A fair trial or doomed from the start? That’s what historian Tracy Borman is determined to unveil as she examines the final days of Anne Boleyn, the Queen for a thousand days and King Henry VIII’s second wife.
Married to the King in 1533, Anne Boleyn suffered several miscarriages, failing in the eyes of Henry VIII to birth a male heir. In what many believe was an attempt to annul their marriage, the King accused Anne of high treason in 1536.
In Anne Boleyn: Arrest, Trial, Execution, Borman examines Anne Boleyn’s final days; the day of her arrest, the day of her trial, and the day of her execution. The documentary series gives viewers the events of each day hour by hour, untangling the evidence to reveal what genuinely happened. Did Anne committee adultery? Or did the King’s chief advisor Thomas Cromwell invent a series of false charges?
Drawing on original records and artifacts, Borman works to reexamine the history and the truth about the final days of this iconic queen.
Anne Boleyn: Arrest, Trial, Execution airs in three parts on Thursdays at 9 p.m., beginning September 16 on WSBE Rhode Island PBS.
Episode 1: Arrests - September 16 at 9 p.m.
Historian Tracy Borman explores Anne Boleyn’s final days of freedom, her relationships with the men she was accused of committing adultery with, her last letter to her husband (or elaborate forgery), the confession that led to her arrest, and how her one-time ally led the case against her.
Episode 2: Charges - September 23 at 9 p.m.
Borman examines in detail the charges brought against Anne Boleyn: adultery, incest, and conspiracy to murder the king; and the key factors that led to Anne’s downfall: the biases in the jury, the role of the Seymour family, and the structure of the Tudor legal system.
Episode 3: Verdicts - September 30 at 9 p.m.
Was the trial of Anne Boleyn an orchestrated plot, or were the accusations legitimate? Borman walks through the Queen’s final verdict - a public spectacle that attracted 2,000 attendees - and uses new evidence to indicate that Anne’s execution was a forgone conclusion.
WSBE Rhode Island PBS transmits over the air in high definition on digital 36.1; Cox 08 / 1008HD, Verizon FiOS 08 / 508HD, and Full Channel 08; Comcast 819HD and Verizon FiOS 18 / 518HD in MA; DirecTV 36, Dish Network 36. Live stream the full broadcast schedule at watch.ripbs.org/livestream.
