Anne Boleyn, the Second wife of King Henry VIII made her way to the executioners scaffold
inside of the Tower of London.
She had been found guilty of treason and adultery, as Thomas Cromwell had spun a web of lies
that saw her condemned to death.
The men accused of sleeping with Anne Boleyn were executed on Tower Hill, but Anne being
a Queen was allowed a private execution inside the Tower’s wall.
She was not the most liked Queen that England has ever had, but she stole the King’s eye
away from his first wife Catherine of Aragon.
This made many women think she was a home wrecker.
Henry VIII it’s believed had impregnanted Anne when the pair married, and there is still
a huge amount that we do not know about Anne.
After her death, the King sought to erase her from history, and the royal paintings
were whitewashed and thrown away, and her symbols were erased from the royal palaces.
Following her death, there were a number of questions about Anne, and some rumours came
to the forefront which were rather disparaging about her.
But one which was very interesting was the question as to what happened to Anne Boleyn’s
heart following her death.
The Tudors had a tradition or a ritual in a sense, in which very important people had
their vital organs, hearts and also entrails removed after death during the embalming process.
But what is the story of the missing heart of Anne Boleyn?
On the 19th May 1536, the Second wife of Henry VIII was being imprisoned inside her rooms
at the Tower of London which following her trial had been her prison.
The place she once awaited her coronation was where she would lose her head.
But the reality behind the execution of Anne was that needed getting rid of as the King
was lusting after and already courting Jane Seymour one of her ladies in waiting.
Jane would become the third wife of the King, and she did eventually give him the son that
Anne could not provide him.
Cromwell came up with a number of charges, and with this he asked a number of women to
attend upon the Queen to provide Cromwell with information to provide the judges with.
Anne was sentenced to death in the trial that took place at the Tower of London, and an
executioner was then summoned from France to perform her execution.
The Sword of Calais was the anonymous executioner who used a sword to take Anne’s head from
her body.
It was considered more reliable as a method of execution as opposed to using the commoner’s
axe.
The sword was considered the cleaner method of execution and Henry VIII despite the fact
he now despised his wife, wanted her to have a death which would not go wrong.
Anne was told on the morning of her execution that she was to die that day, and then she
was taken from her lodgings on the short walk to the executioner’s scaffold.
She was dressed in a red petticoat and with her were two female ladies in waiting that
had remained with her in her final days at the Tower.
She walked from the Queen’s House or the Cold Harbour Tower, around the White Tower
in front of a crowd of around 200 witnesses.
Witnesses saw that she was not wailing and screaming, but instead was solemn, and it’s
believed had come to terms with her death whilst held inside of the fortress that is
the Tower.
She was helped up the stairs of the scaffold, and then she addressed the crowd and made
a long speech to the King’s advisors who were there.
She stated that, ‘‘‘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.’
One of those who was there to witness the execution was Thomas Cromwell, the very man
who had been the architect of her downfall and execution.
But also there was the King’s illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy who had been sent to the
Tower to see the death of Henry’s second wife.
On the scaffold she made her final preparations, and Anne removed her headdress and tucked
her hair under a coif and then said goodbye to her ladies.
She said a few final prayers and gave the executioner a bag of gold coins to make sure
that the execution was performed swiftly.
The swordsman got himself ready, and he had hidden his sword from view.
Anne was knelt down with a blindfold around her eyes, and the executioner then raised
his sword to the crowd, a huge executioners sword and the crowd gasped.
He then removed his shoes and signalled to the executioner’s assistant to make a noise,
and then with this Anne looked towards the assistant.
The executioner then quickly and sharply swung his sword and Anne’s head was taken off
in one blow.
As was customary for traitors, usually the head would be showed to the crowd but this
did not happen.
The executioner grabbed her gown and left the scaffold whilst her ladies were picking
her remains up into an oak chest which held bow staves.
Across England Anne Boleyn was mounted by a few, but other’s considered she was a
witch who had stolen the heart of the King.
However the fact that a Queen of England was executed by her husband inside the Tower in
such a brutal manner did not sit well with many, and even across Europe people heard
of Henry VIII’s evil and notorious reputation.
After her death the King ordered a complete erasing of Anne from history, and all portraits
of her were destroyed and were whitewashed, and her insignias were removed even from the
ceiling of Hampton Court Palace.
But then a rumour emerged about Anne Boleyn’s heart, and what happened to this after her
execution.
During the Tudor Period it was common for high profile people such as Kings and Queens
to have their hearts removed and then buried in different places to their bodies.
This was even common during the Victorian period, as writer Thomas Hardy had his heart
buried in a different location to his body.
Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour after her death at Hampton Court had her heart removed
and this was then buried separately under the high altar of the Chapel Royal at the
palace, whilst her remains were buried in a vault in St George’s Chapel in Windsor
Castle.
But after her execution, there were stories about Anne Boleyn’s heart being removed
following it’s burial inside the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula.
Some people believed that her remains were taken elsewhere and were buried away from
the site of her execution.
Anne and the Boleyn’s had strong links to Suffolk and Norfolk in England, and many thought
that her body would be taken there once released to her family, and that they would be buried
somewhere close to the Boleyn family’s seat of power, or somewhere significant to her.
But the question as to what happened to Anne Boleyn’s heart was very interesting.
It was believed by some that Anne Boleyn’s heart was removed from her body after her
execution, and that this was then taken from the Tower of London and was then buried inside
St Mary’s Church in Erwarton in Suffolk.
It was believed that Anne had told her ladies that her heart should be buried in this exact
place after her death, as her heart remained close to the place she loved spending time.
This rumour emerged during the Tudor Period, and her uncle Sir Philip Colthorpe who married
Anne’s Aunt had actually owned the Tudor mansion that stood near to the church.
So Anne as a young girl had spent a lot of time there, and she loved playing and relaxing
in the land owned by her uncle.
It was said she was the happiest when she was at this Tudor house, and that this is
why her heart was to stay there.
However after her execution, lots of people believed that her heart was taken and was
then interred in this church in Suffolk.
It would have had to have been taken from the Tower of London, as it’s unlikely the
King would never have given permission for this.
There could also be an element of truth in this, as in the 19th century the Church had
some work completed on renovations.
It was then said that underneath the organ, a small heart shaped lead casket was found,
and inside of this box was a lot of dust.
It was believed that this in fact could have been the decaying matter of Anne Boleyn’s
heart.
Some historians doubt the authenticity of this, as Henry VIII took great steps to make
sure that Anne Boleyn was wiped from history, but many of the locals believe that Anne Boleyn’s
heart was removed.
During the Victorian times, Anne Boleyn’s remains were discovered, and it was found
that these were the Queen’s remains as the body had suffered a beheading.
But interesting there was no record of her heart being found as this would have disintegrated
a long time ago, meaning that it was possible that the heart could have been moved.
It could have been taken by people sympathetic to Anne, and there were a number who backed
her.
But today inside the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, the remains of Anne Boleyn are laid
to rest, and it is a poignant burial next to the place where the Second wife of Henry
VIII lost her head.
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