19 May 1536 A.D. Queen of England, Ann Boleyn, Beheaded.
Dr. Rusten helps tell the story. Rusten, E.
Michael and Rusten, Sharon. The One Year
Christian History. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003. Available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Year-Christian-History-Books/dp/0842355073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393302630&sr=8-1&keywords=rusten+church+history
Backstory.
Our forum
has told this story often, but we tell it again on this occasion. On 19 Mar 2014, it was 478 years ago
today. To God, in His Majesty, it is as
a yesterday. Others may have forgotten but God hasn’t. So, we proceed.
Ann was
the daughter of an English Earl and was born in 1507. She and her older sister,
Mary, later a co-adulterer with Henry VIII, were sent to France. They were “children-in-waiting” to the sister
of Henry VIII, Mary, wife of Louis XII of France. Louis died 82 days after the wedding to Mary.
In 1517,
Luther’s 95 theses were inflaming the intelligentsia of Europe.
Ann was
still in France.
The
Reformation was spreading to France, including the nobility.
Ann
Boleyn became a friend of Marguerite d’Angouleme, sister of Francis I, future
Queen of Navarre, and leader of the French Reformation. Under these influences,
Ann became a devout Christian.
Ann was
recalled to England in 1521. She joined
Henry VIII’s court. Her sister, Mary,
was an escort for Henry VIII.
Henry
VIII’s matrimonial issues—divorce or annulment—came to review. That story has
been told elsewhere in our forum and blog.
Cranmer
became the Archbishop of Canterbury on 30 Mar 1533. Cranmer was in the bag for Henry VIII.
Dutifully, he declared Henry’s marriage “null and void,” to wit, there never
was a marriage. It was a lengthy affair
with a bastard offspring, Mary.
Ann
allegedly did favor the English Reformers, including favoring Nicolas Ridley,
senior Presbyter of London. An
“evangelical.” We are reminded by Dr.
Prof. Diarmaid MacCulloch that the terms of art were “evangelical,” albeit
conditioned by those times and not the US context or the 18-19th century English contexts. Originally, “evangelical” indicated the
English Reformers.
Ann
talked to Henry VIII about the Bible.
She showed him Tyndale’s Obedience.
She read the Bible in both French and English (hint, hint, Tyndale’s
English version flooding England).
Ultimately,
Henry’s affections abated and receded.
Ann produced no male heir. She,
as a breeding bare, produced only Elizabeth.
He fell
in love with Jane Seymour. Henry VIII
trumped up adultery charges on Ann.
Ann was
convicted of adultery and beheaded on 19
May 1536.
Her last
words were: “To Christ I commend my soul, Jesus, and receive my soul.”
Sources
Durant. Reformation.
535-37.
Ives,
E.W. Ann Boleyn. Oxford: Blockwell,
1986.
Lofts,
Norah. Ann Boleyn. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan,
Inc., 1979.
Warnicke,
Retha. The Rise and Fall of Ann Boleyn. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Williamson.
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. 107-33.
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