The Execution of Anne Boleyn, 19th May 1536

On the 19th May 1536, Jane Boleyn’s sister-in-law, Anne, was executed on Tower Green. It was the first public execution of an English Queen. Her execution took place at 8am. Anne chose to wear a Gable Headdress, which was an unusual choice for her, a grey, damask gown lined with fur and a cloak trimmed with ermine. Jane was not one of the people recorded to have witnessed her execution. This was her final speech. Her words were very similar to those said by her brother, George, only two days before:

"Good Christian people, I have not come here to preach a sermon; I am come here 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."

She was then blindfolded and kneeling on the scaffold, she repeated several times:

"Jesu receive my soul; O Lord God have pity on my soul."

She was then beheaded by a French Swordsman and buried near her brother in the Tower’s chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula.

With both her husband and sister-in-law dead and the Boleyn family disgraced, Jane now had the struggle of rebuilding her own life. She was a widow, but she had to grieve on her own in private – no one was going to offer her sympathy over losing her husband who was now a “traitor”, nor for her sister-in-law whose memory was being erased from history.

RIP Queen Anne Boleyn.

Image – Anne Boleyn played by Natalie Dormer in “The Tudors”.

Sources – “Jane Boleyn: The Infamous Lady Rochford” – Julia Fox, 2007 and “The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn” – Eric Ives, 2005.