Ep. 55 - The Beheading of Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII and she probably is the wife that most people are familiar with of his six wives. She was executed, but she was innocent, so this was murder. A schism was created when Henry tried to annul his marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. The King had to wait seven years before he could marry Anne, but his love waned just three years into that marriage. He stood by as she was executed. This kind of betrayal and unjust death can lead to hauntings and in the case of Anne Boleyn, it would seem that her spirit is at unrest.

The controversy and mystery that surrounds the life and death of Anne Boleyn began at her birth. Trying to pin down her date of birth is impossible. Historians have argued for centuries and eventually they agreed on two separate years: 1501 and 1507. Her father was Thomas Boleyn, who became Earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde and he was a member of the Privy Council. Her mother was Lady Elizabeth Howard who was the daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. As a teenager, Anne began her work as a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Margaret in the Netherlands as that is the country where she was being educated. This education not only taught her the workings of a home , but she also learned music and game playing and did tomboy type things like falconry and hunting. Margaret loved having Anne in her court and wrote to Anne's father that his daughter was "so presentable and so pleasant, considering her youthful age, that I am more beholden to you for sending her to me, than you to me." 

In 1513, Anne was moved to France to be a maid of honor to Queen Mary, who was the sister of Henry VIII. Then Anne moved onto Queen Mary's sister, Queen Claude of France, where she served for seven years. After that, Anne's father set his sights on his daughter marrying her cousin James Butler, who was in Ireland. He arranged this marriage as it would be advantageous for him politically and prevent civil war in Ireland. But the negotiations over this alliance came to a grinding halt for reasons that are not fully known to historians. The year 1522 would bring a new opportunity. Her father had arranged for her to become a part of Catherine of Aragon's court. Catherine was the first wife of Henry VIII at the time. Anne's older sister, Mary, also served as a lady-in-waiting. She started with King Henry VIII's sister Mary, traveling to France with her where she became Queen of France. She remained in France after Queen Mary left and she carried on an affair with King Francis. In 1519, she became a lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon. She also carried on a five year affair with King Henry VIII, who may have fathered her first two children. So, Anne joined Mary in Catherine's court in 1522. 

She would soon follow in her older sister's footsteps, carrying on an affair with the King. But before that came the young heir to the Earl of Northumberland, Henry Percy. He took a special interest in Anne and would seek her out every time he visited the court. It has been rumored that the two fell in love and were planning to secretly marry. Cardinal Wolsey discovered the relationship and he berated Percy for even considering such a thing and Anne was banished from the court for a time.

Henry the VIII was the first English king of Ireland and became king of England on April 22, 1509. He was the only surviving son of King Henry VII and he was an accomplished musician, athlete and scholar. His father had risen to the throne during the War of the Roses and so for him, having a male heir was incredibly important. Catherine of Aragon had been married to his older brother. When that brother died, Henry was betrothed to Catherine. He did not want to marry her. Her father, Ferdinand II of Aragon pushed the marriage because he looked at England as his tool and Catherine kept him connected there. He was married to Isabella, Queen of Castille. These were the Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain that financed the voyages of Christopher Columbus. So the pressure bearing down on Henry to marry Catherine was very real and that did not include the pressure from the Catholic church, which was very strong as well. Henry really had no choice.

So Henry marries Catherine. He's no more interested in being king then he is in marrying her. He would rather follow his athletic pursuits. He put the duties of governing to Cardinal Wolsey, who relished the position and went above and beyond what he should have been allowed, wielding his power in many ways. The Cardinal and Ferdinand eventually went to war with France and things did not go well causing a rift between Spain and England.This led to talk of divorce between Catherine and Henry, but these rumors were squelched when Catherine gave birth to their daughter.

Henry carried on affairs and as already mentioned, the Boleyn girls were his mistresses. He had a special affinity for Anne, and showered her with gifts. He also showered the Boleyn family with gifts and titles. In 1528, the affair almost came to an end when Anne nearly died of the Sweating Sickness, a type of Influenza. The King finally decided that he wanted to make Anne his queen, particularly since she was pregnant with his child. Henry would seek an annulment for his marriage to Catherine. Catherine had not provided him with a male heir and since he didn't care for her, there was no purpose in being married to her as far as he was concerned. The Catholic Church would not allow divorce, which is why Henry was seeking an annulment. The church wasn't about to give Henry his annulment. Catherine had given birth to a child and you can't annul that. The fight that would ensue over the annulment would not only inspire children's nursery rhymes, but lead to a major fracture for the Church. This schism would launch the Church of England into its own authority. But before that, Henry  made his case, arguing that Catherine was basically his sister since she had been married to his brother and so their union was not right anyway.

The Church of England dates back to the 6th century when it started at a Gregorian mission in Kent. It was under Papal authority until Henry pushed for his annulment. The English Reformation had been pushing for a split from Rome and it saw its chance with this action. Henry had been a Catholic and did not like Protestantism, but he was determined to be free of Catherine, so he declared himself the head of the Church of England and officially broke from Rome. He and Anne were married in a secret ceremony in 1533 and in June she was crowned Queen of England in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

Anne gave birth to a girl. She would eventually become Queen Elizabeth I. Henry was set on that male heir though and he was very disappointed. Anne was pregnant again in 1534, but suffered a miscarriage. When Henry heard that the baby was a boy, he became convinced that the marriage was cursed and he was being punished by God. When a third pregnancy ended in another miscarriage, Henry became desperate to end this marriage. Jane Seymour was Anne's second cousin and she had come to the court to serve as Anne's lady-in-waiting. Anne noticed that Jane and Henry would flirt with each other. Then one day she noticed that Jane was wearing a picture of the King around her neck. He had given Anne the same picture when they had started their affair and so she knew that her suspicions were right. She wrenched the picture from Jane's neck and the women fought. This was not their first fight and it would not be the last. It was common knowledge that it often came to blows between the women.

Things would come to a head in 1536.  Mark Smeaton, a musician from the queen’s household, was arrested on April 30th. He was tortured until he confessed that he had slept with Queen Anne. He was moved to the Tower of London the next day. That same day, Henry VIII left the May Day jousts early taking a small group of men with him. One of those men was Sir Henry Norris, whom Henry questions at length on the journey. Norris admits that he has slept with the Queen as well and he is taken to the Tower of London on May 2nd. Anne and her brother George, Lord Rochford, were then arrested and taken to the Tower. Several other courtiers from the King's chamber are questioned and William Brereton, Richard Page, Francis Weston, Thomas Wyatt and Francis Bryan are all arrested and taken to the Tower, except Bryan is released.

Although these charges would never make it into the public record of treason charges Anne was found guilty of, Anne had a reputation of being a witch. King Henry told those who would listen that Anne had bewitched him and that is why he fell in love with her. He feared that she could use her knowledge of potions to poison him in some way. Others who pointed fingers at Anne and claimed she was a witch said that she had certain physical characteristics that proved it, like a sixth finger, strange warts and she was tall, which was unusual for women at the time. The last child she gave birth to also had some kind of defect, which is probably why it was stillborn. The allegedly deformed male fetus of her last birth in 1536 was also used against her. The first English law against witchcraft was passed in 1542, which was just a few years after Anne's trial.

On May 12th, Norris, Smeaton, Weston and Brereton were found guilty of adultery and conspiracy to murder the King. May 15th, Anne and Rochford were tried and found guilty of high treason. All were sentenced to be executed. Were any of these people actually guilty of anything? We will never know. The evidence was insufficient to prove guilt, but confessions seemed to back the convictions. What makes these actions more unbelievable is that two days later, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer declared the marriage of Henry and Anne null and by May 20th Henry and Jane Seymour are betrothed and married 10 days later.

Cromwell who championed the case against Anne wrote to the Bishop of Winchester that “the queen’s incontinent living was so rank and common that the ladies of her privy chamber could not conceal it.”Anne herself declared, “I am as clear from the company of man, as for sin… as I am clear from you, and the king’s true wedded wife.” The night before her execution, she took the Eucharist and swore “on peril of her soul’s damnation” that she had done nothing wrong. There are many theories as to why King Henry wanted to be rid of Anne, but in the end, she was put to death to free him from guilt and allow him to pursue a male heir.

Anne seemed to go to her death with dignity. She asked to be executed by the sword rather than the axe. It was May 19th and the location was Tower Green. She made the following speech, "Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul." Then Anne knelt on the scaffold, was blindfolded and the executioner cut off her head with one swift strike. She was buried in an unmarked grave in the Chapel of St. Peter adjoining the Tower Green.

But this was not the end of Anne Boleyn. Her spirit seems to have remained on this side of the Veil. And in many different places. Most modern historians believe that Anne was born at Blickling Hall. The present building was built in the early 17th century for Sir Hnery Hobart on the site of the previous building that had belonged to Anne's father. People claim that on the anniversary of her death, May 19th, Anne's apparition is seen roaming the halls. But the most incredible stories claim that Anne is brought to the hall by a ghostly carriage drawn by six headless horses controlled by a headless coachman. Anne is inside the carriage wearing white and she is without her head, or rather, her head is not on her shoulders, but on her lap. Apparently, her brother and father both haunt Blickling Hall as well.

Anne's childhood home was Hever Castle, which was built in 1272 by Sir Stephen de Penchester after he got permission from Kind Edward I to do so. In the early 16th century, the Boleyns bought the property and erected a Tudor residence within the walls. Some claim that this location was a place of courting for Henry VIII and Anne. Anne's spirit is usually seen on Christmas Eve near the bridge that crosses over the River Eden or around a large oak tree on the property. After Anne and Henry were married, they lived at Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle. Anne's spectre is seen wearing a blue dress at Hampton Court, walking slowly and seeming very sad. Several of Henry's wives are said to haunt Hampton Court and one has to wonder if these ladies' spirits ever run into each other. People claim to see Anne's ghost at Windsor Castle, standing at a window in the Dean’s Cloister. It's a popular place for the family. Henry and their daughter Elizabeth are said to haunt the same area.

The most actively haunted place by Anne is one of the more haunted locations in Britain and that is the Tower of London. Anne was executed here. Her ghost has been seen at the Queen's House, in the White Tower and the Tower Green, where the scaffold was located. Anne caused a man to suffer a fatal heart attack while on sentry patrol in 1817. He saw her ghostly apparition on the staircase. Several decades later, another sentry patrol claimed that he saw the ghost of Anne wearing white veiled in a mist walking near the Queen's House. The startling part of this siting is that Anne had no face, but that he knew who she was because of the Tudor dress and hood she wore. He was so startled that he thrust his bayonet at the figure and it passed right through. Others claimed to see a headless apparition that night on the Tower Green. An officer standing in the tower claimed that he witnessed the sentry thrust his bayonet at the figure and that the figure not only passed through the bayonet, but the guard as well.

As was mentioned, Anne was buried at the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula. A Captain of the Guard was walking the grounds one night in the late 19th century when he noticed a light burning in the locked chapel. He used a ladder to get up to one of the windows and when he looked inside the chapel that he thought was empty, he got the shock of his life. He saw a procession making its way down the aisle. The people were knights and ladies and he recognized one of them as Anne Boleyn, whose picture he had seen several times. Then everything, including the light, just disappeared.

Anne Boleyn has a mystique that has carried through the centuries. She was a woman that we do not know much about, but her place in history is felt to this very day. Is her spirit still seen and felt to this day? Does the spirit of Anne Boleyn remain at all her old haunts? That is for you to decide!