Reference no: EM133736447
Assignment:
What is the attitude of Chapuys to Anne Boleyn? Does he believe in her guilt? What might motivate him to be hostile to her? Does Anne's trial, as described by Chapuys, appear to have been fair?
Compare Chapuy's account of Anne with this short description of her execution written by the English diarist John Stowe:
All these being on a scaffold made there for the execution, the said Queen Anne said as followeth: Masters, I here humbly submit me to the law, as the law hath judged me, and as for mine offences, God knoweth them, I remit them to God, beseeching him to have mercy on my soul; and I beseech Jesu save my Sovereign and master the King, the most goodliest, and gentlest Prince that is, and long to reign over you, which words she spake with a smiling countenance: which done, she kneeled down on both her knees, and said, To Jesu Christ I commend my soul and with that word suddenly the hangman of Calais smote off her head at one stroke with a sword: her body with the head was buried in the choir of the Chapel in the Tower.
How does the point of view of the author influence the descriptions given of the event? Are the two accounts equivalent? Would a modern analysis of the event be complete if seen from only one of those points of view? Are there other perspectives to consider in analyzing this event?