Written By: Katelyn Abbott
“I
think Your Majesty, most noble and worthy king, speaketh these words in mirth
to prove me, without intent of defiling your princely self, who I find thinks
nothing less than of such wickedness which would justly procure the hatred of
God and your good queen against us…. I have already given my maidenhead into my
husband’s hands.”- Anne’s
response in her refusal to become King Henry VIII’s mistress
“Sir, is it not a marvelous thing
to consider what debt and danger the Cardinal has brought you in with all your
subjects…there is not a man within all your realm worth five pounds but he hath
indebted you unto him by his means. There is never a noblemen within your realm
that if he had done but half so much as he hath done but we were well worthy to
lose his head. If my Lord of Norfolk, my Lord of Suffolk, my lord my father, or
any other noble person within your realm had done much less than he, but they
should have lost their heads for this.”-Anne saying that anyone else who had
done what Cardinal Wolsey had done they would have lost their heads for it to
King Henry VIII
“Did I not tell you that whenever
you argue with the Queen she is sure to have the upper hand? I see that some
fine morning you will succumb to her reasoning and cast me off! I have been
waiting long and might in the meanwhile have contracted some advantageous
marriage, out of which I might have had issue, which is the greatest
consolation in this world, but alas! Farewell to my time and youth spent to no
purpose at all!” –Anne to King Henry VIII in an argument with him in 1529
“Tut! Nan, I think the book a
bauble, and yet for the hope I have that the realm may be happy by my issue, I
am resolved to have him whatsoever might become of me.”-Anne to her
lady-in-waiting Anne Gainsford after she finds a book of prophecy with her
having her head cut off on it in her apartments in 1530
“That matters not,
for it is foretold in ancient prophecies that at this time a queen shall be
burnt. But even if I were to suffer a thousand deaths, my love for you will not
abate one jot.”-Anne to King Henry VIII in an argument with King Henry VIII
after he reminds her how much she owes him and how many enemies she had made
him in the summer of 1530
“You know I sometimes wish that all Spaniards were
at the bottom of the sea.” – Anne attacking Katherine of Aragon to one of her
ladies-in-waiting after she finds out that she is still making King Henry
VIII’s shirts
“I care nothing for Katherine. I would rather see
her hanged than acknowledge her as my mistress!” – Anne attacking Katherine of
Aragon to one of her ladies-in-waiting after she finds out that she is still making
King Henry VIII’s shirts
“I have a
furious hankering for apples such as I have never had before. It started three
days ago. The King told me it was a sign I was pregnant, but I said it was
nothing of the sort!”-Anne Boleyn to Sir Thomas Wyatt after she has married
King Henry VIII and become pregnant with her daughter Elizabeth in February
1533
“As it was in
the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”-Anne at her
first public appearance as the Queen of England at Mass on March 26th,
1533
“Sir, I liked the City well enough-but I saw a great
many caps on heads and heard but few tongues.”-Anne to King Henry VIII during
her Coronation as the Queen of England
“I thank you all for the honour ye have done to me
this day.”-Anne during her Coronation as the Queen of England
“He went to fetch your secretary, but he met a lady,
who made him forget the matter!”-Anne to the French ambassador Admiral Chabot
on December 1, 1533 about her laughter when she saw King Henry VIII go to fetch
his secretary but saw a lady that made him forget about his errand in the first
place
“I will curb her proud Spanish blood.”- Anne’s
threat against Lady Mary Tudor
“One day I might give her too much dinner or marry
her to some varlet.” - Anne’s threat against Lady Mary Tudor
“She is my death and I am hers, so I will take good
care that she shall not laugh at me after my death.”-Anne about her belief that
Katherine of Aragon will be the cause of her death
“Now I am indeed a queen!”-Anne after she hears
about Katherine of Aragon’s death
“I have miscarried of my savior.”-Anne after her
miscarriage of her son on January 29, 1536
“This is not all my fault. You have no one to blame
but yourself for this! I was distressed to see you with that wench Jane
Seymour. Because the love I bear you is so much greater than Katherine’s, my
heart broke when I saw you loved others.”-Anne to King Henry VIII about his
blame in the miscarriage of their son on January 29, 1536
“'I shall be the sooner with child again, and the
son I bear will not be doubtful like this one, which was conceived during the
life of the Princess Dowager.”-Anne talking to her ladies-in-waiting about her
planning of her next pregnancy after the miscarriage of her son in 1536
“I never spake with him since but upon Saturday before May Day [29th April], and then I found him standing in the round window in my chamber of presence; and I asked why he was so sad, and he answered and said it was no matter. And then I said, ‘You may not look to have me speak to you as I should do to a noble man because you be an inferior person.’ ‘No, no,’ said he, ‘a look sufficed me; and thus fare you well.’”-Anne about her conversation with Mark Smeaton
“You look for dead men’s shoes, for if aught came to
the King but good, you would look to have me.”-Anne to Sir Henry Norris after
she asks him why he is delaying his marriage to her cousin Lady Madge Shelton
“If it be his majesty's pleasure I am ready to
obey."-Anne after she is informed that she is to be arrested and brought
to the Tower of London on May 2, 1536
“Master Kingston, do I go into a dungeon?” –Anne to
Master William Kingston after her arrival to the Tower of London
“My God, bear witness there is no truth in these
charges. I am as clear from the company of man as from sin.”-Anne about the
charges against her in the Tower of London
“O Father! O Creator! Thou who art the way the life,
and the truth, knowest whether I have deserved this death.” –Anne’s declaration
after she has been convicted and deemed to die at her trial on May 15, 1536
“My lords, I do not say that my opinion ought
to be preferred to your judgment; but if you have reasons to justify it, they
must be other than those which have been produced in court, for I am wholly
innocent of all matters of which I have been accused, so that I cannot call
upon God to pardon me.
I
have always been faithful to the King my lord; but perhaps I have not always
shown to him such a perfect humility and reverence as his graciousness and
courtesy deserved, and the honor he hath done me required. I confess that I
have often had jealous fantasies against him which I had not wisdom or strength
to repress. But God knows that I have not otherwise trespassed against him.
Do
not think I say this in the hope of prolonging my life, for He who saveth from
death has taught me how to die, and will strengthen my faith.
Think
not, however, that I am so bewildered in mind that I do not care to vindicate
my innocence. I knew that it would avail me little to defend it at the last
moment if I had not maintained it all my life long, as much as ever Queen did.
Still the last words out of my mouth shall justify my honor.
As
for my brother and the other gentlemen who are unjustly condemned, I would
willingly die to save them; but as that is not the King’s pleasure, I shall
accompany them in death. And then Afterwards, I shall live in eternal peace and
joy without end, where I shall pray to God for the King and for you, my lords.
The judge of the entire world, in whom abounds
justice and truth knows all, and through His love I beseech that He will have
compassion on those who have condemned me to this death.”-Anne’s speech after she has been convicted and
deemed to die at her trial on May 15, 1536
“Has he not then cleared me of the public infamy he
has brought me to? Alas, I fear his soul suffers for it, and that he is now
punished for his false accusations! But for my brother and those others, I
doubt not but they are now in the presence of that great King before whom I am
to be tomorrow.”-Anne in her anguish after she finds out that Mark Smeaton had
not retracted his false confession about him committing adultery with her in
his final speech before his execution on May 17, 1536
“I hear I shall not die afore noon, and I am very
sorry, for I thought to be dead by this time, and past my pain." –Anne to
Master William Kingston after she finds out her execution has been postponed
““I have heard say that the executioner is very
good, and I have a little neck."-Anne to Master William Kingston about her
hearing that the French executioner was very good
“The people will have no difficulty in finding a
nickname for me: I shall be Queen Anne Lack-Head."-Anne to her
ladies-in-waiting at the Tower of London joking about how she will soon be
headless to them
“Acquit yourself of your charge, for I have been
long prepared.”-Anne to Master William Kingston after he comes to escort her to
escort her to the scaffold for her execution on May 19, 1536
““Good
Christian people, I am come hither to die, according to the law, for by the law
I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I come here
only to die, and thus to yield myself humbly to the will of the King, my lord.
And if, in my life, I did ever offend the King’s Grace, surely with my death I
do now atone. I come hither to accuse no man, nor speak anything of that
whereof I am accused, as I know full well that aught I say in my defense doth
not appertain to you. I pray and beseech you all, good friends, to pray for the
life of the King, my sovereign lord and yours, who is one of the best princes
on the face of the earth, who has always treated me so well that better could
not be, wherefore I submit to death with good will, humbly asking pardon of all
the world. If any person will meddle with my cause, I require them to judge the
best. Thus I take my leave of the world, and of you, and I heartily desire you
all to pray for me.”-Anne’s final speech on the scaffold on May 19, 1536
“ And ye, my damsels, who ever showed yourselves so
diligent in my service, and who are now to be present at my last hour and
mortal agony, as in good fortune ye were faithful to me, so even in this my
miserable death ye do not forsake me. And as I cannot reward you for your true
service to me, I pray you take comfort for my loss. Forget me not, and be
always faithful to the king’s grace, and to her whom with happier fortune, ye
may have as your queen and mistress. Esteem your honor far above your life, and
in prayers forget not to pray for my soul.”-Anne to her ladies-in-waiting as
her final words to them before her death on the scaffold on May 19, 1536
“Oh
Lord, have mercy on me! To God I commend my soul.” –Anne’s final words right
before she is beheaded on May 19, 1536
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