The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne BoleynFrom one of the world's foremost popular historians, a detailed and intricate portrait of the last days of one of the most influential and important figures in English history. The imprisonment and execution of Queen Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, was unprecedented in the annals of English history. It was sensational in its day, and has exerted endless fascination over the minds of historians, novelists, dramatists, poets, artists, and filmmakers ever since. Mystery surrounds the circumstances leading up to Anne's arrest and imprisonment in May 1536. Was it Henry VIII who, estranged from Anne, instructed Master Secretary Thomas Cromwell to fabricate evidence to get rid of her so that he could marry Jane Seymour? Or did Cromwell, for reasons of his own, construct a case against Anne and her faction, and then present compelling evidence before the King? Following the coronation of her daughter Elizabeth I as queen, Anne was venerated as a martyr and heroine. Over the centuries, she has inspired many artistic and cultural works and has remained ever-present in England's, and the world's, popular memory. Alison Weir draws on her unsurpassed expertise in the Tudor Period to chronicle the downfall and dramatic final days of this influential and fascinating woman. |
Contents
PROLOGUE The Solemn Joust | 3 |
The Scandal of Christendom | 22 |
The Frailty of Human Affairs | 45 |
Plotting the Affair | 69 |
Unlawful Lechery | 100 |
Turning Trust to Treason | 120 |
To the Tower | 136 |
Stained in Her Reputation | 152 |
For Now I Die | 263 |
When Death Hath Played His Part | 291 |
The Concubines Little Bastard | 314 |
A Work of Gods Justice | 329 |
Legends | 349 |
NOTES ON SOME OF THE SOURCES | 355 |
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY | 361 |
NOTES AND REFERENCES | 373 |
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accused adultery Aless Alison Weir alleged ambassador Anne Boleyn Anne's fall annulment Anthony April arrest asserted Baga de Secretis beheaded believed Bishop Brereton brother Bryan Cavendish Chapuys charges Concubine condemned confessed Constantine court Cranmer crimes Cromwell Cromwell's daughter death Earl Elizabeth Emperor evidence Excerpta Historica LP execution father favor fear Francis Friedmann Froude George Boleyn George Wyatt Greenwich guilty Henry's historians husband Ibid indictment informed innocent Ives Jane Seymour Katherine Howard Katherine of Aragon King Henry VIII King's Kingston knew Lady Mary Lady Rochford Lady Shelton Lancelot de Carles later Lisle Letters Lord Rochford manuscripts marriage married Master Secretary Metrical Visions mistress mother never Norris perhaps pray Privy Chamber probably royal scaffold Sir Henry Norris Sir Thomas Sir William Sir William Kingston Smeaton Spanish Chronicle suggests thought tion told Tower of London treason trial Tudor VIII's Warnicke Westminster Weston wife witnesses woman Wriothesley wrote