Anne Boleyn Falls: Henry VIII's Queen Executed for Treason
Anne Boleyn was beheaded by a French swordsman on the Tower Green on May 19, 1536, after being convicted of adultery, incest, and treason in a trial widely considered a judicial murder. Henry VIII had grown tired of Anne, who had produced a daughter (the future Elizabeth I) but no male heir, and was already pursuing Jane Seymour. Thomas Cromwell orchestrated the charges, extracting confessions under torture from five men accused of being Anne's lovers, including her own brother George. The evidence was thin to nonexistent. The French swordsman was imported specifically for the execution because he could kill with a single clean stroke; the standard English method used an axe, which was less reliable. Henry married Jane Seymour eleven days later.
May 19, 1536
490 years ago
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