iage was null for this reason, and because God would
not permit them to have male issue.[961] There was no peace for her
who supplanted her mistress. Within six months of her marriage Henry's
roving fancy had given her cause for jealousy, and, when she complained,
he is said to have brutally told her she must put up with it as her
betters had done before.[962] These disagreements, however, were
described by Chapuys as mere lovers' quarrels, and they were generally
followed by reconciliations, after which Anne's influence seemed (p. 344)
as secure as ever. But by January, 1536, the imperial ambassador and
others were counting on a fresh divorce. The rumour grew as spring
advanced, when suddenly, on 2nd May, Anne was arrested and sent to the
Tower. She was accused of incest with her brother, Lord Rochford, and
of less criminal intercourse with Sir Francis Weston, Henry Norris,
William Brereton, and Mark Smeaton. All were condemned by juries to
death for high treason on 12th May. Three days later Anne herself was
put on her trial by a panel of twenty-six peers, over which her uncle,
the Duke of Norfolk, presided.[963] They returned a unanimous verdict
of guilty, and, on the 19th, the Queen's head was struck off with the
sword of an executioner brought for the purpose from St. Omer.[964]

[Footnote 958: "The King," says Chapuys in
September, 1534, "will distribute among the
gentlemen of the kingdom the greater part of the
ecclesiastical revenues to gain their good-will"
(_L. and P._, vii., 1141).]

[Footnote 959: _Ibid._, x., 307.]

[Footnote 960: Anne was pregnant in Feb., 1534,
when Henry told Chapuys he thought he should have a
son soon (_L. and P._, vii., 232; _cf._, vii.,
958).]

[Footnote 961: _Ibid._, x., 199.]

[Footnote 962: _Ibid._, vi., 1054, 1069. As early
as April, 1531, Chapuys reports that Anne "was
becoming more arrogant every day, using words and
authority towards the King of which he has several
times complained to the Duke of Norfolk, saying
that she was not like the Queen [Catherine] who
never in her life used ill words to him" (_ibid._,
v., 2