On this day in 1536, Anne Boleyn was beheaded. She was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading for treason, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation. The King’s determination to end his marriage with Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn led directly to the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church.
As Queen, Anne gave birth to one daughter, who would become Elizabeth I, but, to Henry’s exasperation, and despite several miscarriages, did not produce a male heir. Henry became infatuated with his new favorite, Jane Seymour and soon Anne was arrested and charged with treason and adultery.
She was found guilty and condemned to death. Henry commuted Anne’s sentence from burning to beheading, and rather than have a queen beheaded with the common axe, he brought an expert swordsman from Saint-Omer in France to perform the execution.
On the morning of Friday 19 May, Anne was taken to a scaffold erected on the north side of the White Tower. She wore a red petticoat under a loose, dark grey gown of damask trimmed in fur, and a mantle of ermine. The ermine mantle was removed, and Anne lifted off her headdress and tucked her hair under a coif. After a brief farewell to her weeping ladies and a request for prayers, she knelt down; one of the ladies tied a blindfold over Anne’s eyes. She knelt upright, in the French style of beheadings. Her final prayer consisted of her continually repeating, “Jesu receive my soul; O Lord God have pity on my soul.”
Possibly, this is not exactly true…
Cats back then…
Today is the birthday, in 1947, of Greg Herbert, from jazz-rock American music group Blood Sweat & Tears. They scored the 1969 US No.2 single ‘Spinning Wheel’, and the 1969 US No.12 single ‘You’ve Made Me So Very Happy’. They had a US No.1 with their second album Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1968. Herbert died of an accidental drug overdose 31st January 1977. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK62tfoCmuQ
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