Anne Boleyn was executed on May 19, 1536.
Displaying an act of "mercy", King Henry VIII dispatched a skilled executioner to perform the execution by sword rather than by axe or being burned at the stake.
The swordsman was dispatched from Calais, English occupied France at the time. Obviously, the swordsman would have to have been skilled with a flawless reputation to have been summoned by the King of England.
According to author and historian Dr. Eric Ives, the swordsman was very skilled.
her beheading by a first-class executioner — “an expert in the use of the heavy continental executioner’s sword which could cut the head off a prisoner who was kneeling upright, in place of the clumsier English axe needing the prisoner’s chin on the block.”
Anne Boleyn herself even mentioned the skill of the swordsman.
An excerpt from a letter to Thomas Cromwell from William Kingston on informing Anne Boleyn on the postponement of her execution:
And then she said "I heard say the executioner was very good, and I have a little neck," and put her hand about it laughing heartily.
What historical evidence is there to support the claims of the executioner's skill before Anne Boleyn's executionWhy was this particular executioner chosen?
(Note: Answers citing Sources other than Wikipedia would be appreciated)
