Anne Boleyn

Letter from Anne Boleyn to King Henry VIII,
From Her Prison in the Tower of London

[British Library Add. MS 22587, f. 22r-22v.]

Sir, Your Grace's displeasure and my imprisonm[en]t are thinges soe strange unto mee, as what to write or what to excuse I am alltogether ignorant. Whereas yow send unto mee, willinge mee to confesse a trueth and soe to obtayne favour by such a one, whome yow knowe to be my professed enemy, I noe sooner receyved this message by him then I rightly conceyved your meaninge. And if, as you saie, confessinge a trueth indeede may procure my safetye, I shall with all willingness & duetye p[er]forme your comaund; but lett not your grace ever imagyne that your poore wife will ever be brought to acknowledge a fault where never not soe much as a thought thereof ever proceeded.

And to speake a trueth, never Prince had wife more loyall in all duty and true affecc[i]on than yow have ever found in Anne Bullen with which name and place I could willingly have contented my selfe if god & your grace's pleasure had soe beene pleased. Neither did I att any tyme soe much forgett my selfe in my exaltac[i]on and receyved queeneshipp, but that I allways looked for such an alteration as nowe I finde; for the ground of my preferrment being on noe suerer foundac[i]on then your grace's fancye, the least alterac[i]on, I knowe, was fitt and sufficient to drawe that fancye to some other subiect. Yow have chosen mee from a lowe estate to be your queene and companion farr beyond my desert or desire. If then yow found mee worthy of such an honour, good your grace, lett not any light fancye, or badd counsell of mine Enemyes, withdrawe your princely favour from mee. Ne[i]ther lett that stayne, that unworthye stayne of a disloyall harte towards your good grace, ever rest soe fowle a blott on your most dutyfull wife and the infant princesse your daughter.

Trye mee good Kinge, but lett me have a lawfull tryall and lett not my sworne enemyes sitt as my accusers and Judges, yett lett me receave an open tryall for my trueth shall feare noe open shame. Then shall yow see either mine innocencye cleared, your suspition and conscience satisfyed, the ignominye and slaunder of the world stopped, or my guilte openly declared. Soe that whatsoever God or yow may determyne of mee, your Grace may be freed from an open censure and, mine offence beinge soe lawefully proved, your grace is att libertye, both before God and man, not only to execute worthy punishment on mee as an unfaithfull wife but to followe your affection allready setled on that party, for whose sake I am nowe as I am, whose name I could some good while since have pointed unto, your grace being not ignorant of my suspicion therein.

But if yow have allready determined of mee and that not only my death but an infamous slander must bring yow the enioying of your desired happiness; Then I desire of god that he will p[ar]don your greate synnes herein and likewise myne enemyes, the Instruments thereof. And that he will not call yow to a straight accompte for your unprincely and cruell usage of mee att his generale Judgm[en]t-Seate, where both yow and my self must shortly appeare. And in whose iust iudgment I doubt not, whatsover the world may thinke of mee, my innocency shall be openly knowne and sufficiently cleared.

My last and only request shall be that my selfe may onely beare the burthen of your grace's displeasure. And that it may not touch the Innocent Soules of those poore gentlemen whome, as I understand, are likewise in straight ymprisonement for my sake. If ever I have founde favour in your sight, if ever the name of Anne Bullen hath beene pleasinge in your eares, lett mee obtayne this last request. And I will soe leave to trouble your grace any further, with my earnest prayer to the Trinitye to have your grace in his good keepinge, and to direct yow in all your acc[i]ons. From my dolefull prison in the tower 6th May.

Your most loyal and ever faithfull wife,

Anne Bullen

"Anne Boleyn's last memorable Letter to King Henry the Eighth, "from her doleful prison in the Tower"... is universally known as one of the finest compositions in the English Language, and is... mentioned here, to obviate a notion which has gone abroad against it as a forgery.

The Original, it is believed, is not remaining now: but the Copy of it preserved among Lord Cromwell's papers together with Sir William Kyngston's Letters, is certainly in a hand-writing of the time of Henry the Eighth: and Sir William Kyngston's evidence will show that Anne was too closely guarded to allow of any one concerting such a Letter with her. That it rises in style above Anne Boleyn's other compositions cannot be disputed, but her situation was one which was likely to rouse a cultivated mind; and there is a character of nature in the Letter, a simplicity of expression, and a unity of feeling, which it may be doubted whether Genius itself could have feigned."

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