Anne's Last Message to Henry: Fact or Fiction?

There is a well known historical rumor that Anne Boleyn sent Henry VIII one last message pleading her case prior to her May 1536 execution. According to historian Richard Baker Anne paused on her march to the scaffold to tell one of the King’s messengers, “Commend me to the king, and tell him, that he hath ever been constant in his course of advancing me: from a private gentlewoman he made me a marchioness, and from a marchioness a queen; and now, that he hath left no higher degree of earthly honour, he intend to crown my innocence with the glory of martyrdom.”

Reformation author Gilbert Burnet has Anne penning the letter to him the night before her execution using similar words while protesting her innocence and encouraging the king to care for her daughter. Biographer of English queens, Agnes Strickland also asserts that Anne uttered these words calling them “…her last message to the King...”

So let’s examine the evidence; it would seem given the number of secondary sources citing the message that it might be true. This is FALSE. The sources all in fact cite each other, none of which are contemporary accounts.  The towers yeoman warders never recorded Anne sending a message to the King which would have been a gross error in their careful documentation of Anne’s time there. There is also no reliable account of Anne pausing to send a message on her way to the scaffold, which certainly would have been noted. There is absolutely no primary source evidence which proves this theory.

The Execution of Anne Boleyn
by Jan Lukyen c.1670

John Foxe, Tudor martyrologist would lead us to believe that Anne died a martyr, however I do not view the situation this way and it is unlikely that she would have either. Martyrs, in the traditional definition, were people who were put to death rather than renounce their deeply held religious values. As we have already explored here, while Anne’s fall was indeed colored by religious issues she was not a woman accused of heresy nor was she subjected to questioning regarding her faith. The plot against her was multi-faceted and complex. The sources that cite her referring to herself as a martyr all have Protestant leanings in their writing, which explains their inclination to view Anne as the hero and sacrificial lamb of the early Protestant movement in England. Having Anne view herself as a martyr and proclaim herself thus, would serve to further their religious agenda.

As lovers of history, in its wholesome truth, we must value facts. In this case I would call this rumor a myth due to the lack of contemporary, objective sources citing Anne’s last message to the King.

Sources: The Cronikille of Anne Boleyn, The History of the Reformation of the Church, The L&P of Henry VIII, Tudor Era Religiosity and the British National Archives.

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