Convicted of doing WHAT with her BROTHER? #history #historyshorts #anneboleyn #onthisday #tudors

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[00:00:00]On this day, 490 years ago, the men accused of committing adultery with Anne Boleyn were executed by beheading on Tower Hill. The five men convicted were Francis Weston, a member of the Privy Chamber, [music] courtier William Brereton, the Groom of the Stool Henry Norris, a musician named Mark Smeaton, and the Viscount of Rochford George Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's own brother. At the request of Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell began to gather evidence against these men, and he started with Mark Smeaton. He had been informed that Anne Boleyn had something of a quarrel with Smeaton, and some believed it to be a lover's spat. On the 30th [music] of April, Smeaton was brought to Thomas Cromwell's house where he underwent a grueling 20-hour interrogation. Now, accounts vary on what exactly happened to Smeaton. Some say that he was merely threatened into confessing, others say that he underwent torture, but by the end of the interrogation, he confessed to having had relations with Anne on three different occasions. He also named the four other men. Though, it's worth noting that these confessions were most likely the result of coercion rather than reality. After Smeaton's confession, the four men were accused of high treason [music] and faced trial.

[00:00:59]The trials of George and Anne Boleyn took place in Westminster Hall. Smeaton pled guilty on the hope that he could throw himself on the king's mercy.

[00:01:06]However, Brereton, Weston, and Norris all pled not guilty. Though, despite their pleas, the juries were already fixed on their verdict to deliver the wish of Henry VIII. Because at the end of the day, Henry wanted Anne gone, and the lives of these men were simply the cost of making that happen. The men were sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn, but their sentences were then commuted to beheading. [music] On the morning of the 17th of May, 1536, the men were taken from the Tower of London to Tower Hill. George Boleyn was the first to face his execution as he was the highest-ranking man of the group. [music] Smeaton would be the last to be executed. It was said that by the time Smeaton approached the scaffold [music] that it was slick with gore.

[00:01:39]After the executions of these men, Anne was greatly affected. The Constable of the Tower, William Kingston, reported that her spirits were especially low and that she seemed ready to be done with life. She would [music] be beheaded 2 days later on the 19th of May, 1536.