Curated playlist
1536 deaths
- Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn laughed on the scaffold, joking that she had a little neck.
- Catherine of AragonWidowed at sixteen, Catherine of Aragon became the first known female ambassador in European history.
- George Boleyn, Viscount RochfordGeorge Boleyn's execution crowd fell almost completely silent to hear his scaffold speech.
- Francis WestonFrancis Weston was beheaded at 25 for treason, still protesting his innocence. He had beaten King Henry VIII at games.
- Henry Norris (courtier)The charges against Henry Norris put Anne Boleyn in Westminster on dates when she was in Greenwich.
- ErasmusErasmus, born to a priest and orphaned by plague, became the most read author of his age.
- William Brereton (courtier)William Brereton was beheaded in 1536 beside Anne Boleyn's brother, yet had almost no known tie to her.
- Marino Sanuto the YoungerMarino Sanuto sat in the Venetian senate for decades and wrote down everything said. His diary grew to 58 volumes.
- Mark SmeatonMark Smeaton was the only man executed with Anne Boleyn who did not claim innocence. Five men died that day in 1536.
- William TyndaleWilliam Tyndale's last words asked God to open the King of England's eyes.
- Gil VicenteGil Vicente's first known play was staged in the queen's rooms to celebrate a prince's birth.
- Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and SomersetHenry VIII's son was made a double duke at six years old. No illegitimate child had had one before.
- Garcilaso de la Vega (poet)Garcilaso de la Vega died in Nice on the 14th of October 1536. A wound from a battle at Le Muy had tormented him for 25 days. He was a Spanish soldier, and he was also the poet who changed how Spanish verse sounds. Spain has read his poems…