Editing Anne Boleyn (section)

=== Charges of adultery, incest and treason ===
[[File:Cromwell,Thomas(1EEssex)01.jpg|thumb|right|[[Thomas Cromwell]], Anne's one-time strong ally, with whom she clashed over foreign policy and the redistribution of church wealth. [[Portrait of Thomas Cromwell|Portrait]] by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]], c. 1532.]]

Anne's biographer [[Eric Ives]] believes that her fall and execution were primarily engineered by her former ally Thomas Cromwell.<ref>{{harvnb|Ives|2004|pp=318–319}}. See also {{harvnb|Starkey|2003|pp=559–569}}, and {{harvnb|Elton|1977|pp=252–253}}, who share this view.</ref> The conversations between Chapuys and Cromwell indicate Cromwell as the instigator of the plot to remove Anne; evidence of this is seen through letters written from Chapuys to Charles{{nbsp}}V.<ref>{{harvnb|Bordo|2014|p=83}}</ref> Anne argued with Cromwell over the redistribution of Church revenues and over foreign policy. She advocated that revenues be distributed to charitable and educational institutions; and she favoured a French alliance. Cromwell preferred an Imperial alliance and insisted on filling the King's depleted coffers. For these reasons, Ives suggests, "Anne Boleyn had become a major threat to Thomas Cromwell."<ref>{{harvnb|Ives|2004|p=315}}</ref> Cromwell's biographer John Schofield, on the other hand, contends that no power struggle existed between Anne and Cromwell and that "not a trace can be found of a Cromwellian conspiracy against Anne&nbsp;... Cromwell became involved in the royal marital drama only when Henry ordered him onto the case." Schofield claims that evidence for the power struggle between Anne and Cromwell comprises no more than "fly-by-night stories from Alesius and the ''[[Spanish Chronicle]]'',{{efn|The ''Spanish Chronicle'' was an unreliable contemporary account based on "hearsay and rumour" by an unknown author. One passage describes how the musician [[Mark Smeaton]] was supposedly hidden, naked, in Anne's confectionery cupboard and smuggled into her bedroom by a waiting-woman. One Thomas Percy, another member of Anne's household, became jealous and reported the affair to Cromwell.<ref>{{harvnb|Ives|2004|p=329}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Weir|2010|p=436}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |translator-last1= Hume|translator-first1= Martin|translator-link1=Martin Hume|orig-date=1556 |year= 1889|publisher=George Bell|place=London|title=Crónica del rey Enrico Octavo de Ingalaterra |trans-title=Chronicle of King Henry VIII of England |language= Spanish|page=57|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V2YNAAAAIAAJ&q=Spanish+Chronicle+hume}}</ref>}} words of Chapuys taken out of context, and an untrustworthy translation of the ''Calendar of State Papers''."<ref>{{harvnb|Schofield|2008|pp=106–108}}</ref> Cromwell did not manufacture the accusations of adultery, though he and other officials used them to bolster Henry's case against Anne.<ref>Warnicke, pp. 212, 242; {{harvnb|Wooding|2009|p=194}}.</ref> Warnicke questions whether Cromwell could have or wished to manipulate the King in such a matter. Such a bold attempt by Cromwell, given the limited evidence, could have risked his office, even his life.<ref>Warnicke, pp. 210–212. Warnicke observes: "Neither Chapuys nor modern historians have explained why if the secretary [Cromwell] could manipulate Henry into agreeing to the execution of Anne, he could not simply persuade the king to ignore her advice on foreign policy".</ref> Henry himself issued the crucial instructions: his officials, including Cromwell, carried them out.<ref>{{harvnb|Scarisbrick|1972|p=350}}:"Clearly, he [Henry] was bent on undoing her by any means."</ref> The result was by modern standards a legal travesty;<ref>{{harvnb|Wooding|2009|pp=194–195}}; {{harvnb|Scarisbrick|1972|pp=454–455}}; {{harvnb|Fraser|1992|p=245}}.</ref> however, the rules of the time were not bent in order to assure a conviction; there was no need to tamper with rules that guaranteed the desired result since law at the time was an engine of state, not a mechanism for justice.<ref name="scholarship.law.wm.edu">{{cite journal|url=http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol22/iss1/3|title=Law as the Engine of State: The Trial of Anne Boleyn |journal=William & Mary Law Review|date=October 1980|volume=22|issue=1|page=49|last1=Schauer|first1=Margery|last2=Schauer|first2=Frederick}}</ref>

Towards the end of April, a [[Flemish people|Flemish]] musician in Anne's service named [[Mark Smeaton]] was arrested. He initially denied being the Queen's lover but later confessed, perhaps after being [[torture]]d or promised freedom. Another courtier, Sir [[Henry Norris (courtier)|Henry Norris]], was arrested on [[May Day]], but being an aristocrat, could not be tortured. Prior to his arrest, Norris was treated kindly by the King, who offered him his own horse to use on the May Day festivities. It seems likely that during the festivities, the King was notified of Smeaton's confession and it was shortly thereafter the alleged conspirators were arrested upon his orders.<ref>{{harvnb|MacCulloch|2018|pp=337–338}}.</ref> Norris denied his guilt and swore that Queen Anne was innocent; one of the most damaging pieces of evidence against Norris was an overheard conversation with Anne at the end of April, where she accused him of coming often to her chambers not to pay court to her lady-in-waiting [[Madge Shelton]] but to herself.{{sfn|Warnicke|1989|p=212}} Sir [[Francis Weston]] was arrested two days later on the same charge, as was Sir [[William Brereton (courtier)|William Brereton]], a groom of the King's [[Privy Chamber]]. Sir [[Thomas Wyatt (poet)|Thomas Wyatt]], the poet and friend of the Boleyns who was allegedly infatuated with her before her marriage to the King, was also imprisoned for the same charge but later released, most likely due to his or his family's friendship with Cromwell. Sir [[Richard Page (courtier)|Richard Page]] was also accused of having a sexual relationship with the Queen, but he was acquitted of all charges after further investigation could not implicate him with Anne.{{sfn|Bernard|2011|pp=174–175}} The final accused was Queen Anne's own brother, [[George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford|George Boleyn]], arrested on charges of [[incest]] and [[treason]].<ref>{{harvnb|Williams|1971|pp=143–144}}.</ref> He was accused of two incidents of incest: November 1535 at [[Palace of Whitehall|Whitehall]] and the following month at [[Eltham Palace|Eltham]].<ref name="Ives, p. 344">{{harvnb|Ives|2004|p=344}}.</ref>

On 2 May 1536 Anne was arrested and taken to the Tower of London. In the Tower, initially she became hysterical, demanding to know the location of her father and her "sweet brother", as well as the charges against her.{{sfn|Warnicke|1989|p=226}}{{sfn|Ives|2004|p=353}} The charge was treason, in that she and the other defendants had intended Henry's death: the shock of the news of her adultery was alleged to have put his life at risk.{{efn|Eric Ives points out that the King, amusing himself with Jane Seymour, was far from perturbed by any news of Anne's activities. The other strand of the indictment, that adultery with the Queen was a treasonable offence, had to be twisted to fit Cromwell's purported facts because this was a moral offence only, triable exclusively in the church courts.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/557|title=Anne [Anne Boleyn] (c. 1500–1536)}}</ref>}} Anne was taken by barge from Greenwich to The Tower and lodged in the royal apartments.{{sfn|Ives|2004|p=334}}

In what is reputed to be her last letter to Henry, dated 6 May, she wrote:

{{blockquote|Sir,

Your Grace's displeasure, and my imprisonment are things so strange unto me, as what to write, or what to excuse, I am altogether ignorant. Whereas you send unto me (willing me to confess a truth, and so obtain your favour) by such an one, whom you know to be my ancient professed enemy. I no sooner received this message by him, than I rightly conceived your meaning; and if, as you say, confessing a truth indeed may procure my safety, I shall with all willingness and duty perform your demand.

But let not your Grace ever imagine, that your poor wife will ever be brought to acknowledge a fault, where not so much as a thought thereof preceded. And to speak a truth, never prince had wife more loyal in all duty, and in all true affection, than you have ever found in Anne Boleyn: with which name and place I could willingly have contented myself, if God and your Grace's pleasure had been so pleased. Neither did I at any time so far forget myself in my exaltation or received Queenship, but that I always looked for such an alteration as I now find; for the ground of my preferment being on no surer foundation than your Grace's fancy, the least alteration I knew was fit and sufficient to draw that fancy to some other object. You have chosen me, from a low estate, to be your Queen and companion, far beyond my desert or desire. If then you found me worthy of such honour, good your Grace let not any light fancy, or bad council of mine enemies, withdraw your princely favour from me; neither let that stain, that unworthy stain, of a disloyal heart toward your good grace, ever cast so foul a blot on your most dutiful wife, and the infant-princess your daughter. Try me, good king, but let me have a lawful trial, and let not my sworn enemies sit as my accusers and judges; yea let me receive an open trial, for my truth shall fear no open flame; then shall you see either my innocence cleared, your suspicion and conscience satisfied, the ignominy and slander of the world stopped, or my guilt openly declared. So that whatsoever God or you may determine of me, your grace may be freed of an open censure, and mine offense being so lawfully proved, your grace is at liberty, both before God and man, not only to execute worthy punishment on me as an unlawful wife, but to follow your affection, already settled on that party, for whose sake I am now as I am, whose name I could some good while since have pointed unto, your Grace being not ignorant of my suspicion therein. But if you have already determined of me, and that not only my death, but an infamous slander must bring you the enjoying of your desired happiness; then I desire of God, that he will pardon your great sin therein, and likewise mine enemies, the instruments thereof, and that he will not call you to a strict account of your unprincely and cruel usage of me, at his general judgment-seat, where both you and myself must shortly appear, and in whose judgment I doubt not (whatsoever the world may think of me) mine innocence shall be openly known, and sufficiently cleared. My last and only request shall be, that myself may only bear the burden of your Grace's displeasure, and that it may not touch the innocent souls of those poor gentlemen, who (as I understand) are likewise in strait imprisonment for my sake. If ever I found favour in your sight, if ever the name of Anne Boleyn hath been pleasing in your ears, then let me obtain this request, and I will so leave to trouble your Grace any further, with mine earnest prayers to the Trinity to have your Grace in his good keeping, and to direct you in all your actions. From my doleful prison in the Tower, this sixth of May;

Your most loyal and ever faithful wife,
Anne Boleyn.{{efn|A copy of this letter was found among the papers of the King's secretary, Thomas Cromwell, after his execution.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Strickland |first1=Agnes |author1-link=Agnes Strickland |title=Lives of the Queens of England |date=1845 |publisher=[[Henry Colburn]] |location=London |page=196|volume=IV}}</ref>}}}}

Four of the accused men were tried in [[Westminster]] on 12 May 1536. Weston, Brereton and Norris publicly maintained their innocence and only Smeaton supported [[the Crown]] by pleading guilty. Three days later, Anne and George Boleyn were tried separately in the Tower of London, before a jury of 27 [[Peer of the realm|peers]]. She was accused of [[adultery]], incest, and [[high treason]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hibbert|1971|pp=54–55}}.</ref> The treason alleged against her (after Cromwell had used the nine days of her imprisonment to develop his case{{sfn|Ives|2004|pp=333–338}}) was that of plotting the King's death, with her "lovers", so that she might later marry Henry Norris.<ref name="Ives, p. 344"/> Anne's one-time betrothed, [[Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland]], sat on the jury that unanimously found Anne guilty. When the verdict was announced, he collapsed and had to be carried from the courtroom.<ref>{{harvnb|Ives|2004|pp=339,341}}.</ref> He died childless eight months later and was succeeded by his [[Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland|nephew]].<ref name=":0" />

On 17 May, Cranmer declared Anne's marriage to Henry null and void.<ref>{{harvnb|Starkey|2003|p=581}}.</ref>