Mark Smeaton

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mark Smeaton (* around 1511/1516; † May 17, 1536 on Tower Hill ), also Mark Smeton , was an English musician at the court of King Henry VIII. Coming from a humble background, he rose through his talent at court and won the Favor of the king and his second wife Anne Boleyn . His testimony of having committed adultery with the Queen led to the overthrow of Anne Boleyn and the conviction of her alleged lovers, alongside Mark Smeaton, her brother George Boleyn and the Chamberlain, Francis Weston , Henry Norris and William Brereton. On May 17, 1536, Smeaton was beheaded with the other men on Tower Hill.

Life

Ascent at the farm

Little is known of Mark Smeaton's background and family. By 1536, he was in his early twenties, suggesting a date of birth between 1511 and 1516. Some sources give him the son of a carpenter, others claim that Smeaton had Flemish roots. How he came to court is also controversial. Rumor has it that Queen Anne Boleyn was on the lookout for handsome men and good dancers, and that Smeaton became aware of him because he was one of the most beautiful monochord players . Another version is that he belonged to the household of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey until 1529 and then came to court. Depending on the source, Smeaton is referred to as a musician, organist , virginal or spinet player .

At an unspecified point in time after 1529 he became a servant of the Privy Chamber , moving in the exclusive circle of royal favorites who had direct access to King Henry VIII . The king liked to surround himself with personal favorites and thus Smeaton, like Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, had achieved social advancement despite his simple background. George Boleyn became Smeaton's patron and gave him a music book that is still in the British Library today. The queen, too, often let him play music in her parlor. Probably she paid for the decoration of his clavichord and possibly a friendship developed between the two, as the queen did not hesitate to ask a musician far below her why he was sad. According to her, he sometimes played for her in her private chambers.

However, this made her vulnerable to accusations of having a romantic interest in him. The poet Thomas Wyatt wrote of Smeaton that he rose above his poor estate, which would have led to his deep fall, which is often interpreted to mean that the musician became arrogant and rose into an inappropriately infatuation with the Queen. An episode with Anne Boleyn that the Queen was supposed to tell after her imprisonment fits this assessment. On April 29th, she saw Smeaton standing in her reception room with an unhappy look on his face and asked him what was bothering him. "It is nothing," replied Smeaton, whereupon Anne replied: "You must not expect me to speak to you like a nobleman, for you are of low class." - "No, no, madame. One look is enough for me and now goodbye. "

It is possible that Smeaton made no distinction between love actually felt and the formalized, courtly love, which was the content of the Platonic worship of the unreachable queen. Perhaps he hoped the queen had real feelings for him. Lancelot de Carles, secretary and clerk to the French ambassador, wrote that under the 1st Act of Succession , which made any denigration of her a high treason, Anne was in principle inviolable and could do whatever she wanted. The historian GW Bernard therefore argues that Anne Boleyn could theoretically have had a short, romantic affair with Smeaton, which may have ended in the episode described by Anne.

arrest

In April there was a dispute between Anne Boleyn's lady-in-waiting Elizabeth, Countess of Worcester, and her brother Anthony Browne, who accused her of rampant behavior. Elizabeth countered that she was nowhere near as bad as the queen who sinned with her brother. Mark Smeaton could tell him more. Browne immediately informed the king, who then ordered an investigation. On Sunday April 30th, 1536, Mark Smeaton was arrested by Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex and taken to his home in Stepney . He was detained there for 24 hours and admitted during the interrogation that he had slept with Anne Boleyn three times. He was then taken to the Tower of London .

Anne Boleyn , Queen of England

Smeaton's confession set the ball rolling. Less than two days later, Henry Norris , George Boleyn and the Queen were also in custody. Anne Boleyn collapsed in the Tower, and her fear also weighed on Francis Weston . Even Francis Bryan , Thomas Wyatt and Sir Richard Page were suspected of also detained the latter two. In the face of these developments, Anne's ladies-in-waiting were questioned, which led to further discoveries and suspicions. It was rumored that Anne fell in love with Smeaton and kept him hidden in her candy cabinet in the absence of the King. As soon as her ladies-in-waiting in the adjoining room fell asleep, so the story goes, Anne called for an old servant to bring her jam. The servant then took the naked Smeaton into the bedroom. Although the report is very likely to be wrong, as it contains some serious errors, it shows that the Queen may well have had secret affairs with the help of accomplices, which made the allegations against her plausible, at least in the eyes of the King.

Most historians consider Anne Boleyn innocent, which is why Smeaton's confession still raises questions. According to legend, he was tortured to give his testimony. This assumption is based on the Spanish Chronicle , an anonymous report by a Spanish supporter of Henry's first wife, Queen Catherine of Aragon . It says Thomas Cromwell tortured Smeaton with a rope tied around his head. However, historians consider the report unreliable because it contains some serious historical errors and such a practice was illegal even in the Tudor period. George Constantyne, a contemporary, wrote: "It is said that he was first tortured horribly on the rack, but I don't know if it is true." However, torture should have taken place on the rack in the Tower. However, Smeaton was not sent to the Tower until the king had already heard his confession and was interrogating his valet Henry Norris. De Carles also stated that Smeaton would have confessed without torture.

Anne Boleyn's biographer, Eric Ives , assumes that Cromwell was conspiring against the Queen and that Cromwell put pressure on Smeaton to make a false statement. Smeaton, according to Ives, did not enjoy the same privileges and relationships as the nobles, which made him vulnerable. In support of this thesis, he argues that Cromwell Smeaton was the only prisoner to be chained after his imprisonment in the Tower and that he was the only one of minor origin. Should he be found guilty, he was threatened with death by hanging, disembowelling and quartering , while his noble inmates had the chance of a much quicker death by beheading . However, if he confessed, he could hope for the king's mercy and be beheaded too. Although it is sometimes suggested that Smeaton was having an affair with Anne's brother George and that Cromwell used this knowledge as leverage against him, there is no historical evidence for this.

Cromwell's biographer John Schofield contradicts the thesis of Cromwell's plot and considers it possible that Smeaton acted out of revenge. Shortly after his arrest, rumors began to circulate in London that Smeaton was jealous of the Queen's noble suitors. The episode with Anne Boleyn, who refused to speak to him like a gentleman, appeared in a new light. Possibly, according to Schofield, Smeaton was trying to get revenge on the Queen by claiming to have slept with her and revealing the names of her other suitors. It fits that under current law it was not a crime to sleep with the queen as long as it was done with her consent. Only one church court ruled on such moral mistakes. With this, Smeaton may feel safe, which turned out to be a huge mistake. However, its actual motivation remains unclear.

Sentencing and execution

On May 12th, Smeaton, Norris, Weston and Brereton were tried. The charges were adultery with the queen and high treason as Anne Boleyn allegedly planned to assassinate the king so she could marry one of her lovers. Smeaton was accused of having an affair with her in April or May 1534. Smeaton was the only defendant to plead guilty of adultery but pleaded innocence regarding high treason. Nevertheless, he was sentenced to death along with the others. The king converted Smeaton's punishment into beheading.

On May 17, 1536, Smeaton was beheaded on Tower Hill together with Boleyn, Norris, Weston and Brereton . On the scaffold, Smeaton told the crowd, “Gentlemen, I ask you all to pray for me, for I deserve to die.” Historians disagree on what he meant by this. In the Tudor period it was customary to submit to the law on the scaffold, regardless of whether one was guilty or not, since according to the view of the time, all people were sinners who deserved death. In this respect, Smeaton could have referred to it, or, as Bernard points out, reiterated that he had actually committed adultery with Anne Boleyn. The Queen herself apparently believed the latter, for she commented on his behavior with the words: “Oh! I fear his soul will be punished for his false confession. ”Two days later she was also executed. The poet Thomas Wyatt dedicated an elegy to his dead comrades and wrote about Smeaton:

Ah! Mark, what moan should I for thee make more,
Since that thy death thou hast deserved best,
Save only that mine eye is forced sore
With piteous plaint to moan thee with the rest?
A time thou haddest above thy poor degree,
The fall whereof thy friends may well bemoan:
A rotten twig upon so high a tree
Hath slipped thy hold, and thou art dead and gone.

Ah! Mark, what complaint should I bring for you who
most deserve your death,
Except that my eye is painfully compelled
to weep you with the others with pitiful lamentation?
For a while you rose above your poor standing,
your friends may strongly complain about the case:
A rotten branch so high up on the tree has
slipped out of your grip and you are dead and gone.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn . Blackwell Publishing 2009, p. 325
  2. ↑ a b G.W. Bernard: Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions . Yale University Press 2010, p. 157
  3. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn . Blackwell Publishing 2009, p. 258
  4. ↑ a b G.W. Bernard: Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions . Yale University Press 2010, p. 175
  5. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn . Blackwell Publishing 2009, p. 257
  6. ↑ a b G.W. Bernard: Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions . Yale University Press 2010, p. 163
  7. ^ Ric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn . Blackwell Publishing 2009, p. 336
  8. ^ GW Bernard: Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions . Yale University Press 2010, p. 162
  9. ^ GW Bernard: Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions . Yale University Press 2010, p. 152
  10. ^ GW Bernard: Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions . Yale University Press 2010, p. 153
  11. ^ John Schofield: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell. Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant . The History Press 2013, p. 164
  12. ^ GW Bernard: Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions . Yale University Press 2010, p. 1: “The saying was that he was first grievously racked, which I could never know of a truth.”
  13. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn . Blackwell Publishing 2009, p. 326
  14. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn . Blackwell Publishing 2009, p. 327
  15. ^ John Schofield: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell. Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant . The History Press 2013, p. 195
  16. ↑ Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn . Blackwell Publishing 2009, p. 344
  17. ^ GW Bernard: Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions . Yale University Press 2010, p. 165
  18. ^ A b Eric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn . Blackwell Publishing 2009, p. 343
  19. ^ GW Bernard: Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions . Yale University Press 2010, p. 177
  20. ^ Ric Ives: The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn . Blackwell Publishing 2009, p. 364
personal data
SURNAME Smeaton, Mark
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smeton, Mark
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English court musician
DATE OF BIRTH around 1511 or around 1516
DATE OF DEATH May 17, 1536
Place of death Tower Hill