Tudor Victims of the Reformation by Lynda Telford

Author:Lynda Telford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2016-08-04T16:00:00+00:00

The really big day was, of course, still to come. Sunday, 1 June 1533, Whit Sunday, would be the most stressful and tiring day of all for Anne. The procession began to assemble at 7 a.m. and Anne joined them just before 9 a.m.22 She was to walk along a railed route, which had been fully carpeted in blue cloth, all the way from the Hall to the Abbey at Westminster. Everyone of any importance was there, wearing best robes, gold chains, even borrowed jewels. Nobles, Lords, Archbishops, Bishops, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, the Judges and the monks and staff of the Chapel Royal.

Anne wore robes of purple velvet, furred with ermine; the gold coronet on her head and the gold canopy borne over her. Her hair was loose, and her very long and very heavy velvet train was carried by the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, who was followed by the ladies and gentlewomen, all dressed in scarlet.

The King was to watch the entire ceremony from a specially erected stand behind a screen, to make sure that Anne’s great day was hers alone. He was attended by the Ambassadors of France and Venice. Cranmer officiated and Anne performed the ritual and listened to the High Mass with dignity. She was anointed and then crowned with St Edward’s Crown, which was later exchanged for a lighter one when she took the sacrament and made her offerings.23 That was another singular honour for her, for a consort usually only wears the lighter crown. After a short break for a rest, the procession wound slowly back to Westminster Hall, past five cisterns spouting free wine for anyone to help themselves.

After a further rest, there was the final ordeal of the great banquet to get through. Anne must have already been exhausted, but one can imagine her rallying her strength for the climax of it all. She would be the centre of all eyes, almost alone on the dais, which was twelve steps higher than the tables of the throng who dined with her. Anne sat alone under the Cloth of Estate, with Cranmer sitting to her right, but at a distance and not under the Cloth. The new Earl of Oxford stood almost behind her with the widowed Countess of Oxford on her right and the Countess of Worcester on her left.

Two ladies of her household crouched on the steps at her feet, ready to do her service in case of need.

Looking down onto the hall, she would have seen the four tables, each 24ft long. On the one to her left sat the Lord Mayor, city officials, Aldermen and several merchants. The next table, almost in the centre, held her ladies, including Jane Rochford, her sister-in-law, with her mother, Lady Morley. Anne’s mother, Lady Wiltshire, and her sister, Mary Carey, were with the others. Slightly to her right the long table held Lord Morley, with his son, Anne’s father, Lord Wiltshire, the Knights of the Bath and other notable lords and friends of Henry.

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