On 11th May 1536, the day after the Grand Jury of Middlesex met, the Grandy Jury of Kent met. According to the indictment they drew up against Queen Anne Boleyn and five courtiers, the queen had had a very busy lovelife, cuckolding her husband, the king, many times over…
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I find all this very distasteful that an anointed queen, who tried so hard to help others, a queen who involved herself in charitable causes who sewed garments for the poor, a patron of scholars , a woman who was deeply religious extremely pious, who was the friend of intellectuals like Margaret of Alencon who had lived in two Renaissance courts, who had been tutored by Margaret of Savoy, and who had been the adored love of her king and husband, had her name her reputation tarnished in this way, Henry V111 the man responsible may have fallen out of love with her and wanted rid of her, but that does not excuse the dreadful stain on this woman’s character, a woman he had thought worthy to grace his throne and be his consort, with her name blackened for all eternity she was then condemned to lose her very life her existence, and innocent men along with her, the charade of the jury of Kent was merely an enactment of the jury of Middlesex the previous day, one wonders where they got this evidence from? As Ives states three quarters were not valid as the people concerned were nor where the evidence said they were, I find the piece where Anne had just given birth to Elizabeth extremely distasteful, after surviving the exhausting trials of childbirth many women declare they don’t want their man to go near them ever again, said in jest of course but this was a time where the queen was going through the sacred ritual of being churched, where for a few weeks she was not supposed to indulge in full sexual relations again, did not these juries realise how loathsome that made the queen look? Was it really necessary one asks to make Anne appear so low so vile so immoral that she would act like nothing but a common strumpet without scruples or morals and no sense of Christian piety at all ? Did Henry V111 really believe it in his heart of hearts? It made no difference to his troubled conscience as he was by now on his knees to god thanking him for letting him see the light on this awful woman who was his wife and queen, and whom he was determined would be his queen for not much longer.