Om 8th May 1536, a number of courtiers were trying to take advantage of the imprisonment of the men implicated in the fall of Anne Boleyn. There were some lucrative offices and properties that might just be up for grabs, after all! They were like vultures…
If you prefer reading articles to videos, you can read my article from a few years ago – click here.
If you’re interested in my book The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown then you can find out more at http://getbook.at/fallanneboleyn. You can also get instant access to ten talks on Anne Boleyn’s fall – click here for more information.
Iv always found these actions by the prisoners fellow courtiers contemptible to say the least, one would have thought they would have the decency to wait till they were dead, some could have been acquitted, and it shows how grasping and avaricious the Tudor man’s mind was, what manner of men they were to try to seize these unfortunate mens titles and properties the posts that belonged to them, before they had even gone to trial, even young Fitzroy tried to secure a post that Norris held, it is very distasteful to find that it actually went to Cromwell, the perpetrator of Norris’s imprisonment, it does indeed sound like vultures circling the bodies of rotting corpses, but then vultures those large birds of prey, at least have the decency to wait till their quarry are dead, not fight over the spoils whilst they are still alive, and these unfortunate men, Henry Norris Francis Weston, William Brereton and Viscount Rochford all knew that would be happening whilst they pondered gloomily in their cells, Mark Smeaton was only the court musician and very talented as the king had noticed him having him first in his employ, then the queen had him entertain her household and he became her favourite, we know nothing of his origins only that he was of lowly status, he had nothing no one would fight over, only his musical ability and charming countenance, it was said he used to anger the other nobles by strutting about as he was the queens favourite musician and she spoiled him with gifts of money, Brereton must have known why he was in The Tower and he knew he was doomed, he was Cromwells enemy, he was a Cheshire landowner his family had lived there for several generations and had annoyed the kings Secretary whilst in that county and Wales, his activities had irked the lawyer and it was Cromwells opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, him and the queen, George must have felt the most miserable of the lot, how could he convince anyone he was innocent of incest with his own sister and Francis Weston was merely caught up in the huge maelstrom of injustice merely because of a light hearted conversation Anne had engaged in with him, Norris had been offered a lifeline by the king but in doing so he had to betray the queen and it is testament to his bravery and strength of character that he did not, Anne herself must have thought that Jane Seymour was going to replace her and we must think of these six wretched people in the Tower of London that long ago day on May 08 1536, their comparatively short lives were swiftly coming to an end, there was Page and Wyatt two other courtiers in the Tower to but they were soon released, Wyatt was possibly the most hopeful because he was friends with Cromwell, blessed indeed was Sir Thomas Wyatt, his poetry must have charmed him a great deal, he lived to survive those bloody days which he later put down to prose but his feelings towards his friend must have altered significantly, for he believed till the end of his days that his queen and fellow courtiers were innocent.