Anne Boleyns execution is widely portrayed; but never as accurate as it should. So, here's how it REALLY happened:
she had trouble sleeping the night prior. If she did get any sleep, it was minimal, but it's agreed she did not rest. She wore a dark-grey damask gown, beneath which she dawned a Red Kirtle. To top it off she wore an English Hood, and an ermine-trimmed fur cloak. She was surprisingly calm; something noted by Sir William Kingston, the constable of the Tower. Just a few yards away, a scaffold had been built upon the tower green. Anne was initially supposed to die the 18th of May, but delays forced it onto the 19th.
it was 7am when Anne recieved Holy Communion from John Skypp. She had been denied a confessional. She swore her innocence again. She was adement she had never betrayed His Majesty. Anne was meant to die at 8am; but there was another delay, as the scaffold was unfinished and no crowd had yet assembled. She spent the next hour with the women assigned to her in the Tower. They weren’t her friends. They had been chosen for their loyalty to the king. They had shared her last days, and according to Kingston, Anne told them to be brave and not to cry. She reminded them of her innocence and the peace she had made with Lord God.
Kingston came back at 9am to collect Anne. She was led across the courtyard to the scaffold. The crowd was small—only a few hundred people—and included important names such as:
The Duke of Norfolk
Henry Fitzroy
Charles Brandon
Thomas Cromwell
The Mayor of London
Amongst other important people in Tudor England. Kingston said she "walked with a goodly countenance" and held her self with dignity. She gave a speech, one well known to many:
"Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul."
Her ladies removed her cloak and her hood;and they placed a coif upon her head. She was blindfolded before she knelt upon the scaffold. The scaffold was draped in black, and had hay upon it to absorb the blood. The executioner—the sword of Calais—had slipped his shoes off before this. He called for his sword, causing Anne to look over the the side. Several times she uttered "to the lord Jesu Christ I command my soul." He stood behind and slipped his sword out from under the hay; he swung. In one clean stroke, and as fast as she fell from grace, the Queen of England was dead. Her body was taken by her ladies and placed into an old arrow chest, before being buried in the chapel of St. Peter Ad Vinciula.
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