The Autobiography of Henry VIII_ With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers - Margaret George [161]
As for her own brother George, Lord Rochford, on November 2:
... with the Queen’s tongue in the mouth of the said George and George’s tongue in the mouth of the Queen, with kisses with open mouth, with gifts and jewels, by reason whereof Lord George Rochford, despising all the Almighty God’s precepts, and by every law of human nature, on November 5 violated and carnally knew his own natural sister.
The rest of the list (filled in with lascivious details) was:
—On Nov. 19, 1533, at Westminster, with Henry Norris.
—On Nov. 27, 1533, at Westminster, with William Brereton.
—On Dec. 8, 1533, at Hampton Court, with William Brereton.
—On May 19, 1534, at Greenwich, with Mark Smeaton.
—On May 20, 1534, at Greenwich, with Francis Weston.
—On June 20, 1534, at Greenwich, with Francis Weston.
—On April 26, 1535, at Westminster, with Mark Smeaton.
—On Dec. 29, 1535, at Eltham, with George Boleyn.
In addition to her “foul and insatiable lust,” she had conspired with her paramours against Henry’s life. She had told them “she had never wished to choose the King in her heart” and had “promised to marry one of them when the King died.” To keep them her love-slaves, she had played one off against the other, giving them outrageous gifts.
Cromwell and his Attorney-General, Sir Christopher Hales, introduced two other charges: that she had poisoned the Princess Dowager and attempted to do the same to the Lady Mary; and had injured the King’s health maliciously—for when the King became aware of her evil, he “had conceived in his heart such inward dis I knew, regardless of how others snickered at it.
She had mocked the King behind his back, her accusers said, made fun of his poetry, his music, his clothes, and his person. She had also written her brother George concerning her pregnancy, indicating that the child was in fact his.
Anne rose to defend herself. Standing as proudly as ever I had seen her, she tossed her head and spoke in a loud, ringing voice that carried to the farthest reaches of the stone chamber.
Significantly, she did not answer the latter charges. She addressed only the adultery ones, claiming that she was innocent, although she had given Francis Weston money, and had asked Mark Smeaton to her chambers to play the virginal. She spoke with eloquence and wit, and with unearthly charm.
But it did her no good. When the verdict was called, the majority of peers pronounced her guilty. Then her dread uncle Norfolk rose to pronounce sentence:
“Guilty of high treason, adultery, and incest. Thou hast deserved death, and thy judgement is this: That thou shalt be burnt here within the Tower of London on the green, else to have thy head smitten off as the King’s pleasure shall be further known.”
A great silence, then a movement from the peers. Henry Percy has collapsed. He must be carried, lying limply on his attendant’s shoulder, from the Hall. Anne watches him, and something in her face changes, withers.
She speaks now, but without fire.
“O God, Thou knowest if I have merited this death.” She pauses. “My Lords, I will not say your sentence is unjust, nor presume that my reasons can prevail against your convictions. I am willing to believe that you have sufficient reasons for what you have done, but then they must be other than those which have been produced in court, for I am clear of all the offences which you then laid to my charge. I have ever been a faithful wife to the King, though I do not say I have always shown him that humility which his goodness to me and the honour to which he raised me merited.
“I confess I have had jealous fancies and suspicions of him which I had not discretion and wisdom enough to conceal at all times. But God knows, and is my witness, that I never sinned against him in any other way.
“Think not I say this in the hope to prolong my life. God hath taught me how to die and He will strengthen my faith.
“Think not that