WEBVTT - Beheaded (From the Archive) 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:05.000 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:08.320 and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:13.640 This is Danish Wort's host of Noble Blood. I'm taking 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.400 a brief maternity leave right now, and so this week 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:19.720 we're continuing our trip back to the archives, back to 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:23.200 the series I did on Henry the Eighth's Six Wives. 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:28.640 This week Anne Bolin. Anne Bolin is such an exciting 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:32.240 and captivating figure. It truly is no wonder she receives 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:35.960 the amount of attention from historians that she does. For 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:40.479 this episode, I focused on the most notorious moment of 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:42.480 her life, her beheading. 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:54.160 Enjoy They say that after decapitation, the human brain can 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:57.960 remain conscious for several seconds, maybe even up to a minute, 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.520 even without fresh blood being pumped up from the heart. 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:06.160 The brain still has oxygen and neurons firing rapidly in 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:11.240 confusion her pain. They say that when Anne Boleyn's head 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:15.560 fell from her body into the straw waiting below, her dark, 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:19.639 intelligent eyes still flickered and blinked, and that her white 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:23.440 lips pressed together and apart, as if she was trying 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:28.440 to say one last thing. It seems fitting that even 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:31.640 in death, Anne would try to continue to speak. It 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.520 was her silver tongue that had initially charmed the king 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:38.000 back when Anne was just a lady in waiting. No 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:41.200 one ever described her as the most beautiful girl at court, 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:44.160 although she was striking with her dark hair and her 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:48.840 milky skin so pale it was almost translucent. No, it 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:52.680 was her wit and her intelligence, her innate ability to 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.960 know exactly how to flirt without seeming like she was 0:01:56.000 --> 0:02:00.720 trying to flirt. Anne engaged with poets and phalots, and 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:04.720 debated issues of politics and religion. Henry had loved that 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:07.440 about Anne back when he was pursuing her, that she 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:11.320 had challenged and teased him, but he found those qualities 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:15.399 far less compelling in a wife. Henry the Eighth did 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.920 Anne one kindness in her beheading. He had brought in 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.760 the hangman of Calais, known for his skill and accuracy 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:26.680 with the sword, to do her decapitation, to liberate her 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:30.640 head from her neck in one smooth motion, instead of 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.120 the typical englishman with an axe, who was known to 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:36.079 sometimes take two or even three swings to get the 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:40.760 job done. The five men accused of being Anne's lovers 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:46.040 had been executed by Englishmen. Back when Henry was in 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.560 love with Anne, he disposed of his loyal wife twenty 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:53.680 four years and completely overthrew the foundation of religion in 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.200 England along the way. It was all for the promise 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:00.240 of being with Anne, and for the promise of the 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:04.600 son that she would bear him. When that son didn't come, 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:11.000 obsession soured in Henry into something corrosive and hateful. It 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:15.080 would cost Anne her life. She had played the game 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:19.040 well enough, masterfully really, to become a queen, but in 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:21.920 the end there was nothing she could do to save 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:27.440 her own life. I'm Danish wartz and this is noble blood. 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.920 When Anne Boleyn found out that Henry's first wife, Catherine 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:41.960 of Aragon, died, Anne exhaled with a mixture of relief 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.600 and pleasure. As head of the Church of England, Henry 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.880 had officially declared himself divorced from Catherine and he had 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:52.400 married Anne, but Catherine still was calling herself the Queen 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.640 of England. And as much as Anne hated to admit it, 0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:00.880 the people had loved Catherine. They hissed Anne in the streets, 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:05.200 called her Henry's goggle eyed whore. But now that Catherine 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.480 was dead. There was to be no more confusion. There 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:12.240 was one queen of England, one wife of Henry the eighth, 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:18.040 Anne Boleyn. Anne had entranced Henry when she returned from 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:21.880 a childhood in the French court, instantly astonishing the English 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:25.680 with her wit and daring French fashion and her allegedly 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:31.440 dazzling repertoire of sexual foreplay. When Anne arrived all glamour 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:35.560 and fresh promise, Henry the eighth was facing the massive 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:40.440 issue of his wife, Catherine. After two decades of marriage 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:44.680 and half a dozen miscarriages, Catherine was entering menopause, having 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:50.200 only given Henry a single daughter. The Tudor dynasty, started 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.400 only by Henry's father, needed sons if it were to 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:57.960 continue to survive. Without a clear line of succession, England 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:01.320 could once again be plunged into one wan miserable civil war. 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:06.000 But what were Henry's options. His Spanish wife was powerful 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.560 and connected. Her nephew was the Holy Roman Emperor who 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:12.960 had the Vatican under his thumb. But if everything was 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:15.880 supposed to work out with Catherine, if everything was so perfect, 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.520 then why hadn't God given them a son? That was 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:23.520 the nagging voice in the back of Henry's head. After all, 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:27.560 Catherine had been married to Henry's older brother, Arthur First 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.480 for six months until Arthur died of the sweating sickness. 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:36.560 Didn't the Bible forbid marrying your brother's wife. Catherine had 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.599 sworn that the marriage had never been consummated, and the 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:43.880 Vatican offered special dispensation. But what if she had been lying? 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:47.679 What if that was the reason that God was cursing 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:52.320 Henry with a lack of sons? And then Anne appeared, flirting, 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:56.039 making Henry feel a way that he couldn't remember feeling 0:05:56.120 --> 0:06:00.560 for a long time. He was still in his thirties, vital. 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:03.480 With a new wife, he could have a dozen sons. 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:08.080 Although he begged Anne, she refused to be his royal mistress, 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:11.720 refused to even sleep with him unless they were married. 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:17.560 Unless you divorce Catherine and marry me, Anne said. Catherine 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:21.000 of Aragon was banished to a remote palace and told 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:24.920 she was no longer queen. Henry declared himself head of 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:29.080 the Church of England while the nation protested and hurled 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:34.240 insults Anne. Henry married her in a secret ceremony. Within months, 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:38.680 she was pregnant all of Henry's advisers, all of the doctors, 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.599 and the soothsayers said that this would be the son 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:45.000 he was waiting for, the boy that would show that 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:47.320 God was pleased with him and that he made the 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:55.680 right choice. When the doctor nervously announced that Queen Anne 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:59.920 had given birth to a healthy baby girl, Henry couldn't 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:04.080 hide his disdain or his anger. But Anne loved her daughter, 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:08.280 the little girl they named Elizabeth. Anne played with her 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:12.720 dangling fingers over her basinet, cooing at her beautiful daughter 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:16.720 with golden curls. Anne knew that there was still time 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:18.720 for her to have a son, still time for her 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:22.600 to secure her position, even if Henry's eye had already 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.800 begun to wander while Anne was on bed rest for 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:30.680 her pregnancy, while Catherine of Arragon had diplomatically turned a 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:36.280 blind eye to Henry's philandering, Anne became furious. She was 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.440 jealous and hot headed, with a biting tongue that never 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:43.119 demurred from a fight. But also Catherine had been born 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:47.040 and raised a princess. Anne had once been a commoner. 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:50.080 She had been a lady in waiting who caught Henry's 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.200 eye and usurped a queen, and so she was perfectly 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.560 aware that the exact same thing could happen to her. 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:05.280 Nothing protected her except the possibility of a son. Anne 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:09.840 got pregnant again, and the court instantly began celebrating. When 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:13.840 she miscarried just three months later, it was so embarrassing 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.840 that it wasn't publicly announced, just a shameful whisper that 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:21.320 circulated amongst the court, starting with the woman who had 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:26.200 changed Anne's bed sheets. Henry and Anne both believed what 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:30.360 everyone believed back in the fifteen hundreds, that a miscarriage 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:33.000 was a failure on the part of the woman, a 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:37.959 sign of God's ultimate displeasure. The next miscarriage, too, was 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:41.960 another tightly kept secret, and the third was so well 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:45.400 hidden that it's impossible to trace when it actually occurred. 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:49.600 By the time Catherine of Arragon finally died, Anne was 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.960 well aware that she was carrying what could very well 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.760 be her final hope. Anne and Henry had been married 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.760 for three years, but already he had stopped coming to 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:04.000 her bedroom. He ignored her when he could, spending most 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:06.640 of his time doting on one of Anne's own ladies, 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:13.560 Jane Seymour. Plain, obedient, soft spoken Jane Seymour, the exact 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:18.959 opposite of Anne in every conceivable way. Henry newly besought it, 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:23.760 gave Jane Seymour a locket containing his portrait. Jane made 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.360 the mistake of wearing it and flicking it open and 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:30.000 shut like a schoolgirl in love. When Anne entered the 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:33.320 room and saw the necklace, she ripped it off Jane's 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:38.440 neck with so much force that Anne's fingers bled. The 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.880 country already hated Anne, and she had made powerful enemies 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:45.160 in court by pulling Henry away from Catherine and away 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:49.320 from the Catholic Church. Anne had very few cards left 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:52.720 to play. The only thing keeping her in power was 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:55.920 the child in her belly and Henry's love for her, 0:09:56.559 --> 0:10:01.040 and that seemed to be diminishing every day. Neither Henry 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:04.400 nor Anne attended Catherine of Argen's funeral, where she was 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.240 laid to rest, not with the title of former queen 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:14.040 but of dowager Princess. That exact day, miles away, Anne 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:20.360 Boleyn miscarried a baby boy. Reports at the time say 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:24.520 that the cold, sill, tiny boy was perfect and beautiful. 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:28.560 Years later people would write that it was misshapen, that 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:33.120 it had physical deformities, evidence of its mother committing some 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:39.160 truly awful sin, adultery, incest, or witchcraft. But at the 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:42.439 time there didn't need to be any further proof. The 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:45.280 son that could have saved her life was dead, and 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:53.559 Anne Boleyn's fate was sealed. Anne's behavior became panicked and erratic. 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:56.680 The man who had once been so wildly in love 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.599 with her he overthrew the entire religious foundation of a 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.840 nation was now writing love letters to another woman. Henry 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:07.280 had stopped coming to her bed. She was the queen, 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:12.040 but she was also becoming increasingly aware of what a 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:16.319 precarious position that was. When her king was Henry the Eighth. 0:11:17.640 --> 0:11:21.240 Anne engaged one of the king's close friends, Sir Henry Norris, 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:24.319 one afternoon to ask him why he was still unmarried. 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:29.120 Anne's flirtation was normal, expected even of a queen. A 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.920 queen was meant to be beloved by all the knightly 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.480 men of a kingdom, to inspire love and loyalty in them. 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:40.640 But when Sir Henry Norris demured, Anne continued pressing closer 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:43.200 to him in the hallway than might have been prudent. 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:47.920 I think Anne purred that you're waiting to marry a 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:52.559 rich widow, you look for dead men's shoes. Is that so, 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:57.640 Sir Henry Norris replied, smiling just a little bit. Anne 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:00.559 looked into his eyes. I think if if something were 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:03.480 to happen to the King, you would look to marry me. 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:08.720 Sir Henry Norris's smile disappeared. To even think such a 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:12.360 thing would cost me my head? He said. Anne had 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:17.520 crossed the line from courtly flirtation to outright treason. It 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:19.800 was a good thing. Anne thought, as she returned to 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:23.520 her chamber that night that no one had heard them. 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:28.080 Another night, one of Anne Boleyn's ladies in waiting, Lady Wooster, 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:32.000 spent a banquet drinking slightly too much wine and dancing 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.560 slightly too close to one or two eligible men. The 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:39.160 next day, Lady Worcester's brother confronted her and told her 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:42.599 that she needed to stop her behavior before her reputation 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:47.120 was ruined. Lady Wooster just laughed. If you think I'm bad, 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:50.520 she said, I'm nothing compared to the Queen Anne has 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:52.959 met in her bed chamber late at night all the time, 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:58.440 including a certain Mark Smeaton. Smeaton was a court musician, 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.079 and Lady Wooster wasn't the old only one who noticed 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:06.240 that Anne seemed to particularly enjoy his company. Within days 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:09.800 of the conversation between Lady Wooster and her brother, Mark 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:13.880 Smeaton was taken in for questioning by the King's Chief Minister, 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:18.920 Thomas Cromwell. We don't know what happened behind closed doors, 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:23.160 whether Smeaton was tortured or coerced. He might have even 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:26.880 been telling the truth. It's impossible to know, but Mark 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:30.720 Smeaton confessed to Thomas Cromwell that he had slept with 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:36.120 Queen Anne Boleyn on three separate occasions. Anne Boleyn was 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:39.480 arrested while she was watching a tennis match and brought 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.640 to a dim room where she was interrogated by three 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:47.040 men on charges of adultery and treason. They asked her 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:52.120 about Mark Smeaton. Anne was completely baffled and indignant. She 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:55.400 denied ever sleeping with anyone except her husband, the King. 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:59.679 They asked about the conversation she had had with Sir 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:04.400 Hena hen Norris. This time Anne sputtered a little, but 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:08.160 still her point was clear. She hadn't sinned against the King. 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:13.000 The three men interrogating her were stony faced and cruel, 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:18.800 completely unmoved. Her lovers had already confessed. They told her. 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:23.240 Anne was escorted back to her chamber. She and her 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:28.000 ladies sat down to a silent dinner. None of Anne's 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:31.920 ladies made eye contact with her. The few servants standing 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:37.440 nearby barely managed to conceal her tears. That very afternoon, 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:41.080 Anne was brought to the Tower of London. She was 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.440 given no time to pack clothes or any personal belongings, 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.680 and though she begged to say goodbye to her daughter Elizabeth, 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:56.000 the guards pretended not to hear her. Most criminals were 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:57.880 brought to the tower in the middle of the night. 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:01.000 Anne was brought by barge down on the River Thames 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:05.080 in broad daylight, with crowds gawking at her and shouting 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:08.200 as she went by. Anne begged to see the King. 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:11.440 If she could see Henry face to face, if she 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.240 could just talk to him, she could charm him like 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.360 she had before, She could remind him of his love 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:20.600 for her. He must have some tiny ounce of affection 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:24.040 for her left in his heart. Anne didn't know that 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:26.840 she and Henry would never lay eyes on each other 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:31.000 ever again. At five p m. She arrived at the 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:34.680 Tower of London dazed, and terrified. Am I to be 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:38.520 put in the dungeons? She said? The guard shook his head. 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:42.000 Anne was to be brought to the Royal Apartments, the 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:45.160 very same rooms that she had stayed in the night 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:50.960 before her coronation. The rooms had been unused since. Hearing that, 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:55.200 Anne flung herself onto the cobblestones. It is too good 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:59.520 for me, she sobbed a cannon on the tower wharf thundered. 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:02.680 It was the sound that rang when a person of 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:06.720 nobility was brought to be imprisoned in the fortress. It 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:12.080 echoed through the city, causing excitement and speculation. King Henry, 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:16.240 deep inside the palace, didn't hear it. He wouldn't make 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:20.320 another public appearance until after Anne was dead and buried. 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:25.800 The man in charge of Anne's custody while she was 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:28.800 in the Tower of London was a former knight named 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:32.840 Sir William Kingston. Kingston was tall, and in his youth 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:36.720 had been a strong and triumphant jouster, even facing off 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:40.240 against the King. He had been devoted to Queen Catherine 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:43.840 throughout his long career, but even so, during Anne's imprisonment, 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:47.200 he would only ever treat her with courtesy and kindness. 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.680 All of Anne's servants had been dismissed, replaced by five 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:56.080 new ladies, all spies who were tasked with asking Anne 0:16:56.080 --> 0:17:00.320 about her alleged lovers and her treasonous conversations, and then 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:04.040 reporting back her answers to Thomas Cromwell. But Anne never 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:08.560 said anything incriminating. Instead, her spies just reported that her 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:14.280 mood shifted wildly from wretching sobs to ecstatic laughter. Sometimes 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:17.479 Anne would just burst out laughing and say that history 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:22.280 would remember her as Anne the Headless. My innocence will 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:25.000 save me, won't it. I am innocent, and so the 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:28.240 law will save me. Anne thought maybe Henry was just 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:31.639 testing her. He loved her, didn't he. Even if he 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:35.600 had tired of her, he probably wouldn't kill her. Anne 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:39.919 was accused of adultery with five men, including her own brother, 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:42.960 even though all of the men, with the exception of 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.879 Mark Smeaton, had proclaimed their innocence. The number was a 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:50.120 calculated move on the part of Thomas Cromwell and the King. 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:54.280 One man could be a mistake, but Anne being accused 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:59.439 of intimacy with five men, the accusation alone cemented her guilt. 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:04.000 When Anne was called to her tribunal to stand before 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:06.480 the jury of twenty six men and listen to the 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:09.879 allegations against her. She didn't dress like she was walking 0:18:09.960 --> 0:18:14.200 to her death sentence. Instead, Anne wore a black velvet 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.399 gown and a red petticoat, as if she were dressed 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:21.119 to be awarded a medal at some noble ceremony. She 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.680 wasn't allowed to bring any witnesses or have any legal counsel. 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:28.360 All Anne could do was continue to proclaim her innocence 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.000 to offer the best defense she could, speaking with the 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:35.639 eloquence and the intelligence that Henry had once fallen in 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:43.840 love with. Never before in English history had a queen 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:48.640 been sentenced to death. Henry was just trying to scare her, 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:52.240 and thought trying to soothe herself to stave off the panic. 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:56.480 Maybe she would just be banished. The Duke of Norfolk 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:59.200 had tears in his eyes when he read out the sentence. 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:03.400 Anne was his niece, his own sister's child. Some might 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:07.280 have thought that he was crying in grief or pity. Really, 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:09.800 though it was more likely he was crying for his 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:15.800 own lost honor and status. Hugh read aloud, for offending 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:20.000 our sovereign, the King in committing treason against his person. 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:24.040 Anne Boleyn is sentenced to be burned within the Tower 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:27.000 of London on the Green, or else to have her 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:31.760 head cut off. Anne's expression didn't change when they read 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:35.199 her sentence. She lifted her eyes at the sky, but 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:39.879 she didn't cry. She maintained her innocence. I am ready 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.359 to greet death, she said. Finally, I am just sorry 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:46.800 for the others who are innocent and the King's loyal subjects, 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:50.320 that they should share my fate and die because of me. 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:55.760 Kingston escorted Anne back to her chambers, and Anne asked 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:59.520 to see a priest so that she could confess. The 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:03.520 arch Bishop of Canterbury arrived to take Anne's final confession. 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:07.639 Anne was already sentenced to death. There was nothing she 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.760 could lose in confessing her sins now and Anne knew 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.440 that if she told a lie in confession, she would 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:17.920 be damning her soul to eternal torment. She confessed to jealousy, 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:22.040 but nothing else. The archbishop asked if she was sure 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:26.159 she was done. Anne lowered her head. God knows that 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:28.760 I have not sinned against him in any other way. 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:33.040 Anne watched from her window as all five men, including 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:36.840 her own brother were beheaded on the Tower Green. There 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:39.680 were whispers that Henry had put her in those rooms 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:44.200 specifically so that she could see those deaths. Anne's own 0:20:44.240 --> 0:20:48.119 death was still a ways away. They were specifically constructing 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:51.800 a new scaffolding for her so more crowds could gather 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:55.480 and see their fallen queen end in a rush of blood. 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:59.080 Anne turned away from the constructions she could see from 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:02.600 the window. I wish all this was over, that the 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:06.160 pain would just be finished already, she said to Kingston. 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:10.159 Kingston softly replied that he believed that when the end 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:15.960 finally came, there would be no pain, and when that 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:20.320 day finally came, Kingston helped Anne up the wooden steps 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:23.680 to the stage on the Green, accompanied by four ladies. 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:27.840 The ladies helped Anne to undress her neck, taking off 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:30.399 her head dress and the small white fur cloak she 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:34.639 wore a symbol of royalty. They gathered Anne's hair in 0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:37.080 a linen cap so it wouldn't get in the way 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:41.119 of a sword. Anne whispered to her ladies and asked 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:45.320 them to pray for her. Unlike in an axe beheading, 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:50.399 a decapitation by sword required the victim to kneel very tall, 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:54.560 upright on both knees. Anne took the position with as 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:57.440 much grace as she could, but there was still fear 0:21:57.480 --> 0:22:00.440 in her eyes. Anne knew she had to keep very 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:03.480 still if the death was to be quick, but she 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:06.640 kept looking around, terrified for the moment when the man 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:10.920 with the sword would make his attack. Madam, do not fear, 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:14.159 the swordman said, I will wait until you are ready. 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:18.240 Anne said a few words before her death to the 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:23.080 crowd below, the nearly two thousand Englishmen who had gathered 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:28.560 for the spectacle. She accepted death, reasserted her innocence once more, 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:32.360 and asked for the good people to pray for Henry 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:36.720 and those who were sending her to death. While Anne 0:22:36.800 --> 0:22:40.560 was looking away, the swordsman pulled his blade from a 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:43.040 pile of straw, where it had been hidden so Anne 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:47.439 wouldn't see. He wore no shoes so that his step 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:51.480 would be silent, so that when he came up behind Anne, 0:22:51.520 --> 0:22:56.120 she wouldn't hear him. And then in one stroke, her 0:22:56.160 --> 0:22:59.560 head was gone, fallen in a bloody mass into the 0:22:59.600 --> 0:23:04.880 pilot of straw and sawdust. Waiting to welcome it, one 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:08.399 of Anne's ladies threw a white handkerchief over the head, 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:12.760 and the crowd watched as it slowly dappled with red blood. 0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:19.040 The Queen of England was dead. Eleven days later, Henry 0:23:19.080 --> 0:23:29.040 the Eighth married Anne's lady in waiting, Jane Seymour. That's 0:23:29.080 --> 0:23:32.560 the story of Anne Boleyn's death, but stick around after 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:35.600 a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit about 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:48.680 Anne's after life. Anne Boleyn is one of the most 0:23:48.760 --> 0:23:52.680 famous and enigmatic figures in English history, and she's also 0:23:52.720 --> 0:23:58.320 one of England's most ubiquitous ghosts. According to a Victorian legend, 0:23:58.800 --> 0:24:01.600 on certain nights, if you're on the road toward Blickling 0:24:01.680 --> 0:24:05.360 Hall in Norfolk, where Anne was born, you might see 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:08.879 a carriage pass by. If you happen to look inside, 0:24:09.400 --> 0:24:13.760 you'll see Anne bathed in a red glow and wearing 0:24:13.880 --> 0:24:18.560 a pure white dress, holding her head gently in her lap. 0:24:19.359 --> 0:24:21.919 The moment that the carriage arrives at the front of 0:24:21.960 --> 0:24:26.800 the house, it vanishes into mist Anne can arrive at 0:24:26.800 --> 0:24:31.879 her destination, but she can't stay. Alison Weir has written 0:24:31.920 --> 0:24:36.040 extensively about Anne Bolyn and the myths and rumors surrounding 0:24:36.040 --> 0:24:39.199 her death, and so I defer to her expertise on 0:24:39.280 --> 0:24:43.000 the subject of Anne's ghosts, on which she writes, as 0:24:43.040 --> 0:24:46.600 a historian, I make no further comment on the veracity 0:24:46.640 --> 0:24:57.359 of these stories or the existence of ghosts. Noble Blood 0:24:57.440 --> 0:25:01.200 is a production of iHeartRadio Anne Grim and Mild from 0:25:01.240 --> 0:25:05.240 Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Dana Schwartz, 0:25:05.680 --> 0:25:10.640 with additional writing and research by Hannah Johnston, Hannahswick, Courtney Sender, 0:25:10.880 --> 0:25:14.600 Amy Hit and Julia Melaney. The show is edited and 0:25:14.800 --> 0:25:20.560 produced by Jesse Funk, with supervising producerrima il Kaali and 0:25:20.680 --> 0:25:25.159 executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For 0:25:25.280 --> 0:25:30.680 more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:25:30.960 --> 0:25:34.720 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.