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Claire | May 12, 2020
On this day in history, 12th May 1536, just twelve days after the first arrest in the fall of Anne Boleyn, four men were taken to Westminster Hall and tried for treason. Their names were Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, William Brereton and Mark Smeaton. All four men were found guilty. Let me explain […]
Claire | May 12, 2019
On this day in 1536, 12th May, Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, William Brereton and Mark Smeaton were tried for high treason at Westminster Hall. Spoiler alert – they were all found guilty and condemned to death. I explain more in today’s video. I’m doing these “Fall of Anne Boleyn” videos daily until 19th […]
Claire | May 30, 2018
I always find it weird going from marking the anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s execution to writing about the celebrations for her coronation, but it’s the little things that really hit home. When I read the names of the men who were created Knight of the Bath on the night of 30/31 May 1533 and see […]
Claire | May 4, 2018
By 4th May 1536, there were four new prisoners in the Tower of London implicated in the same plot against the king: Queen Anne Boleyn; her brother, George Boleyn, Lord Rochford; Sir Henry Norris, Henry VIII’s groom of the stool; and Mark Smeaton, a court musician. On 4th May, two more were added to their […]
Claire | May 17, 2017
In the “bloody days”, as Thomas Wyatt called them, of May 1536, not only was a queen executed, but also five courtiers. If we believe that Queen Anne Boleyn was innocent of all charges then these five men were innocent too and deserve to be remembered just as we remember Anne. Five families were rocked […]
Claire | May 17, 2017
On this day in history, Wednesday 17th May 1536, five courtiers were beheaded on Tower Hill. Their names: Mark Smeaton, William Brereton, Sir Francis Weston, Sir Henry Norris and George Boleyn, Lord Rochford. Their crime: high treason; they had been found guilty of having sexual relations with Queen Anne Boleyn and of plotting with her […]
Claire | May 12, 2017
On this day in history, 12th May 1536, Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, William Brereton and Mark Smeaton were taken by barge from the Tower of London to Westminster and tried in Westminster Hall for high treason. The four men were tried by a special commission of oyer and terminer and any hopes of […]
Claire | May 4, 2017
4th May 1536 saw two more courtiers becoming prisoners at the Tower of London: Sir Francis Weston, a gentleman of Henry VIII’s privy chamber and a favourite of the king, and William Brereton, a prominent man in Cheshire and North Wales. There were now six people in the Tower as part of Thomas Cromwell’s investigation […]
