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Today is the fifth article of Jiyijun this month delivered on time. In this article, Ji Yijun wants to talk with you about Anne Boleyn's story-whether she is guilty or innocent.
Anne Boleyn, source: Wikimedia Commons
The first decapitated queen in British history
On the morning of May 19, 1536, Anne Boleyn, the second queen of Henry VIII of England and the mother of the future Queen Elizabeth I, gave a speech inside the walls of the Tower of London. In her last speech during her lifetime, she "highly praised the kindness of her former husband, King Henry VIII of England", and hoped that he would treat their daughter Elizabeth kindly. After the speech, she took off her exquisite mink-trimmed robe, calmly knelt down, and put her head on the guillotine specially built for her. Behind her is a professional executioner from France. This is the man Henry VIII hired from across the Strait at a high price, in order to ask him to cleanly relieve the pain of his former queen Anne Boleyn.
The above scene was the execution of Anne Boleyn, the first queen in British history to be guillotined. For modern people familiar with history, the death of Anne Boleyn is full of mysteries. First of all, in order to marry her, King Henry VIII of England not only abandoned his married wife, Catherine of Aragon, who had been married for nearly 24 years, but even led Britain on the road of religious reform. However, after only three years of marriage, he wanted to marry her husband at all costs, so she was sent to the guillotine by all means.
What happened behind this? Did Anne Boleyn die unfairly, or did she die? In fact, to this day, historians cannot agree on the cause of Anne Boleyn’s death. At that time, Henry VIII, who liked the new and hated the old, really did not love Anne Boleyn at all, and wanted to divorce her? Or in other words, Anne Boleyn was really guilty of death—she was not only unfaithful to Henry VIII, but even conspired to subvert his rule.
In this article, Ji Yijun wants to work with you to find out through historical data that Henry VIII sent his second wife Anne Boleyn to the Tower of London (prison) and put on the guillotine (execution) ) Possible reasons.
Anne Bolling in the Tower of London, source: Wikimedia Commons
Anne Bolling’s countdown
On Sunday, April 30, 1536, Queen Anne Boleyn's queen musician Mark Smeton (hereinafter referred to as Smeton) was arrested and interrogated at Cromwell's house in Stepney. On the same evening, Henry VIII changed his itinerary with Anne Boleyn and postponed their scheduled trip to Calais on May 2. On May 1, Smeton was transferred to the Tower of London.
And almost at the same time, Henry VIII, who was attending the event in Greenwich, suddenly left on horseback with a group of henchmen. Among the confidants who followed Henry VIII on horseback included Sir Henry Norris (hereinafter referred to as Norris), one of Henry VIII's most trusted private officials. Along the way, Henry VIII was talking with Norris. At dawn the next day (May 2), Norris was also imprisoned in the Tower of London, and Anne Boleyn and her brother Lord George Rockford were also arrested.
On May 4th and 5th, many courtiers of Henry VIII-including William Brileyton, Richard Page, Francis Weston, Thomas Wyatt and Francis Bu Ryan (all of the above, hereinafter referred to as surnames) and others-were all arrested. After that, except for Bryan who was released after being interrogated, everyone else was locked up in the Tower of London. On May 10, a grand jury againAll detainees except Page and Wyatt were prosecuted. On May 12, Smeighton, Brileyton, Weston and Norris were tried and convicted of committing adultery with the queen and conspiring to murder the king.
On May 15th, Anne Boleyn accepted a trial hosted by his uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, and participated by 26 British nobles in the Tower of London. In the end, she was convicted of treason. On May 17, the British Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (hereinafter referred to as Cranmer) declared the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn invalid. On May 19th, Anne Boleyn was executed. Later that same day, Cranmer issued a charter permitting Henry VIII and Jane Seymour to marry. So, on May 20, just before Anne Boleyn's bones were cold, the two got engaged, and the wedding was held 10 days later.
Portrait of Jane Seymour, source: Wikimedia Commons
The unfaithful queen who is dead?
Both now and then, all of the above happened too quickly. In less than 20 days, Anne Boleyn fell from the Queen of England and eventually fell into hell. How to explain this rapid and surprising change? Ji Yijun discovered such a point when searching for information. This view was put forward by George Bernard, a biographer of Anne Boleyn and a scholar of British history. Simply put, he believed that Anne Boleyn was more than dead. However, Ji Yijun also found that the reason given by this person was ambiguous. He simply said that although the document convicting Anne Boleyn "cannot prove to be accurate", it does not allow the whole case to happen. Reverse: Although the evidence at the time was insufficient to clearly prove that Anne Boleyn and those accused were guilty, it did not prove that they were innocent.
In addition, Ji Yijun also discovered that, from historical data, the charge of Anne Boleyn's infidelity mentioned by Henry VIII was not a catch, because there are many facts about Anne Boleyn's unfaithfulness. Controversial facts.
For example, Ji Yijun has found a statement that can be regarded as the most official: Thomas Cromwell (hereinafter referred to as Thomas), who was behind the death of Anne Boleyn, once said The letter to the Bishop of Winchester, Stephen Gardiner, clearly stated: "The queen's infidelity to the king is so obvious that the close maid beside her can't help her to conceal it."
Then For example, the first person arrested, Smeton, once confessed that he had had relations with the queen three times. Although many people thought that this might be a result of his torture, he never changed his confession until his death. Although Smeton's confession was suspected of being a trick or even false accusation, it still pushed the ensuing investigation at that time to a very serious point.
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, source: Wikimedia Commons
Although the trial documents of the year have been invalidated, the details from it In the indictment, many people still cannot imagine that this is completely fabricated. Eric Ives, another biographer of Anne Boleyn, specifically pointed out that although three-quarters of the specific allegations of infidelity against Anne Boleyn in this indictment are not credible Yes, but even after nearly 500 years, we still cannot deny the remaining quarter.
Details in diplomatic activities
An incident that happened in April 1536 showed that, just a few weeks before Anne Boleyn was executed, Henry VIII still loved his queen. . In the early months of 1536, King Henry VIII of England continuously put pressure on the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the King of Spain, and Charles V, who was influential in continental Europe and the Holy See, hoping that he would recognize Anne Bo Lin is his legal wife.
According to records, on April 18th, Henry VIII invited Charles V’s ambassador Joe Pis to participate in the event. It is reported that the activities on that day are carefully arranged: after Jobis attended Mass, when Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn walked from the royal bench to the church, Anne Boleyn would stop.Come down and bow to Jobis.
At this time, according to etiquette, Jobis must also return to Anne Bolin. At the time, this was definitely a very important diplomatic event. Because Jobis's return to Anne Boleyn showed that he had admitted that Anne Boleyn was the Queen of England. Now that the ambassador of Charles V has recognized Anne Boleyn's status, isn't it a matter of time for Charles V to nod himself? Ji Yijun believes that this may be the purpose of Henry VIII's careful preparation of this event. From this incident, we can see that Henry VIII at the time still wanted the whole of Europe to recognize Anne Boleyn’s status as the palace.
Henry VIII, picture source: IC photo
Is there such a mountain?
While searching for information, Ji Yijun found an interesting private diary. This is the French ambassador’s secretary Lancelot de Carles (hereinafter referred to as Carles) in 1536. Written by Yue, not long after Anne Boleyn died. In this diary, the secretary mentioned that when Anne Boleyn's maid Elizabeth Brown was accused of debauchery, she actually refused to plead guilty and said that "compared to the queen, my crime is insignificant." Later, these words reached Thomas, and he immediately reported them to Henry VIII. According to legend, Henry VIII's face turned pale after hearing Thomas's narration. In the end, after Thomas' repeated request, Henry VIII reluctantly ordered him to investigate the queen.
Although Carles’ record in this regard is consistent with Thomas’s restatement of the incident, Ji Yijun believes that the more critical information in this secretary’s diary lies in the following: According to the record, at that time, Henry VIII told Thomas: "If I find that you are suspected of fabricating evidence and framing the queen, then I will directly put you to death." This point was not mentioned by Thomas. However, from the secretary's supplement, we can also speculate that Thomas at the time should indeed find some hard evidence.
Thomas Cromwell, "the man who caused the queen to be killed," source: Wikimedia Commons
Anne Bolin
once again sorted out the death of Anne Bolin through historical materials, Ji Yijun discovered that in addition to being unfaithful to the king, Anne Bolin was also charged with another serious crime—— The crime of secretly murdering the king, or treason. According to the law at the time, although the crime of infidelity to the king is unforgivable, it has nothing to do with the crime of treason. So the question is, why was Anne Boleyn charged with such a crime?
After understanding the story behind this, Ji Yijun discovered that Anne Boleyn was a curse. According to legend, in a conversation (or seduction) between Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII's confidant Norris, Anne Boleyn once said: "If I want to, I can destroy him."
When talking to Henry VIII's confidant, who else can Anne Boleyn's "he" refer to? Most people will think of Henry VIII. Moreover, even if the "he" in Anne Boleyn's mouth was not Henry VIII, how would he feel when this sentence reached Henry VIII's ears?
In addition, Ji Yijun also found that in the "Treason Act" promulgated in 1534, the British believed that even imagining the death of the king was regarded as an act of treason (this is simply the British version of slander and resentment. ). So, Anne Boleyn was really a disaster this time. Ji Yijun even speculated that perhaps this sentence, intentional or unintentional, eventually led to her being guillotined by Henry VIII.
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This article is a historical original translation, the main reference materials are "Henry VIII", "The Queen Anne Boleyn", "History of England", etc. Please indicate the source for reprinting! If you think the content of the translation is OK, can you click to add [Follow]?
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