(© Unknown Artist – The National Portrait Gallery)
On Thursday 29th of May, 1533, a young woman dressed in white and visibly pregnant arrived at the Tower of London after a marvellous barge procession across the river to start off the long days of celebration in honour of her coronation. She made her glorious entrance under a raging wave of canon fire, eager to get to her husband, the King of England, who was awaiting her inside. A mere thousand short days later, she would be entering the Tower once again but, this time, there would be no radiant monarch waiting for her arrival and she would not make it out alive.
How did this happen?
This is the story of Queen Anne Boleyn, the ill-fated second wife of King Henry VIII.
Well, it all started with her father, Thomas Boleyn.
Thomas Boleyn did what his family did best: marry upwards across the social scale. Around 1500 he wedded Elizabeth Howard, the oldest daughter of an earl. His grandfather, Geoffrey Boleyn, was a rich member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers who inserted himself within society buying properties and tying the knot with Anne Hoo, the daughter of the Baron Hoo and Hastings of Luton. Thomas’ father, William, became a renowned landowner who also worked as Sheriff of Kent, Norfolk and Suffolk and proceeded to marry Margaret Butler, one of the heirs of the 7th Earl of Ormond. So, marrying up became a family tactic to advance and fill up their pockets, which was a lesson that Thomas was not going to forget.
He and Elizabeth had five children, three of whom made it into adulthood: Mary, George, and Anne.
Now, if you are unfamiliar with the tale I am trying to tell today, you may find yourself thinking why am I ranting about a family of merchants when I started this off with a glorious coronation day.
Well…
Thomas was an active member at court during the reign of Henry VII. He was present at royal weddings and even was sent as an escort to England when Princess Margaret crossed the border to become Queen of Scotland at the tender age of 13 years old. He received the honour of being created a Knight of the Bath during the festivities of Henry VIII’s coronation in 1509, which was an order of chivalry that was intended to recognise the work of military officials and civil servants to the monarchy. Three years later he was made the English ambassador in the Netherlands, where he did not miss the chance to stablish connections that would eventually secure a position at court for his daughter, Anne. Anne was sent to serve Archduchess Margaret of Austria, with Margaret writing later to Thomas:
‘… I find her [Anne] so bright and pleasant for her young age that I am more beholden to you for sending her to me than you are to me.’
Anne did not have any official duties at court, but she had to make herself useful and behave accordingly. She learned French and grew accustomed to make small talk with ambassadors and diplomats alike, and she dressed according to the French sense of fashion. Margaret was known for loving culture and so Anne would have been brought up surrounded by art pieces, literature and stimulating conversations and debates, making her quite knowledgeable and gifting her with an astonishing good taste. All of this took place in Mechelen, where different ideas were pretty much welcomed, extending that grace to religious issues and critics towards the Catholic Pope. Maybe it was right there and then when Anne started to question her faith.
All the while, her sister Mary was sent to serve young Princess Mary, sister to King Henry VIII, on the pitiful trip across the channel to get married to the old French King, Louis XII. Thankfully to Mary, her marriage was not long-lived as her husband passed away just a couple of months later. Anne, who had gone to France to reunite with her sister and serve Queen Mary, found herself at ease at court. Even after Princess Mary went back to England, Thomas’ daughters remained in France under new Queen Claude’s wings. Anne thrived there intellectually and spiritually whereas Mary is rumoured to have gone down a difficult path becoming one of Francis I’s many mistresses.
Life kept going as usual until 1522, when Anne finally returned to England. By then, her sister Mary had been married for two years while being the English King’s mistress. For Anne, though, another road was opening. Her father had gotten her a position in court as lady-in-waiting to Queen Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s Spanish wife. One of the reasons to bring Anne back to England was marrying her with James Butler, a relative much older than her with whom Thomas had been fighting over the title and states of the Earl of Ormond. The wedding did not take place and history went on.
Thomas Boleyn’s daughter, Anne Boleyn, had her debut at court during an event celebrating the visit of the Imperial ambassadors in March 1522, playing the proverbial role of “Perseverance” in a pageant. And while all the participants were wearing white, she still managed to stand out and become a relevant figure fashion wise, gathering a few young men interested in her persona.
Warnick said:
“[Anne’s] carriage was graceful and her French clothes were pleasing and stylish; she danced with ease, had a pleasant singing voice, played the lute and several other musical instruments well, and spoke French fluently... A remarkable, intelligent, quick-witted young noblewoman... that first drew people into conversation with her and then amused and entertained them. In short, her energy and vitality made her the centre of attention in any social gathering".
She was particularly keen on getting to know one nobleman, though: Henry Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland and much above her social position, which was not surprising keeping in mind the Boleyn family track over the years. The young lovebirds entered into a secret betrothal that was broken off by the father of Henry Percy, who was backed up by Cardinal Wolsey. Upon the discovery, Anne was sent back to her family’s estates in the countryside, at Hever castle, and Henry Percy married his fiancée, Mary Talbot, as he had been expected to since his teenage years. Some time later, Anne would re-enter her position at Katherine’s service.
She had turned into the new sensation and that was bound to get her the King’s attention sooner or later, as Henry VIII had a wandering eye that often ran astray from Katherine. He had already conceived a bastard son named Henry Fitzroy and had had some mistresses when he landed his sights on Anne. By the time 1526 rolled around, Henry VIII was already smitten by her, both caught up in a courtly love that might have gone too far, Thomas Boleyn had been elevated to Viscount of Rochford and his son George Boleyn had been appointed as a gentleman of the Privy Chamber and Royal Cupbearer.
We do not truly know what motivated Anne’s actions nor what really happened between the two in years to come. What we do know is that she fled to Hever castle’s safety, running from Henry’s advancements, and refusing to become one of his numerous mistresses, probably influenced by her sister’s fate after being discarded by him. She received lots of passionate letters from the King, which demonstrate just how aloof she seemed to him.
As he said:
“So it is with our love, for by absence we are parted, yet nevertheless it keeps its fervour, at least on my side, and I hope on yours also: assuring you that on my side the ennui of absence is already too much for me” and “I have put myself into great agony, not knowing how to interpret them, whether to my disadvantage, as you show in some places, or to my advantage, as I understand them in some others”.
Anne would accept to be his lawful wife, though.
What would follow the next couple of years regarding their personal affairs is uncertain but we know about “The King’s Great Matter” that shocked Europe. Henry was trying to divorce Katherine in secret, possibly because she was aunt to Royal Emperor Charles V and repudiating her might bring a war upon England. The King quoted Bible verses that said: “Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would dishonour your brother” and “If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonoured his brother. They will be childless.”
You see, when Henry married Katherine, she was the young and beautiful widow of his older brother Arthur, who had tragically passed away a few short months after the wedding. There had been rumours that they had consummated the union as they were supposed to but Katherine refuted those claims time and time again. Moreover, she had in fact given him children but, as she lamented in her speech at Blackfriars:
“(…) by me ye have had divers children, though it hath pleased God to call them out of this world, which hath been no fault in me”.
Only their daughter Mary had survived passed infancy and that was not enough for Henry, who needed a male heir after the bloody Wars of the Roses.
Henry tried to get Katherine to peacefully retire to a nunnery but she did not abide, desperate to protect her daughter’s claim to the throne. And then, a long judicial and religious battle took place all over Europe.
In February of 1528 Stephen Gardiner was sent to Rome alongside Edward Fox to work on it. That same June, Anne came down with the sweating sickness along with her father and her brother-in-law, William Carey, who would not recover from it. In September, Henry still shared living dispositions with his wife, impatiently waiting for Cardinal Campeggio’s arrival for the Legatine Court that was supposed to end the matter once and for all. In November he publicly declared that he’d been told by many clerks that his marriage to Katherine was against God’s law and likings, affirming:
“(…) if it be adjudged by law of God that she is my lawful wife, there was never thing more pleasant nor more acceptable to me in my life both for the discharge & clearing of my conscience & also for the good qualities and conditions the which I know to be in her… so that if I were to marry again if the marriage might be good I would surely chose her above all other women.”
Campeggio kept postponing the issue all the while Anne left Hever and came to Henry, acquiring the position of an almost Queen but lacking the title and people’s acceptance. Du Bellay wrote: “Mademoiselle de Boulan is at last come thither, and the King has lodged her in a very fine lodging, which he has prepared for her close by his own. Greater court is now paid to her every day than has been to the Queen for a long time.”
In May of 1529, the Legatine Court at Blackfriars opened and in June Katherine of Aragon had the chance to speak, giving her famously acclaimed speech before exiting Court never to return again, claiming it was not fair for her as she was a foreigner alone against the King’s will. Chapuys reported that September that;
“the King’s affection for La Bolaing (Boleyn) increases daily. It is so great just now that it can hardly be greater; such is the intimacy and familiarity in which they live at present”.
Finally, in October, King Henry VIII got the final response from Pope Clement VII but it was not what he wanted to hear. They refused the petition to divorce and affirmed that this issue was putting the whole Christendom at risk. We do not know when or how but Anne put in Henry’s hands a copy of William Tyndale’s book “Obedience of the Christian Man and How Christian Rulers Ought to Govern” which forever changed the course of history. Henry had found a philosophy that put him on top of the power pyramid in England and he was not going to dismiss it.
The year ended with Thomas Boleyn gaining the titles of Earl of Ormonde and Earl of Wiltshire and Katherine spending Christmas celebrations at Court beside her husband.
January 1530 saw Thomas winning once again, appointed as Lord of the Privy Seal. Katherine was ghosted by Henry and Cranmer bugged the King with the idea of disobeying Rome and marrying Anne anyway. That October, a papal edict was sent to England demanding Henry to return to his wife. By November, Wolsey had fallen from grace and died, leaving the path open to the Boleyn faction’s rise. 1531 started with Pope Clement VII threatening Henry with excommunication if he did not desist on The Great Matter. On 11th of February 1531 Henry was granted the title of “singular protector, supreme lord, and even, so far as the law of Christ allows, supreme head of the English church and clergy”, making him the Supreme Head of the Church of England, no longer under Rome’s spell and dangerously closer to Lutheranism and Protestantism.
This came with a plan to dismantle churches and monasteries, which left lots of homeless people without a place to eat or sleep or hear mass at. This angered the population. They were not up for the religious reform and so hate towards Anne rose even more. She also wanted to use the money of said monasteries to build schools and tend the poor, but Henry wanted the money for himself, which caused a bit of a rift.
All in all, Anne was a Queen in appearance and practice but not in name in 1532. The pair exchanged gifts and in September Anne was named Marquis of Pembroke, possibly in preparation for their wedding. She was given Katherine’s jewels and accompanied the King as his Queen to France, when it is believed they finally consummated their relationship, confident as they were that the ceremony was going to happen soon.
It is believed that, on the 25th of January 1533, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn tied the knot in a private, secretive ceremony, supposedly because Anne had already fallen pregnant and none of the parents to be would want to risk the baby’s legitimacy. In April, Convocation claimed that the Pope had no more power over English subjects and Katherine was downgraded to Dowager Princess of Wales, regarding her first marriage to Arthur Tudor, whereas Anne found herself attending mass as Queen. The marriage between Henry and Katherine was annulled in May while also declaring his marriage to Anne to be valid and the preparations for Anne’s coronation began.
She was crowned on 1st of June 1533, flaunting a big belly, showing everyone that she could fulfil her role of giving birth to a healthy heir for the Kingdom. Unfortunately for her, on 7th of September 1533 they welcomed another princess into the Royal family. She would go down in history as Elizabeth I, the monarch that brought upon England the Golden Age. But sadly, Henry and Anne did not have that data and were possibly disappointed and embarrassed to admit they had gone through hell and back to return with ‘only’ a girl. The fact that Anne would not be able to conceive a boy would be a big chunk of the whole lot of reasons why Henry discarded her and sent her to her gruesome death at the Tower of London a thousand days after her lavish coronation.
But that is a story for another day.
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