Reepham Benefice

 

Questioning History: Final Resting Place of Anne Boleyn?

 

History, it is said, is often written by the victors. Throughout history there have been found conflicting documents relating to all manner of major world events, such as the fall of Rome, the suppression of the Celts and even whether Hitler did indeed kill himself in his underground bunker in 1945. Questions also surround the final resting place of Anne Boleyn: once Queen of England; advocate and one of the central figures behind England’s break from Rome and the establishment of the Church of England; second wife of King Henry VIII and mother to one of the most prominent and successful monarchs in British history -  Queen Elizabeth I.

 

Norfolk was the birthplace of the Boleyn family: Salle being the family seat in medieval times; Blickling Hall, Anne’s child-hood home is less than eight miles from Salle and its great church of her forefathers. There is evidence, both primary and secondary, that casts a large question mark over whether she is buried in the Tower of London Chapel or, if some sources are to be believed, in Salle Church. The central figure in the plot to remove Anne Boleyn from the Tower Chapel is Sir Thomas Wyatt, a close friend and courtier of Henry VIII’s, a man of influence and means, an individual who had the necessary connections to execute such a clandestine plot.   

 

However, it should also be noted, during renovations to the Tower of London Chapel in the 19th century, excavations were carried out and a body was found and identified as that of Anne Boleyn. This was before the age of forensic science, DNA testing and carbon dating, so the ‘identity’ of the remains found in the Chapel are able to be questioned.

 

Here, on this website, we wish to present some of the evidence that attempts to cast light on the question of Anne’s burial, as it is found – each source cited and referenced accurately. We are not claiming that the statements made by them are either true or false; we simply leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions. What is certain, however, is that no excavations will ever be conducted in Salle Church to explore the validity of the evidence; it is also equally unlikely that Anne Boleyn’s marked burial place at the Tower Chapel will ever be disturbed for the sake of inquisitive historians - this therefore stands as one of the more noteworthy of history’s unanswerable questions.

 

Questioning History: What If?

 

Most historians believe that the question “what if?” is not a useful one. They deal in the tangible; the measurable; but, when we dig into history, perhaps we are opening the pages of a book and reading the first line of the first chapter: once upon a time there was a woman. What comes after that is up to us to decipher. We can learn what people wore and what they ate; where they came from and perhaps when they died. But can we know of the moods that touched them; the dreams they had; the loves?

What we do know is that people do not fit into boxes and therefore neither does the history that they make. Human life isn’t straight and rigid; it’s kinked, it’s at an angle, and if historians don’t use their imagination from time to time, then they are in danger of missing those kinks.

 

Yes, we need evidence, but evidence will only get us so far… and then we need to dream a little. It is by dreaming that we can make that leap back into another time and better understand those that came before us. Dreaming isn’t without its risk, its ridicule or ruin even – but we have to be brave enough to take that step.

 

So, let us celebrate the people who came before us, the pioneers of their age, for whom our very existence today was secured countless times throughout history and it is to them that we now look to better understand where we, as a people, have come from and where we are heading in the future.

 

Providing the Evidence

 

The following evidence has been compiled after a period of research spanning three months. While there is little ‘modern day’ material to support the rumours of the removal of Anne Boleyn from the Tower of London, and indeed some evidence contradicts that presented here, it is still worth noting that much that has been written about the subject raises questions. In themselves these questions illuminate aspects of social history: our continued interest in exploring the intangible can sometimes lead to an over-romanticising of the past - perhaps what those 19th century historians have done in the sources provided below...

 

This is one question that will never be answered, but we can still explore the evidence that history has laid out before us and decide upon the answers for ourselves.   

 

1858, ‘Notes and Queries’, written by B. B. Wiffen, page 119

 

“It is said in Mrs. Strickland’s ‘Queen’s of England’ (Volume 4, page 203), that there is a tradition in Salle in Norfolk that the remains of Anne Boleyn were removed from the Tower and interred at midnight, with the rites of Christian burial, in Salle Church, and that a plain black stone without any inscription is supposed to indicate the place where she is buried. Sharon Turner, in ‘History of the Reign of King Henry VIII, volume 2, page 264, cites the following passage from Crispin’s account of Anne Boleyn’s execution, written 14 days after her death:

 

“Her ladies immediately took up her head and the body. They seemed without souls, they were so languid and extremely weak, but fearing that their mistress might be handled unworthily by inhuman men, they forced themselves to do this duty; and though almost dead, at last carried off her dead body wrapt in a white covering”.

 

Crispin, the author cited in the evidence above, was Crispin, ‘Lord of Minherve’ (as his name is recorded in several texts), a foreign dignitary in London at the time of Anne Boleyn’s trial and execution. This establishes the first primary source from the time of Anne Boleyn’s execution - an eye witness to the events as they happened. Many historians have regarded Crispin as a reliable and unbiased witness, especially as he had no ties to the government or royal court at the time of Anne Boleyn’s execution. He offered an impartial and ‘first hand’ overview of the proceedings from Anne’s arraignment through to her trial and eventual execution.

 

1842, “Life of Anne Boleyn” (Volume 4), by Agnes Strickland, page 293

 

“In Anne Boleyn’s native county, Norfolk, a curious tradition has been handed down from father to son for upwards of three centuries, which affirms that her remains were secretly removed from the Tower Church under the cover of darkness, and privately conveyed to Salle Church, the ancient burial place of the Boleyn’s; and there the body was interred at midnight, with the holy rites that were denied to her by her royal husband, at her first unhallowed funeral.”

 

1858, “The Queens of England” by Francis Lancelott, page 398

 

“The remains of the unfortunate Anne Boleyn, covered with a sheet, were placed by her maids in an elm chest and immediately afterwards buried by the side of her fellow victims, in the chapel of the Tower, without singing or prayer; but her friends returned at midnight and disinterred them, and conveyed them away in secret, buried them in Salle Church, in Norfolk”

 

1848, “Bentley’s Miscellany” by Charles Dickens, page 238

 

Please note: this is a fictional retelling of the rumoured story of Anne Boleyn’s removal from the Tower and burial at Salle Church and is written by the eminent author, Mr. Charles Dickens. This does emphasis the fact that the story was ‘spun’ for entertainment value and has been exploited here by one of the leading authors of the 19th century.

 

“[Anne Boleyn] had apprehended that her remains would be indignantly treated - that the rites of sepulture would be withheld from her, and that her grave would be where no memorial would be found of her; and therefore, her appeal to Wyatt, to save her, if possible, to the tomb of her fathers. Her desire had now, however, a prospect of fulfilment - a grave had been opened in Salle Church, which was the ancient burial place of her father’s family; and thither, on the second night after Wyatt’s arrival, the Earl proceeded, accompanied by his guests, ostensibly for the purpose of having midnight masses said for the repose of his daughter’s soul’ his daughter’s remains, however, went with him. They had, under Mary Wyatt’s care, immediately upon their removal from the Tower to her house, been most carefully embalmed, and wrapped in cere-cloth. In that state, and covered with a black velvet pall, she was placed in one of her father’s carriages, into which Wyatt and his sister entered; the Earl proceeding them in another carriage alone.

 

What the Earl’s thoughts and reflections were during the two hours he was slowly and unobservedly travelling by Aylsham and Cawston, to Salle, it would not be difficult to divine. He had within a month lost a daughter and a son by the hand of the executioner, - that son his only son, - that daughter the queen of England. Her name, besides, had been branded with infamy; and the prime mover of all this misery to him, - the most active agent to work him all this ill, - to bring his son and his daughter to the block was his own son’s wife, the infamous Lady Rochford. There ended all his dreams and ambitions, - all his influence and prosperity. His children beheaded, - his name dishonoured, - himself shunned. He was now alone, it might be said, in the world. One daughter, indeed, yet remained to him, his daughter Mary; but she had two years before incurred the anger of her father by marrying Sir W. Stafford; and he was, in consequence, utterly estranged from her.

 

The bitter reflections of those two hours, perhaps the better prepared the Earl for the solemn ceremonies that awaited his coming at Salle Church. He alighted there ad midnight. A few faithful servants bore the mangled remains of his daughter to the side of her tomb; but the perilous duty all there were arranged in would not allow of numerous tapers - of a chappele ardent - of a whole choir of priests, or of grand ceremonials. One priest was there, and the few candles that were lighted did no more than just show the gloom in which they were shrouded.

 

But all that could be done for the murdered queen was done, - mass was said for the repose of her soul - De profundis (Psalm 130) was chanted by those present, - her remains were carefully lowered into the grave, where they now rest, and a black-marble-slab, without either inscription or initials, alone market the spot which contains all that was mortal of Anne Boleyn - once queen of England.”

 

1852, “Lives of the Queens of England” Vol. IV, A. Strickland, page 213

 

“The mysterious sentence with which Thomas Wyatt closes his eloquent memorial of the death of this unfortunate queen, affords a singular confirmation of the local tradition of her removal and re-internment:

 

“God provided for her corpse sacred burial, even in a place as it were consecrate to innocence” - Thomas Wyatt.

 

End of evidence.