Renaissance · Europe · Politics

1536

Anne Boleyn Beheaded

May 19, 1536

Fewer than three years after her coronation, Anne Boleyn was executed within the Tower of London on charges of adultery and treason that few historians now believe. A French swordsman, imported for the occasion, took her head off cleanly. Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane Seymour the next morning. The charges of adultery with five men were almost certainly fabricated by Cromwell to clear the way for Jane Seymour.