#1536: the year that changed henry viii

[cynicalclassicist]

Last night, I finished this history book I got on 20.10.2011 at talk by author but haven't read till now! #1536theyearthatchangedhenryviii #SuzannahLipscomb

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[thepastisalreadywritten]

By Leslie Patrick

1 August 2023

Anne Boleyn (c. 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536), King Henry VIII's second queen, is often portrayed as a seductress and ultimately the woman responsible for changing the face of religion in England.

In reality, she was a fiercely intelligent and pious woman dedicated to education and religious reform.

But after her arrest and execution on false charges of adultery and incest in May 1536, Henry VIII was determined to forget her memory.

Her royal emblems were removed from palace walls, her sparkling jewels tucked away in dark coffers, and her precious books disappeared from the pages of time.

One of Boleyn’s books that has reappeared is the Book of Hours, a stunning prayer book, printed around 1527 with devotional texts designed to be read throughout the day, features hand-painted woodcuts — as well as a rare example of the queen’s own writing.

In the margins of one of the beautifully decorated pages, she penned a rhyming couplet followed by her signature:

“Remember me when you do pray, that hope doth lead from day to day, Anne Boleyn.”

The book vanished with Boleyn’s execution in 1536, then resurfaced around 1903 when it was acquired by the American millionaire William Waldorf Astor (31 March 1848 – 18 October 1919) after he purchased Hever Castle, Anne Boleyn’s childhood home in the English countryside.

The hiding place of the disgraced queen’s devotional tome had been a mystery for centuries, until recent research by a university student uncovered hidden signatures that helped trace its path through history.

The discovery

The book’s whereabouts in the 367 years between Boleyn’s death and its reemergence remained puzzling until 2020 when Kate McCaffrey, then a graduate student at the University of Kent working on her master’s thesis about Anne Boleyn’s Book of Hours, found something unexpected in the margins of the book.

“I noticed what appeared to be smudges to the naked eye,” recalls McCaffrey, assistant curator at Hever Castle since 2021.

Intrigued, she borrowed an industrial-strength ultraviolet light and set it up in the darkest room of Hever Castle.

Ultraviolet light is often used to examine historical documents because ink absorbs the ultraviolet wavelength, causing it to appear darker against the page when exposed.

“The words just came through. It was incredible to see them underneath the light, they were completely illuminated,” the curator recalls.

McCaffrey’s theory is that the words were erased during the late Victorian era when it was popular to cleanse marginalia from books or manuscripts.

But thanks to her extraordinary detective work, these erased words turned out to be the key that unlocked the tale of the book’s secret journey from certain destruction at the royal court to safety in the hands of a dedicated group of Boleyn’s supporters.

The guardians

Indeed, various pages throughout the text reveal the names and notations of a string of Kentish women — Elizabeth Hill, Elizabeth Shirley, Mary Cheke, Philippa Gage, and Mary West — who banded together to safeguard Anne's precious book and keep her memory alive.

While it’s unclear how the book was initially passed to these women, Anne Boleyn expert Natalie Grueninger suggests it was gifted by Anne to a woman named Elizabeth Hill.

Elizabeth grew up near Hever Castle, and her husband, Richard Hill, was sergeant of the King’s Cellar at Henry VIII’s court.

There are records of the Hill’s playing cards with the king, and there may have been a friendship between Elizabeth and the queen that prompted Boleyn to pass her prayer book on before her execution.

“This extended Kentish family kept the book safe following Anne’s demise, which was an incredibly brave and bold act considering it could have been considered treasonous,” says Grueninger, podcaster and author of the book The Final Year of Anne Boleyn.

Anne’s Book of Hours was passed between mothers, daughters, sisters, and nieces until the late sixteenth century, when the last name makes its appearance in its margins.

“This story is an example of the women in the family prioritizing loyalty, friendship, fidelity, and a personal connection to Anne,” says McCaffrey.

“The fact that the women have kept it safe is a really beautiful story of solidarity, community, and bravery.”

The book, currently on display at Hever Castle, is a touchstone of the enigma that was Anne Boleyn.

Castle historian and assistant curator Owen Emmerson points out that the book contains Anne’s DNA on the pages from where she touched and kissed it during her daily devotions.

“This was a really beloved possession of hers,” says Emmerson.

“Because of what happened to Anne Boleyn, we don’t have a vast amount of information in Anne’s own words. But the physical remnants of her use of the book, and the construction of that beautiful little couplet, have her identity in them.”

While Anne’s Book of Hours has finally found its way home, the research into this intriguing historical mystery is not yet over.

McCaffrey continues to chart the book’s provenance through the centuries to find out where it was hiding all this time.

The discovery of the inscriptions illuminates the book’s furtive journey, providing us with a glimpse into the controversy, loyalty, and fascination that Anne Boleyn has engendered for the past 500 years.

[whencyclopedia]

Edward VI of England

Edward VI of England reigned as king from 1547 to 1553 CE. Succeeding his father Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547 CE), Edward was only nine years old at the time and so the kingdom was ruled by a council of nobles, foremost among whom was Edward's maternal uncle, Edward Seymour (l. c. 1500-1552 CE) until he was replaced by John Dudley, the Earl of Northumberland (l. 1504-1553 CE). During Edward's reign, Protestant religious reforms continued as the Church of England broke further away from the traditions of the established Catholic Church directed by the Pope. There were also popular uprisings as the economy faltered and inflation was rampant. Edward's reign was short as he died of tuberculosis aged just 15. He was succeeded by his cousin Lady Jane Grey (1537-1554 CE) until what the majority of the people and nobility regarded as the rightful heir, his elder half-sister, was installed nine days later as Mary I of England (r. 1553-1558 CE).

Henry VIII & The Succession

Henry VIII married six times but it was his first three marriages that each produced a future monarch. With Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536 CE), Henry had a daughter, Mary (b. Feb. 1516 CE). With Anne Boleyn (c. 1501-1536 CE), there was another daughter, Elizabeth (b. Sep. 1533 CE). With wife number three, Jane Seymour, who was a lady-in-waiting at court, Henry had his first and last legitimate son, Edward, born on 12 October 1537 CE in Hampton Court Palace. At the joyous news, there followed 2,000 cannon shots let off in the Tower of London, bells rang out across England and there were 24 hours of parties and feasts but, tragically, Jane died 12 days after giving birth, most likely from post-natal fever.

As the first marriage was annulled to permit the second and Anne Boleyn was executed on charges of adultery, so each of their children was disinherited and it was Edward who became the official heir to the throne. As more wives came and went and no more children were forthcoming, Henry changed his mind in 1544 CE and declared that Edward could be succeeded by his half-sister Mary with Elizabeth next in line.

Henry VIII's health declined rapidly in his later years as the king became seriously overweight and suffered a badly ulcerated leg. The king died on 28 January 1547 CE at Whitehall Palace in London; he was 55 years old. Henry was buried in Saint George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, next to his late third wife, Jane Seymour, and he was duly succeeded by Edward who became Edward VI at his coronation in Westminster Abbey on 20 February 1547 CE. Henry, having split the Church in England from Rome to acquire his first marriage annulment and gone on a massive spending spree on palaces and wars, left his son an impoverished kingdom split over religious issues and, particularly, whether or not to press on with reforming the Church.

Continue reading...

[mihrsuri]

My (main) AUs: An Overview

I thought I’d do this because (a) new people and (b) I like to do a summary for self indulgent sharing reasons. Also I have a Lot Of AUs but the main one(s) you are going to be hearing about here are:

The Tudors OT3 Cinematic Universe aka The Emotional Support Tudors AU aka The Tudor Triad

The Grishaverse Hunger Games Found Family + Poly Verse

Crown Of Ashes aka The Tudor Triad Verse In Universe Hist!Fic AU

The Tudor Triad

Fandom: The Tudors (TV + Some History)

Works: On AO3 here (WIP) - check out my pinned post for more information as well.

Tags on my tumblr: ot3: political power trio, tudors ot3 verse reference

Summary: In another world this is how it might have gone between the three of them. The story of how the love between three extraordinary people change the world for the better and made it the kindest. The story of a fight for a fairytale

The OT3 verse is a story at base about an alternate history that leads to the kindest possible world, written by a mizrahi jewish woman who really really wanted to write it. Or ‘bi poly triad/hot thomas cromwell saves the world dot gif’ ;).

In which Anne Boleyn is born in 1510, Thomas Cromwell in 1505 and Henry VIII does a (debatably?) better choice and goes for a divorce in 1520. And all three of them dramatically come together in 1536 (Anne and Henry have been married for three years but) and Anne Boleyn’s oldest son marries Mihrimah Sultan, who here is the youngest child of her parents and whose brothers have made a pact to end the fratricide independently of anyone English and they bring about a golden world.

Aesthetic:

Grishaverse Hunger Games

Fandom: Grishaverse (Show and Books) Hunger Games AU

Works: On AO3 here (WIP)

Tags on my tumblr: au: grishaverse hunger games

Summary: In the end, they will be more than what has been done to them. Kaz, Inej, Nikolai, Nina, Zoya and Genya in the Hunger Games and around it.

My contribution to my Grisha-Crows-Nikolai (and Mal) found family poly feels - featuring not Darkling friend Darkling/Alina/Nikolai in which he takes them as sex slaves while calling it love essentially and gets bought down.

Aesthetic:

Crown Of Ashes

Fandom: The Tudors (TV + History + In The OT3 Verse Universe Tudors AU Fic)

Works: On AO3 here (WIP)

Tags on my tumblr: au: crown of ashes

Summary: It is everything Mary has ever wanted - a good Catholic husband, the crown upon her head, retribution upon those who had wronged her (not that she was giving in to so base a notion as vengeance, merely that the Lord had seen the righteousness of her cause and she was glad of it), the stamping out of heresy in England. No, all is well. All is very well. 

Crown of Ashes is very inspired by the Taylor Swift Song Castle Crumbling. It’s a ‘what if Mary Tudor made similar choices to her father’ for better (and worse and maybe in between) reasons to her. What if everything the world tells you you should believe and want is wrong actually - what if you get everything you thought you wanted and it sucks.

Aesthetic:

[gabityaby]

An Act whereby the Queen's Highness Elizabeth is restored in Blood to the late Queen Anne Boleyn, her Highness's Mother, 1558

In her first parliament on the 5th of December, 1558, Queen Elizabeth I restored The Act of Supremacy declaring her as Supreme Governor of the Church of England which brought some doubts into the spotlight, especially regarding her rights to the throne.

Now, the matter of her legitimacy was and always remained unclarified since her mother, Anne Boleyn, was found guilty and executed. The Church of England and an act of Parliament declared her marriage to Henry VIII null and void in 1536 the night before her execution, so she died a marchioness [of Pembroke]. Henry VIII, all his life after May 1536, declared his marriage to Anne was invalid, and when Queen Kateryn Parr convinced Henry to add Mary and Elizabeth to the succession it was with the condition that they marry someone vetoed by the majority of Prince Edward's appointed Privy Council, and as we know, after Edward died and the Earl of Northumberland's rebellion was put down Queen Mary rose to the throne and the conditions of said will was unattainable (referring as to the support of the majority of the PC), all that was left was a clear line of succession:

"As to the succession of the Crown, it shall go to Prince Edward and the heirs of his body. In default, to Henry's children by his present wife, Queen Catharine, or any future wife. In default, to his daughter Mary and the heirs of her body, upon condition that she shall not marry without the written and sealed consent of a majority of the surviving members of the Privy Council appointed by him to his son Prince Edward. In default, to his daughter Elizabeth upon like condition. In default, to the heirs of the body of Lady Frances, eldest daughter of his late sister the French Queen. In default, to those of Lady Elyanore, second daughter of the said French Queen. And in default, to his right heirs. Either Mary or Elizabeth, failing to observe the conditions aforesaid, shall forfeit all right to the succession."

-https://www.tudorsociety.com/30-december-1546-henry-viiis-will/

So, after attaining her crown through the strength of arms and said will, Queen Mary undid the Act of Supremacy of 1534, brought back the powers of Rome, and with their support made the marriage of her father and Katharine of Aragon legal and the Church of England heretical, thus Elizabeth was doubly the bastard.

After Queen Mary's death and Queen Elizabeth's accession, following the order of the will, the binds with Rome were severed this time and the laws and acts passed by Queen Mary regarding this were repelled, thus leaving Katharine of Aragon again with the title of Dowager Princess of Wales (as to her marriage to Prince Arthur, Henry VIII's older brother) and the Church of England reinstated, which came with the mere fact that twenty-one years ago it declared the marriage of her parents null and void. But she couldn't simply overturn a decision made by the King, her sire which gave her the claim to the throne without undermining the power of kings, and there was also the fact that her mother was a convicted felon for which by the relation of blood in the English law of yore made one unfit to receive high titles, but of course, the majority of people, protestants and such, wanted her and thought her fit.

So Queen Elizabeth can't openly make the marriage of her parents legal without undermining the CoE nor make the charges against her mother be posthumously dropped without undermining her new office and late father, but what she can do is make herself the daughter of a true Queen of England which had her name marred unjustly, she can't change the law and edicts but she can change the people's perception of who is right, so thus:

"Elizabeth I reinstated her mother Anne Boleyn as a Queen, as Anne had been stripped of her titles during her trial. This would have reinforced Elizabeth's right to the throne and perhaps been important to the new queen privately"

-https://ukparliament.shorthandstories.com/succession/

As the head of the protestants in the nation, the idea that she was the daughter of a martyr of religious freedom was spread and made her a beacon of hope, the way people viewed Queen Anne back then would have been of a woman wronged who's favor and righteousness God showed by the daughter that would save them from the inquisition. Excellent PR if you ask me.

Parliamentary Archives, an edict that restores the title of Queen to Anne Boleyn (if anyone can read and make a transcript it would be amazing) HL/PO/PU/1/1558/1Eliz1n21

[fideidefenswhore]

Yet in February 1536, another character was thought important enough for Chapuys to mention her in his dispatches—Jane Seymour. An Elizabethan writer, George Wyatt, believed that Jane Seymour used Anne Boleyn's pregnancy to displace her in Henry's affections: 'she waxing great again and not so fit for dalliance, the time was taken to steal the king's affection from her, when most of all she was to have been cherished.'

1536: The Year that Changed Henry VIII, Suzannah Lipscomb

[intriguingpeoplebyangelafloyd]

GEORGE BOLEYN

GEORGE BOLEYN, 2nd Viscount Rochford

d. 17 May 1536

BROTHER OF ANNE BOLEYN

            George Boleyn was the brother of Anne and Mary Boleyn and the son of Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard. He grew up in Blickling Hall and Hever Castle, Kent. Boleyn and his siblings had connections to the royal court through their father who was a diplomat.

            Boleyn was an English courtier, nobleman and a prominent figure in politics. He married Jane Parker in 1525; he was a womaniser and was described as attractive and charming. Boleyn was close to Henry VIII who he often socialised with. His sister Mary became the king’s mistress in 1515-1519.

            Henry VIII fell in love with George’s younger sister, Anne. In 1528, Boleyn and his sister Anne caught the sweating sickness but both recovered. Anne and Henry married in 1533 and Boleyn attended his niece Elizabeth’s christening that same year. Anne disappointed Henry by miscarriage a son and by that time Henry VIII was in love with Jane Seymour and wanted out of his marriage with Anne.  

            Anne was accused of adultery with five men, including an incestuous relationship with her brother. Boleyn was convicted of treason after allegedly plotting to have the king killed. Anne, Boleyn with the other accused men were arrested on 2 May the day after May Day where Boleyn was one of the jousters. Eustace Chapuys witnessed Boleyn’s trial and stated that he put up a magnificent defence and thought that he would be acquitted. Even though he was innocent, Boleyn was sentenced to be executed; he was to be hanged, drawn and quartered but his punishment was changed to beheading.

            Boleyn, aged 31, was beheaded on Tower Hill; he made an extraordinary long speech, defending his religious beliefs and passion for reform. Anne was beheaded two days later.

#georgeboleyn #anneboleyn

[history-hive]

Misunderstood People In History: Anne Boleyn

Portrait of Anne Boleyn, courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery

Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII of England, is often portrayed as a power-hungry seductress, an adulterer, and sometimes even a witch. Born sometime around 1501 (we are not entirely sure of her actual birthday), Anne was the younger sister of Mary Boleyn, a previous mistress of Henry VIII. She was educated in the Netherlands and at French Court.

When Henry began to show interest in Anne, she made a decision not to consummate their union until they were able to be married. This was a smart decision on her part as Henry had gone through several mistresses by this point in history, including her own sister. To that end, Henry tried to secure an annulment from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, from Pope Clement VII on the grounds that their marriage was illegitimate in the first place as Catherine had previously been married to his late older brother, Arthur. However, the Pope declined to allow the annulment.

The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, went ahead with the annulment in May of 1533. Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn had been secretly married in January of that year, as well. These actions led to the excommunication of Henry VIII from the Catholic Church. Henry then made himself the supreme head of the Church of England through the Act of Supremacy in November of 1534.

Painting of the meeting of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn by Daniel Maclise, a 19th century painter. Courtesy of World History Encyclopedia

Contrary to popular belief about Anne Boleyn, she was a significant voice for religious and social reform in the English Court. Having lived on the continent during the beginning of the religious movement that would be eventually known as the Protestant Reformation, Anne would have been exposed to the radical views held by Martin Luther on the Roman Catholic Church. Frequently after becoming Queen Consort of England, she became a patron for reformist religious figures such as Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Shaxton (who was only briefly a reformist and recanted his position, returning to the Catholic faith sometime late in the reign of Henry VIII). She was also known to be an advocate for the poor.

The only living child Anne Boleyn was able to produce was Elizabeth Tudor. This was frustrating to Henry VIII as he desperately wanted a male heir. At this point in English history, there had never been an official female regnant of England (Empress Matilda had never been coronated, although she had been the legal heir of Henry I). Therefore, Henry was reasonably anxious about the idea of producing a male child to inherit the throne. However, his methods were less than ideal. As he became upset with Anne's inability to carry a male child, Henry's eyes began to wander to Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting at Court. Henry had Anne arrested, tangentially on charges of adultery, incest with her own brother, witchcraft, and attempted murder. These charges were very likely fabricated for the express purpose of having Anne executed so Henry could go on to marry Jane Seymour.

Anne Boleyn was executed via decapitation on May 19, 1536. All traces of her were removed from the royal palaces soon after. Within two weeks, Henry was remarried to Jane Seymour.

As we can see, Anne was a complicated figure. While she was certainly not a temptress who endeavored to steal the English throne from Catherine of Aragon, she was also not a helpless girl with no concept of power. She very much took advantage of her position in order to make a grab for personal power and to make significant changes to the religious and social order of England.

[katharinepar]

A portrait of Henry VIII by Netherlandish artist Meynnart Wewyck has recently proven to contain a ‘hidden gem’ unveiled by researchers at the National Portrait Gallery and Hamilton Kerr Institute. Scans of this incredible vignette reveal that the portrait was concealing an earlier likeness of the Tudor King, when he was ‘clean-shaven and slimmer.’ Researchers were able to recognise the youthful image of King Henry VIII thanks to his long, distinctive nose and lavish attire. “This is an exciting discovery. Two images for the price of one.” In the original image, completed in 1519, Henry was at the height of his power and an incredible athlete, only 28 years-old. However, a jousting injury in 1536 greatly reduced Henry’s mobility and resulted in drastic weight gain for this Tudor monarch. It is thought that a court artist updated the image to reflect the King’s changing appearance. The updated portrait also included a beard, which Henry began to sport in preparation of the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 and maintained for the remainder of his life. “What is fascinating is that, as the king aged - and, more importantly, as he adopted new fashions - the person who owned this portrait started getting very worried that what he had on his wall didn’t look anything like the king.”

Source: TudorExtra

[ednyfedfychan]

-- Suzannah Lipscomb, 1536: The Year that Changed Henry VIII

[queens-an-tings]

Lady Jane Grey was de facto monarch of England for 9 days in July 1553 and, following a period of imprisonment, executed the following year. She had been found guilty of having signed a number of documents as “Jane the Queen”. She was beheaded in the Tower of London in February 1554 on the charge of treason.

For more info, Helen Castor’s documentary ‘England’s Forgotten Queen: The Life And Death Of Lady Jane Grey’ is worth a watch. For information about a painting which famously - and inaccurately - portrays the execution of Lady Jane Grey, see here.

I wrote the following summary using the notes I made from Castor’s programme, describing how and why Edward VI chose Jane to be his successor.

On his deathbed, the young Edward VI faced a situation unprecedented in the history of the English monarchy: the first seven heirs in line to the throne were female. His late father, Henry VIII, had abhorred the notion of a woman ruling the realm and Edward was of the same opinion. However, as time progressed, it became increasingly evident that he would not live long enough to produce male issue himself (crowned at the age of 9, after a prolonged illness Edward VI was to die before he reached 16). In the weeks prior to his death, Edward made an alteration to an earlier hand-written device he’d conceived concerning the succession to the throne - one which would have major repercussions and change the course of history. He added the name of Lady Jane Grey (without her knowledge) to be his successor.

Jane’s lineage to the crown was as great grand-daughter of Henry VII on her mother’s side. Henry’s daughter Mary had been the grandmother of Jane’s mother, Frances and her aunt, Eleanor. Edward was keen to select Jane as his future heir as she was, like him, staunchly Protestant and, being young and healthy, probably likely to produce heirs (hopefully of the male variety!). But Jane was far from first in line. The eldest natural heir was Mary, followed by Elizabeth, but at the time both were technically regarded as illegitimate. (After the execution of Anne Boleyn, their father, Henry VIII, had them both declared ‘bastards’ with the passing of the Second Succession to the Crown Act of 1536.) Third in line was Mary Queen of Scots (doubly undesirable in Edward’s eyes as head of the English monarchy as she was Catholic as well as female) and then Frances (Eleanor had died six year earlier in 1547). The remaining female heirs were Frances’s three daughters: Jane, Katherine and Mary.

Edward’s original draft of the succession had specifically stipulated Jane’s male heirs as those next in line to the throne, and not Jane herself, but as his health deteriorated and he edged closer towards death he altered the document by adding Jane’s name too. This is why the succession neatly skipped Frances, who would have qualified as the nearest heir who was both legitimate and Protestant. Indeed, when Jane made her first public appearance as queen, the crowd were shocked to see her mother, superior in her claim to the throne, carrying Jane’s train and this in itself caused stirrings of disquiet.

It’s worth noting here that although the document is in Edward’s handwriting and was most likely an accurate expression of his wishes, there is much speculation as to what extent this document was influenced by Edward’s principal adviser, the politician John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. Indeed, Dudley had already speedily arranged a marriage between Jane and his 15 year old son Guildford, with the intention of ruling by proxy via the young couple. What the Duke did not know at the time was that Jane, on becoming queen, would refuse to make Guildford king. Moreover, his biggest miscalculation was thinking that Mary’s bid for her rightful royal inheritance would conclude in failure.

[unrepentanthistory]

On This Day in 1536: The execution of Anne Boleyn and Her Influence on England.

She was the queen who captivated a king, but also the one who paid the ultimate price. Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife and the mother of Elizabeth I, faced a brutal death on this day in 1536. Accused of crimes ranging from adultery to treason, she was beheaded at the Tower of London in a swift and merciless execution. But who was Anne Boleyn, and why did she fall from grace so dramatically? In this blog post, we will explore her life, her legacy and her role in one of the most turbulent periods of English history.

Catherine of Aragon

Anne Boleyn returned from France in the mid-1520s and caught the eye of King Henry VIII, who was desperate for a son and heir. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, had failed to give him one, and he wanted to divorce her and marry Anne instead.

But this was easier said than done. Catherine had powerful relatives, like the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who opposed Henry’s plan. And the Catholic Church refused to grant him an annulment, saying his marriage was valid and sacred.

That’s when Thomas Cromwell stepped in. He was a cunning and ambitious politician who helped Henry break away from Rome and create his own church, with himself as the supreme head. This was a radical and risky move that sparked a religious revolution in England. And many people blamed Anne for it, as she was seen as a supporter of the Protestant reformers who wanted to change the church.

Jane Seymour

Anne became queen in June 1533, when she was already pregnant. But she disappointed Henry by giving birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, instead of a son. She also lost two other babies, including a boy, in the next few years.

Meanwhile, Henry had fallen out of love with Anne and in love with her maid, Jane Seymour. He wanted to marry Jane and get rid of Anne, but he couldn’t just divorce her like he did with Catherine. That would make people doubt his first divorce and his new church.

So Henry came up with a shocking accusation: He claimed that Anne had bewitched him into marrying her, and that she had been unfaithful to him with several men. He also told Cromwell, who was now his chief minister and Anne’s enemy, that he wanted to make peace with the emperor, who hated Anne.

Arrest and Imprisonment

Anne had many enemies who wanted to get rid of her. They started a secret investigation and found a musician who said he had slept with her. They also accused her of having affairs with other men, including her own brother.

On May Day, everything changed. Henry was watching a tournament with Anne and her brother, George Boleyn, and his friend, Henry Norris. But he left suddenly without saying goodbye to Anne. He never saw her again.

He arrested Norris and George Boleyn for sleeping with Anne and plotting to kill him. He also arrested two other men for the same reason. And he locked up Anne in her palace at Greenwich on May 2.

Duke of Norfolk

Anne faced her accusers, who included her own uncle, the Duke of Norfolk. They charged her with “evil behavior” and put her in the Tower of London.

The four men who were accused of being her lovers were tried in Westminster Hall on May 12. They were all found guilty and sentenced to die horribly. On May 15, Anne and her brother, George Boleyn, had their trial in the Tower of London.

The Duke of Norfolk was the judge, acting for the king. The worst evidence against George Boleyn was his own wife’s claim that he was too close to his sister.

Anne was probably innocent of the charges against her. She never confessed to anything, the evidence against her was weak and it makes no sense that she would cheat on the king or try to hurt him, when she needed his love so much.

But Anne and Rochford were still found guilty, and Norfolk sentenced them to death by fire or by the king’s choice.

On May 17, the five men who were accused with Anne were killed on Tower Hill, but Henry was kind to his queen. He sent for a skilled executioner from Calais who could cut off her head with a sword instead of an axe.

Received message. Here is one possible way to rewrite the paragraph: Anne was probably innocent of the charges against her. She never confessed to anything, the evidence against her was weak and it makes no sense that she would cheat on the king or try to hurt him, when she needed his love so much. But Anne and Rochford were still found guilty, and Norfolk sentenced them to death by fire or by the king's choice. On May 17, the five men who were accused with Anne were killed on Tower Hill, but Henry was kind to his queen. He sent for a skilled executioner from Calais who could cut off her head with a sword instead of an axe.

Anne Boleyn Execution

Anne Boleyn wore a grey dress and a fur cloak as she walked to her death on Tower Green. A few people watched as she spoke to them. She said: “Masters, I obey the law as the law has judged me, and I don’t blame anyone for my offences. God knows them; I leave them to God, asking Him to forgive me.” She also prayed for Jesus Christ to “protect my king and master, the most godly, noble and gentle Prince that is, and may he rule over you for a long time.”

The executioner cut off her head with one stroke of his sword. Anne Boleyn was gone. The next day, Henry got engaged to Jane Seymour; they married soon after.

Jane gave Henry the son he wanted, who became King Edward VI when he was only nine years old. But it was Henry’s daughter with Anne Boleyn who would become the greatest Tudor ruler: Queen Elizabeth I, who ruled England for more than 40 years.

Thank you for reading this article I hope you enjoyed it and learned something new. If you want to see more of my work, please follow me on Instagram @unrepentantmasculinity, where I share photos and stories from my travels and adventures. And if you appreciate my journalism and want to support me, please consider buying me a coffee on Ko-fi. Your donation will help me keep writing and exploring the world. Just click on the link below and choose how much you want to give. Thank you for your generosity and kindness. Until next time, stay curious and informed.

[dry-valleys]

"Just as moments spent inside the chamber of a Neolithic tomb seem to occur in a place adrift from the modern, so that crypt belongs to a world that is otherwise beyond our reach”.

Neil Oliver.

(This is the second in my two-part series; please see here for the first).

Repton Abbey was founded in the 7th century and was launched into the religion and politics of Anglo-Saxon Mercia, whose capital was at nearby Tamworth. Monks and nuns lived together in this abbey, whose earliest recorded abbess was Saint Werburgh, daughter of Wulfhere, King of Mercia.

The crypt was laid down soon afterwards, which John Betjeman called “holy air encased in stone”. Buried here are King Aethelbald of Mercia (d. 757), King Wiglaf of Mercia (d. 839) and Wiglaf’s grandson, Saint Wystan (d. 840).

Murdered by his cousin, Wystan became famed for the healing poer of his relics, though his protection did not stop the Great Heathen Army of Vikings sacking Repton in 873-4, billeting themselves here in the winter and destroying the abbey, except the crypt.

(Modern science has backed up the historians; a mass grave of mostly men is believed after radiocardbon testing to be Viking warriors and their followers, and the Repton Stone, found in 1979, is believed to be Aethelbald. I saw the Repton Stone at Derby Museum and it was one of the factors that mde me come here).

The Vikings drove King Burgred into exile in 874 and ruled this part of Mercia until 937, when Athelstan forged the first united state of England, joining Mercia with its neighbours (which it had fought against, tuled, been ruled by and lived in an uneasy peace with, before coming together in one English state) and beating the Vikings and their allies.

After this Repton became more obscure, far from political power and with the bishops based in Lichfield; after the Normans conquered England from the Anglo-Saxons in 1066, they recorded Repton in the Domesday Book of 1086, but not as a major town.

Although the Anglo-Saxons had rebuilt the abbey after 874, little remained by the 12th century, so Maud of Glouceser built Repton Priory in its stead in 1172  and a medieval town grew up around it and the church, dedicated to the martyred Wystan. Most of the church you see in this shoot, apart from the crypt which is earlier, is from that time.

The priory thrived quietly until 1536, when Henry VIII forcibly changed England’s religion from the Catholic faith, which it had followed since before Wystan, to the new Protestantism. The church became what it is now, an Anglican parish church, and on the site of the abbey Repton School, which also still exists, was founded on money left by John Port of Etwall on his death in 1557.

Repton did not become a major industrial town (please see my earlier post for more) and so became a quiet town focused on church, school, and gradually the suburbs of Derby.

Arthur Blomfield oversaw a restoration in 1885-86 in the Gothic Revival style; the goths were never happier than when finding a true medieval survival to work on, and what you now see is thanks to their respectful building on what they found.

In the graveyard are Repton men such as the headmaster Henry Robert Huckin (1841-82) and CB Fry, described as “ Cricketer, scholar, athlete, Author – The Ultimate All-rounder”.

The church and school spirit of service and self-sacrifice made itself known in good times and in bad, the worst being the two world wars we remember today (please see here for more); the war memorials tell of the 255 dead of World War 1 and the 188 of World War 2.

The crypt had been boarded and floored over for hundreds of years and, though found in 1779 was not fully appreciated until it was restored in 1998 and this has brought back to us what we see today.

Described by Nikolaus Pevsner as  "one of the most precious survivals of Anglo-Saxon architecture in England", this capped an otherwise boring drive home from my brother’s home in another Mercian town, Bedford, and it will be a fixture of my journeys from now on.

[minervacasterly]

King Henry VIII of England is one of the most controversial monarchs in history he is largely associated with his later years. But there is more to him than this. Before he was 'Bluff King Hall' he was a renown personality who was quite athletic, handsome and whom the Venetian ambassador praised him for his virtues and his intelligence. Many historians have remarked that Henry and his first consort, Katherine of Aragon, were well-matched. Both were handsome and accomplished scholars. In fact, the first years of his reign Henry surrounded himself with scholars and was eager to talk to them about the new current that was taking Western Europe by storm -Humanism. Although his father kept him under close surveillance, Henry became a very extrovert young man, playing all kinds of sports from tennis, jousting and he loved to gamble. Such a literate, eloquent, athletic young man is often overshadowed by the image of the 'bluff King Hall' which only comes later in life. There have been many studies done as to what, or why Henry changed so much. This was the Prince after all that many had so much hope on, the man who would usher in a new era. He did, but not like his contemporaries would have hoped for in the beginning. In Suzannah Lipscomb's book 1536, she theorizes that the fall from his joust on 24 January of this year, had a tremendous effect on him, affecting his personality and setting him on a darker path. But his actions were already erratic before this. It is possible that Henry could have suffered from multiple illnesses as another biographer, Kyra C. Kramer in her respective biography, points out. If he was Kell Blood Positive, it is possible the joust only made things worse. Whatever the reason, we must not dismiss the first years of Henry VIII's reign, for they are just as important as his last ones.

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

I haven’t gone to bed yet so it still counts as Monday, lol. XD

Plug for my writing discord--it’s pretty quiet, but mostly intended to be a slightly more interactive version of this blog.

Also, open question night, though I can’t promise I’ll get to it before tomorrow ((I also still owe at least one prompt fill from a meme I reblogged like...a week ago...))

Anyway.

This is going to be short because I got very little done last month, whoops.

Star Wars:

- Not really much has changed from last month; still poking at Precipice!verse and possible ideas for next year’s SWBB. Pretty much everything else is on the back burner.

BSG:

- Didn’t get as much writing done as I’d hoped over the last month. But in order to Motivate myself, I’m going to shoot for a Halloween debut for The Other Battlestar, which means I need to finish. Like. Naming people. And come up with a title I actually like, lol...

- Maybe I’ll do some preview/etc. posts here as bonus content; giving some details about the fourish OCs who will end up playing major roles? To both keep me on task/motivated and hopefully pique some interest...we’ll see.

Castlevania:

- If I could just get this next chapter to cooperate, lol. There are so many things I want to get to! I just have to get past that...

Original Fic:

- I don’t think I wrote anything original this month, alas. Other than poking at things in my head, as one does. I did go to a library booksale, which reminded me that I have at least three half-planned projects that I need to finish researching (an alternate history where Henry VIII dies in 1536; a novel about Judas Iscariot; a novel about What If Mordred Was A Girl) so maybe I’ll see some movement on that front. For the stuff I already post on an origfic community on Dreamwidth, I really should. like. post something plot-advancing, shouldn’t I...

NaNo Plans:

I’m still figuring out exactly how I want to play it this year. And I think a lot of it depends on what I get done re: TOB and Incinctus and Protectors/Preludes over this month, because I might decide to just narrow my focus onto one of them. But most likely I’ll do what I’ve been doing the past few years, which is set myself a wordcount goal (which may or may not be greater than the 50k standard) but I can fill it with Any (fulltext) fiction writing (I think I decided outline/bullet-point form fics counted for 2/3 the wordcount when I did one during NaNo a couple years back? We’ll see if it’s relevant).

...and, yeah, I think that’s about it. Like I said, a short update...hopefully the next time I do this I’ll have more to report!

What are you guys working on?

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.17 (before 1970)

1395 – Battle of Rovine: The Wallachians defeat an invading Ottoman army. 1521 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason. 1527 – Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Florida with 600 men – by 1536 only four survive. 1536 – George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford and four other men are executed for treason. 1536 – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's marriage is annulled. 1590 – Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland. 1642 – Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve founds the Ville Marie de Montréal. 1648 – Emperor Ferdinand III defeats Maximilian I of Bavaria in the Battle of Zusmarshausen. 1673 – Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River. 1756 – Seven Years' War formally begins when Great Britain declares war on France 1760 – French forces besieging Quebec retreat after the Royal Navy arrives to relieve the British garrison. 1792 – The New York Stock Exchange is formed under the Buttonwood Agreement. 1805 – Muhammad Ali becomes Wāli of Egypt. 1809 – Emperor Napoleon I orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. 1814 – Occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian. 1814 – The Constitution of Norway is signed and Crown Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark is elected King of Norway by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly. 1859 – Members of the Melbourne Football Club codified the first rules of Australian rules football. 1863 – Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, the first book in the Galician language. 1865 – The International Telegraph Union (later the International Telecommunication Union) is established in Paris. 1875 – Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby with the jockey Oliver Lewis (2:37.75). 1900 – The children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is first published in the United States. The first copy is given to the author's sister. 1902 – Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer. 1914 – The Protocol of Corfu is signed, recognising full autonomy to Northern Epirus under nominal Albanian sovereignty. 1915 – The last British Liberal Party government (led by H. H. Asquith) falls. 1933 – Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling — the national-socialist party of Norway. 1937 – Spanish Civil War: The Largo Caballero government resigns in the wake of the Barcelona May Days, leading Juan Negrín to form a government, without the anarcho-syndicalist CNT, in its stead 1939 – The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the United States' first televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City. 1940 – World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium. 1943 – World War II: Dambuster Raids commence by No. 617 Squadron RAF. 1953 – Delta Air Lines Flight 318 crashes near Marshall, Texas, killing 19. 1954 – The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, outlawing racial segregation in public schools. 1967 – Six-Day War: President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Egypt. 1969 – Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.