The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown
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Anne Boleyn: From Courtier's Daughter to Queen
Anne Boleyn was born in around 1501, probably at Blickling Hall in Norfolk. She was the daughter of courtier and diplomat Thomas Boleyn, and his wife, Elizabeth Howard. The family moved to Hever Castle in around 1505 and it is there that Anne would have received her education. This is likely to have been Humanist in character as her father was very much a Renaissance man.
Thomas Boleyn's friendship with Margaret of Austria, the most powerful woman in Europe, enabled him to secure a place for Anne at the Habsburg court in Mechelen in 1513. Margaret's court at Mechelen was known for its culture and was the perfect climate for the intelligent and precocious twelve year-old Anne Boleyn. It was to have a huge impact on her life and her later love of illuminated manuscripts, art, music and the courtly love tradition stemmed from this time. In 1514, Anne was appointed to serve Mary Tudor, Henry VIII's sister, as she travelled to France to marry King Louis XII.
It is likely that Anne met Mary in France in late 1514. Mary Tudor returned to England after the death of her husband in January 1515 and her subsequent secret marriage to Charles Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk, in March 1515. Anne Boleyn remained in France, moving on to serve the new French queen, Queen Claude, who spent considerable time in Amboise and Blois. Like Margaret of Austria, Claude was a patron of the arts and Anne would have soaked up the climate of culture at her court, a court that was visited by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci. In the seven years she spent with Claude, Anne would have been heavily influenced by her pious mistress. She would also have been impacted by the behaviour and beliefs of women like Louise of Savoy, Marguerite of Angoulême and Renée of France, as well as by the new evangelical religious ideas.
Anne was recalled to England by her father in 1521 to serve Queen Catherine of Aragon and to marry her Irish relation, James Butler. This marriage match aimed to unite the Butlers and Boleyns and to put an end to their squabbles over the Ormond lands and title. Anne's first mention in the records of the English court show her participation in the Chateau Vert pageant of Shrove Tuesday 1522, in which she played Perseverance. It is unlikely that the King paid her any attention because he had fallen head over heels in love with her sister, Mary.
As the Boleyn-Butler marriage plans stalled, Anne met and fell in love with courtier Henry Percy, the heir of the Earl of Northumberland. Unfortunately, Percy's father and Cardinal Wolsey put an end to the relationship and Percy was forced into marrying Mary Talbot.
Poet Thomas Wyatt, who was already married, also fell in love with Anne but his feelings were unrequited, as shown by his poetry. In 1526, it became apparent that Anne had a new admirer - the King – and Wyatt was forced to withdraw from his pursuit of Anne. An infatuated Henry VIII sent Wyatt abroad on a diplomatic mission and bombarded Anne with love letters. Seventeen of these still survive today and give us an unique insight into Henry's feelings for Anne and the challenges the couple faced; for example, when Anne nearly died of sweating sickness.
Anne's refusal to become his mistress led to Henry promising marriage, a promise which had multiple implications. It led to years of struggle with the "Great Matter", to Wolsey's fall from grace, to Henry breaking with Rome, and to the executions of Thomas More and Bishop Fisher.
It also caused the rise of the Boleyns as Anne became "queen in waiting" and changed the dynamics of the English court. Anne's mother acted as chaperone during her daughter's courtship with Henry VIII and Anne's father and brother were active in diplomatic assignments pertaining to the King's mission to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The failure of the Legatine Court was a huge blow for the Boleyns, as it delayed the annulment, but it did lead to the fall of Cardinal Wolsey, who had become a thorn in their side. When the King wanted to be recognised as the Supreme Head of the Church of England, it was Anne's brother, George, who was chosen to present his case to convocation.
1532 was the turning point for the Boleyns after the stalemate and frustration of the previous few years. On 1st September 1532, Anne Boleyn was made Marquis of Pembroke in her own right and a month later she accompanied the King on a visit to Calais, where she was recognised by Francis I as Henry's consort. In attendance were Thomas, George and his wife, Jane, as well as Sir James Boleyn and Sir Edward Boleyn. It was a moment of triumph. So sure of success were Henry and Anne with regards to Henry's annulment, that they slept together and started co-habiting on their arrival back in London. Even with the threat of excommunication hanging over the King, Anne was, to all intents and purposes, Henry VIII's Queen and consort.
Henry VIII married a now-pregnant Anne Boleyn in January 1533. Anne's pregnancy, and concerns over the legitimacy of the child she was carrying, made it imperative that their marriage be recognised as true and valid. Fortunately, the Boleyn faction now included Thomas Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer who worked tirelessly on "The Great Matter". Cromwell knew that there was no hope of bringing the Papacy round to Henry's way of thinking, so concentrated instead on getting convocation and Parliament to sort it all out. Cromwell's Act in Restraint of Appeals made Cranmer's judgement solid and unchallengeable with respect to the illegality of Henry's marriage to Catherine and the validity of Henry and Anne's marriage.
Easter 1533 saw a frantic series of events: Convocation's ruling on Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Catherine of Aragon being demoted to Dowager Princess of Wales, the Royal Council being informed that Anne Boleyn was Queen and Anne Boleyn attending Easter Saturday mass as Queen, attended by 60 ladies-in-waiting. On 23rd May 1533, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, made the official declaration that Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon had been annulled. Just over a week later, on 1st June, a heavily pregnant Anne was finally crowned Queen at Westminster Abbey, following three days of lavish pageantry. George Boleyn's diplomatic duties meant that he was in France with the Duke of Norfolk and missed the coronation, but he would still have appreciated that moment of triumph which Anne shared with her mother and sister, who both attended on her that day, and with her father who escorted her both on the Thames procession on 29th May and on her actual coronation day. George returned to England at the end of June bearing a lavish gift from Francis I. The Boleyns had arrived and all they needed now was for Anne to produce a son and heir for Henry VIII.
The last few weeks of Anne's pregnancy were so difficult that Henry VIII feared for Anne's life.1 Anne went into confinement on the 26th August 1533 and gave birth to a little girl just a couple of weeks later. A son had been predicted and the royal couple had even gone as far as preparing a birth announcement, which had to be changed from prince to princess. However, although the birth of Elizabeth was a disappointment, it was not the end of the world. On 10th September, Elizabeth's birth was celebrated with a lavish christening. Thomas Boleyn, as Elizabeth's grandfather, bore the child's long train.
It was a wonderful time for the Boleyns. Anne was queen, her successful pregnancy had shown her fertility and her ability to carry children successfully and there was hope for a future son and heir. Royal favour had also brought the family wealth. Although one historian writes of cracks appearing in the royal marriage as early as August 1533, there is actually no evidence of this. It is indisputable, however, that there were many pressures on the marriage – Anne's new role as queen/wife/mother, Henry's wandering eye, Mary's refusal to recognise her new stepmother as queen, Anne's unpopularity and the need for an heir. Furthermore, it was a very unusual royal marriage in that it was based on love and passion, rather than diplomacy. Volatile and passionate doesn't begin to describe it.
Anne was determined to succeed where her predecessor had failed, by providing Henry with a son and heir. She became pregnant again quickly after the birth of Elizabeth but unfortunately lost the baby late in the pregnancy.
Anne Boleyn was far more than just Henry's wife and consort; she was a patron of the Arts, a keen religious and social reformer and an influential woman in her own right. Henry shared his ideas for reno
vations and building campaigns with her, she had a close relationship with Thomas Cromwell, she acted as a patron to the likes of Hans Holbein and she used her power to help petitioners and to influence her husband.
In January 1536, everything was looking good for Queen Anne Boleyn. Her Nemesis, Catherine of Aragon, was dead, and she herself was pregnant again. Henry may have had a new flame, but that was to be expected, and Anne had no reason to fear a mere flirtation when she was carrying his heir. Storm clouds were gathering but the Boleyns had every reason to pin their hopes on a rosy future.
Summer 1535 - The Royal Progress and Wolf Hall
In the summer of 1535, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn carried out a royal progress (tour) to the west and south-west of England. It was traditional for the King and Queen to go on progress in the summer months as it was a chance for them to get out of the smelly city of London with its risk of plague and other diseases. This particular progress was also an opportunity for the couple to gain support for their marriage, to promote the Reformation and to visit the households of people seen as "pro-Reform".1 It was a political and social progress, and far more than a chance for the couple to get away and have a break. The plan seemed to work; evidence for this can be found in a letter written by the imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, on 10th August 1535:-
"This King is still on the borders of Wales, hunting and visiting that principality with a view to gain popularity with his subjects. This he attempts by all possible means and ways, and it is reported that a large number of peasants in the villages through which he has passed, after hearing the preachers who follow the Court, have been so deceived as to believe that God inspired the King to repudiate his legitimate Queen owing to her having once been married to his brother."2
This royal progress led Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn from Windsor, to Reading, through Oxfordshire to Gloucestershire, through Wiltshire to Hampshire, and then back through Hampshire towards London.3 Historian Eric Ives4 writes of how the King was enjoying himself so much on this progress that the consecration of three new bishops (Edward Fox, John Hilsey and Hugh Latimer), planned for 19th September at Winchester, became a bit of a last minute panic. Eventually, Henry VIII signed the necessary documentation while staying at Wolf Hall, near Marlborough in Wiltshire.
Wolf Hall was the family home of the Seymour family. In fiction and on TV it is often the setting of Henry VIII's first meeting with Sir John Seymour's daughter, Jane Seymour. If we are to believe fiction, then Henry fell in love with the meek and mild blonde as soon as she walked into the room and that was the end of his love for Anne Boleyn. The facts do not support this. Henry VIII was on progress with his wife, Anne Boleyn, and Wolf Hall was one of the main stops on the progress, with the visit lasting from around the 4th to the 10th September.5 He was not there alone. Plus Jane had served Catherine of Aragon and had been in Anne Boleyn's employ since at least early 1535, so it was hardly a first meeting. However, as Eric Ives points out, this visit did show that the Seymour family had risen at court, in that they were important enough to visit on this progress.
Anne Boleyn miscarried in January 1536 and it was reported that she had been around 15 weeks pregnant when she lost her baby. Therefore, Henry VIII was still sleeping with Anne in autumn 1535. He had not put her aside and moved on to Jane Seymour. In fact, there is no hint of Henry showing Jane any favour or attention until February 1536, when Chapuys reports Anne's miscarriage and writes of how Anne may have miscarried because of "a fear that the King would treat her like the late Queen, especially considering the treatment shown to a lady of the Court, named Mistress Semel, to whom, as many say, he has lately made great presents."6 The Catholic recusant Nicholas Sander, writing in Elizabeth I's reign, recorded that Anne Boleyn's miscarriage was caused by her anger and sadness at finding Jane Seymour sitting on Henry VIII's lap.7 However, we do not know if this is true. Furthermore, this incident was also in the January, four months after the couple's stay at Wolf Hall, rather than during the progress.
7th January 1536 – Death of Catherine of Aragon
On the 7th January 1536, at two o'clock in the afternoon, Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, died at Kimbolton Castle. She had been ill for a few months but felt worse after drinking a draught of Welsh beer in December 1535. This, combined with the embalmer's report that all of her organs were healthy apart from her heart, "which was quite black and hideous to look at",1 gave rise to rumours that Catherine had been poisoned. However, the embalmer, who was a chandler (candlemaker and wax worker) and not a medical expert,2 also found a black body attached to Catherine's heart. It is thought that this was probably a secondary heart tumour caused by cancer in another part of the body.
On 29th December 1535 Catherine's doctor sent for Eustace Chapuys, the Imperial Ambassador and a friend of Catherine's, because Catherine had taken a turn for the worse. Chapuys sought permission from the King to visit Catherine and it was granted. Mary was not so lucky, Henry refused to let her see her mother in her last days, something which must have broken the hearts of both women. As Chapuys travelled to Kimbolton, Catherine received a surprise visitor on New Year's Day. It was her former lady-in-waiting and confidante, María de Salinas, now Lady Willoughby. Apparently, Maria begged entry to the castle by pretending that she'd been thrown from her horse and that her letter of permission to visit had been delayed.3
The Catherine that María saw on that day must have been a far cry from the Catherine she had once known, a shadow of her former self due to her weakness and lack of appetite. Chapuys arrived the next day and although the former queen was weak, she was still lucid enough to know that when she first spoke to him she needed witnesses in the room so that she could not be accused of plotting against the King. Later conversations, however, were in private. For four days, Chapuys visited Catherine every afternoon. He reported that Catherine was worried about her daughter, Mary, as well as concerned that the Pope and Emperor were not acting on her behalf.4 Catherine was also worried that she might be to blame for the "heresies" and "scandals" that England was now suffering because of the battle over the divorce. She was haunted by the deaths that had resulted from Henry's Great Matter and by the fact that it had led to England breaking with Rome – were they down to her stubbornness, her refusal to go quietly? These were the questions preying on her mind during her last days.
Catherine's health seemed to rally in the first few days of January. She ate some meals without being sick, she was sleeping well and was chatting and laughing with visitors, so Chapuys was dispatched back to London. However, on the night of 6th January, Catherine became fidgety and in the early hours of the 7th she asked to take communion. It was unlawful for communion to be taken before daylight but Jorge de Athequa, Catherine's confessor and the Bishop of Llandaff, could see that his mistress did not have long to live. So he administered communion and listened to her confession. Catherine settled her affairs, giving instructions on what she wanted done with her worldly goods and her burial – she wanted to be buried in a chapel of Observant Friars (Franciscans). It is also said that she wrote a letter to her former husband, Henry VIII, although some historians doubt its authenticity:
"My most dear lord, king and husband,
The hour of my dear now drawing on, the tender love I owe you forceth me, my case being such, to commend myself to you, and to put you in remembrance with a few words of the health and safeguard of your soul which you ought to prefer before all worldly matters, and before the care and pampering of your body, for the which you have cast me into many calamities and yourself into many troubles. For my part I pardon you everything and I wish to devoutly pray to God that He will pardon you also. For the rest, I commend unto you our daughter Mary, beseeching you to be a good father unto her, as I have heretofore desired. I entreat you also, on behalf of my maids, to give them marriage portions, which is not much, they being but three. For all my other servants, I solicit the wages due to them, and a year or more, lest they be unprovided for. Lastly, I make t
his vow, that mine eyes desire you above all things."5
Catherine then prayed, asking God's forgiveness for herself and also for the King who had done her so much wrong. She continued praying until the end, until her loving Father took her into Paradise. Catalina de Aragón, daughter of the great Catholic Reyes, Isabel I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, was dead. She had died not in some sumptuous palace surrounded by her loved ones, but in a small, dark, cold castle with her faithful staff in attendance. A sad end for a woman who had once been Queen of England and who had defeated the Scots as Regent.
Catherine of Aragon was laid to rest at Peterborough Abbey, now Peterborough Cathedral, on 29th January 1536. She was, of course, buried as the Dowager Princess of Wales, not as Queen, but her grave is now marked with the words "Katharine Queen of England".
Catherine of Aragon's will is recorded in Letters and Papers:
"Desires the King to let her have the goods she holds of him in gold and silver and the money due to her in time past; that her body may be buried in a convent of Observant Friars; that 500 masses be said for her soul; that some personage go to our Lady of Walsingham on pilgrimage and distribute 20 nobles on the way. Bequests: to Mrs. Darel 200l. for her marriage. To my daughter, the collar of gold which I brought out of Spain. To Mrs. Blanche 100l. To Mrs. Margery and Mrs. [Whyller] 40l. each. To Mrs. Mary, my physicians [wife, and] Mrs. Isabel, daughter to Mr. Ma[rguerite], 40l. each. To ray physician the year's coming [wages]. To Francisco Philippo all that I owe him, and 40l. besides. To Master John, my apothecary, [a year's wages] and all that is due to him besides. That Mr. Whiller be paid expenses about the making of my gown, and 20l. besides. To Philip, Anthony, and Bastian, 20l. each. To the little maidens 10l. each. That my goldsmith be paid his wages for the year coming and all that is due to him besides. That my lavander be paid what is due to her and her wages for the year coming. To Isabel of Vergas 20l. To my ghostly father his wages for the year coming. That ornaments be made of my gowns for the convent where I shall be [buried] "and the furs of the same I give to my daughter."6