Anne Boleyn has been described as the most important consort that England has ever had.
Her marriage to the infamous King Henry VIII changed the face of the country forever as
she demanded that Henry would annul or divorce his first marriage before she would take to
the King’s bed. Because of this, Henry looked for every way out of his marriage to Catherine
of Aragon and following the Pope’s refusal to grant the annulment, then Henry decided
to split from Rome himself. He tore England away from the Roman Catholic Church, and Henry
declared himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England. He forced the country to accept
him in this position, and those who did not accept it were thrown in prison and sometimes
were even executed. Henry even Executed some of his closest friends because of this.
But despite marrying the King, Anne Boleyn would also meet a bloody end inside the walls
of the Tower of London. On Tower Green on the 19th May 1536, Anne Boleyn walked out
to the scaffold and found herself faced with a French swordsman who would strike off her
head in one swift blow. After her death, her remains were interred inside of the chapel
of st Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London, just behind where the scaffold was placed.
But during the Victorian times, the chapel was renovated and during these works, the
workmen disturbed the resting place of Anne Boleyn and a number of other executed Tudor
figures, and they discovered the body of one of England’s most famous Queens. Join us
today as we look at, ‘Disturbing the Grave of Anne Boleyn at the Tower of London.’
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It was Thomas Cromwell who expertly spun a web of lies and deceit against Anne Boleyn
which resulted in her fall from grace, split from the King and eventually her execution.
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were married in January 1553, but the public did not know
that months previous they had already married inside a secret ceremony. This marriage split
many of Henry’s closest friends and advisors, and it caused a significant strain on the
religion of the nation. With Henry becoming the Supreme Head of the Church and breaking
from Rome, he forced the clergy and his advisors to accept the change, and some people did
not accept this. Thomas More for example could not accept these changes, and he eventually
was sent to the Tower of London and was then beheaded on Tower Green.
Many also could not accept Anne Boleyn as the Queen of England, and many did not support
the King’s new marriage also and Anne when she was instilled as the Queen of England.
It seems Anne and the King were happy for a number of years, but the King eventually
grew frustrated of her as she could not provide him with the male heir that he greatly wished
for. A number of miscarriages and the birth of a daughter disappointed the King, and Henry’s
eyes began to shift and wander towards a Lady in waiting of annes, Jane Seymour.
Henry neglected Anne and there was a number of incidents in which Jane was caught with
the King, including one where she was sat on the King’s knee. When Anne saw this she
flew into a rage and it’s believed the stress brought on by this caused her to lose her
baby.
But by March 1536 the King’s attention was very much in the favour of Jane Seymour, and
he began to court her and it was alleged Jane was pregnant. But Henry then put Thomas Cromwell
to task trying to get him to find a way out of the marriage with Anne Boleyn. Cromwell
a master tactician and player at court then had Anne investifgated for a number of charges.
Anne found herself accused of incest with her brother George, High treason and adultery
with four other men, who found themselves executed on Tower Hill for their fake involvement
with the Queen. Anne was placed on trial and the male dominated jury sentenced her to death,
and it was clear that Henry’s ruthless nature caused the death and downfall of Anne. Anne
was held inside of the Tower of London for a while, and her execution was scheduled for
the 19th May 1536.
Anne was led out of her lodgings at the Tower of London and was brought to Tower Green where
a scaffold had been made for her. She climbed up the stairs and it was said she, ‘gracefully
addressed the people from the scaffold with a voice somewhat overcome by weakness, which
gathered strength as she went on. She begged them to pray for the King, in whom she had
always found great kindness. The spectators could not refrain from tears.’ She then
said goodbye to her ladies in waiting, and the executioner faced her armed with his sword.
To perform the job cleaner, Henry ordered a French swordsman to come to complete the
bloody job of taking his wife’s head. The expert executioner performed his job, and
Anne’s head was struck clean off in one stroke to the gasps of the witnesses.
After executions took place on Tower Hill or Tower Green, there was a protocol that
was usually adhered to. If it was Tower Hill where the execution took place, then the body
would be placed inside an arrow chest and then the head would be placed up on London
Bridge on a pike. But inside the Tower of London, the same sort of system occured in
which the remains were then placed into the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula and buried.
The chapel inside the towers walls of the Tower is a Tudor one, and under the floors
are around 1500 people who were executed. It’s the burial place of many of the Tower
of London’s most famous prisoners. Anne Boleyn was interred here after her execution,
but also Catherine Howard Henry VIII’s fifth Queen, Lady Jane Grey, George Boleyn, Thomas
Cromwell and other’s have their remains interred inside the chapel. Anne was the second
person laid to rest inside of the high altar inside of the chapel during the Tudor times.
There were 13 other men and women who would follow being laid inside the chancel after
executions occured.
Usually those who were executed for serious crimes such as treason warranted no gravestone
or marker. The resting places of many of these people were not marked, and this was the same
with Anne Boleyn’s burial. It was not marked, but a register of the burial was kept. It
was written that, ‘their corpses with the heads were buried in the chapel in the Tower
at the high Altar.’ The plan on the interments inside of the chancel then showed that Anne
Boleyn’s grave was to the left of the altar, and more burials took place over the years
there. But as time went on and centuries passed, the chapel became in a poor state and was
not looked after or maintained. It was Queen Victoria who when she visited the chapel and
the Tower, ordered that the chapel was not fit for a place of royal burials, and it was
said it was not a royal chapel but had instead just become a meeting house.
During the reign of Queen Victoria, big renovations and improvements were made at the Chapel and
Victoria herself ordered that this work should have took place. She ordered that the decoration
inside the chapel should be improved and also that the heating system should have been improved.
The plans were drawn up to restore the chapel, and there was a large amount of restoration,
but because of the work it meant that the most high profile graves inside the Chapel
needed to be disturbed. The pavement of the chapel had sunk and was very uneven, and it
was said that when the flagstones were lifted, that many of the bodies that had been buried
inside of the chapel during the Tudor and Stuart periods had been found. All of the
remains that were discovered under the chapel were then gathered and were collected and
were locked and enclosed within boxes. On the boxes then inscriptions were written and
the coffins were then taken from the crypt. The floor was then relaid, but the high altar
had been left where Anne Boleyn lay at rest, but changes to the plans meant that the exhumation
of one of England’s most famous Queens had to happen.
It was on the 9th November 1876 that the remains of Anne Boleyn were lifted from their place
of rest. She had been there for over 300 years, but whilst people went about their daily work
outside the walls of the Tower of London, the body of a Queen was being lifted. At around
12:30, there were five workers gathered around the high altar and using the plan of the known
burials they found Anne’s remains and began to excavate. They lifted the pavement first
and carefully removed the earth one spade at a time. They dug around 2 feet down, and
then Anne’s remains were found. IT was said that all of her bones had been piled together
in one spot, but for some reason the remains had been tampered with before. Anne Boleyn’s
grave had been disturbed by the collapsing and deteriorating coffin of a 54 year old
woman named Hannah Beresford who had been buried nearby in 1750. The cause of the collapse
was this burial and it disturbed the former Queens resting.
On hand at the burial was a surgeon, Doctor Frederick Mouat who recorded forensically
the remains of Anne Boleyn. He wrote of them that, ‘‘a female of between twenty-five
and thirty years of age, of a delicate frame of body, and who had been of slender and perfect
proportions; the forehead and lower jaw were small and especially well-formed. The vertebrae
were particularly small, especially one join (the atlas) which was that next to the skull,
and that they bore witness to the Queen’s ‘lyttle neck‘
After the initial inspections took place, a more thorough exam took place and it was
said of Anne’s remains, ‘The bones of the head indicate a well-formed round skull,
with an intellectual forehead, straight orbital ridge, large eyes, oval face and rather square
full chin. The remains of the vertebra, and the bones of the lower limbs, indicate a
well-formed woman of middle height, with a short and slender neck. the ribs show depth
and roundness of chest. The hand and feet bones indicate delicate and well-shaped hands
and feet, with tapering fingers and a narrow foot.’ It was estimated that Anne was between
5 feet to 5 feet 3 tall, and it was confirmed that her body had been beheaded before it
was laid to rest.
The men who had exhumed the body of Anne Boleyn all commented that it was a females body,
and after the exhumation process had taken place, the remains were handed over to the
Governor of the Tower of London. He then housed these inside his personal residence, The Queens
House for a period of time, but more bodies were found including those of Jane Boleyn
Lady Rochford and also Margaret Pole.’
The remains were held inside the Queens house for 5 months whilst the work was being carried
out, and then Anne Boleyn was returned to her resting place. On the 13th April 1877,
workers at mid-day accompanied by the resident chaplain of the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula
gathered around the high altar. Each of the excavated bodies had been placed inside a
specially made casket including Anne and the caskets were made from thick lead and were
encased being held with copper screws and oak plank. An etching was made onto each of
the coffins marking who was inside it and the year they passed away, and also the date
they were re-interred. A note was then taken on the location of the burials and they were
then marked with a decorative floor tile showing the location of the graves.
When we visited the Tower of London recently, we were fortunate enough to be on our own
inside the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula. Inside was just one other person, a Yeoman
Warder or Beefeater. He was knelt inside of the chancel beneath the grave of Anne Boleyn
having a few minutes of quiet prayer and reflection. To many today, Anne Boleyn is still seen as
a victim of the lies of Thomas Cromwell and the brutality of her husband King Henry VIII.
Her execution was a criminal act and her trial was a sham. The disturbing of her grave ultimately
led to her remains being treated in a more respectful manner, and today she’s seen
as one of England’s most captivating figures in History.
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