Preview
Identifier
KD 370 .H68 1809 v.1
Creation Date
1809
Description
“The Trials of Queen Anne Boleyn, and her Brother Lord Viscount Rochford, for High Treason,” in Cobbett's Complete Collection of State Trials. London: Published by R. Bagshaw, 1809.
In January 1533, Henry VIII wed his mistress Anne Boleyn in a secret ceremony. To do so, Henry had established the protestant Church of England and abandoned his first wife, Katherine of Aragon. Henry married Anne with the expectation she would produce a male heir. Unfortunately, her only living child – later Elizabeth I – was a girl. By 1536, Henry, tired of Anne, sought to replace her. Having annulled his first marriage, he felt he could not divorce Anne. Thomas Cromwell, Henry’s chief minister, brought charges of adultery, incest, and treason against her. A trial with a jury of 27 peers of the realm found her guilty. Although probably innocent, she was beheaded with a sword at the Tower of London on May 19, 1536.