Over the preceding decade of the 1500s Cardinal Thomas Wolsey had served in Henry VIIs administration as the King’s royal chaplain; based on his diligent service and discretion, Wolsey was rewarded with appointments as both Lord Chancellor and as the Archbishop of York. His wealth rivaled only that of the King. He was the real source of power behind the crown, acting as a royal agent for a young King Henry VIII who wanted to spend his days hunting and his nights in lustful pursuits. Wolsey placated Henry’s every desire and catered to his ego. This careful calculation of how to play to Henry VIII’s moods brought him closer to the King and he even formed a genuine friendship with the monarch, who had the greatest respect for Wolsey.
Wolsey was also an aggressive minister of state who managed to engage England with the mainland powers of Europe, playing one side off of the other. His tactics in diplomacy in some ways were revolutionary and his strategies and manipulations worked well in his favor. His goal in these games was to interject England into European affairs as a major force to be reckoned with, leaving behind England’s prior status as a merely secondary player to be called upon as backup when major established kingdoms such as France or Spain needed assistance. Wolsey very nearly succeeded in his efforts and along the way he managed to create many enemies, who were envious of his hold over the King. Among these in particular were the Duke of Norfolk, the Duke of Suffolk, and an up-and-coming courtier named Thomas Boleyn.
1.1 The Lady Anne
Anne Boleyn was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard, the daughter of one of England’s most distinguished noble families. As a result of her father’s post as an Ambassador, in 1520, the family accompanied Henry VIII to meet with his French rival King Francis I, at the “Field of Cloth of Gold” summit in Calais. It was at this pivotal and glorious meeting, where Mary and Anne Boleyn were serving as ladies-in-waiting to Queen Mary of France, that Thomas Boleyn was able to introduce both of his daughters to the English king.
By this time, Mary Boleyn had been the mistress of King Francis I, a fact that was well known at the French court and that Francis had no issue with sharing with Henry, most likely in an attempt to make his English rival jealous. At this summit, Henry called for Mary Boleyn also to become his own mistress. The affair would last well beyond the summit and carry on nearly five years. At that time, Thomas Boleyn was encouraging Mary to keep Henry’s interests in the bedroom as best she could, so as to secure further advancement for their family. By whatever means necessary Mary was ordered by her father to keep Henry’s interest in her and not to be simply a fleeting pleasure in the royal bedchamber.
In his post as Ambassador, Thomas had sent his other daughter, Anne, to serve in both the courts of the Netherlands under Archduchess Margaret of Austria, and then again to the French court as a lady-in-waiting to Henry’s sister Queen Mary. During these various duties Anne had cultivated her education and refined her social graces. In France she learned fashion, theology, courtly games, dancing, knitting, cards, and gained a wide depth of experience from witnessing the licentiousness of the French court and its damaging consequences. This opportunity allowed her to perfect her fluency in French, and to learn the arts of courtly love.
Thomas had also arranged for Mary to serve alongside her sister Anne as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Mary, but Anne’s sister had gained quite the reputation for unladylike behavior, making no secret of her often frequent and illicit affairs. No evidence exists that suggests Anne’s character was anything short of impeccable while in either court, and she only surrounded herself with reputable women known for their virtue and honor. She did not want to make the same mistakes that Mary had made. Yet upon her return to England she had grown from a precocious youth to a well rounded and sophisticated young lady. When she returned home, Thomas Boleyn’s relationship with the King of England had only grown and he was able to secure Henry’s favor and place his daughters as a ladies-in-waiting to Queen Katherine.
To shield the King from any impropriety, Mary was immediately married off in 1520 to a Sir William Carey of Aldenham, while she continued her five year affair with the King. It is speculated that at least one of Mary’s children was fathered by the King, although this cannot be confirmed as Henry never claimed any children by her, as he had with another of his mistresses. She finally left court in March 1526 with the birth of her second child. As Mary returned with her husband to the country, Anne was left alone at court, where she thrived. Anne watched the natural progression of her sister’s promising rise and abrupt fall from grace. Instead of focusing on the wealth and position her family gained from the liaison, she only saw the disastrous consequences to Mary’s reputation that resulted and how Mary’s lack of will and intellect to use the situation to her favor had eventually led to her downfall. Anne would learn from her sister’s lack of ambition and would not make the same mistakes.
Mary and Anne were opposites in nearly every way. While Mary had blonde hair, fair skin and blue eyes, which met the typical 16th century standards of beauty, Anne’s features were described as not particularly handsome, with a thin frame and olive skin, dark hair, and dark eyes. Mary was quiet, demure and subservient, whereas Anne was passionate, intelligent, and exciting. Anne certainly stood out among her contemporaries and fully engaged them with her charm and wit to enhance her social standing. At court she truly was a force to be reckoned with.
Although Henry and Anne had already met at the Anglo/French summit in 1520, it was not until March 1522 that they became better acquainted. That month, a magnificent pageant was held at court to celebrate the joint alliance of England and Spain against France, along with the accompanying betrothal of Henry and Katherine’s daughter, the young Princess Mary, to the Spanish King. This match was extremely promising for England as, by this time, the Spanish King was head of Europe’s growing Superpower, benefiting from the unification of Spain under his parents, the growing Spanish dominions in the Americas, and his status—based on the web of interrelationships among European nobles—as Holy Roman Emperor, ruling the many principalities and states of Central Europe (modern Germany and most of the non-Slavic lands between France in the west, northern Italy, and North and Baltic Seas). Princess Mary was only six years old when her pre-contract treaty of marriage with King Charles V of Spain (also known as the Holy Roman Emperor) was executed, but this was of little consequence. These types of treaties were negotiated often to secure land rights, alliances, wealth, and maintain or enhance diplomatic standing in international affairs. It was a purely political move orchestrated most likely by Cardinal Wolsey.
Wolsey had been instrumental in arranging such alliances, and treated them as long-term projects to secure England’s standing. In fact, the engagement that would cement the Anglo-Spanish alliance would not come to fruition for nearly a decade, the Princess Mary and the Emperor would have to wait eight years to marry. Time would show that the Emperor was not that patient. Regardless of the practical considerations of this treaty, the alliance provided an opportunity for Henry’s court to compete on the same level of grandiosity with the rest of European courts. When the Spanish delegation arrived, they were welcomed to every accommodation the English King could afford.
As part of the lavish entertainments surrounding the celebration of the great treaty and engagement, the English court held a play at which the ladies and the gentlemen of the court represented prized and scorned social values. Anne (foreshadowing the trait that would be her greatest strength) played the part of perseverance. Henry also starred in the pageant. Historians believe that it was in this play that Henry began his infatuation with Anne. It brought the two of them together in close proximity and allowed Anne to showcase her dancing, acting and rare form of beauty to the King. Henry was captivated by her instantly. Certainly the two interacted during the play, but there is no evidence to suggest this marked the start of their affair, for which documentation of Henry’s feelings would only come four years later. Nevertheless,
it was during these days that Henry, with Anne as a lady-in-waiting to his Queen, would start to learn of the wit, charm and drive of Anne Boleyn. His infatuation with this incredible lady would change the face of England forever.
When Henry did begin to pursue Anne he was initially captivated by her strikingly different appearance. That initial interest led to his discovery of her remarkable personality. Not only in looks did Anne stand out, but in her speech, fashion, mannerisms, and overall acumen. Contemporary accounts noted that she dressed, spoke, and behaved more like a French woman than an English woman. She was known for introducing French fashions into the court and was noted to have made a variety of changes to her accessories and dress every single day. An expensive habit to be sure, but on her father’s salary one they could afford and ultimately one that got the rest of the court talking, which was after all the point. Unlike the typical standards of subservient and docile women at court, Anne was no wall flower. Her vibrant personality radiated at dances, and she injected herself into discussions above her station concerning theology, diplomacy, the sciences, and other serious European affairs. She could intelligently hold her own against some of the most highly educated scholars of the day, including the King. She also enjoyed playing cards and going on hunts, two main passions of Henry’s.
Henry hated writing in general, but when it came to his feelings for Anne he would come to put pen to paper and write a series of beautiful letters that have managed to survive and are stored in the Vatican today. The letters show the deep affection Henry felt for Anne and suggest that she was showing reluctance to accept his interest. The majority of Anne’s letters have been, unfortunately, lost to us. In the meantime, between 1522, when the play was performed, and 1525, when Henry admitted in writing to his feelings for Anne, he also was still sleeping with her sister Mary; only towards the end of 1525 did that affair end.
The first letter we have to Anne is from 1526, where the King admits to his infatuation for her, extending over a year, dating the start of their flirtation to around 1525. Henry wrote the most charming letters to Anne asking, and in some places even begging, for her to acknowledge his feelings and return them. Anne played her course cautiously. It must have been flattering in every sense to have the most powerful man in the realm pursuing her; but it also could have come with grave consequences. The facts were that he was married; he had a Queen, a wife and a mother for a potential heir. Anne was also incredibly pious and, above everything else, she valued society’s convention that “her maidenhead” should be reserved for her husband. Seeing no possible reason that Katherine might be set aside in favor of herself, Anne kept Henry at a distance, giving him just enough hope to continue to pursue her while allowing the King’s affections to grow.
Henrys purpose, at least at first, was likely to merely bed Anne, as he had done with so many others so many times before. Anne would have none of it and resisted his every attempt, citing her honor and recalling how her sister had so recently fallen. Her refusal to sleep with him was all it took to enhance his desire to possess her even further. As King it was indeed a rare instance when he did not receive his every whim and desire from any of his subjects. Anne’s refusal intrigued him and, perhaps for the first time, put him in the same league as any other suitor seeking a lady’s hand. She was incredibly resilient against his attempts, and he made many. He sent gifts of fine jewels, fabrics, even sent her meat for her table that he had hunted himself. He wrote poetry for her, engaged her in deep intellectual conversations and sought every opportunity to be in her presence. She returned the jewels he sent her deeming that she was not worthy to receive them, only enticing him further.
Concurrent with the rise in Henry’s affections for Anne had been growing discord within his marriage, largely related to Henry’s desire to secure his dynasty and avoid another civil war for the throne. Professor Eric Ives, Anne’s biographer, dates trouble in the royal marriage to approximately 1524. Through multiple miscarriages, still births, and deaths in infancy, Queen Katherine had only managed to produce a single living heir, the Princess Mary. Katherine was now approaching 40 and according to her physicians, she no longer menstruated and was unable to bear another child.
Up until this point England had only had one female ruler and it was widely accepted in their culture at this time, that a woman was unfit to rule. Henry was focusing on the legacy that he would leave behind and was acutely aware that, of the Tudor dynasty, he was only the second monarch, and only the first to peacefully inherit the crown. Without a strong male heir to inherit the throne, Henry feared that the Tudor line would be finished. He was determined to have the heir he desired and, with his wife’s failure to produce one, began to take steps indicating that he might seek an heir elsewhere.
Before Henry began pursuing Anne, he had been carrying on an affair with another one of Katherine’s ladies-in-waiting, Elizabeth Blount. Bessie, as she was called, became pregnant in 1518 and since her husband was away at his estates the child was more than likely the King’s. Fortunately for Henry, the child turned out to be the longed for son and he was named Henry Fitzroy and created Duke of Richmond and Somerset in a vain attempt to legitimize a bastard as heir apparent, even over his legitimate daughter, Princess Mary. With Katherine unable to give him a son and with only a bastard who legally could not inherit the throne—no matter how badly Henry wanted Fitzroy to be in line to do so—the King had to find other means of consolation. Seeing no reason to visit Katherine’s bed any longer, these visits practically stopped altogether, except on rare occasions in 1524. As it happened, Henry would find a more direct way to pursue an heir.
1.2 Putting Away a Queen
The King tasked Wolsey to begin searching for a way to divorce Katherine and find a new European bride, preferably a young lady who would be capable of giving him a male heir. Henry ordered his minister to obtain the divorce by any means necessary. The issue was so controversial that it was termed the “King’s Great Matter” which lasted several years and became the scandal of the decade across all of Europe. The issue of dissolving his marriage and his growing feelings for Anne were two separate for quite some time. The Lady Anne was a commoner and thus would not be fit to marry and become Queen, so as Wolsey commenced the search for a replacement Anne was not even in his thoughts. Mainly this was because Henry had not informed his minister that he had fallen deeply in love with Anne. Perhaps the King reasoned that, as much as he wanted Anne, his duty to the state and the House of Tudor forced him to choose a European Princess, or lady of equally noble standing, to preserve centuries of dynastic marital alliances between countries.
It was not long before Anne Boleyn became a household name mainly for being called a home wrecker, a whore, and Henry’s mistress, breaking up a marriage with the widely admired Queen Katherine. None of this in fact was true; Henry had carried on multiple carnal affairs before he fell in love with Anne and despite her (perhaps manipulatively) resisting Henry’s affections, Anne was labeled a whore anyway and blamed for the breakdown of his marriage. The reality is that it was Henry who wanted the separation from Katherine, who was unable to provide him with the male heir he so desperately desired. In the beginning of their courtship, Anne was not being seriously considered as an answer to Henry’s troubles, only as a companion to meet his emotional and physical desires. This would soon change.
The turning point came when Henry (whether of his own accord or by other persuasions) became convinced that Anne could solve both of his issues. By divorcing Katherine and replacing her with Anne, the hope for a legitimate succession could at long last be realized. The challenge to Henry was that his strongest argument for annulling his marriage with Katherine had already been overcome prior to their marriage by special Papal dispensation. Nevertheless, Henry’s lawyers had been arguing that, for the sake of peace in England as well as the preservation of his majesty’s soul, the marriage needed to be annulled on the grounds of incest, and that it was indeed unl
awful for him to have lain with his brother’s wife. The other obstacle to overcome was Anne’s lowly status, which could very easily be remedied by her own elevation to the nobility, granting her a title and making her worthy of meeting foreign dignitaries and even Kings of Europe.
The King’s lawyers, Stephen Gardiner and Edward Fox, were dispatched to meet with the Pope, who was being held in captivity at Orvieto in Italy on orders of the Spanish Emperor (based on their own disputes over various Italian states). In addition to their legal arguments and diplomatic maneuvering, Fox and Gardiner had also been specifically instructed by his majesty to make it clear to the Pope that, if he failed to satisfy the King’s demands, England’s allegiance to the papacy would be severed. When the lawyers arrived at Orvieto, the Spanish let them through to present their argument, realizing they were not there to remove the Pope from his captivity, but only to appeal to him on the King of England’s behalf.
As far as the Catholic Church was concerned, Henry’s marriage was legal, binding, and valid, as were any heirs produced from that marriage, making Princess Mary the rightful and legitimate heir to the English throne. If the Pope agreed to the annulment it would be a complete loss of face from a 20-year old decision made by his predecessor in good faith. On the other hand, Popes typically sought to keep Kings happy (to secure their own bargaining positions and retain Church properties) and therefore would often grant such motions without much hindrance or objection. Henry’s petition would prove to be the exception to the rule. As a stalling technique, the Pope advised the lawyers that he would read their arguments very carefully and only then would pronounce a verdict; this was not exactly the answer they had come for. Only after such time that the Pope came to a judgment would he send dispatches back to England of his decision; this would prove to be after a very long period of time. By the time the English lawyers had arrived, the Pope had already been briefed on Henry’s infatuation with Anne and believed that he wanted a divorce on the sole grounds of intending to replace the Queen with his mistress instead of Henry’s claims of genuinely stricken conscience for marrying his brother’s widow and violating God’s law.
Had the Queen Lived: Page 2
