The Final Days of Anne Boleyn Pt 5: The Final Hours and Execution of Anne Boleyn

After the execution of her brother and the others, Anne was set to die the next day. Like the others, her sentence had been commuted from a more painful means of execution, as a woman this would have been burning at the stake, to beheading. In his “mercy,” Henry had ordered that the Executioner of Calais be brought to England to perform the execution. This is of note particularly because this French executioner used a sword rather than an axe, which was said to be a cleaner and more precise method of execution. Decapitation by axe could often take several blows before the head was removed. 

As she prepared for death in the early morning hours of May 18, 1536, Anne had asked for her almoner, John Skip, to be summoned to the Tower for her final confession and sacrament of communion. In the presence of Skip as well as the Constable of the Tower, William Kingston, Anne once again professed her innocence of the charges with which she was charged. She did confess to not being as mild a wife as she should have been by the social standards of the day. It was then that she took the sacrament of Holy Communion. The below video, including footage from the second season of the Showtime series The Tudors, dramatizes this confession, which in the clip she makes to Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury. What is interesting to note in the video is that the confession itself uses some of the verbiage from the disputed letter.
 

This confession is significant. Anne would have been keenly aware that her confession would be reported back to at least Thomas Cromwell, the King’s secretary, and perhaps to Henry himself. In declaring her innocence while also submitting to the will of the King, Anne could perhaps secure her daughter’s future. Anne had resigned herself that her own death was imminent and inevitable. However, now that her marriage had been annulled and Elizabeth declared illegitimate, it was important that her paternity be questioned no further. At the beginning of the whole ordeal, there were rumors swirling that Elizabeth was not Henry’s daughter at all. It would have not been enough for her to simply declare her innocence; she must do so in a manner that could be without question. Despite her characterization by the Catholic supporters of Katherine of Aragon, Anne was considered by her own supporters as being particularly pious. To many minds, she would not have declared her innocence in the sight of God before taking Holy Communion if it had been a lie. To do so would have been peril to her soul. 

Anne continued the rest of her morning in prayer and meditation as she readied herself for death. She was scheduled to be executed about 9 in the morning. Shortly before the time of her scheduled execution, Kingston came into her rooms to inform her that the execution had been delayed until later that day. He recorded her response to this delay in a letter to Thomas Cromwell as follows:

“Mr. Kingston, I hear I shall not die afore noon, and I am very sorry therefore, for I thought to be dead by this time and past my pain.” I told her it should be no pain, it was so little. And then she said, "I heard say the executioner was very good, and I have a little neck," and then put her hands about it, laughing heartily. I have seen many men and also women executed, and that they have been in great sorrow, and to my knowledge this lady has much joy in death. Sir, her almoner is continually with her, and had been since two o'clock after midnight.

This goes to the heart of Anne’s mental state on the day before her execution. She was fully prepared to die. 

Yet, her execution would again be postponed until the next day. The Swordsman of Calais had been slowed on his journey and had not yet arrived. There wass also the possibility that further preparations needed to be made for the execution. Henry had decided that Anne’s execution would not take place on Tower Hill where anyone might be present. Instead, she would be executed within the Tower walls on the green. This more private setting would allow the demographics of the crowd to be more closely controlled for it had been decreed that no foreigners should be present. This meant that ambassadors and other dignitaries from Spain and France who were present at Court were not permitted to watch the execution. The delay in the execution would allow the Tower guards to ensure that all of the foreigners had been expelled from the premises.

On the morning of May 19^th, Anne ate breakfast and waited patiently for Master Kingston to arrive to take her to execution. When he arrived at about 8 am to tell her that she should prepare herself, he found that she had already readied herself. Nothing was left to chance in Anne’s choices. She appeared much like she had at her trial. Anne wore a grey damask gown, trimmed with an ermine mantle, a crimson petticoat, and an English gable hood. 

After mounting the scaffold, she was given permission to address the crowd. This would be one of the most important moments of her life. She had to walk a fine line in order to ensure the safety of her daughter, Elizabeth. Anne could not outright proclaim her innocence and risk angering Henry, putting Elizabeth’s well-being at risk. She then gave 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.

Anne finished speaking, and her ladies removed her ermine mantle as she removed her hood and tucked her hair beneath a white cap so that it might not impede the sword. Anne would then pay the executioner’s fee after which he would ask for her forgiveness. It was then that Anne would kneel. There is some disagreement as to whether she was blindfolded or not. Most sources at the time seem to exclude the detail of having been blindfolded. 

As she waited for the blow, Anne prayed “To Jesus Christ I commend my soul; Lord Jesu receive my soul.” The executioner then called out to his assistant to fetch his sword. At this moment, Anne looked to the boy, and the executioner pulled his sword which had been hidden in the straw and struck the final blow, cleanly severing her head in a single, swift motion. 

Her body and head were then wrapped in white cloth and taken to the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula. She would be stripped and placed in an elm chest that had once contained bow staves. It was said that she had been too tall to be placed in the chest with her head atop her neck, so it was reportedly tucked under her arm. She was then buried in an unmarked grave near her brother. 

Those who would later write an account of Anne’s final moments would comment on how calm she was. There were some that remarked that she had never looked more beautiful. She had been composed and showed no fear, except to look back at the executioner in hopes that he would not strike until she had finished.

When looking at the timeline of these events, Anne had been convicted on the 15^th and originally scheduled for execution on the 18^th. This would not have been enough time for a messenger to be dispatched to Calais in order to request the services of this French swordsman. This suggests that the trial had simply been for show and the sentence already determined as the swordsman would have been sent for as early as May 9^th and as late as the 13^th.

For further reading: 

Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England’s Tragic Queen by Joanna Denny