Francis Weston

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Sir Francis Weston
KB

Portrait believed to be of Sir Francis Weston, by unknown artist.[1]
Born c. 1511
Surrey[citation needed]
Died 17 May 1536 (aged 24–25)
Tower Hill, London
Cause of death
 Decapitation
Resting place
 Tower of London, London, United Kingdom
Occupation Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to Henry VIII
Spouse(s) Anne Pickering
Children Henry
Parents Sir Richard Weston
Anne Sandys
Arms of Weston: Ermine, on a chief azure 5 bezants

Sir Francis Weston (1511[2][3] – 17 May 1536) KB was a gentleman of the Privy Chamber at the court of King Henry VIII of England. He became a friend of the Henry VIII and gained a sad fame by being one of the men who were accused of high treason and adultery with Anne Boleyn, the king's second wife. Weston was condemned to death, together with George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, Henry Norris, William Brereton and Mark Smeaton. They were all executed on 17 May 1536, two days before the Queen.

Background

Francis was the only son of a gentry family. His father was Sir Richard Weston of Ufton Court in Berkshire and Sutton Place near Mayford in Surrey[4] and his mother was Anne, the daughter of Oliver Sandys of Shere at Dorking in Surrey. In 1526, aged only fifteen, he is listed as a page at court. Although he was twenty years younger than the King, he quickly became a minor member of the King's circle, listed as beating Henry at bowls, tennis, dice and other games.[2] In 1532, he was made a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, giving him frequent access to the King. Other honours followed, including becoming a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533.[5]

In 1530, he married Anne Pickering, daughter to Sir Christopher Pickering of Killington, Cumberland and by her had a son named Henry, born in 1535. An oak marriage chest with carved heads of Francis and Anne is preserved in Saffron Walden museum, Essex.[6]

Arrest

Once arrested, Anne Boleyn was attended by four unsympathetic ladies, who had been instructed by the King's chief minister Thomas Cromwell to report on the Queen's actions. Anne told one of these ladies, Mrs. Coffin, that she had reprimanded Weston for flirting with Madge Shelton, who was betrothed to Henry Norris. Anne wondered aloud to Weston why Norris hadn't married Shelton yet. Weston replied, "[Norris] came more to her [Anne's] chamber for her than for Madge."[7]

Execution

Francis died aged twenty-five when he was accused of committing adultery with Queen Anne Boleyn, treason and plotting to kill the king.[8] There is no evidence to support either of these accusations. Although a myth has arisen in the last twenty years that the men were accused of sodomy as well as treason this is unlikely to be true.[6] This myth has arisen solely due to the unsubstantiated theories of Retha Warnicke in her 1989 biography of Anne Boleyn. None of the men were charged with sodomy and there were no extant rumours of homosexuality relating to any of them. Francis was beheaded on Tower Hill, just outside the Tower of London, on 17 May 1536 along with his co-accused, George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, William Brereton, Henry Norris and Mark Smeaton.

References

  1. ↑ The escutcheon in the top left corner shows the Weston arms: Ermine, on a chief azure 5 bezants and the canvas bears the inscription “Weston Esq. of Sutton, Surrey”. Collection of Parham Park, Sussex
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hughes, Jonathan. "Weston, Sir Francis". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29121.  (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  3. ↑ Lindsey, Karen (1995). Divorced, Beheaded, Survived : A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII (1st ed.). Perseus Books Group. p. xviii. 
  4. ↑ "Sir Richard Weston (1465-1541)". berkshirehistory.com. Retrieved 15 October 2013. 
  5. ↑ Shaw, William A. (1906). The Knights of England, vol. I. London: Sherrat and Hughes. p. 149. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ridgway, Claire (2012). The Fall of Anne Boleyn. MadeGlobal Publishing. pp. 101–102. ISBN 978-1475266122. 
  7. ↑ Ives, Eric (2005). The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn: 'The Most Happy'. Blackwell Publishing. pp. 334–335. ISBN 978-0-631-23479-1. 
  8. ↑ A schedule of the charges against all five accused men are in the Baga de Secretis which can be found at pages 189-226 of Wriothesley's Chronicle

Bibliography

  • Cavendish, George (1825). Singer, Samuel Weller, ed. The Life of Cardinal Wolsey. 
  • Friedmann, Paul (2010). Anne Boleyn (1st ed.). Amberley. 
  • Ives, Eric (2005). The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn: 'The Most Happy'. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-0-631-23479-1. 
  • Hughes, Jonathan. "Weston, Sir Francis". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/29121.  (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  • Lindsey, Karen (1995). Divorced, Beheaded, Survived : A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII (1st ed.). Perseus Books Group. 
  • Ridgway, Claire (2012). The Fall of Anne Boleyn. MadeGlobal Publishing. ISBN 978-1475266122. 
  • "Sir Richard Weston (1465-1541)". berkshirehistory.com. 
  • Shaw, William A. (1906). The Knights of England, vol. I. London: Sherrat and Hughes. 
  • Warnicke, Retha M. (1989). The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII. Cambridge University Press. 
  • Weir, Alison (2009). The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn. Jonathan Cape. 
  • Wriothesley, Charles (1875). Hamilton, William Douglas, ed. A Chronicle of England During the Reigns of the Tudors, from A.D. 1485 to 1559, vol. I. Camden Society. 
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