Henry VIII is most known for his disastrous marriages and the fact he had 6 wives, and
two of them would go to their executions inside the walls of the Tower of London.
Both Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard lost their heads with an executioner showing no
mercy, and carrying out the will of the notorious Tudor King, their husband.
But the executions of Henry’s second and fifth wife could not have been any different,
there were of course some comparisons and today the pair lie close together it’s believed
at rest inside the Tower of London’s chapel, below the altar floor, despite there being
little evidence of Catherine Howard’s remains ever being discovered.
But why were these executions different, and what did they show us about the brutality
of Henry VIII.
Anne Boleyn’s legacy as Queen of England is mostly her daughter, Elizabeth I who became
the greatest Tudor Monarch of them all.
She was considered a Queen who split England completely in two, and this is very different
to Catherine Howard whom much less is known about.
Compared to Anne, Catherine has been mostly forgotten in History, but she was a young
girl who was abused by a number of men in her life, and she was not protected by those
who raised her.
It was Thomas Cromwell who devised the downfall of Anne Boleyn that resulted in her execution,
and Anne was the victim of Cromwell and her husband.
Henry needed to rid himself of Anne, as he was courting Jane Seymour the soon to be third
wife, and Cromwell spun a web of lies that saw her accused of treason, incest and adultery
on the Tudor King.
But this is something that Catherine Howard had in common with Anne, as she too would
be accused of adultery, but her adultery it’s believed was concrete and not a fabrication.
Catherine had been seeing and liaising with Thomas Culpepper, the King’s close friend
and favourite courtier.
But Anne in her trial even and her imprisonment was treated like a Queen, but Catherine Howard
was not.
The second Catherine was arrested she was stripped of everything she had and the title
of Queen.
Following the arrest of Catherine Howard, a law was made that attributed treason to
adultery committed by Queens.
This meant it was treason for a Queen to sleep with someone behind the King’s back, and
to not even disclose their history to the King within 20 days of the marriage.
But Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard would both spend their last few days inside the
Tower of London, but only Anne Boleyn was given a trial and Catherine was not.
Anne had a chance to defend herself, but Catherine didn’t, but Anne’s guilt was pre-determined
before as the men she was accused of plotting and sleeping with had already been condemned
and were executed on Tower Hill.
Anne when she was arrested was at Greenwich palace and was taken by barge down river to
the Tower of London, with the journey taking three hours.
Catherine Howard would also arrive by barge to the Tower of London her place of imprisonment,
as she was taken from Hampton Court there.
She had been manhandled by the King’s guards and shoved onto the vessel that took her to
the Tower and she even passed under the heads of her former lovers which were above London
Bridge.
She was no longer a Queen, and was taken to the Tower via traitor’s gate, the horrific
and infamous entrance and water gate.
Anne never went through traitor’s gate, instead taking the stairs next to it to be
taken into the formidable fortress.
Whilst at the Tower of London, Catherine Howard it’s believed did not necessarily experience
any luxuries, as she was a prisoner like many others there.
But Anne Boleyn was allowed some concessions, showing that of the two Queens, she had the
nicer experience waiting for her execution.
But the first major different in the execution of the two was that Anne Boleyn and Catherine
Howard were executed using different weapons.
Anne Boleyn would be condemned using a sword, and Henry VIII ordered a French swordsman
to come from Calais to perform the job, as it was seen to have been a much more reliable
and straightforward method of execution, as opposed to the axe.
The sword was swift and instant.
Anne maintained her calm on her way to the scaffold which was near to the White Tower,
and at the time she could not see the executioner’s weapon as the sword was hidden out of sight.
Anne was given permission to speak to the crowd, and the small group of witnesses included
Cromwell and Henry VIII’s illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy.
She addressed the crowd saying, ‘‘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 maintained her innocent until the end of her life, and then the executioner took
off his shoes.
It was a very formal sort of execution, and the executioner had continental flair and
a significant degree of skill.
He did this to make sure Anne did not hear him approach.
After being blindfolded, Anne repeated the words, ‘To Jesus Christ I commend my soul,
Lord Jesus receive my soul.’
Then the executioner picked up the sword, and signalled to his assistant to make a noise
to distract the Queen who was now kneeling on the scaffold.
Anne looked towards the assistant, but from the other side, the executioner appeared,
and swung the sword taking her head clean off.
Anne’s ladies then used a linen cloth to cover her head, and they collected her body
in an oak chest meant to Bow staves.
But Catherine Howard was not allowed a swordsman to perform the job, and she was executed using
the commoner’s axe.
The same weapon that murderers would be condemned with in London, and the local executioner
performed her death.
She was held in a prison cell, and was brought the block the night before so she could practice
how to rest her head.
Catherine then was led to the scaffold the following morning, and as she approached she
was not calm, she was terrified and very pale.
She needed helping up there steps, and once on the scaffold she was so weak she could
hardly utter any words.
She did say she deserved a hundred deaths for offending the King, and she told people
to pray for her soul.
Catherine was then also given a blindfold like Anne Boleyn, and then she knelt down
at the block like she had practiced, and the sizeable crowd that had gathered to witness
her execution were shocked.
The executioner swung the axe and in one swift blow her head was separated from her body.
The executioner picked up head of the fifth wife of Henry VIII and showed it to the crowd,
and this did not happen with Anne Boleyn’s execution.
Also with Anne’s execution there was no block.
Another point of intrigue is the scaffold of which they were born executed on.
The scaffold for Anne’s execution was covered in black mourning cloth of velvet, but with
Catherine’s execution there was only straw and hay on the scaffold to soak up her blood.
Neither of the Queens were given a coffin, but Catherine was then buried in a hastily
prepared hole, and it’s believed that quick lime was poured over her body to make her
decay much quicker, hence why there is little evidence of Catherine’s remains today.
But Anne’s remains are different as the Bow chest of oak she was buried in preserved
her remains to the point where they could be identified during the Victorian period.
But the differing executions are very telling when it comes to understanding the impacts
of both Queens, and also how they were both treated.
Anne was given the prestige of being a Queen even in her final moments, as she was given
some dignity in her death, being executed by a professional and by a skilled man on
a scaffold which was very decorated.
She was then buried at the heart of the Tower of London’s chapel, but Catherine Howard’s
execution was very different.
Catherine a woman who had been abused throughout her life was still a Queen, and she deserved
more than she got.
She was executed like a serious criminal on a scaffold covered in hay to soak up her blood,
and also she was treated with significant distain and was simply discarded.
Both of the women though died with courage and were brave at the hands of their husband
who has gone down in history as a tyrannical King of England.
Their treatment was unjust and was horrific, and today both Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard
deserve to be remembered in a better light.
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