As many of you will be aware, here at The Anne Boleyn Files we call 19th May “Anne Boleyn Day”, a day on which we not only commemorate that fateful May day in 1536 when Anne Boleyn was executed at the Tower of London, but also a day on which we celebrate her life. I will be raising a glass to toast Anne Boleyn and I hope people around the world will join me in doing that.
As usual, we are having an Anne Boleyn Day article competition and this year I would like it to tie in with our countdown to 19th May and the newspaper article style posts that I’m writing with the help of my roving reporter and side-kick, Sir Tim Ridgway. What I would like you to do is to write an eye witness account of Anne Boleyn’s execution as if you are a member of the crowd in 1536. Your account of this tragic event will then be woven into my 19th May article as if Sir Tim is interviewing an eye witness.
To make it as real and accurate as possible, you may find the following primary and secondary sources helpful:-
- LP x. 911, 919 and 920
- The Spanish Chronicle, p70-71
- Wriothesley’s Chronicle, p41-42
- Hall’s Chronicle, p819
- The Chronicle of Calais, p46-47
- Holinshed’s Chronicle, p796-797
- The History of the Reigns of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI and Queen Mary, Francis Bacon, p80-82
- LP x.1036, Poem descriptive of the life of Anne Boleyn
- The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, Eric Ives, Chapter 24 “Finale”, p357-359
- The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn, Alison Weir, p259-273, UK hardback version
- The Queens of England Volume 1, Agnes Strickland, p400-402
- Anne Boleyn: In Her Own Words & the Words of Those Who Knew Her, Elizabeth Norton, p208-270
- Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII, David Starkey
Rules
The judges will choose one winner to win your choice of either a $30 Amazon voucher (£20 for Amazon UK users) or a $30 Anne Boleyn Files voucher for use on The Anne Boleyn Files shop.
Rules
Here are the rules:-
- The article must be written from the viewpoint of an eye witness at Anne Boleyn’s execution.
- The article should have a minimum of 200 words and a maximum of 500 words.
- Email your article, along with your full name, to claire@theanneboleynfiles.com by the end of Wednesday 11th May. The winner will have their account published here on The Anne Boleyn Files on the 19th May and their name will be used in the post as an interviewee.
- Your article must be your own work and by entering the competition you are giving your permission for it to be published on the site. Obviously you can quote academic sources.
- Please include in your email a list of the sources you used.
- Do not use an article that you have already had published elsewhere.
- The prize is non-transferrable and cannot be exchanged for something else.
Good luck with it!
