Birth: c.1500Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII and the best known for her role in propelling the English Reformation.
Anne was the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and Lady Elizabeth Howard. She had two siblings, George and Mary. The Boleyn family was one of respected status and well connected in the English aristocracy. Her family background included a duke, earl and a knight. Anne was also the cousin of Henry’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard.
Anne’s father, Sir Thomas, was a favorite of Henry VII and continued his successful career under Henry VIII as a diplomat to countries abroad. Margaret of Austria, the daughter of Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor, liked Sir Thomas so much that she offered Anne a position in her household despite the fact that she was only 12 or 13 years old.
In 1514, Anne was sent to Paris to serve as a lady in waiting to Mary Tudor, Henry VIII’s sister, who was married to Louis XII of France. Anne’s sister, Mary, was already at the service of the French queen; however, when King Louis died, Mary Tudor and Mary Boleyn both returned to England. Anne remained in France for the next 6 or 7 years serving the new French Queen, Claude of France.
It was during her years in France that she became well educated; she learned to speak French fluently and had a through grasp of the French culture and etiquette. She also gained the ways of the French court- the flirtation, the fashion styles, and even the religious philosophy. She was also an accomplished singer, dancer and musician.
In 1521, she was brought back to England by her father and put under the service of Queen Catherine of Aragon. Anne appeared for the first time at court in March 1522, and had the attention of many young men at court. She was engaged to Henry Percy, the son of the Earl of Northumberland; however, Lord Percy’s father did not approve of Anne and Cardinal Wosley put an end to the match.
Around this time was also when Anne became involved with poet Sir Thomas Wyatt, who was married but separated at the time. He wrote several poems about her, often conveying that she was unattainable.
It is not known when she caught the attention of the King, but Anne’s older sister, Mary, had been Henry’s mistress in the early 1520s. Anne probably learned from Mary’s example. Anne denied Henry any sexual favors and refused to be his mistress. This only made the King pine for her more; he lavished her with extravagant jewelry, clothing, royal titles for her family, her own set of servants and palace apartments. He wrote her passionate love letters, in which 17 of them are preserved in the Vatican library.
For years, Henry pursued her relentlessly with Anne giving no way. Meanwhile, Queen Catherine was growing older and no closer to giving Henry a son. Frustrated, Henry sought for any reason to leave the marriage. He studied the text in Leviticus and found the passage: “’If a man shall take his brother’s wife it is an unclean thing, they shall be childless.”(Leviticus, XX, 21). Henry took these words to heart and decided he had grounds for annulment.
In 1527, Henry applied for an annulment from the Vatican. For the next 6 years, the fight for the divorce continued with no progress– Pope Clement VII was under the power of the Holy Emperor, Charles V, and Charles was the nephew of Catherine of Aragon. Charles was not about to let us his aunt get pushed aside. Meanwhile, Anne’s power began to rise in court. Cardinal Wolsey was dismissed (and later arrested), and replaced by Thomas Cromwell. Henry gave Anne the title of Marchioness of Pembroke, making Anne the first woman to be made a noble by creation rather than inheritance.
In 1532, it is said that Anne finally succumbed to Henry and got pregnant, which would explain why Henry decided to take action. Henry knew he couldn’t wait for the Pope forever, so he had the new Archbishop of Cantebury, Thomas Cranmer, proclaim Henry and Catherine’s marriage invalid. Sometime around January 25, 1533, Anne and Henry were secretly married.
Anne was crowned Queen on June 1, 1533, and the Pope declared the English church under Henry’s control. Catherine was stripped of her title and became the Princess Dowager. Only 2 months later, Anne took to her room to give birth to whom they assumed would be a son, and on September 7, 1533, Elizabeth was born.
Anne had two miscarriages over the next two years, which did not help her position. Not only that, Anne had a quick temper and did not keep her unhappiness towards Henry’s frequented infidelities a secret. Meanwhile, the King’s interest in one of Anne’s ladies-in-waiting, Jane Seymour, began to develop.
Anne’s enemies began to plot and Cromwell convinced Henry to investigate Anne for treason. On April 30, 1536, Mark Smeaton, a musician and a friend of Anne’s, was arrested. Under torture, he confessed to being Anne’s lover. He also gave the name of another courtier- Sir Henry Norris, who was also arrested but claimed his and Anne’s innocence. Next, Anne’s brother, George, was arrested and accused of incest. Finally, on May 2nd, Anne was arrested from Greenwich for adultery, incest, and treason and brought to the Tower.
Sir Francis Weston and William Brereton were also arrested and charged with adultery and put on trial with Smeaton and Norris at Westminster Hall on May 12, 1536. They were found guilty and executed on May 17th, along with George Boleyn.
On May 19th, Anne was taken to Tower Green, where she was granted a private execution. An expert swordsman from Calais was brought in so that a cleaner blow would be delivered. Anne was reported to have said: “He shall not have much trouble, for I have a little neck.” The swordsman cut off her head with one stroke. Anne’s head and body was put in an arrow chest; her remains are currently buried under the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula, next to the Tower Green.
Eleven days after the execution, Henry married his third wife, Jane Seymour.