An Extremely Powerful Women: Anne Boleyn

A Woman of Power

As a woman born in the 1500s, Anne Boleyn should have been soft spoken and demure, yet Anne was the opposite - talkative, self-assured, and brilliant woman (Starkey 91). With this captivating and aggressive personality, she was able to become queen instead of a mistress and to make Henry VIII annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Henry’s desire for Anne ultimately lead him to split England away from the Catholic church. She was also jealous, quick tempered, and stubborn, which caused Henry’s fondness of her slowly to subside when he would have an affair (“Anne Boleyn”). Anne Boleyn was a woman who demanded power and achieved this in her marriage with King Henry VIII; however, her quest to be queen eventually cost her dearly, and she paid with her life.

She was not born into a extremely wealthy family. She was born to Sir Thomas Boleyn who became Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond and his first wife Elizabeth, the daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, Sir Thomas Howard (Starkey 92; Marcham 159). Her father had been a part of the court since 1501, when he was 24 and served Prince Arthur; was knighted at the new king’s coronation. It was said that “he had a talent that set him apart from most of his contemporary Englishmen. . . this was a talent for language and thus by extension, for diplomacy,” knowing French and Latin; this is where many say Anne got her gift of languages. She had middle class blood from her great-grandfather, Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, but after several noble marriages they were seen as wealthy. Her mother’s side had many more noble relatives like King Edward and a Duke of Norfolk by Richard III (Fraser 116-118). With these connections Anne was able to join the royal courts (Marcham 159). She was born around the end of May or the beginning of June in the year 1500 to 1501, but there were no concrete records taken then so it is only a guess perceived around the dates that were taken in her life. She was most likely born in Blickling in Norfolk, where she spent the majority of her childhood (Fraser 115).

In her teenage years she was sent to the courts of the Netherlands and France to learn how to be a young, noble, proper woman (Starkey 92). In those days girls were only allowed into the royal courts if they were blood to the wealthy or if they had a noble relative like her great-grandfather, Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormonde and veteran of the Wars of the Roses who later became Queen Catherine’s 1st Lord Chamberlain in 1509 (Fraser 117). Because of this lineage, she was eligible for the royal courts. In 1513 she was sent to the Court of Archduchess Margaret, Regent of the Netherlands where she was taught from the age of 12 or 13 to become a “fille d’honneur” as well as to learn French and become polished by “one of the most sophisticated courts in northern Europe” (Fraser 119; Starkey 92). She liked all of the latest French fashion with clothes “slashed, embroidered and studded with jewels” remaining fashionable in the French court (Ruby 29). She was known as “Mademoiselle Bullan” in the court and Archduchess Margaret wrote to her father that “I find her so presentable and so pleasant, considering her youthful age, that I am more beholden to you for sending her to me, than you to me. . .” (Fraser 119-120). In 1514 however she was sent back to help Henry’s sister with the journey of becoming the next Queen of France (Starkey, 92).

The next year she came home with Henry’s “widowed and remarried sister” (Starkey 92). In autumn of that same year she went back to France to be a part of the royal court of King Claude with his new queen, Mary. With this position she was able to secure a place in the court with Claude because of her “linguistics talent . . . appealing personality and charming manners” (Fraser 120). It is unsure exactly if she remained in France for the next six or seven years to become almost exactly like a French woman or if she traveled back in 1519 with her father and remained there until 1522 due to the break out of a war in France (Fraser 121; Starkey 92). She came back to England as “a woman of honest reputation” and the manners of a French woman (Fraser 121).

Soon her father was trying to find a husband for her and found that in James, Lord Butler. There was a dispute over the “Butler-Ormonde inheritance” which was caused when old Lord Ormonde died in 1515 and left his inheritance confusing. The two families decided that if the two were to marry, it would equal it out for both sides. Her father, Sir Thomas, was not exactly thrilled with the marriage because it did not add to the family’s name or wealth. September of 1520 King Henry agreed to the marriage, but the marriage soon fell through possibly due to Sir Thomas thinking he could secure all of the inheritance without the marriage which would further the family’s wealth. During this time Anne was the maid of honor to Queen Catherine’s court appearing first on March 1, 1522 (Fraser 121-122, 124).

Another one of Anne’s suitors was Henry, Lord Percy who was the heir to “great estates and ancient names” and was one of the most eligible bachelors in England at the time. Soon one of her father’s men. Cardinal Wolsey, put an end to this romance from the time they had met in the courts. Percy tried to fight for their relationship, but in 1524 he was married to Lady Mary Talbot against his will, for the name of his family (Fraser 124-125). When Anne separated from Percy, her character changed becoming “cold, calculating and determined to a degree.” gained her liveliness and her looks were improved, and she concentrated on her career (Chapman 40). Later it was said that she was in a brief relationship with Sir Thomas Wyatt where they had known each other as children. Nothing ended up coming from this because Wyatt went abroad in 1526 and had previously married (Fraser 127).

Her true romance story begins in 1526 with King Henry while she was in the courts for Queen Catherine. At this time he was thirty-five years old and she was twenty-five or twenty-six, putting their age gap around a decade apart. Their first meeting was during Shrovetide, 1526, and they felt a connection right away. Much of their relationship was kept in private because Henry was still married to Catherine of Aragon, making it a secret affair. During the affair Henry wrote seventeen love letters to Anne, nine of them in French because they both had a passion for it and most of the noblemen could not read it. These letters showed how strongly he felt for Anne in the beginning and what he was willing to do to be with only her, by divorcing Catherine. According to biographer, Antonia Fraser, in these letters he writes to her that he has been re-reading her letters with a great agony, not knowing how to understand them.” He beseeches her to let him know her true intentions towards him. He is still not yet sure whether he will fail “or find a place in your heart and affection”. But if it pleases his mistress to give herself ‘body and heart to me, who will be, and has been, your most loyal servant’, he promises to forsake all others: “I will take you for my only mistress”, casting out all competitors “and serving only you”

All the letters, however, are signed slightly differently: “HR, H Rex, Henry R, Henry Rex, H seeks AB no other Rex, and Un H Rex changeable.” All of these different signatures could possible be to keep the affair secret (Fraser 128-130).

In May of 1527 Henry went out his way to divorce his current wife, Catherine. He actually wanted to have their marriage annulled so that it would be declared that Henry’s and her marriage never existed from their wedding in 1509. Catherine would lose everything, including her title and status, making her once again the widow of Henry’s brother Arthur, the princess Dowager of Wales (Fraser 133). The annulment took longer that expected, a total of six years; this was because of the laws of the time. Henry went before many “papal” officials and tried to have Pope Clemont VII marry him and Anne, but he refused. He then tried to go through parliament to reduce the powers that Clemont had, yet the pope stood firm on what he believed (Marcham 159). During this time that Henry was searching for someone to allow Anne and him be married, it was an unfavorable time in history. It was during the English Protestant Reformation. His divorce petition could have gone differently in a different time, because kings had obtained divorce decrees many times before, but Clemont just would not allow it (Fraser 134).

During this time Catherine, Henry’s first wife, was completely opposed to leaving her throne because for her, she “considered herself the true and legitimate wife to the King, her husband.” It was not easy for her not to be jealous of a woman of much younger age and of the threat she had on her throne and on her husband’s heart (Fraser 150).

Good news came in September of 1528 when 1st name Wolsey was appointed to be a part of the “secret decretal commission” of Henry’s marriage (Fraser 148). He secretly married Anne and Henry in 1529 in an intimate setting with Anne’s mother, father, brother, two of her ladies, and some of the King’s council. Henry knew he had to marry Anne during this time because she was pregnant and if the baby was to be the next ruler, it had to be born in wedlock. The name of the place they were married was never given out because of the secrecy, but it took place in the early morning of a day in January. The pastor that had married them was either Rowland Hill or George Browne, an Augustinian friar. This can be determined because both of these men were given promotions soon after the secret affair (Lofts 102-103).

The next year Henry and Parliament broke with the Catholic Church, and Henry became the head of the Church of England (Greaves 441). Henry thought that this was the only way to make it right with God because his first marriage was to his brother’s widower, and he thought God would bless him with a son for marrying her. He uses Leviticus 20:21: “If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonored his brother. They will be childless.” To Henry this is a legitimate reason for ground of divorce (Fraser 135, 137). There are, however, some flaws with Henry’s method. Deuteronomy 25:5-7 says,

“If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.”

This proves that Henry did what was right in the eyes of the Lord by taking Catherine as his own wife. To support this, Catherine deemed she had never consummated her marriage to his brother so she was a virgin bride when Henry married her; besides, she was the mother to his only legitimate child, Mary (Fraser 138-139). It seems that Henry tried to make himself feel better about the annulment and persuade himself into believing that their marriage was wrong. His marriage to Catherine was officially annulled in May 1533, and Anne was appointed queen in “Westminster Abbey on Whit Sunday” that June (Marcham 159-160; Greaves 440). Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, was the one to announce Henry and Catherine’s wedding invalid. The marriage was able to happen publically because of Thomas Cranmer, who was appointed into office of Archbishop of Canterbury. On the day of his appointment he stated “he did not intend to keep any oath of obedience to the pope if it involved going against the law of the land, the will of the king, and the law of God.” After he was sworn in, he stated that everything he had pledged to do was “subject to the protestation he had made before the ceremony.” This helped in Henry’s annulment because the law of land could be changed by an act from parliament (Lofts 103-104). On May 29 Anne was crowned queen of England and many people came to watch the coronation. The people in the audience were different from those at the coronation of Catherine because this time they just came to watch and not to cheer. They really did not like Anne and felt Henry had thrown such a good queen away, so they just went for the free feast and wine (Lofts 108-109).

It was said that Henry and Anne’s marriage started off very well and people believed they were very happy together (Bernard 72). Several things from the beginning started to make them fight and become jealous. One of these was their age and religious beliefs; with the ten year gap between it made it hard for them to relate to each other. While religiously Anne was described as a Protestant, Henry was a born and raised Catholic and remained that way his whole life (Fraser 143-144). However, Anne always wanted Henry to be at her side and this soon started to get on Henry’s nerves. He started to have affair in mid 1533 because of this annoyance with Anne. He claimed she was full of jealousy and had no legitimate reasons to be. He began “paying court to other women” and whenever she would confront him about it, he would become angry (Bernard 72-73). They had also married while Anne was pregnant to make sure that the child was rightfully able to rule. With all of the jealousy that Anne had for these other women, it played into another reason why their marriage failed – the lack of a son to become the heir of the throne. When Anne gave birth to her and Henry’s daughter Elizabeth on September 1533 it only brought on sadness for Henry because of the desire to have a heir to his throne (Bernard 74).

Through the next couple of years Anne miscarried a couple of times. Beginning right after Elizabeth was born, Anne told Henry she was expecting, yet it was never recorded whether it was a stillborn, miscarriage or phantom baby. This means that possibly Anne made up the pregnancy to trick Henry into still believing there was hope in having a son (Bernard 74-75). She miscarried again in January of 1536, where rumors said the child was deformed. Nicholas Sanders describes the fetus of looking like “a shapeless mass of flesh.” While it is not a completely factually statement, given that there are no sound proof documents describing the miscarriage. It is however a reason why, when Anne died, that Henry accused her of being a witch because this was one of the quality found in a witch at the time. While this view was exciting, it did not follow the lines of what writers of witchcraft said during that time period. They believe that a witch would protect herself from this happening to her own body (Bernard 127-128).

Another reason people believe that Henry and Anne were unhappy because of Henry’s affairs with other women. One of his first mistresses was Anne’s cousin Margaret (Madge) Shelton, one of her ladies in waiting (Bernard 77). Anne tried to run the girl out of the courts, but Henry told her it would not do anything for her. He said he had given her so much that he could take it away and to just close her eyes and “endure it as well as those better than her.” He threatened to take all her power away and ended up not talking to her for two to three days after the fight. With the help of Rochford’s wife, her sister in law, she set it up so the girl would help Princess Mary instead (Bernard 73, 75-76). In the summer or fall of 1536, Henry began courting a young woman, Jane Seymour, who played hard to get for Henry, which is why he kept chasing her. It was rumored that Henry talked to Jane about future marriage before Anne’s arrest (Bernard 131-132). Many of the lords in the court did not like Anne because the king did not and because of her pride. They would help the king meet with other women in the hopes that Henry would leave Anne (Bernard 76).

Even though Anne tried to bring Henry the heir he was in search for, it never happened. This is what eventually broke Henry and Anne’s marriage apart. He believed that because he married Anne, God punished him by not giving him a son. Henry felt the only way to reconcile this problem was by eliminating the problem. On May 2, 1536, Anne began the day watching a tennis match and when she returned to the council chamber, her uncle, Duke of Norfolk, Sir William Fitz Williams and Sir William Paulet came and placed her under arrest and listed the charges. She responded saying she was the true king’s wife, but was taken to The Tower of London in full daylight. The journey took over three hours and on her way she fell to her knees to ask for forgiveness to these accusations, “beseeching God to help her as she was not guilty of her accusement.” The apartment she was taken to was the same she had stayed in three years earlier for her coronation (Weir 136-142). The people in the apartment with her were people she knew, yet did not like who were hoping that with a little talking she would incriminate herself (Weir 142,144). This moment marked the first time where a queen had been arrested for adultery and imprisoned in The Tower of London. Henry worked on annulling his marriage as well to make Elizabeth a bastard child, unable to rule the throne later (Weir 147).

The charges that had been made against her were four counts of infidelity and one count of incest with her brother (Marcham 160). Henry Norris was the first to be arrested for adultery, but denied sleeping with Anne. Henry did not believe him because he had already had his mind made up and sent Norris to The Tower of London. He was a man of integrity and was “Chief Gentlemen of Henry’s Privy Chambers” and was the closest person to the king (Weir 101,103-104). Another man accused of sleeping with Anne was Mark Smeaton, a musician, who confessed to sleeping with Anne on three separate occasions (Bernard 152). Another was Sir William Brereton, a member of Anne’s inner circle and also a gentleman of the king’s privy chambers. He was around fifty years old and a seducer of women yet was married to the king’s cousin Elizabeth Somerset (Weir 106-107). Francis Weston was twenty-five and also a gentleman of the privy chamber and was crowned ‘Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath’ at Anne’s coronation. He was married to Anne, daughter of Christopher Pickering (Weir 105). Last was Anne’s brother, George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, who had appeared in the courts since his early teens and was married to Jane Parker in 1524. Rochford was accused with the worst of the accusations, incest. In those days that was just as unthinkable as homosexuality (Weir 102-103). All these men were high up in the court and knew the king and queen personally, probably seeing them both everyday. While to charge someone without known fact today in preposterous, back then things were done at the will of the king, making all of these men guilty without a trial (Weir 149, 152).

As for Anne, she maintained her statement of being innocent, while the majority of the country believed she was guilty of the charges. Family and supporters started to distance themselves from her, leaving her utterly alone (Weir 149, 152). In total she was held in the Tower for seventeen days, and at night she could hear the carpenters making a “new scaffold” for her to be executed (Weir 263). On the morning of May 18, 1536, the execution time was set for nine in the morning; however, foreign ambassadors came to see Anne. She said she was ready to die because she had lost everything; her husband, marriage, status, daughter becoming a bastard, parents abandoning her, and her reputation. The execution ended up taking place the next day on May 19, 1536 (Weir 265-267, Greaves 441).

The day of the execution Anne was led by the Captain of the Tower from the room into the courtyard by the scaffold. Thousands of people stood in the crowd, “come to watch her die” (Weir 277-278). She was found guilty on all charges; four count of adultery and one count of incest and was condemned to death by her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk (Greaves 441, Marcham 160). And as she got up to the scaffold she said her last words:

Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that; whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best; and thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you to pray for me. O lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul.

And with that she was beheaded and a cannon fired, announcing Anne was dead to the world (Weir 287, “Anne Boleyn”).