On the 19th May 1536, Anne Boleyn the Queen of England and the second wife of King Henry
VIII walked out in front of a crowd calmly at the Tower of London.
Anne had forced the King’s hand years before, leading him to split from Rome as the Pope
would not grant him the divorce or annulment he needed to marry Anne.
But within just 3 years of her coronation, Anne was executed on the Scaffold.
Following her death, her remains were picked up her her ladies, a number of them who stayed
with her during her death, and were placed inside an oak chest which once held bow staves.
After this, the headless body was taken into the Tower’s chapel a short distance away
where it was buried.
But there was a significant mystery about the man who struck off the Queens head.
The executioner who took Anne Boleyn’s life was an expert, and was considered one of the
greatest executioners and swordsman across Europe, and he was even summoned from France
to execute the Queen.
But he was referred to only as ‘The Sword of Calais,’ and today he remains a mysterious
figure.
But what do we know about him?
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The man who executed Anne Boleyn was considered ‘a first class executioner and an expert
in the use of the heavy continental executioner’s sword which could cut the head off a prisoner
who was kneeling upright, in place of the clumsier English axe needing the prisoners
chin on the block.’
When Cromwell orchestrated the downfall of Anne Boleyn, and when the sentence of death
was passed, Henry VIII had a dilemma as how he could take the life of his wife.
For centuries, the Axe was used in executions to take the lives of the condemned.
But the Axe was considered a rather unreliable method of execution, as things could go wrong
and it often took more than one swing of the axe to take a life.
Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury took many swings of the axe and this still didn’t
kill her, also Mary Queen of Scots took two swings of the axe, and still her head had
not come off.
Usually executions at Tower Hill used the axe, and some of these throughout history
were rather poorly done, for example James Scott the Duke of Monmouth’s death was performed
so badly that the executioner Jack Ketch almost incited a riot and ended up on the block himself.
Because of the reliability of the axe, Henry VIII summoned a continental European executioner
to do the job.
He wanted Anne to die with some dignity and to now encounter problems with the reliability
of the man performing the job.
Execution by sword was seen as a quicker method of execution too and the executioners sword
if sharp enough and swung quick enough could result in a quick and rapid execution.
England at the time did not have its own swordsman as the axe was preferred and Cromwell sent
to France where executions of the nobility were performed using sword and Calais at the
time was the last piece of English territory on the continent.
It’s the city for certain where the executioner would have departed from to begin his voyage
to England.
Sir William Kingston, the constable of the Tower of London wrote to Cromwell about the
execution, and he said ‘I am very glad to hear of the executor of calais, for he can
handle that matter.’
There was another account which does cast doubt on the executioner being from Calais,
as Mary of Hungary wrote, ‘I hope the English will not do much against us now, as we are
free from his lady Anne Boleyn, who was a good Frenchwoman.
That the vengeance might be executed by the Emperor’s subjects, he sent for the executioner
of St Omer as there were none in England good enough.’
Some historians believe the executioner was from Calais but may also have been in St Omer
where he performed his bloody job also.
But the Sword of Calais’ reputation spread even to Anne Boleyn who was recorded to have
said that she heard the executioner was very good, and she claimed she had a little neck
that would be of no trouble for him at all ensuring she had a quick and clean death.
Execution by sword was used across Europe for those of high birth, so maybe Henry VIII
got his inspiration for Anne’s execution from the continent in this regard.
The exact name of the executioner is not known, and it would be somehow possible to find out
who this was as the local records of Calais from the 16th century must contain information
regarding executioners who worked using sword at the time.
But it’s not known what his name is, or when he was born and this is because of the
disguise element that many executioners used over the centuries.
Even during high profile executions, many executioners would prefer to remain anonymous,
for example during the execution of King Charles I, it was very difficult for Parliament to
find a man who would take the life of the King, a man many believed was sent from God
to rule England.
But the man who took the job did so in such disguise that still today his identity is
debated.
After arriving from Calais, the executioner would have made the short journey towards
the Tower of London and he may even have been put up inside of the Tower whilst final preparations
were made for Anne Boelyn’s execution.
This means that possibly the executioner and victim were staying within the same walls
in Anne’s final days.
But it is believed that it was merely a day or two before the execution took place that
the Sword of Calais took place.
Anne when she made her way to the scaffold she would have seen the executioner wearing
a hood covering his face, and this was a tradition.
As she came to the scaffold and spoke to the crowd, the executioner would have fell to
his knees and begged for Anne’s forgiveness, that the fact he was taking her life would
not damage his chances of getting into heaven later.
The Sword of Calais was paid by the council and the King to take Anne’s life, but Anne
would also have passed him a purse of coins.
This was to try and make sure in death the Sword did a good job, being given a final
tip before he picked up the sword.
As was different to execution by axe, Anne would have then knelt on the scaffold and
there would have been no block at all.
Before this she did remove her outer gown and her ladies helped her do this.
But the Sword of Calais would perform one final act of Kindness towards Anne Boleyn
before he ended her life.
As Anne was on her knees on the scaffold, the executioner called over to his assistant
for his sword, he shouted, ‘Bring me my sword,’ and with this Anne turned her head
to watch the steps of the executioner that she heard behind him.
So she was looking the wrong way, when the executioner unveiled his sword from a pile
of straw which shocked the audience, and whilst Anne was looking the wrong way, expecting
the blade to come from the other way, the executioners sword sung and took her head
clean off.
Anne Boleyn did not see it coming.
Her head was struck off by the executioner in one successful swing of the sharp and heavy
sword.
After Anne’s execution, her ladies collected her head and the executioner did not hold
it up to the crowd which went against tradition.
Usually those deemed traitors had their heads shown to the crowd, but out of respect the
executioner did not do this for the around 200 people who were there to witness.
This could have been out of respect to the fact she was a Queen.
But the executioner then took Anne’s gown which she had took off, and he quickly left
with his sword and his assistant, exiting the Tower of London before Anne was in the
ground.
It was said that 100 crowds were paid to the executioner of calais for his reward and apparel,
the apparel being the gown of Anne Boleyn after the King’s council had agreed to buy
it back.
They wanted to ensure that nothing of Henry VIII’s second wife existed and this is why
they bought it back from the executioner.
But it’s not know what happened to the sword that took Anne Boleyn’s life.
Many executioners lived secret lives, and it’s likely that the sword would have remained
in the executioners home, and when he passed away it may have been sold to a soldier or
noble who wished to use it in battle.
But Anne Boleyn’s execution was one of the most shocking in English History, and it cause
chaos across England with many of her supporters shocked and disgusted that a Queen was executed
on the orders of her husband.
But The Sword of Calais was the man who took the life of the Queen, and much of what is
known about him today remains unknown and a mystery.
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