All language subtitles for The Fall of Anne Boleyn 02 Trial

It's dawn in London.

For the first time in history,

the Queen of England is about to
be tried for adultery and treason.

If she's found guilty,
her fate will be death.

I'm historian Tracy Borman.

Over three nights,

I'm exploring the incredible story
of Anne's downfall.

Look at that. It's just exquisite.

It's wonderful, isn't it?

It all took place in the space
of just 17 days.

I studied Anne for most of my life.
I think I know her well.

But I'm gonna do something
that I've never done before.

I'm going to follow
in Anne's footsteps.

Take the journey with her,
hour by hour,

during the three most important clays

from queen to outcast,

to find the truth
behind her downfall.

That is incredible.
Can I just put it in my pocket?

I'm exploring exactly what went
so devastatingly wrong

for Anne Boleyn.

I've already investigated
what happened on the day

of her arrest.

In this episode, I'll be tracing
the events of Anne Boleyn's trial.

Even by the standards of its day,
it was a complete outrage.

I want to find out if she stands
any chance of a fair hearing

or is her fate
sealed from the beginning?

Can Anne possibly save herself?

It's...

In an hour and a half,

the trial of Anne Boleyn will begin

at the Tower of London
in its Great Hall.

Well, we can locate the Great Hall
precisely on this Tudor map.

It would have stood over there
on the far side of the lawn,

but demolished in the 17th century

and so, sadly, we can only imagine
what it must have been like.

Today, the Great Hall at the Tower
is hosting the most infamous trial

in Tudor, England...

...instead of the banquets
and meetings it's more used to.

Well, you can imagine the atmosphere
when everyone is gathered

in the courtroom is just electric.

This is the trial of one of the most
famous women in Europe

and her dirty laundry
is about to be aired in public.

It really is the scandal
of the century.

Some of the most important men
in the kingdom are gathering,

including the architect
of Anne's arrest,

the King's right hand man,
Thomas Cromwell.

Just three years ago,

Cromwell masterminded
Henry's marriage to Anne,

hoping she would give
the King a son, but she hasn't.

Cromwell and Anne are now
at loggerheads

and his relationship
with the King hangs by a thread.

Anne must go.

Anne was arrested 13 clays ago.

Cromwell's ensured
there's little time before the trial

and to guarantee things go his way,

he's selected the judge and jury.

Reading a list of who's gathered
here for the trial,

it's a who's who of Tudor England.

Remarkably,
presiding over the whole thing

is Anne's own uncle,
the Duke of Norfolk.

It may seem a risky move
for Cromwell to put someone so close

to Anne in charge.

But Cromwell has his reasons.

Five years ago, the Duke of Norfolk
predicted that Anne would be the...

Cromwell is confident
that when it comes to the crunch,

Norfolk will side with the King.

Anne's fate will be decided
by a jury of 26 peers,

including her own father.

Thomas Boleyn is a ruthlessly
ambitious politician.

He puts his career
ahead of everything,

even, or especially,
his own children.

Even though these men, in theory,
are loyal to Anne,

if they don't vote
the way the King wants,

their necks
are gonna be on the line.

At the centre of the room,
on a raised platform so all can see,

is a chair where Anne will sit.

Members of the public are
being allowed to watch the trial.

2,000 have squeezed in,

desperate to know
how this is going to play out.

Anne is being accused

of one of the most salacious
acts imaginable,

punishable by death.

The stakes
really couldn't be higher.

But there is one person missing
from the trial.

Across London,
at York Place in Whitehall,

the King is out of bed
and being dressed by his gentlemen.

Where these buildings now stand
was Henry's Palace of Whitehall

and it's here that he's lying low
today as Anne's trial takes place,

but he's keeping a close
eye on the proceedings.

If Anne is found guilty,
then a cannon will be fired

from the Tower.

Fire!

And if she is out of the way,
then Henry already has plans

for who he is going to marry next.

One mile down the River Thames
from Whitehall, in Chelsea,

is the woman who the king hopes
will be his next wife, Jane Seymour.

She's already being kept
like a queen.

Henry has been obsessed by Jane
for the past few months

and the affair hasn't gone
unnoticed by Anne.

There are rumours recently
that the King's been giving Jane

priceless gifts and love letters.

And on one occasion, Anne apparently
spots Jane wearing a new locket

and demands to see it more closely.

When Jane refuses, Anne rips it
from around her neck

and opens the locket to find
a picture of the king.

She is furious.

Since Anne's arrest,
Jane has been kept out of sight

in the countryside.

As a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn,

her presence in court would cause
gossip that he can do without.

Yesterday,
with Anne's trial drawing nearer,

Henry orders that Jane
be brought back to London

to be close to him.

Now she's just a mile down river
at Chelsea,

where Henry
can visit her secretly in the night.

He assures Jane that soon
all this pretence will be over.

At the Tower of London,
the court is now assembled.

And in the Great Hall,
the most well-known woman in England

is set to enter the stage.

Silence is called for.

And the Duke of Norfolk,
Anne's uncle, remember,

shouts out...

Gentlemen, jailer of the Tower...

...bring in your prisoner.

Anne is led into the courtroom,

flanked by the gentleman jailer,

his axe turned away from her,
because she's not yet proven guilty,

and also by four ladies.

Now, these ladies aren't of Anne's
choosing, but of Cromwell's.

He's placed them in her service
to watch and record everything

she says and does.

Spectators remark that she's never
looked more in control.

Anne's composure is remarkable.

Several eyewitnesses comment on it.

She doesn't flinch,
even when she looks across

and sees
her own father sitting on the jury.

Everyone is in place.

The trial is about to begin.

If found guilty,
Anne could be sentenced to death.

The prosecution is led by
Anne's archrival, Thomas Cromwell.

But as the trial begins,

things are already not going quite
as planned.

Before Anne had come in,

the crowds had been baying
for her blood,

but now she's conducting herself
with such dignity

and clearly
they weren't expecting that.

When commoners are put on trial,

they're made to stand throughout
the proceedings,

but Anne is still Queen of England,

so she is allowed to sit

and you can imagine as she lowers
herself into the chair

and waits with apprehension
to hear the charges against her.

Anne still doesn't know
what she's being accused of.

To discover the actual charges,

I've come to The National Archives
at Kew.

This is where all the records
that still exist

from Anne's trial are stored.

This is very exciting.

These incredible papers,
in their original leather pouch,

were kept in what's known
as the bag of secrets.

Oh, there actually is a bag.

Then you get all of the papers.

And Sean Cunningham
looks after them.

These are the fronts of the original
commissions and orders.

The records are written in Latin
on 22 sheets of parchment.

It's amazing to think that this
document would have actually

been there in the trial
room at the time. That's right.

It is a record of the process
as it was unfolding.

Some of this would have been
in the hands of the people

in the courts at the time.
It makes it all chillingly real.

But as I examine the records,
something isn't right.

These documents are all telling
the story from the side

of the prosecution.

There's no record
of Anne's testimony.

We have here a huge body of evidence

against Anne - the indictment,
eyewitness accounts.

Nothing in her defence has survived.

And that surely is significant.

The indictment that details
Anne's charges does still exist.

Here, the charges are listed.

Adultery with four men.

Henry Norris...

...William Brereton...

...Sir Francis Weston...

...and Mark Smeaton.

It's telling us that she's despised
her marriage for three years

and she's... Three years?
So the whole marriage, really?

Pretty much, yes.
I mean, it's setting up the adultery

and the relationship
with her accomplices

in such a way that it undermines
the King's status and dignity.

And what's the significance of
the men who are accused with Anne?

They're all gentlemen,
apart from Mark Smeaton.

So these are the young men
who've grown up with Henry

or are serving Henry and his family.

And so they spend a lot of their
time in the King's direct presence.

It's really explaining how
they have been wooed

by Anne's charms to be her lovers.

The indictment alleges how
Anne is...

"..following daily her frail
and carnal lusts,

"did falsely and traitorously
procure kisses

"and touches of the King's
daily and familiar servants

"to be her adulterers and
concubines."

In court, the charges are read out
to Anne.

She is accused
of some 20 acts of adultery.

So, now that Anne knows
what she's accused of,

how on earth must she be feeling?

Well, she's sure of her innocence.
That comes across, definitely.

And she's also got great faith.

So perhaps she thinks that God
will deliver her from all this,

because He knows she's innocent,

so he'll make sure
that justice prevails.

But mingled with all
of that self-righteousness,

there must be terror, disbelief
and outrage.

She must feel like screaming.

In the courtroom, the spectators
are on the edge of their seats,

listening to these charges
and waiting for Anne's response.

But Anne is completely calm,
certain of her innocence,

believing God will intervene
with a miracle to prove it.

An eyewitness describes
how she seemed unmoved.

She said little, but...

Cromwell must now
be growing agitated.

This isn't going the way he thought.

He'd planned
it all out very carefully.

He must have thought
it was a done deal,

but now he senses
the atmosphere changing

and he must be terrified that
it's all going to go against him.

Because Anne has a hidden weapon.

She's not just the intellectual
equal of most of the men there,

she's their superior.

Anne's had
the benefit of an education abroad,

very unusual for a Tudor woman.

She stands apart in Henry's court

as somebody who champions the role
of women, the qualities of women,

and her feistiness,
if we can call it that,

is what attracts Henry.

He loves the fact she's different

to all the other women
in his courts.

Well, he loves that when
she's a mistress,

but when she becomes his wife,
that's something else entirely

and he turns against her,
at least partly for that reason.

Anne has been accused of adultery,
a deeply serious allegation.

But then the next part of
the indictment is read out.

Anne is also accused
of having a sexual relationship

with her brother George,
the crime of incest.

And the records spare no details

in describing
the siblings' alleged affair.

There's quite a lot about
the carnal contact and the lusting

and the secret associations
of Anne and her brother.

They're talking about the Queen
and her brother kissing.

The court records claim
that Anne encouraged her brother.

"Alluring him with her tongue
in the said George's mouth

"and the said George's tongue
in hers..."

There's allegations
of diabolical sorcery.

Witchcraft, as well. Yeah.

And lots of carnal lust.

She's presented,
even in the language,

as someone who's not in control
of her passions.

To make the charge
of incest stand up,

Cromwell needs to provide
some proof.

The evidence for Anne's incest
with her brother is flimsy,

to say the least.

All it was was the fact that Anne
had written to George telling him

that she was pregnant.

Well, that was taken to mean
that the child was his.

And as if the incest wasn't
devastating enough,

Cromwell also finds a way
to really twist the knife.

It all gets deeply personal,

because as well as the incestuous
relationship

between Anne and George,

it's recorded that they laughed
at the King behind his back.

They made fun of his clothes,
of his poetry.

It is deeply humiliating for Henry

and it's just another nail
in Anne's coffin.

But to be sure this would stand up
in court,

Cromwell needs to find
someone who can testify.

In the run up to Anne's trial,

from his base in Austin Friars...

...in the depths of the city,

Cromwell's men scoured London

for juicy evidence.

What they come up with

is a star witness,

someone who confirms
the incest between Anne and George.

What's remarkable about
this is that the witness

is George's own wife, Lady Rochford.

This is a mind-blowing claim,

because she's incriminating
her own husband.

Why on earth would she do this?

We know that they have
an unhappy marriage.

So perhaps she's jealous
of just how close George is

to his sister, Anne.

Whatever the case,
it's clear she's out to get George

and to bring Anne down with him.

In the courtroom, Anne is still
insisting on her innocence

and fighting off the evidence
brought against her.

The atmosphere in the room begins
to change as Anne defends herself

against the charges.

This is the woman who's
the scandal of Christendom,

called "the great whore"
and "the concubine".

And yet she's conducting herself
with such wisdom and discretion

that people are beginning
to sympathise with her.

It looks like it's gonna go her way.

Is it possible she will be found...

...not guilty?

Anne Boleyn, Queen of England
and second wife of Henry VIII

is accused of adultery and incest.

At the start of her trial,

she appears to be
a dead woman walking.

But now the atmosphere in
the courtroom is starting to change.

Even her most bitter enemies
are impressed by her robust defence.

Can she turn it all around?

The men Anne has been accused
of adultery with

are her husband's most trusted
and intimate courtier, Henry Norris,

along with William Brereton
and Sir Francis Weston,

all members
of the King's inner circle.

Worse still, it's claimed
she committed incest

with her brother, George Boleyn.

But Mark Smeaton,
the fifth man accused,

is of a much lower status.

He's a simple court musician.

15 clays ago, at Thomas Cromwell's
house in Austin Friars,

Smeaton
was interrogated for 24 hours.

All of the other men grilled
by Cromwell

have totally denied the charges,

but Smeaton doesn't.

He cracks.

He claims that Anne singles him out
for special attention.

He says that one morning,
as she lay in bed,

she summoned him to play music,
so her ladies could dance.

As she watched him,
she decided to seduce him.

Mark admits to making love
to the Queen on three occasions.

But was this true or was
Mark Smeaton attempting

to save himself?

A servant witnesses the horror
of Smeaton's interrogation

and casts doubt on his confession.

The account reads as follows.

"Then he called two stout young
fellows of his...

"..and asked for a rope
and a cudgeL

"And ordered them to put
the rope, which was full of knots,

"around Mark's head.

"And twisted it with the cudgel
until Mark cried out...

"..Sir Secretary..."

In Tudor times,
torture could be used

as a way of getting
people to admit guilt,

but it couldn't be used on members
of the nobility.

Only commoners like Mark Smeaton.

I think it's no coincidence
that he's the only one to confess.

There is one admission in particular
by Smeaton that is hard to believe.

It tells of the extraordinary
lengths Anne would go to

in order to get Smeaton
into her bed.

The problem is, as Queen,
Anne has very little privacy.

She's always
surrounded by her ladies,

so she has to come
up with a cunning plan

and it involves her most-trusted
lady, Margaret,

whose bedroom lies
right next to Anne's.

And it's also used to store dried
fruits, sweet meats and marmalade.

According to Smeaton's confession,
Margaret hides him behind a curtain

until the coast is clear.

Then Anne supposedly calls...

"Bring me a little marmalade."

...loud enough
for any eavesdroppers to hear.

Margaret leads Mark into Anne's bed
chamber and supposedly says,

"Here is the marmalade, my lady."

Anne tells her she may leave

and well, you can use your
imagination for what happens next.

It's interesting to reflect
on the likelihood of these charges,

because it's almost certain

that Anne did flirt with
the men at court,

but then she'd been
schooled in the art of what's known

as courtly love.

This is when a knight can court
a woman far above him in status.

He can wear her colours
at a tournament,

compose songs or poems,
or even pursue her.

But always the woman stays
just out of reach.

Although in reality, this behaviour
did lead to sexual liaisons.

But Anne is Queen of England,
after all.

She's hardly ever alone,
always surrounded by her ladies.

She would have had to have taken
a huge risk

to conduct an affair in secret.

There's also the fact that Anne
is a woman

not lacking in self-control.

She'd kept Henry at bay for seven
long years.

Would she really lack the discipline
to stay faithful to him now?

While all the charges
of sexual liaison, even incest,

might make Anne look like
a scheming and lustful woman,

would there be enough to get
rid of her completely?

Adultery was usually a crime
for the church courts

that would have seen the guilty
woman exiled to a convent.

But Henry wanted Anne gone...

...permanently.

So, adultery
wouldn't have been enough

on its own to end Anne's life?

It would have made Henry very cross
and it made him look incompetent

to the nation, which obviously
he doesn't want to do.

But something more...more formal
and damaging

has to be the final charge.

To ensure that Anne was disposed
of forever,

Cromwell had to engineer
a charge that was far more serious.

And he cooked up the most
serious charge of all,

that Anne had been plotting
the death of the King,

an act of high treason.

Henry is a very paranoid king
by this time,

so it would be easy to convince him

that there's a plot
afoot from amongst his gentlemen.

In the courtroom,
Cromwell plays his trump card.

He declares his discovery
that Anne has plotted the death

of the King.

And he claims to have
evidence from one of the men

Anne is accused of sleeping with...

...Henry Norris.

Apparently,
a couple of weeks before,

Anne had quarrelled
with Henry Norris.

She'd asked him why he hadn't yet
proposed to her cousin,

Lady Shelton, and he'd replied
that he was going to wait and see,

which Anne took to mean
that he was going to wait and hope

to marry her instead.

In court, written testimony
from William Kingston,

the constable of the Tower,

says that when Henry Norris
told Anne he was waiting,

she said...

"For if ought should come to
the King but good..."

Well, this might all sound
very flimsy and inconsequential,

but the implication here is that
it's just a short step for Anne

from contemplating her husband's
death to actually plotting it.

Cromwell has pulled off
a master stroke.

Treason is as serious as it gets.

It's the ultimate crime
and it's punishable only by death.

Even as Anne Boleyn sits calmly

listening to the evidence
against her,

she's aware that her fate doesn't
just rest on the trial today.

Three clays ago,
there was another trial,

this time across London
at Westminster Hall,

right in the heart of government.

Its outcome would profoundly
affect Anne's situation.

Being judged are four of the five
men she's accused

of having affairs with.

Henry Norris...

...William Brereton...

...Sir Francis Weston...

...and Mark Smeaton.

Ensuring the queen is convicted
rests on finding these men guilty.

The men were brought here by barge
from the Tower to Westminster Hall.

Well, today it's part
of the Houses of Parliament,

but then, it was one of the most
important law courts in the kingdom.

There are no surviving
official records of the trial,

only eyewitness accounts.

Well, you have to imagine
that this ancient hall is crowded

with people lining the walls
on either side.

Courtiers, the jury, of course,
and the men are led into the centre

where they stand.

You can imagine them gazing
nervously around

and their hearts must have sank
as they saw all those hostile faces

staring at them.

The men stand to hear the charges.

We have here a record of
the attainder that's read out

against the men and it says...

"Each person at different times."

Like the Queen, they have
no witnesses testifying for them.

They are only allowed to declare
their guilt or their innocence.

They all say not guilty except one.

Mark Smeaton confesses that he had,
quote,

"Carnal knowledge of
the Queen three times."

The Lord Chancellor
then reads out the sentence.

They are to be publicly...

Their members cut off...

...and burnt before them.

Their executions are postponed until
after the verdict of Anne's trial.

Instead, they are returned
to the Tower of London

to await their fate.

There are no records as to where
the condemned men

are locked up within the Tower,

but I believe there are some clues
etched into the ancient stonework.

As a historian and curator,

I spend a lot of time
in historic buildings,

grand state rooms,
examining archives and the like,

but this gives me
an absolute thrill,

because graffiti like this gives
you an insight into the past

like none other.

It really does feel like
you're almost touching history.

This was left behind,
quite possibly by the very men

who are accused of adultery
with a queen of England.

The graffiti shows a carving
of a falcon,

the emblem of the Boleyn family.

I think this gives us a little
glimpse into the state of mind

of those men,
if it was them who carved this,

because carving Anne's symbol

after they've been found guilty
of adultery with her

is almost like an act of defiance.

They're still supporting her,
even now, as they face death.

As the condemned men await
their sentence,

just metres away
in the Tower's Great Hall,

Anne's trial reaches its conclusion.

She's clone all she can to convince
the court

that she deserves to go free.

Now, Anne must wait for the verdict.

At this point, Anne seems
to think that justice will prevail

and she'll be found not guilty.

After all, she's conducted herself
throughout the trial

like a woman
who knows herself to be innocent.

All of the evidence
that's been presented against her

has been questionable
and her faith and belief

in her innocence are total.

As she and everyone else
here awaits the verdict,

the tension must be palpable.

The judge and uncle,
the Duke of Norfolk,

sends the jury to deliberate,

including her own father,
Thomas Boleyn.

The room holds its breath.

It takes them just moments
to reach their decision.

They are unanimous.

Anne is found guilty of treason.

It must have hit her
like an electric shock.

Her mind must be spinning.

With the implications,

immediately she's stripped
of her crown and her titles.

She is no longer Queen of England.

As Anne is still reeling
from this, her uncle,

the Duke of Norfolk, sat there,
delivers the sentence

and it's this.

"Because thou hast offended against
our sovereign

"the King's grace in committing
treason against his person,

"and here attainted of the same,

"the law of the realm is this,

"that thou hast deserved death.

"And thy judgment is this,

"that thou shalt be burnt,

"here within the Tower of London
on the Green,

"or else to have thy head
smitten off...

"..as the King's pleasure
shall be further known."

Well, this is just horrific.

The sentence for treason
is to either be burnt or beheaded.

Well, the latter is preferable,
it's the swifter death,

but both are Anne's worst nightmare.

She hasn't seen this coming.

Now she knows
that she's going to die.

We can only imagine what
must be going through her mind,

but this is when Anne is
extraordinarily courageous.

As the room erupts into chaos,

Anne's composure doesn't waver
for a second.

Why is she so unmoved?

Is it just the shock?

That would be understandable,

but I can't help feeling
it's something else.

And it's Anne's determination
to show no fear,

no dismay in front of the men
who have brought her down,

because that would hand them
yet another victory.

Anne Boleyn has been found guilty

of the most serious crime
imaginable.

High treason.

But is her fate sealed?

Surely she has the right
to challenge the verdict.

Lawyer Afua Hirsch has been studying
Anne's case.

I've never come across such
a blatant unfairness.

Even by the standards of its day,
it was a complete outrage.

Today, if you were
in Anne's position

and the verdict went against you,

what recourse would you have?

Well, the obvious thing
would be an appeal.

All of those things that are lacking
in her first trial should

have been addressed in an appeal
where an appealjudge would say,

"Well, what exactly is the evidence
and what did the witnesses say?"

It's really a check on exactly
this kind of abuse of process.

It's almost impossible now
for somebody to be convicted

of the most serious sentence
without an appeal.

The other thing that strikes me
is the trial takes place

in a single day,
probably a few hours, if that.

The idea that something
this serious could be dealt with

in a few hours is absolutely
abhorrent to me.

So if somebody is going to die,
you would want to make sure

that everything has been done
properly and in a fair way.

But perhaps the reason
for all this unfairness

was the most sinister
part of Anne's trial.

I think the real elephant in
the room is obviously

King Henry VIII himself.

We have a monarch who is able
to directly interfere

in legal proceedings,

bully and intimidate witnesses,
judges.

And I suppose the thing
that explains all of this blatant

unfairness is the fear that everyone
must have had,

that if they didn't deliver
the verdict the King wanted,

they would be next.

This is a trial in name only.

Nothing about this meets even
the most basic standards of justice.

With the verdict delivered,
silence descends on the courtroom.

Still with incredible dignity
and poise, Anne delivers a speech.

She says, "l do not say
that I have always borne

"towards the King...

"..the humility to which I owe him,

"considering the great honour
and respect he always paid me.

"L admit too that...

It's such a well-thought-out speech
and delivered without hesitation.

It's tempting to think
that Anne has prepared in advance.

But remember, she doesn't believe
that this is gonna happen.

She thoroughly believes
she's innocent

and will be found such.

So, it seems that actually
this speech is just delivered

from the heart.

To mark the guilty verdict,
cannons fire...

CANNONS FIRE

...which reverberates across London.

In his palace at Westminster,
the King hears the signal

and knows that the deed is done.

The coast is almost clear
for him to marry Jane Seymour.

Anne is escorted
out of the courtroom.

The guards turn their axe
blades towards her.

As Anne is taken back to
her apartment in the Tower,

her brother, George Boleyn,

is escorted into the Great Hall
for his trial.

George, like Anne,
defends himself eloquently,

but also, like Anne,
he doesn't stand a chance.

He's found guilty

and taken back to the Tower,
so that he can prepare for death.

Two clays have passed since
Anne's trial.

Imprisoned, she still believes
salvation is possible.

But then, near the Tower,
something shocking happens.

Henry Norris, Mark Smeaton,
William Brereton, Francis Weston

and George Boleyn have been brought
up there on Tower Hill

for their execution.

Their only crumb of comfort
is that they're to be given

the more merciful death
of beheading,

rather than the traitor's death
of hanging, drawing and quartering.

The first to be executed
is George Boleyn,

because he's highest in rank.

Poor Mark Smeaton is the last.

By then, the block and the scaffold
would have been covered in blood

and the axe would have been blunter.

Well, Anne may have seen the men
being led out up to Tower Hill

for their execution.

And she may be watching now

as their bloodied
remains are brought back.

With her co-accused now dead,

Anne must summon all her courage
to stay strong,

as she hopes and prays

that the King will have mercy

and grant her a last minute
reprieve.

Next time...

I investigate the
events that took place on this spot

at the Tower of London on
the 19th May 1536,

the day the Queen of England,
Anne Boleyn, is due to be executed.