Today in 1536 Anne Boleyn was tried in front of nearly 2000 spectators in the King’s Hall in the Tower of London. The Queen defended herself honorably, and admitted only to giving money to Francis Weston. Anne was pronounced guilty, of course – there was never any doubt that she would be found guilty. After all, the men tried before her were found guilty, so she would have to have had the same judgment, otherwise their judgments would have been wrong – they were found guilty of adultery with the Queen, so the Queen needed to also be found guilty of adultery.
Anne kept her composer as her sentence –  burning or having her head cut off, whichever the King preferred – was given. She didn’t argue, but did say that she believed there was some other reason why she was being condemned, other than the alleged crimes. After Anne was taken away, her brother George was also tried, with the same verdict, despite defending himself such that many people believed he would be acquitted.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop. She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.