One of the most shocking moments during the Tudor period was when Henry VIII’s second
wife Anne Boleyn was executed on Tower Green.
She had been accused of incest, adultery and treason against her husband the King.
But alongside Anne 5 other men were executed and killed on Tower Hill for allegedly having
intimate relations with the Queen.
Of the men executed for this, the most shocking man to go to his death on Tower Hill was George
Boleyn, Viscount Rochford who was of course the brother of Queen Anne Boleyn.
George is seen as a man who was falsely accused of his crimes alongside his sister, and with
this his execution took the country by surprise.
He was a well liked member of court, but ultimately his head was taken clean off by an axe.
Join us today as we look at the horrific execution of George Boleyn, and remember to support
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George Boleyn was the son of Sir Thomas Boleyn and his wife Lady Elizabeth Howard.
The Boleyn’s and the Howards had rich history inside of Norfolk, and they were considered
prominent landowners.
Her father was a member of Henry VII and Henry VIII’s royal court, but his most famous
sibling was Anne.
George was the youngest child, and his eldest sister Mary later became the King’s mistress.
It was planned for George to have a career as a politician and a courtier, and with this
it was hoped that his position as close to the monarch could guarantee power and influence
for the Boleyn family.
It was hoped that the Boleyn girls would marry men who were powerful to do this also, but
the plan was for George to become close to the King.
George at the age of 10 came to Henry VIII’s court, and he then was seen a number of times
throughout his early times.
He attended a number of other events, and because of the Boleyn’s influence, Henry
VIII was impressed with George Boleyn and he became one of the King’s pageboys.
George was then given a brilliant education and he learned many different languages, and
his two sisters were educated abroad but George stayed at home.
He was an intelligent child, and it’s believed he also went to Oxford University.
Around the year 1524 he married Jane Parker who then became known as Jane Boleyn.
Money was allocated to the couple by the King to help live on, and we don’t really know
how happy the marriage was.
There is some debate that the marriage was rather unhappy, and there is an old rumour
that states that Jane Boleyn later had a role in her husband’s death and testified against
him, accusing him of actually sleeping with his sister.
The couple did not have a child, but George was known as a womaniser which must have upset
his wife.
He had a great wit and humour like his sister Anne, and he was very good looking and many
at court disliked his arrogance.
George was given a grant of many houses in Kent, and he received further land and houses
from the King.
He was a big favourite of Henry VIII, and regularly benefitted from payment from the
King.
He bet Henry money and the pair played bowls and tennis together, and they gambled a lot.
In 1525 he became a gentleman of the privy chamber and was a close attendant of the King.
George later lost his position, due to Cardinal Wolsey fearing his influence, but when Anne
Boleyn came to England and the royal court, Henry’s attention was captured.
Anne, George’s sister quickly caught the King’s eyes, and with this George also rose
to prominence.
When the King did marry Anne Boleyn after annulling his marriage to Catherine of Aragon,
George continued to rise alongside his sister the now Queen.
He later became the Esquire of the Body and the Master of the Buckhounds, and further
money was given to him.
He was then knighted in late 1529, and he was then bestowed the title of Viscount Rochford
and he began to work as an ambassador.
He was just only 25 at this time, and Anne’s influence gained him this job.
He also had a good relationship with King Francis I of France, and he attended the country
a number of times, and George later told the French King of Anne and Henry VIII’s marriage.
George was successful as he managed to persuade the French King to try and appease the pope,
but this was ultimately not worth it and Henry VIII was excommunicated.
He was also present when his niece Princess Elizabeth was christened and he carried the
canopy over the young girl during this.
He continued to travel to France and other countries, and he was also a skilled poet
and writer.
He was relied on by Henry VIII in terms of law also and he acted as a commissioner with
Sir Thomas More when Carthusian Monks were sentenced to death, and he witnessed their
grisly executions.
But around 1536, Anne Boleyn was beginning to frustrate the King.
She miscarried what many believed was a son that Henry VIII greatly wanted and wished
for, and the King then began to become infatuated with Jane Seymour a lady in waiting to his
wife the Queen.
To sort out the problem of Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cromwell was tasked with coming up with a
plot and a scheme to get Henry VIII out of his marriage.
With this Cromwell spun a web of deceit and lies that saw Anne accused of adultery with
5 other men, including her own brother George.
It’s believed George was implicated and accused in this to bring the downfall of the
powerful courtier, and Henry VIII gave instruction to investigate these claims.
George Boleyn along with his sister the Queen was arrested on the 2nd May 1536, and along
with Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, Sir William Bremerton and Mark Smeaton were
accused of the audacious crimes.
The four others were tried on the 12th May, but only Smeaton confessed under torture and
because of this all four of the men were found guilty and were sentenced to death.
Because of these earlier convictions, Anne was pre-judged and was deemed guilty whilst
she was held inside of the Tower of London.
George Boleyn stood trial a few hours before his sister on the 15th May, and he was also
pre-judged to be guilty.
He could not defend himself, and many witnessed the trial and believed he would be acquitted,
but there was no evidence of incest between George and his sister the Queen.
The only thing was that he had spent a lot of his time with his sister, and George was
then executed on the basis of presumption that the pair must have done something in
this time, which is preposterous.
None of the evidence in the trials makes mention of George’s wife providing evidence which
accused him and Anne Boleyn, but as mentioned a rumour did arise around this.
It has been stated that Jane Boleyn may have testified against her husband, but this isn’t
known.
It’s more likely that Cromwell wanted to bring about George’s execution himself to
knock all the Boleyn’s out of power.
Irrespective of the evidence, George Boleyn was found guilty of incest, adultery and treason
alongside his sister Anne and was sentenced to be hanged drawn and quartered.
But his sentence was commuted to beheading, and he arranged his affairs to try and settle
debts before he died.
He begged the Constable of the Tower of London where he was kept to sort this for him.
However on the Morning of the 17th May 1526, two days after he had been condemned George
Boleyn was taken out of his cell at the Tower and was forced to go on the short walk to
Tower Hill.
He was guarded heavily, and when he got to the Scaffold he made a speech to the huge
crowd.
His Speech was very long, and he was clearly a talented speaker, and the crowd who witnessed
the execution were silent.
He said, ‘“Christian men, I am born under the law, and judged under the law, and die
under the law, and the law hath condemned me.
Masters all, I am not come hither for to preach, but for to die, for I have deserved to died
if had 20 lives, more shamefully than can be devised, for I am a wretched sinner, and
I have sinned shamefully.
I have known no man so evil, and to rehearse my sins openly it were no pleasure to you
to hear them, nor yet for me to rehearse them, for God knoweth all.
Therefore, masters all, I pray you take heed by me, and especially my lords and gentlemen
of the court, the which I have been among, take heed by me and beware of such a fall.
And I pray to God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, three persons and one God,
that my death may be an example to you all.
And beware, trust not in the vanity of the world, and especially in the flattering of
the court.
And I cry God mercy, and ask all the world forgiveness, as willingly as I would have
forgiveness of God; and if I have offended any man that is not here how, either in thought,
word or deed, and if you hear any such, I pray you heartily on my behalf, pray them
to forgive me for God’s sake.
And yet, my masters all, I have one thing for to say to you, men do come and say that
I have been a setter forth of the word of God, and one that have favoured the Gospel
of Christ; and because I would not that God’s word should be slandered by me, I say unto
you all, that if I had followed God’s word in deed as I did read it and set it forth
to my power, I had not come to this.
I did read the Gospel of Christ, but I did not follow it; if I had, I had been a living
man among you: therefore I pray you, masters all, for God’s sake stick to the truth and
follow it, for one good follower is worth three readers, as God knoweth.”
He then gave his neck to the executioner, and in one swift blow, George Boleyn’s head
was taken off in front of the large crowd.
Today he is considered a man who was falsely accused of sleeping with Henry VIII’s Queen,
and his sister and he is a man who is seen as a victim of Cromwell’s lies and deceit.
He was no angel himself, and he treated people poorly, but he was ultimately a man who incurred
the wrath of Henry VIII.
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