The Story of the Death of Anne Boleyn is a critical edition and translation of a long narrative poem written by the secretary to the French ambassador in London within two weeks of Anne Boleyn’s execution in 1536. It was intended as a diplomatic dispatch, relating the astonishing news of the queen’s demise (along with that of five alleged lovers). Uniquely among diplomatic correspondence, this dispatch was written in verse form. It thus straddles the domains of literature and history, of chronicle and fiction. The base text is a previously unstudied manuscript housed in the British Library. Variants are given from all other known manuscripts, including several key verses that were previously unknown and that shed new light on the interpretation of the poem. In addition to a facing-page English translation, the book features a survey of the historical background to the poem, an essay on the poet and the reception of his work, and a literary analysis of the poem.