Anne Boleyn Beheaded: Henry VIII's Queen Falls

Anne Boleyn had been married to Henry VIII for approximately a thousand days when she was executed at the Tower of London on May 19, 1536. The charges were treason, adultery with five men including her own brother, and incest. The evidence was fabricated. The real offense was her failure to produce a male heir. Born around 1501 or 1507 (the date is disputed), likely in Blickling Hall, Norfolk, Anne was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, a diplomat, and Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk. She was educated at the courts of Margaret of Austria in the Netherlands and Claude of France in Paris, returning to England more sophisticated and politically astute than most women at the English court. She arrived at court around 1522 and caught Henry VIII's attention by the mid-1520s. Unlike her sister Mary, who had been the king's mistress, Anne refused to become his lover without marriage. This refusal, sustained over approximately six years, drove Henry to seek an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, a quest that ultimately caused the English Reformation. When Pope Clement VII refused to annul the marriage (partly under pressure from Catherine's nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V), Henry broke with Rome. He declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England in 1534, dissolved the monasteries, and married Anne in January 1533. Their daughter Elizabeth was born in September 1533. But Anne failed to produce the male heir Henry desperately wanted. A son was stillborn in January 1536. Within four months, Henry's chief minister Thomas Cromwell had assembled charges against her. Five men, including the court musician Mark Smeaton (who confessed under torture), were convicted and executed before Anne's own trial. She was found guilty on May 15 and beheaded on May 19 by a swordsman brought from Calais. She reportedly said: "I heard say the executioner was very good, and I have a little neck." She was buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula within the Tower. Her daughter Elizabeth became queen 22 years later and ruled for 45 years.