Why was the swordsman of Calais chosen as Anne Boleyn's executioner?
Upvote:0
Having visited the Tower of London last week where Anne was beheaded, the Yeoman giving our tour told how Anne's doctor wrote to Henry to say that Anne had a crippling and debilitating fear of beheading by axe (he joked it was the olden day equivalent of a "sick note") and that was why Henry sent for the swordsman.
Upvote:0
I live in Belgium, the former Low countries! In my regions it was normal if you were from high birth that the decapitation was done by the sword without discussion, and if you were of lower birth than they performed it with an axe! I am surprised to read that this rule didn't stand in England and that for high birth it was normal to use an axe?
Upvote:1
Cutting off a head in one blow is somewhat harder than it may sound; the main issues are that the vertebrae are hard bones and unless the executioner is skilled he could miss, hitting the head or back instead. If the executioner misses by even an inch things can get very messy.
In those days a class of professional executioners existed who used specialized swords designed for decapitation. An example is shown below:
This sword, from the Higgins Armory, is inscribed with a short encomium on justice on the obverse (the reverse is shown in the photo). When sharpened, such a sword will make a clean cut and due to its weight will go right through bone no problem.
The skill is in swinging it so that it hits exactly the right place.
If you have any doubts as to the difficulty of this, simply get a 3-foot long 2x4 and plant it end-wise into the ground. Then take a 1/2" steel rod and try to hit it solidly lengh-wise. You will soon see it takes quite a lot of practice to do such a thing consistently.
Upvote:5
The question breaks down into two parts: Why a swordsman instead of an axeman, and why the swordsman of Calais.
I now believe that the answer I posted earlier was only partially correct. This source offers a more likely answer, that "Henry did not care about Anne's feelings," and that he chose the sword as "the symbol of Camelot, of a rightful king."
On the other hand, Anne didn't seem to mind the substitution. According to the article"
"‘I heard say the executioner was very good and I have but a little neck,’ Anne said the day before her execution, and laughing, she put her hands round her throat. It was, at least, to be a quick death: her head fell with one blow, her eyes and lips still moving as it landed on the straw."
Original answer:
Anne Boleyn's PREFERENCE was for a "swordsman" rather than an "axeman." (This is different from my earlier, and now "retracted" statement that it was her request.) In the letter referenced in the question, the warden of the Tower of London reported that: "I have seen many men and also women executed, and that they have been in great sorrow, and to my knowledge this lady has much joy in death."
The initiative appears to have come from Henry VIII, who seemed to anticipated that the swordsman would provide a less painful, and hence "preferred" death (unless they had discussed this beforehand, perhaps in another context). If so, he is a better man than I have given him credit for.
That may be because she could then die kneeling upright, instead of with her head on the block.
The Calais swordsman was chosen as the "best in class."
Anne Boleyn was treated with more consideration than Mary Queen of Scots, who died with her head on the block, requiring TWO strokes of an axe, and also Catherine Howard, whom Henry also executed.
More post
- 📝 What did the term "Parage" mean in middle ages Langued'oc?
- 📝 Why did English medieval inheritance law have coheiresses but not coheirs?
- 📝 Could the Russians Have Done Better at the Battle of Tsushima Straits Than They Actually Did?
- 📝 Please post a picture of the mills tonfa were supposedly used to turn
- 📝 Why didn't Native Americans have big sailing ships?
- 📝 Did a ritual of pushing 60-year-olds off a bridge really exist in Archaic Rome?
- 📝 Which Luftwaffe units participated in the raid on Manchester on 11 March 1941?
- 📝 Were there any elections under the Vichy regime?
- 📝 Is there any truth to the claim that freed slaves who moved to Liberia enslaved the local population?
- 📝 Were slave armies used?
- 📝 Why did the Hungarians protest and react so much about Khrushchevs secret speech?
- 📝 How many humans were killed by Alexander.the Great, versus Genghis Khan?
- 📝 How frequently were girls adopted in Ancient Rome?
- 📝 Was it customary for an executioner in Elizabethan England to ask for forgiveness from the executed?
- 📝 How did a 12 year old Sardinian slave girl factor into America's First Barbary War?
- 📝 Please help identify this medal... German military?
- 📝 How to find the population and mortality in London during the period 1760-1834?
- 📝 How much is known about the Earl of Sandwich's sandwich?
- 📝 Why was William Tyndale burnt at the stake?
- 📝 When were Roman Emperor's faces placed on coins?
- 📝 What was considered utility clothing before WW2?
- 📝 Korean Traditional Clothes for each Dynasty
- 📝 How effective was Civil War-era artillery in the rain?
- 📝 Can you please help identify this military uniform (1700's)?
- 📝 Did D&D and similar media actually increase interest in the occult?
- 📝 Why did WW1 soldiers carry so much equipment?
- 📝 Why did Bakht Khan switch sides in Indian War of Independence 1857?
- 📝 Were there ever Taoist missionaries?
- 📝 Who was Richard of York at the Battle of Grunwald?
- 📝 Did Mete Khan and Hsiung-nu serve the Chinese Emperor?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why was the swordsman of Calais chosen as Anne Boleyn's executioner?
- 📝 Why was the bald eagle chosen as the national bird of the United States?
- 📝 Why was the area now known as Liberia chosen as the location for repatriation of African slaves in the US?
- 📝 Why was Villa Gaggia chosen as the setting for Hitler & Mussolini's July 1943 meeting?
- 📝 Why was the C-pennant chosen as the flag of ships from Allied-occupied Germany?
- 📝 Why was Stalin chosen as the First General Secretary in 1922?
- 📝 Why was the "first Monday in December" originally chosen as the default meeting date for Congress?
- 📝 Why was June 24th chosen for the date of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist?
- 📝 Why was Seattle chosen for the site of Expo 62?
- 📝 Why was Basel, Switzerland chosen for the First Zionist Congress?
- 📝 Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union when he was still busy fighting the United Kingdom?
- 📝 Why did archery not make a comeback when armor was phased out in the 18th century?
- 📝 Why was Poland spared from the Black Death?
- 📝 Why was Africa colonized last of the continents in the Age of Discovery?
- 📝 Why was the Scout movement so successful?
- 📝 Why was the Council of Nicea held in Nicea rather than Rome or Constantinople?
- 📝 Why was World War I ended on Nov 11 11:00, rather than immediately upon signing the armistice?
- 📝 In the Soviet Union, why was the Cheka renamed so many times?
- 📝 Why was "leaping into the river" a valid trial outcome to prove one's innocence?
- 📝 Why was the Japanese Army's fatalities inflicted:suffered ratio so low in the Pacific theatre?
- 📝 Why was capturing the south of Okinawa necessary?
- 📝 Why were the drawings of Colossus burnt after WW2 and why was its very existence "of course" kept secret?
- 📝 Why was there a surge in the US incarceration rate during the 1990s?
- 📝 Why was the Treaty of Versailles so harsh?
- 📝 If the Ch’in dynasty was so short-lived, why was China named for it?
- 📝 Why was Switzerland not attacked during the two World Wars?
- 📝 Why was sugar cultivation more profitable in the Caribbean/Brazil than West Africa?
- 📝 Why was PTSD not written about as much before the 20th century?
- 📝 Why was Kaliningrad placed under the Russian SFSR rather than the Lithuanian SSR?
- 📝 Why was the Roman Empire considered an empire rather than a kingdom (again)?