Why does Mark Smeaton confess?

To answer this question, I think one needs to look beyond the tv series and look at the actual history of Mark Smeaton and his execution.

I am going to quote a few paragraphs from the Mark Smeaton Wikipedia Page. Please note that a lot of the quotes and statements in these paragraphs are properly referenced there:

...Because of his lowly social origin, he was never part of the Queen's intimate circle of companions, which included her favourite ladies-in-waiting and courtiers. Anne herself once reprimanded him for assuming she would speak to him in the same way she would speak to an aristocrat. A poem by the courtier Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder made reference to his apparent social-climbing.

His unhappiness was said to have caught Anne's attention one day in her chamber at Winchester, when she sent for him to play the virginals. As Anne later confessed, "[On] Saturday before May Day… I found him standing in the round window in my chamber of presence. And I asked him why he was so sad, and he answered and said it was no matter." Smeaton's reply was non-committal. Anne replied, "You may not look to have me speak to you as I should do to a nobleman, because you are an inferior person." Knowing the truth of her words, Smeaton miserably replied, "No, no, Madam. A look sufficeth, thus fare you well."

Unfortunately for Smeaton, his conversation with the Queen was quickly reported to Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry VIII's advisors, who was looking for evidence of Anne's committing treason and adultery. It is generally accepted that Anne was accused of adultery in order to free her husband, Henry VIII, to marry a new wife, Jane Seymour, to whom he was betrothed the day after her execution. Smeaton was arrested on 30 April. No one at first noticed Smeaton's absence. Cromwell took Smeaton to his house in Stepney and supposedly tortured him. The usually unreliable Spanish Chronicles detailed that Smeaton was tortured with a knotted cord around his eyes. Anne is not thought to have noticed his disappearance or been informed of his arrest.

At 6 pm on May Day, he was sent to the Tower of London. Allegedly upon the rack, Smeaton cracked and "confessed" to being Anne's lover. However, this confession did not match up to the facts. Smeaton could not possibly have had sex with Anne on 13 May 1535 at Greenwich as he had confessed, because the Queen was at Richmond then. He is also thought to have supplied the names of certain of Anne's circle, who were also arrested. Afterwards he was put in a cell in the Tower of London...

As to his death:

When [Anne] heard that Smeaton had failed to withdraw his "confession" in fully explicit terms, Anne was said to have been angry.
As Smeaton was led to his execution, he stumbled back from the bloody scaffold. Collecting himself, he said despairingly, "Masters, I pray you all pray for me, for I have deserved the death". Smeaton was granted the "mercy" of a beheading, rather than the usual brutal quartering assigned to commoners. This is thought to have been due to his co-operation with Anne's enemies. The other four men were also beheaded.

So it seems apparent that it was torture that led to his confession and death. But why did he never even appear to recant, even when it became clear his confession would lead to his, and Anne's, death?

A series of articles about Mark Smeaton were written over at the Anne Boleyn Files. In one of them, the author gives a few possible reasons:

Fear – Mark believed that his execution could be changed, even at the last minute, from beheading to hanging, drawing and quartering if he did not comply or if he caused trouble by speaking out.

Guilt – By this time, Mark had dug himself a hole and there was no way out of it for him or anybody else. His friends had already been executed and Anne had already been convicted and I expect that his words regarding deserving death were to do with his guilt over what he had done, by confessing.

He recognised himself as a sinner – Christians believe that we are all sinners and so deserve death, and separation from God, but that Jesus Christ came to save us and reconcile us with God, so perhaps Mark’s words were just him simply recognising himself as a sinner who deserved death. No hidden meanings, just him confessing his sins.

He was guilty – Some believe that these words actually show that there may have been something to the allegations regarding an affair between the Queen and Mark. I don’t buy into that idea myself – Anne was far too intelligent to risk her marriage and crown for a lowly musician.