Friday, July 10, 2009

Question from uk lady - Position of Anne at her execution

After finally watching the last episode on Video of the Tudors season 2 , I know Anne was executed by the sword , was it a samurai type of execution where the person is standing or did she lie on the block, obviously a sword is used differently to an axe so I was curious

6 comments:

Elizabeth M. said...

Anne was kneeling, as she was shown on the program. The only difference is that in real life, she was blindfolded.

Stephanie LK said...

She was not blindfolded. The Executioner purposely threw her off by saying, "Boy fetch me my sword" as to distract her. This is accurately depicted in the series.

Elizabeth M. said...

Eric Ives in his biography of her states she was blindfolded, as does Antonia Fraser and Alison Weir.

Lara said...

The text I have saved of one of the ambassador reports says that one of her ladies "bandaged" her eyes, but I can't remember if this one is an eyewitness report or a second-hand one.

Roland H. said...

According to contemporary accounts, Anne was blindfolded and the executioner then struck.

The story that he pulled a trick on her comes from an unreliable account. I beleive it's the 'Chronicle of Henry VIII', written by a Spaniard which containe alot of embellishments.

Stephanie LK said...

ah, I thought I did read that in Ives. Sorry then everyone!