Hey guys,
I was just re-watching Anne of the Thousand Days, and at the end when she's kneeling in the straw about to be beheaded, she looks at the swordsman, to which he says something in French and another man does something to distract her to make her look forward. I was trying to catch what he said, but I'm still learning it and it was too quick for me. Can anyone translate? I was just curious. Thanks ahead of time!
~Me
I think he says, "Mon Dieu, she looks at me, distract her" but it's actually in English but with a French accent.
The irony was that Anne had spent most of her formative years in France, to be beheaded by a Frenchman. I wonder if she did exchange some final words with him in French.....
Ah I see, I heard the Mon Dieu part, I'm gonna have to watch it again!
I've never thought of that before wiccaone, I bet she did converse with him in French, at least to forgive him for what he was going to do. I was glad they did it accurately- her kneeling, it makes me wonder if the Tudors will do it correctly also. Some people just think that she had "the block", they don't realize that Henry had a special kind of beheading for her. He's so messed up. Anyway, thanks!
Anne's execution was merciful by the standards of the day. Henry had him specially brought from Calais. He was an expert swordsman, and his aim was true.
The axe was an uncertain instrument. Margaret Plantagenet Pole, another of Henry's victims waa executed by axe, and was hacked to death.
I thought the "Mon Dieu, she looks at me!" to be very cheesy...it ruined the ending for me because I was laughing so hard.
(Considering how well documented Anne's execution was I wonder why the filmmakers choose to add that bit of silliness.)
Also I came across this picture from the Tudors:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/romanyway/2347050275/
Thankfully there's no block in sight...
***
He spared her the block which was messy at best. He hired a French swordsman. Supposedly her eyes were so disarming the swordsman did falter and ask that she be distracted.
shareWhat did you guys think of the season finale of the Tudors? I was bawling my head off and got chills at the end. In my opinion, it was the most "real" and touching interpretation of Anne's last days. Her wail when she was watching her brother touched me. I was personally very pleased with the ending. Did you know the director/writer dude is the same one that did Elizabeth? It makes sense, he fudges at parts, but the details that are most important are kept intact. Just my opinion though :-)
Elizabeth:[cuts him off]I may be a woman, Sir William, but if I choose, I have the heart of a man!
Er, I think it is TRUE that the French court headsman did say for someone to distract Anne, cause she WAS giving him a stare in many an account that I have read.
According to executioners, it WAS difficult to do this type of job if the people became "real" to the executioner and made them think about what they were about to do. That is why the guillotine took off so, cause it made the whole process easier. Getting someone to do this type of work competently was hard,even in those less civilized times.
Now, this particular executioner was an expert headsman from the French court and was sent for so that Henry could say to the other courts of Europe that at least Anne did not suffer....cause at a couple of his OTHER executions, several wacks were needed to do the job with all kind of gore and agony displayed. So, he was trying to sanitize the situation as much as he could...
But his beheading of Anne was infamous and hindered his later search for foreign princesses to wed a ton! One princess said,"if I had 2 heads, King Henry could have me at his disposal,for I would have one to spare!" Another princess said that Henry took more care to have a brilliant executioner for Anne than good post birth care for Jane Seymour(Jane died of childbed fever and that is from unwashed dirty hands on the part of midwives). So, that is why the clueless Ann of Cleves was the one to follow Jane Seymour as wife....her brother was obscure enough to take the risk to boost his profile in Protestant kingdoms...
I've heard that story, too, Dbrockerskk. Even her enemies admitted
she had beautiful black eyes, and was definitely a born flirt. It's
very possible he had never beheaded a woman before, and this was a
beautiful woman, and a Queen, and mother of a small child; of
course he was unnerved. She was known to love France, too, so
it seems ungallant conduct to say the very least!
In the Boleyn novel Brief Gaudy Hour the author has Anne unknowingly
looking entreatingly up at him, hoping he would be as skilled as
Kingston (the tower official she talks to just before) had assured
her he was.
Historical biography now relates that it is documented, by the then Head of the Tower of London, that in fact what actually happened at the execution of Anne Boleyn is that, unlike axe beheadings where a block was used to lay the head on, Anne was knelt upright and the swordsman had the sword behind his back, and in a pre-arranged moment his assistant stepped forward, causing Anne to turn her head. It was at that moment the swordsman struck so that she did not see the sword coming. It is also generally agreed that the reason she was beheaded by a swordsman for France was due to King Francis, a great admirer of hers, sending a swordsman of his to carry out the execution, rather than have her beheaded by the more clumsy axe (Henry's fifth wife Katherine Howard was executed with an axe). Records go on to say that her head was decapitated by one swift stroke. Henry failed to provide any coffin and her woman were forced to squeeze her body into a small arrow chest in order to bury her. Despite rumour/legend that her body was later removed and buried elsewhere, in late Victorian times her skeleton was unearthed and identified as being her, and records say that her bone structure, in particular her neck, was very small. Today her burial place, along with Katherine Howard, is marked in the Tower of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London.
shareI've read that Anne was actually blindfolded during her execution. The distraction was not a movement, but rather, the executioner saying, "bring me my sword" just before he struck. This way, Anne believed that her death was moments away rather than immediately, thus sparing her some (small) degree of terror.
shareFor what it’s worth here is an account of her execution entitled "Execution criminal hecha en Inglatierra el 16 (fn. 9) de Mayo 1536."
'The said Queen (unjustly called) finally was beheaded upon a scaffold within the Tower with open gates. She was brought by the captain upon the said scaffold, and four young ladies followed her. She looked frequently behind her, and when she got upon the scaffold was very much exhausted and amazed. She begged leave to speak to the people, promising to say nothing but what was good. The captain gave her leave, and she began to raise her eyes to Heaven, and cry mercy to God and to the King for the offence she had done, desiring the people always to pray to God for the King, for he was a good, gentle, gracious, and amiable prince. She was then stripped of her short mantle furred with ermines, and afterwards took off her hood, which was of English make, herself. A young lady presented her with a linen cap, with which she covered her hair, and she knelt down, fastening her clothes about her feet, and one of the said ladies bandaged her eyes.
Immediately the executioner did his office; and when her head was off it was taken by a young lady and covered with a white cloth. Afterwards the body was taken by the other ladies, and the whole carried into the church nearest to the Tower of London. It is said that she was condemned to be burned alive, but that the King commuted her sentence to decapitation. Thus, he who wrote this billet says that, according to old writings, he has seen the prophecy of Marlin fulfilled.'
There is a legend, supported, it is said, by records in the city of Calais, that the swordsman was Jean Rombaud. He was so skilled he once beheaded two victims at once with a single blow. It was this famous skill and reputation that recommended him to the English...or perhaps the French king. I rather like the thought that Francis, who is historically silent on this matter, may have sent the headsman to honor his one-time friend, Queen Anne. But I think the records must show that Henry's officials must have sent for him WELL in advance of her condemnation. There is a novel of rather odd machinations concerning this executioner called...THE FRENCH EXECUTIONER by C.C. Humphries.
share[deleted]
I've read some of the stories of some butchering done on some of those beheadings and it just had to be painful besides being scary.
And don't don't forget Mary queen of scots even though that was years later (I mean 2-3 blows ouch :( ).
shareHow about Margaret Pole Countess of Salisbury? Worst execution I ever heard of.
----
funniest post here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0279204/board/nest/84089134
How about Margaret Pole Countess of Salisbury? Worst execution I ever heard of.
I've never heard that she was blindfolded, but I did hear that the executioner said, "She looks at me. Distract her!" Henry was "merciful" in granting Anne a French executioner. Some of the axe executions were quite messy, particularly the Countess of Salisbury, who was virtually butchered. (BTW, she was executed for being related--only RELATED, mind you--to someone who had offended Henry.)
shareI understand that it was superstition -- that it was considered bad luck for the executioner if the person he was about to execute looked him in the eyes.
"The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power."
- Julius Caesar, act 2 sc 1
Here's my two penn'orth:
I had always heard that Anne was "spared" the block and "granted" an upright beheading with a sword (more efficient) as a favour from her estranged husband, as the penalty for her purported crimes should have been burning alive.
The swordsman was beguiled by her on the scaffold and shouted "Where is my sword?" just before doing the deed, in order, as our friend above says, that she would think she had a few more seconds. This would cause her to relax and make his job easier. Though "relaxation" is a relative concept in these circumstances.
Awight we're The Daamned we're a punk baand and this is called Carn't Be Appy T'day!