Planning the Murder of Anne Boleyn

Almost 500 years have passed since the death of Anne Boleyn, and yet, there has never been asuggestion she was guilty of the crimes which saw her executed. Attempts to muddy Anne’sreputation throughout history have not lessened her popularity nor convinced anyone she wasan adulterer. But many myths surrounding Anne’s conviction for sleeping with George Boleyn,Henry Norris, Francis Weston, William Brereton, and Mark Smeaton have cropped up due tocenturies of lies, slander, and misinformation from detractors. One month after Anne was executed, the Convocation of Canterbury ratified the paperworkdetailing her arrest, conviction, execution, and the annulment of the marriage between KingHenry VIII and his second wife. As parliament had already ruled Anne’s only child, PrincessElizabeth, was no longer heir to the throne, all the paperwork surrounding the trial wasdestroyed. No trace of her charges, witness statements, evidence, or even Archbishop ThomasCranmer’s reasoning for annulling the royal marriage survived the mass destruction. Everyonewas supposed to forget Anne Boleyn and accept Queen Jane. But why did Anne Boleyn ever need to die? King Henry had started little more than aninfatuation with Jane Seymour in December 1535\. Yet, many saw the opportunity to pounce,not to reduce Anne’s influence but to increase Princess Mary’s standing. As Vicegerent ThomasCromwell and Ambassador Eustace Chapuys whispered of alliances in secret meetings, theCatholic nobility and the White Roses began to hatch their plan to restore the king’s daughter,Princess Mary, to her rightful place at court. Just as Katharine of Aragon died, Anne Boleyn feltsecure as England’s queen, only to find that her adversary’s death would soon bring on her own. Why did political and religious enemies ofThomas Cromwell seek him in the months leading to Anne’s death, expecting his co-operationto restore Princess Mary? Did Jane Seymour have any significance and why did King Henry andThomas Cromwell get into a public shouting match at a dinner party?The answers lie not in what evidence remains of court life in early 1536 but in the gaps leftbehind. None of the characters that played a role in Anne Boleyn’s death were strangers; all hadconnections, alliances and opportunities, and when their pasts and futures are laid together, wecan see how a haphazard plan to end a queen’s life had almost nothing to do with her at all.