19 May 1536 AD: Ann Boleyn Loses Her Head--Queen of England

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 18-19^th  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.