On this day, on the morning of the 17th of May 1536, several high profile noblemen at Henry VIII's Tudor court lost their life. Including the then Queen, Anne Boleyn's own brother. They were: George Boleyn, Henry Norris, Mark Smeaton, William Brereton and Francis Weston.
The men were led to their execution to a scaffolding on Tower Hill, just outside the Tower of London. The Tower of London is where Anne Boleyn was executed, just two days later. George Boleyn was the first of the men to be executed. The execution of George Boleyn started with a long speech, before he faced the axe.
The Anne Boleyn Files states that George Boleyn's final speech before his execution was noted by Thomas Wyatt. According to Thomas Wyatt, George Boleyn ended his life with the following speech:
“Trust in God, and not in the vanities of the world, for if I had so done, I think I had been alive as ye be now. Men do common and say that I have been a setter-forth of the word of God and one that hath favoured the Gospel of Christ; and because I would not that God’s word should be slandered by me, I say unto you all that if I had followed God’s word in deed as I did read it ans set forth to my power, I had not come to this. Truly and diligently did I read the gospel of Christ Jesus, but I turned not to profit that which I did read; the which had I done, of a surety I had not fallen into so great errors. Wherefore I do beseech you all, for the love of our Lord God, that you do at all seasons hold by the truth, and speak it, and embrace it.”
After George Boleyn was executed, the other men soon followed. This is what each of them said before their execution...
Mark Smeaton was the only man who confessed any guilt to the accusations laid against him. He did not retract his guilty confession. His last words were: “Masters, I pray you all pray for me for I have deserved death.” Henry Norris said before his death: “I have deserved to die if it were a thousand deaths. But the cause whereof I die, judge not. But if ye judge, judge the best.” Francis Weston said before his death: “I had thought to have lived in abomination yet this twenty or thirty years and then to have made amends. I thought little it would come to this.”
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