¹ I am grateful to Sir Geoffrey Elton, University of Cambridge, for encouraging me to ask some very difficult questions about the relationship of the five men who were executed in May 1536, to Anne, to each other, and to a variety of people at court. This article is in great part the product of that dialogue and of his critical review of an early draft; in October 1986 a version of it was given at the British History Seminar, Huntingdon Library, San Marino, California, which was chaired by David Cressy, California State University at Long Beach; the most recent studies of Anne's fall are Ives, E. W., ‘Faction at the court of Henry VIII: the fall of Anne Boleyn’, History, XLVII (1972), 169–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Warnicke, Retha M., ‘The fall of Anne Boleyn: a reassessment’, History, LXX (1985), 1–15CrossRefGoogle Scholar; for the context of her fall see Elton, G. R., Reform and Reformation: England, 1509–1558 (Cambridge, 1977), pp. 250–72Google Scholar; Elton, G. R., ‘The political creed of Thomas Cromwell’ in Studies in Tudor and Stuart politics and government (Cambridge, 1974–1983), 11, 215–35Google Scholar.

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¹³ McConica, James K., ‘Erasmus and the “Julius”: A humanist reflects on late medieval and renaissance religion’, in The pursuit of holiness in late medieval and renaissance religion, ed. Trinkhaus, Charles with Oberman, Heiko (Leiden, 1974), p. 451Google Scholar; The dyalogue beytwene Julius the seconde, Genius, and saynt Peter (London, 1535)Google Scholar; one of the most scurrilous attacks on the sexual habits of the papal entourage was Leti, Gregorio, Il putanismo di Roma or the history of the whores and whoredom of the popes, cardinals, and clergy of Rome, tr. , I.D. (London; 1670)Google Scholar; see also Furnivall, Frederick (ed.), Ballads from manuscripts (London, 1872), 1, 83–6Google Scholar; and Goodrich, , The unmentionable vice, p. 86Google Scholar.

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²⁰ Proceedings and ordinances of the privy council of England, ed. SirNicolas, Harris (London, 1857), p. 153Google Scholar. For her household, see William Larimer, ‘A briefe treatise or cronikelle of the moste vertuous Ladye Anne Bulleyne, late Queen of England’, Bodleian MS C. Don. 42, fo. 24; Farmer, J. S. (ed.), Dramatic writings of Nicholas Udall (London, 1906), pp. 153–5Google Scholar; Scheurweghs, G. (ed.), Nicholas Udall's roister doister (Louvain, 1939), pp. xvi–xviiiGoogle Scholar. For the schools, see Bailey, Derrick S., Homosexuality and the western Christian tradition (London, 1955), pp. 82–4Google Scholar; Bulloch, Vern L., Homosexuality: a history (New York, 1979), p. 106Google Scholar; The poems of John Marston, ed. Grosart, A. (London, 1879), p. 122Google Scholar.

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²⁶ Public Record office, SP 70/7 fo. 7, printed in Calender of state papers, foreign series of the reign of Elizabeth 1560–61 (London 1836–1900) no. 1303Google Scholar.

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²⁸ For specific references to these see notes 30–33.

²⁹ Calender of state papers Spanish, V, ii, II, 28 and 40; for sortileges see Lea, , Materials, 11, 755Google Scholar.

³⁰ He did not mention Catherine's funeral until 10 February, but the news had to be brought from some distance and was not so immediately critical. Since his correspondents knew of her death, such a delay is more understandable. Calendar of state papers Spanish, V, ii, 28, 34–35 and 39; Letters and papers, X, no. 282; Hall, , Chronicle, 11, 266Google Scholar; Wriothesley, I, 33. The editor of Wriothesley assumed he had miscalculated the date, but the chronicler also mentioned Catherine's burial on 29 January without associating it with Anne's miscarriage, which he dated from Candlemas, the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary; other diplomats corroborated the story of the fall and the miscarriage. See Letters and papers, X, no. 294. The later Tudor tradition accepted the date of 29 January but failed to date the funeral or to link the two together in any way as Chapuys had done. See Stowe, John, The Annales of England (London: Ralfe Newbery, 1592), p. 966Google Scholar; and Edward, , Herbert, Lord of Cherbury, The Life and Raigne of King Henry the Eighth (London: E.G. for Thomas Whitaker, 1649), p. 403Google Scholar.

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³² Ibid. pp. 40, 59.

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³⁴ The reports of Sir John Spelman, ed. Baker, J. H., vols. 93 and 94 (London, 1977), 1, 71Google Scholar. The treason statute was 25 Henry 8, c. 22, s. 5; see also Ives, E. W., ‘Faction’, p. 172Google Scholar; Letters and papers, x, nos. 785 and 820. For silence see Elton, G. R., Policy and police, pp. 174–6Google Scholar.

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³⁶ Letters and papers, IX, no. 639; of the dates and places specified (there were two for each defendant, for a total often days and ten places on which allegedly sexual relations occurred with the queen) only three of the stated places seem to have coincided properly: Rochford at Eltham on 29 December 1535; Brereton at East Greenwich on 27 November 1533; and Norris at East Greenwich on 19 November 1533; for the length of time after childbirth before churching, see Letters and papers, XIII, no. 166; Crawford, Patricia, ‘Attitudes to menstruation in seventeenth-century England’, Past and Present, XCI (1981), 62–3Google Scholar, revealed that it was believed that if intercourse took place during regular menstruation, deformed babies or monsters would be born; for the pagan festivals see Russell, Jeffrey B., Witchcraft, p. 51Google Scholar. 29 December fell between Christmas and Epiphany when the Feast of Fools occurred; Long, George, The folklore calendar (London, 1930Google Scholar; reprint, 1977). PP. 65–79.

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³⁹ Letters and papers, X, no. 873; Donnison, Jean, Midwives and medical men: a history of inter-professional rivalries and women's rights (New York, 1977), pp. 1–3Google Scholar. The first book in English for midwives was Roessler, Eucharius, The byrth of mankynde, otherwyse named the Womans booke, ed. Raynald, Thomas (London, 1545)Google Scholar. The earliest English edition was in 1540.

⁴⁰ For the names of the accusers see Letters and papers, X, no 953; for Mrs Margery see X, nos 499 and 799. The king's councillors were accused of bribing Anne's attendants. See SP. 70/7, fo. 6 b. For a reference to Fitzwilliam and Norris see Amyot, , ‘Memorial’, pp. 64–6Google Scholar.

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⁴⁵ Walpole, 1, 246; for the gossip see Letters and papers, X, no. 1043; Calender of state papers Spanish, v, ii, 126.

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⁵⁰ Theologians did not think that the alleged unnatural acts could be taught through description: Tentler, , Sex and confession pp. 89–93Google Scholar; Bendey, , Excerpta historica, pp. 262–4Google Scholar.

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⁵⁷ Lowinsky, Edward E., ‘A music book for Anne Boleyn’, Florilegium historiale: essays presented to Wallace K. Ferguson, ed. Rowe, J. G. and Stockdale, W. H. (Toronto, 1971), pp. 169 and 192Google Scholar, concluded that Smeaton copied the composition into Choirbook MS 1070 now at the Royal College of Music in London. His name almost certainly came to mind because of his confession of adultery in 1536. Lowinsky's only other evidence was that the handwriting in the manuscript was not incompatible with Smeaton's signature in B.L. Royal MS 20 B xxi. To be sure the name Mris A. Bolleyne is written on page 157 of the choirbook, but if it were placed there contemporary with Anne, then it can be dated no later than December 1529, from which time she was addressed as Lady Anne Rochford. From 1529 to 1532 Smeaton, a very young man, may have been one of the children of the Chapel Royal and was associated with Weston, a page in the king's privy chamber. See Nicolas, , The privy purse, p. 11Google Scholar. There is no reason to suggest that Smeaton copied this choirbook for Anne, who was technically still a member of her father's household. The king did not separate from Catherine until 1531. See also Braithwaite, James Roland, ‘The introduction of Franco-Netherlandish manuscripts to early Tudor England’ (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Boston University, 1967), 1, 46–9Google Scholar.

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⁶⁰ In Calendar of state papers Spanish, IV, i, 586, Chapuys said that Wingfield's widow, who was married to Nicholas Harvey, was with Anne at court. She could only be the widow of Sir Richard Wingfield, as Ives, , ‘Faction’, pp. 173 and 187–8Google Scholar, tentatively identified her; for the evidence at the trial see Sir John Spelman, p. 71; for her life see the biographies of her husbands, SirHarvey, Nicholas and Tyrwhitt, Robert in History of parliament: the Commons, 1509–1558, ed. Bindoff, S. T. 3 vols. (london, 1982)Google Scholar; for Harvey, , see also Collins peerage of England, ed. SirBrydges, Egerton (London, 1812), IVGoogle Scholar; for a letter of Anne to her, see B.L. Vesp. F. XIII fo. 198; and Letters and papers, v, no. 12.

⁶¹ Elton, G. R., Reform, pp. 251–4 and 280–1Google Scholar; see also R. M. Warnicke, ‘The Fall’.

⁶² For Anne's comment see B. L., MS Otho C. x. 2 24 b; for Cranmer's, letter, see Letters and papers, X, no. 792Google Scholar; and Burnet, Gilbert, The history of the Reformation of the Church of England (Oxford, 1816), 1, 364–7Google Scholar. The bishops to whom Anne was referring may have included Canterbury, Worcester, Ely and Sarum. See William Latimer, fo. 30; Alexander Alesius found Cranmer in tears over the plight of Anne. See P.R.O., SP. 70/7.

⁶³ For treason trials see Elton, G. R., Policy and police, pp. 274–326Google Scholar; and ‘The rule of law in sixteenth-century England’, Studies, 1, 260–84.