than anything else, would honour her, and draw more people to her resting place.

I don’t believe that Anne should be moved or see any other reason for another service. She is buried in holy ground. She has a proper burial place, she is in a beautiful chapel, she has a proper coffin, she was given a correct reburial service with the others by the Victorians, and given a memorial with her arms on. She was reburied as Queen. She was buried with care by the ladies, not just thrown in the ground. There is no evidence for this claim. Since then, as the church is a living active church, she and others are constantly prayed for, so she has had several Masses and other services for her soul. Anne Boleyn is commemorated every year at her resting place by people who love her, she has flowers placed on this site every May for the last 500 years. Anne has others with her to pray for her, Saint Thomas More and Saint John Fishet and Blessed Margaret Pole, plus I believe that she is in heaven and does not need anything else. As long as there are sites like this to speak for her, Anne Boleyn will never be forgotten. No royal pardon can do anything else for her. I don’t disrespect anyone who believes that the royal pardon is a great idea, or want to sign the petition, but it is not enough, nor can it legally clear Anne of the terrible crimes she was wrongly convicted of.