Anne Boleyn: England's Controversial Queen
Anne Boleyn was arguably the most intriguing of England’s King Henry VIII’s six wives. She was at the center of his contentious divorce from Henry’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, that resulted in a break from the Catholic Church and the formation of the new Church of England. Years of religious upheaval in England ensued. Even though Henry VIII had gone to great lengths to make her his wife, Anne’s time as queen was short-lived. Her three years as Queen Consort was riddled with controversy, failure, and scandal.
Anne’s estimated birth was in 1501 in Norfolk. Her father was Sir Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire and her mother was Lady Elizabeth Boleyn (née Howard). She had one sister, Mary, and one brother, George. She grew up at Hever Castle in Kent.
In 1513 Anne’s father arranged for her to serve as a maid-of-honor to Margaret of Austria at the Habsburg court in Brussels. This is where she started to learn French and had the opportunity to get a fine education. In 1514 Anne’s father accepted an opportunity for Anne to serve Henry VIII’s sister, Mary Tudor, who was set to marry French King Louis XII. This position was short-lived as Louis XII died only 82 days after they wed. Mary Tudor returned to England, but Anne remained in France to serve in the household of Queen Claude, the new queen of France who was married to King Francis I, successor to Louis XII.
While in France Anne learned to sing and dance and showed talent for playing instruments. Her time at the French court would have a lasting impact on her tastes and style.
In 1522 Anne returned to England to serve as maid-of-honor to Queen Catherine of Aragon. She also made her debut on the English marriage market. There were two marriage options for Anne that her father and uncle, Thomas Howard, sought to arrange. One was to James Butler, Anne’s Irish cousin, the son and heir of Piers Butler, the cousin of Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormand.
Ormond was the father of Anne’s paternal grandmother, Margaret. The goal of this match was to settle a succession dispute over who would take the position of Earl of Ormond. Anne’s father, Thomas Boleyn, claimed the title should go to him as he was the son of the Earl’s oldest daughter. However, Piers Butler believed he was the rightful heir. The marriage between Anne and James would settle the dispute. However, this marriage arrangement never came to pass.
The second potential husband for Anne was Henry Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland. However, Henry Percy was already betrothed to Mary Talbot. Anne had fallen for Henry, but the match was not to be. Henry’s father insisted that marrying Mary Talbot was a more advantageous match for the Percy and Talbot families.
Anne’s third love interest was a poet named Thomas Wyatt, son of Henry Wyatt, Treasurer of the Chamber, a senior courtier administrator. There was one major problem with Wyatt being a suitable husband for Anne: He was already married (but separated from his wife).
By early 1526 Anne had caught the eye of King Henry VIII. It is believed that Henry’s initial intention was for Anne to become his mistress. However, Anne refused to accept the role of mistress. She was likely the first woman to ever refuse such an offer from the king. Henry VIII had two previously known mistresses: Elizabeth Blount, one of Catherine of Aragon’s ladies-in-waiting, who was the mother of Henry’s only acknowledged illegitimate son named Henry FitzRoy (meaning son of the king). His other mistress was none other than Mary Carey (née Boleyn), Anne’s sister.
During the fall of 1526 Henry began sending Anne letters professing his love and desire for her. Anne refused and stayed away from court at her home at Hever Castle. The following spring, in April 1527, Henry VIII started to secretly inquire about nullifying his marriage to Catherine of Aragon in what became known as “The King’s Great Matter.”
The king sought support from lawyers and theologians to make his case for an annulment. Henry VIII had convinced himself, and he hoped to convince the Pope in Rome as well as his subjects, that his marriage to Catherine of Aragon should be annulled because she had been married to his older brother King Arthur (who died in 1502). Catherine had failed to give Henry a son and heir. Their one and only surviving child was Princess Mary.
Because they didn’t have a son, Henry believed that their marriage was not a marriage in the sight of God. He cited a verse in the book of Leviticus to support his argument to end the marriage and take on a new wife who would be able to have a son: If a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an impurity: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless. Leviticus 20:21.
Around Easter of 1527 Henry, still smitten with Anne, makes her another offer -- to become his maitresse en titre, the French term for “sole mistress.” Again, Anne refused.
There is some debate amongst historians about the timing of these events and whether Anne was playing a strategic game of cat and mouse with the hopes all along that she would tear Henry away from Catherine so that she could marry Henry and become queen.
According to Eric Ives’ book The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, Henry had already set the wheels in motion for his annulment well before he proposed the idea of marriage to Anne. It was only after Anne had his commitment to marry that Anne relented and they became betrothed in the summer of 1527. What they didn’t bargain for was how long of an engagement it turned out to be.
The next six years were riddled with legal battles, setbacks, doubts, and ultimately triumph for Henry and Anne. After the Pope refused to grant Henry his desired annulment, he decided to break away from the Catholic Church and established the Church of England, of which he was the Supreme Head. This meant that he no longer needed the Pope’s approval and could obtain the annulment he had fought for so many years to get.
By the time Anne and Henry finally married on January 25, 1533 she was pregnant. The annulment from Catherine was finalized later that year. Anne’s lavish coronation was held that June. She was finally queen.
On September 7, 1533 Anne gave birth to a daughter named Elizabeth. The fact that the baby hadn’t been a boy was a major disappointment to both Henry and Anne as she desperately wanted to give Henry what they had waited so long for -- a male heir to the throne.
After Anne and Henry were married, the passion and shared goal of getting to the altar began to quickly fade. Henry began to once again have mistresses and Anne was extremely jealous. Anne had been outspoken as Henry’s queen-in-waiting, but now that they were married she was expected to be a model wife.
In 1535 yet another woman had caught the king’s attention. Her name was Jane Seymour, one of Queen Anne’s ladies-in-waiting.
Anne and Henry continued to try for a baby boy. But it was not to be. Anne had two failed pregnancies in 1534 and 1536. Now Henry was beginning to believe that God was displeased with his marriage to Anne because they had not been able to have a son.
By then Anne was becoming increasingly worried about her failure to carry a boy to term and the pressure on her was immense. She was also facing the fact that her husband’s attention was fixed on Jane Seymour. Anne’s position as queen was quickly slipping from her grasp.
In the spring of 1536 rumors started to spread about inappropriate relationships between Anne and several men at court.
Chief Minister Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, led the investigation and got a confession out of one of the men, Mark Smeaton, a musician at court, by way of torture. Smeaton confessed to adultery with Anne three times.
Anne was charged with adultery, treason, and incest. Ultimately five men were charged: In addition to Mark Smeaton, the other men were Sir Henry Norris, Sir Francis Weston, Sir William Brereton, and George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford (Anne’s own brother). They all faced trials for their alleged crimes. On May 2, 1536 Anne was arrested and taken to the Tower of London. She denied all of the charges against her. Other than Smeaton, all of the men accused pleaded not guilty and declared their innocence. They were all convicted. They were executed on Tower Hill on May 17.
On May 15 Anne’s trial was held. Unfortunately, her fate was already sealed and she was convicted of all of the charges against her. She was sentenced to death. Henry VIII ordered for her to be executed by beheading by a skilled French swordsman who traveled from Calais to London to perform the execution. The execution took place on May 19.
The marriage between Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII changed the course of history. It sparked the English Reformation and religious upheaval in the lives of ordinary English people for many years. Anne’s only daughter Elizabeth I went on to be a long-reigning Queen of England -- something I’m sure Anne would have been proud of.
Sources:
"The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn" by Eric Ives
"Six Wives: The Wives of Henry VIII" by David Starkey
Photo: National Portrait Gallery, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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