The most notorious and infamous king ever to rule over England is Henry VIII.
He’s remembered today for his six wives and failed relationships, which resulted in
two of them going to the executioners block inside the walls of the Tower of London.
During his reign, 70,000 people would be executed in England, a huge number which equates to
around 3% of the total population of the country.
Anyone who dared to cross Henry VIII usually ended up imprisoned and then executed in a
number of barbaric ways, accused of treason.
The most influential of Henry VIII’s wives who changed the face of English History forever
was Anne Boleyn, his second wife.
Henry’s need to annul his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon plunged England into
great religious turmoil, and the scandal caused by the King and Anne’s relationship caused
chaos across the country.
But Anne herself met a very bloody downfall, and was wrapped in a web of treason, deceit
and adultery accused of sleeping with a number of other men including her own brother.
The story of Anne’s execution is well told, but what about those men who were executed
for their involvement with Henry VIII’s Queen?
Join us today as we look at the Boleyn Scandal Executions.
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Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were married in very controversial fashion.
The Pope would not grant the King the divorce from Catherine of Aragon that Henry greatly
wished for, and Anne would refused to take to the King’s bed before the King’s great
matter was resolved.
Henry decided to consult with Scholars and he took their advice which was that no-one
was above the King with regards to matters involving his own country.
With this, Henry disregarded the Pope, and decided that he would split from Rome and
declare himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England and he then issued legislation
around this.
This caused chaos with Europe, and Henry feared a great Catholic invasion of his country from
Spain and the Holy Roman Empire.
But Henry’s quest for a second wife was wrapped in the belief that he thought Anne
Boleyn could provide him with a male heir, and she captivated him with seduction and
her personality.
Anne was made Queen, and then she gave birth to a daughter Elizabeth, but Anne’s downfall
was caused by the fact she could not provide the male heir that Henry greatly wanted.
Anne continued to miscarry and frustrate the King, and she knew by 1535 that she was in
danger if she could not provide Henry with the son he wished for.
Anne Boleyn in her final pregnancy was greatly stressed as Henry VIII had a terrible accident
on the tiltyard following a house that led to him being knocked out for hours.
Some believe this changed the king’s life and he had a severe brain injury because of
this.
Anne’s final pregnancy ended in tragedy, as she miscarried a child that many believed
was a son.
Henry’s attention and desires shifted to Jane Seymour, who would go on to give birth
to Henry’s successor, Edward VI.
It was Thomas Cromwell, who became the man tasked with finding the King a way out of
his marriage with Anne Boleyn, and Cromwell engineered a web of lies against her that
resulted in Anne being accused of adultery, incest and treason.
These were all false charges and the evidence for these was manufactured by Cromwell, and
Anne Boleyn was arrested.
She was imprisoned at the Tower of London and then placed on trial, but there were 5
men who were accused of having intimidate relations with Henry VIII’s Queen.
One of the most shocking allegations made against Anne Boleyn was incest, and one of
the 5 men accused of sleeping with her was George Boleyn, her brother.
George himself was a courtier and played a prominent role in Tudor politics in the early
1530s.
He was introduced to Henry VIII’s court at the age of 10, and he impressed the King
and became a pageboy to the King.
As he grew older, he became Henry VIII’s ‘Esquire to the Body,’ which meant George
Boleyn was responsible for dressing the King, and he then became the Master of the Hounds
in 1528, and planned the royal hunting parties.
He was friends with a number of other prominent courtiers, and was well linked at court.
But George as he was close with his sister, and as they had a close relationship was framed
for allegedly sleeping with his sister, a scandalous accusation that would ruin the
Boleyn family.
George was charged with adultery with his sister, and also treason against the King
being charged with plotting to kill Henry VIII and was arrested on the 2nd May 1536.
George stood trial a few hours after his sister Anne on the 15th May, and the pair were tried
away from the other men accused.
Anne was found guilty, and because of this, George’s sentence was also obviously going
to be guilty.
The charge against him did not fail, and despite there being no evidence of a relationship
between he and his sister the Queen, the judges at his trial believed this to have occurred
and George was sentenced to death.
At court, most people believed George’s innocence, but he was found guilty and was
sentenced to death.
It was initially said that he would be hanged, drawn and quartered but because of his service
to the King, this was changed to a more straight forward beheading.
He went to the executioners block on Tower Hill on the 17th May 1536 along with 4 other
men who themselves were sentenced to death for their involvement with the King.
On the scaffold, George made a long speech showing his skills as a public speaker, and
the crowd silently listened to his every word, where he talked about religion and a need
for change.
He didn’t admit any guilt, but asked God for forgiveness before he gave his neck over
to the executioner.
George was executed two days before Anne Boleyn was.
Henry Norris was another one of those 5 who stood opposite George Boleyn on Tower Hill.
He was the Groom of the Stool in Henry VIII’s Privy Chamber, a close servant of the King
and one who would be in charge of tending to the King’s bowel movements.
He was a very good friend of Henry VIII and was given a number of different jobs.
Norris was one of Henry’s closest friends, and was also given a number of castles for
his loyalty, but he was close also with Anne Boleyn and because of this he was targeted
by Cromwell for the downfall of Anne.
He was found guilty of treason and adultery and was sentenced to be hanged drawn and quartered,
but like George’s sentence this was later commuted to beheading.
Norris refused to talk about his guilt on the scaffold as he did not want to risk further
punishment for himself or his family, and he was very quiet when he faced the executioner’s
axe.
Later Queen Elizabeth I would talk of Norris’ loyalty and said that he died protecting her
mother’s innocence in the scandal.
Mark Smeaton inside of Henry VIII’s court was a budding musician and he was just a young
man of around 23 when he was executed.
He was a skilled musician and singer, and was known to have been very dashing and handsome
at court.
He played the lute, viola and other instruments and was a talented dancer and would often
dance with women at court.
He was lowly of birth, and never was in the close circles of the boleyns, but was told
off once by Anne for the way he spoke to her.
Whilst in her chamber, Mark Smeaton played music for Anne and she talked to him about
her sadness, and with this small and seemingly insignificant conversation, it was used as
ammunition by Cromwell to accuse Anne.
Smeaton was accused like the others of adultery and was tortured with a knotted cord being
pulled around his eyes.
He was sent to the Tower of London and the fact he spent large amounts of money before
his arrest attracted further suspicion.
This was viewed by Cromwell as Anne Boleyn rewarding him for his services and he claimed
that this was paid for sexual favours.
Smeaton whilst held inside the Tower was tortured using the rack, and he then confessed to being
the Queen’s lover.
The evidence behind this was false, and Smeaton also gave his guards the names of the 4 men
who also slept with the Queen, and these were the 4 other men executed.
He was led to his execution with great controversy, as the crowd were disgusted that the Queen
could have slept with a man of so low status.
He said on the scaffold, ‘Masters I pray you all pray for me, for I have deserved the
death.’
He was beheaded and was not drawn or quartered, the sentence of treason for a commoner.
Interestingly Bloody Mary I, the eldest child of Henry VIII believed Elizabeth I her half
sister was the daughter of Mark Smeaton, and she helped to perpetuate rumours further about
this.
William Brereton was another Groom of the Privy chamber, and he was also married to
the daughter of the 1st Earl of Worcester.
The King liked him, and he was given royal land in Cheshire and the Welsh Marches which
brought him a large income each year making him very wealthy.
In May 1536, Brereton was accused of sleeping with Anne Boleyn, and Anne allegedly solicited
him on the 16th November 1533, and it was said that 11 days later further relations
occurred.
It was considered that Brereton’s work in the Welsh Marches saw him linked to the conspiracy
to eliminate his power, and he was found guilty and was beheadedc.
Before his execution, he said ‘the cause whereof I die, judge not.
But if you judge, Judge best,’ stating that he was truly innocent.
The final man sentenced to death for the Boleyn scandal was Sir Frances Weston.
He too was executed for adultery and high treason, and was a gentleman of the privy
chamber.
He was a rather sporty man and even beat Henry VIII at tennis and bowls, and he was good
friends with Henry.
Thomas Cromwell investigated Anne Boleyn’s ladies in waiting to find out dirt about her
and Anne had told off Francis Weston for flirting with Madge Shelton, who was betrothed to another
man at court Henry Norris who was also executed.
Francis was tied to the plot and despite being just 25 he was sentenced to death for adultery
behind the King’s back.
His father tried all he could to get his son spared, even offering the whole finances of
the family to gain a pardon, but Henry VIII refused to do this.
He was beheaded along with the other men on Tower Hill on the 17th May 1536.
All of the men who died along with Anne Boleyn for the charges that the Queen faced, were
murdered practically.
It’s considered that there was no valid evidence for their execution, and that Cromwell
invented much of the claims to gain further favour with Henry VIII.
Cromwell was the architect of Anne Boleyn’s downfall, and with this came the execution
of 5 innocent members of the King’s court, some of whom were very close with Henry VIII.
All of the charges were false, and the men paid the ultimate price being murdered by
an axeman who would be performing the wishes of Cromwell.
Anne too was beheaded, but she was given the decency of a private execution within the
walls of the Tower of London on Tower Green, where Cromwell himself would witness her beheading.
In one swift blow a French swordsman struck off her head.
But there was not just 1 victim of Anne’s execution, there were many including the men
sentenced to death with her and her daughter, the woman who later became the greatest Tudor
Monarch of them all, Elizabeth I.
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