Eric Ives was apparently one of the first to suggest that Anne's fall had little to do with the breakdown of her marriage or any evidence of witchcraft but was part of a total political coup against her faction.  As you mention, Weston, Brereton, George Boleyn, and especially Henry Norris were high-ranking courtiers with noble families backing them up.  They were all partisans of Queen Anne, so Cromwell knew he couldn't orchestrate a divorce or even an execution of Anne without her supporters coming to her aid or at the very least making more trouble for Henry.  Anne was also in favor of a French alliance, whereas Cromwell was starting to see the value of a Spanish alliance, and what better way to silence those with differing political opinions than to have them judicially murdered?  Cromwell definitely took Macchiavelli to heart and did what he thought he had to do to survive.  I can't judge him because he got what was coming to him.

I'm curious as to why you think Smeaton's death was understandable?  Because he was a commoner?  That was why he was allowed to be tortured and the other men weren't, but it doesn't answer \”why him?\”  There is no information out there about him, so you have to wonder why he got caught up in all this.  Smeaton is portrayed on The Tudors as Anne's gay confidante, so it made sense to have him out of the way because they were close.  In the book The Other Boleyn Girl, Smeaton is portrayed as a young boy who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I think the only answer I can extricate from the lack of historical facts is that Smeaton had a crush on Anne (and boy, did she shoot him down! \”You may not look to have me speak to you as I should do to a nobleman, because you are an inferior person.\”) and Cromwell knew he could get him to confess to sleeping with her with a little torture.  It makes me so sad to think of him-Cromwell invited him over to play music and instead arrested him and had him tortured.  That's f*ed up!  In any case, Alison Weir said Anne didn't even notice he was missing, so I don't know how close they could have been. 

And regarding Norris, it seems to me that Henry was more concerned about him than Anne.  He had already decided to get rid of Anne, which meant she was dead in his eyes anyway.  At the May Day jousts of 1536, Henry got up and left, taking Norris and about 5 other men with him.  It was famously the last time Anne laid eyes on her husband, but Henry didn't care about her by then.  He was more concerned that his friend Norris had betrayed him, and apparently spent the time leading to Norris' arrest trying to convince him to admit to adultury.  Of course Norris denied it, but he probably would have lived had he admitted it.

Hi fellow New Yorkers!  Lindenhurst-I think that's the town that has like 5 optical shops visible from the LIRR stop.  Haha.

Anyway, I wonder about Wyatt too.  He seems to have gotten off because of his family connections, but his connections were no better than Weston's.  And Belle, there is one modern historian (Claire prolly knows his name but I don't) who believes Anne was guilty of adultery, but the majority of people from the time of Elizabeth on (arguable from the time of Anne's execution, but the primary sources are of the recusant tradition and painted her as guilty as hell so we have no way of knowing) knew the allegations were false.

Although not definitive proof of AB's innocence, I still love contemplating this wonderful Holbein portrait of her companion Lady Lee – who was, of course, Tom Wyatt's sister. The connections between the Boleyn and Wyatt families were very strong for many reasons, not least of all geographically – their homes being only a short distance from each other.

http://images.google.co.uk/img…..G%26um%3D1

The medallion that Lady Lee is urging us to view at the bottom of the painting, shows the Vestal Virgin Tucia, who – the legend has it – proved her virtue and innocence by carrying water in a sieve from the Tiber to the Temple in ancient Rome – a miracle.

This is Lady Lee's message down through the ages of the status of the most important friend in her life – Anne, who gave her a book of prayer during her last moments before going to the scaffold.The inscription written inside was:

“Remember me when you do pray, that hope doth lead from day to day.”

Margaret Lee did remember. She knew the truth – and went to great pains and expense to inform subsequent generations through the most enduring medium available to her at the time, the work of Holbein.

The Boleyn Faction was this ever decreasing circle of people, courtiers abandoned Anne Boleyn like rats from a sinking ship as she had enormous talents for making enemies. In addition to that, Anne had never enjoyed support from old noble families such as the Montagues and Exeters (as Katherine of Aragon had), and these were all whispering malicious rumours about Anne around the court. Also, Henry had (by 1535), met Jane Seymour who employed the same tactics as Anne had to catch Henry`s eye, and hold his interest. The evermore powerful `Anti-Boleyn` faction were quick to realise that Henry`s infatuation with Jane Seymour could be used to effectively wipe out the Boleyn Faction. It was inevitable that other people would fall with Anne, due to the nature of the accusations that were being levelled at her. It takes two to Tango, and who else would sleep with Anne other than her own supporters?

Also, no ones` mentioned Lady Rochford in all of this. She willingly gave information to Cromwell that Her husband had slept with Anne. If Cromwell had dismissed it as spiteful gossip, and Henry had somehow found out about it anyway, Cromwell would be up to his neck in it. He had no choice but to disclose all the information he`d gathered in his investigations.

The marraige between Henry and Anne wasn`t watertight at all. Very few recognised the marraige as valid and in the event, the marraige was anulled easily enough. But Henry seemed so keen on a fresh start that only Annes death would satisfy him.