"He was lodged," says Stow, "in the house of William Delect, a citizen of London, in Fenchurch Street. On the morrow, being the eve of St. Bartholomew (23rd Aug.), he was brought on horseback to Westminster ... the mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen of London accompanying him; and in the Great Hall at Westminster ... being impeached," &c.
The authorities cited are, Adam Merimuth and Thomas de La More. His arraignment and condemnation on the Vigil of St. Bartholomew are also mentioned by Matthew Westminster, p. 451. Neither these historians, or Stow or Holinshed, afford any farther information. The latter chronicler says that Wallace was "condemned, and thereupon hanged" (Chron., fol., 1586, vol. ii. p. 313.). He was executed at Smithfield; and it is not improbable that, if, after his condemnation, he was taken to any place of safe custody, he was lodged in Newgate. The following entry of the expenses of the sheriffs attending his execution is on the Chancellor's Roll of 33 Edw. I. in the British Museum:
"Et in expens t misis fcis
eosđ Vicetes
Willo le Walleys Scoto latone predone puplico utlagato inimico et rebellione
qui in contemptu
Scociam se Regem Scocie falso fecāt nōiare t t ministros
in
tībus Scocie intfecit at
duxt excercitū hostilit contra Regē
judiciū Cur
apud Westm distahendo suspendendo decollando ej viscera concremando ac ej corpus qarterando cuj cor
is quartia ad iiij majores villas Scocie tasmittebantur hoc anno.... £xj s. xd."
The day of the trial, August 23, is generally given the date of his execution. It therefore appears that the formidable Scot never was a prisoner in the Tower.
The unfortunate Queen Anne Boleyn occupied the royal apartments while she was a prisoner in the Tower. From Speed's narrative, it appears that she continued to occupy them after she was condemned to death. On May 15 (1536) she was (says Stow)
"Arraigned in the Tower on a scaffold made for the purpose in the King's Hall; and after her condemnation, she was conveyed to ward again, the Lady Kingston, and the Lady Boloigne her aunt, attending on her."
On May 19, the unfortunate queen was led forth to "the green by the White Tower" and beheaded.
In the record of her trial before the Duke of Norfolk, Lord High Steward (see Report of Deputy Keeper of Public Records), she is ordered to be taken back to "the king's prison within the Tower;" but these are words of form. The oral tradition cannot in this case be relied upon, for it pointed out the Martin Tower as the place of her imprisonment because, as I believe, her name was found rudely inscribed upon the wall. The Beauchamp Tower seems to have been named only because it was the ordinary state prison at the time. The narrative quoted by Speed shows, however, that the place of her imprisonment was the queen's lodging, where the fading honours of royalty still surrounded Anne Boleyn.
William Sidney Gibson.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.


