Almost 500 years have passed since the death of Anne Boleyn, and yet, there has never been a\u00c2\u00a0suggestion she was guilty of the crimes which saw her executed. Attempts to muddy Anne’s\u00c2\u00a0reputation throughout history have not lessened her popularity nor convinced anyone she was\u00c2\u00a0an adulterer. But many myths surrounding Anne’s conviction for sleeping with George Boleyn,\u00c2\u00a0Henry Norris, Francis Weston, William Brereton, and Mark Smeaton have cropped up due to\u00c2\u00a0centuries of lies, slander, and misinformation from detractors.One month after Anne was executed, the Convocation of Canterbury ratified the paperwork\u00c2\u00a0detailing her arrest, conviction, execution, and the annulment of the marriage between King\u00c2\u00a0Henry VIII and his second wife. As parliament had already ruled Anne’s only child, Princess\u00c2\u00a0Elizabeth, was no longer heir to the throne, all the paperwork surrounding the trial was\u00c2\u00a0destroyed. No trace of her charges, witness statements, evidence, or even Archbishop Thomas\u00c2\u00a0Cranmer’s reasoning for annulling the royal marriage survived the mass destruction. Everyone\u00c2\u00a0was supposed to forget Anne Boleyn and accept Queen Jane.But why did Anne Boleyn ever need to die? King Henry had started little more than an\u00c2\u00a0infatuation with Jane Seymour in December 1535. Yet, many saw the opportunity to pounce,\u00c2\u00a0not to reduce Anne’s influence but to increase Princess Mary’s standing. As Vicegerent Thomas\u00c2\u00a0Cromwell and Ambassador Eustace Chapuys whispered of alliances in secret meetings, the\u00c2\u00a0Catholic nobility and the White Roses began to hatch their plan to restore the king’s daughter,\u00c2\u00a0Princess Mary, to her rightful place at court. Just as Katharine of Aragon died, Anne Boleyn felt\u00c2\u00a0secure as England’s queen, only to find that her adversary’s death would soon bring on her own.Why did political and religious enemies of\u00c2\u00a0Thomas Cromwell seek him in the months leading to Anne’s death, expecting his co-operation\u00c2\u00a0to restore Princess Mary? Did Jane Seymour have any significance and why did King Henry and\u00c2\u00a0Thomas Cromwell get into a public shouting match at a dinner party?\u00c2\u00a0The answers lie not in what evidence remains of court life in early 1536 but in the gaps left\u00c2\u00a0behind. None of the characters that played a role in Anne Boleyn’s death were strangers; all had\u00c2\u00a0connections, alliances and opportunities, and when their pasts and futures are laid together, we\u00c2\u00a0can see how a haphazard plan to end a queen’s life had almost nothing to do with her at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Almost 500 years have passed since the death of Anne Boleyn, & yet, there has never been a suggestion she was guilty of the crimes which saw her executed. Attempts to muddy Anne’s reputation throughout history have not lessened her popularity nor convinced anyone she was an adulterer. But many myths surrounding Anne’s conviction for sleeping with George Boleyn, Henry Norris, Francis Weston, William Brereton, & Mark Smeaton have cropped up due to centuries of lies, slander, & misinformation from detractors. One month after Anne was executed, the Convocation of Canterbury ratified the paperwork detailing her arrest, conviction, execution, & the annulment of the marriage between King Henry VIII & his second wife. As parliament had already ruled Anne’s only child, Princess Elizabeth, was no longer heir to the throne, all the paperwork surrounding the trial was destroyed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[75],"product_tag":[290],"class_list":["post-104903","product","type-product","status-publish","product_cat-history","product_tag-history","pa_book_author-angus-caroline","pa_cover-hardback","pa_dewey-942-052092-edition23","pa_imprint-pen-sword-history","pa_language-english","pa_pages-8847","pa_publisher-pen-sword-history","pa_readership-general-trade-code-k","first","onbackorder","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\n