Anne Boleyn has arguably had more impact on the nation than any other queen of England, and yet she is remembered mainly for her death that she met on the scaffold on 19th May 1536, for treason and adultery.
Nearly everything we know about Anne Boleyn is in dispute. From her place and date of birth to her appearance. Whether she schemed to become Queen of England or ever really loved King Henry VIII, and if she was guilty of the charges brought against her.
Anne was most certainly born at Blickling Hall in Norfolk, the home of her grandfather Sir William Boleyn. Anne’s Chaplin, Matthew Parker, who became archbishop of Canterbury in 1559 to her daughter Elizabeth I, was adamant that she came, as he did, from Norfolk.
Some historians have advocated that Anne Boleyn was the elder Boleyn sister. Historian and fiction writer Philippa Gregory cast Anne Boleyn as the elder Boleyn sister in her book, The Other Boleyn Girl, that Hollywood made into a film. Despite this, Mary Boleyn’s grandson, Lord Hudson, stated that Mary Boleyn was the older of the two and he petitioned for the Ormonde Lands through her claim. If, however, Anne Boleyn had been the older sister then the Earldom of Ormonde would have passed to her daughter Elizabeth I, upon Anne’s father’s death.
There is some argument over whether Anne Boleyn was born in 1501 or 1507. If we believe Anne’s year of birth was 1507, then we must also think that Anne was only six years old when she was sent abroad to receive an education among Europe’s elite, which means she would have spent her time in the nursery as opposed to the court. In 1514, Anne wrote a letter home to her father. Its content and handwriting does not seem likely to be that of a seven-year-old. On 14th August 1514, Thomas Boleyn wrote to the Regent Margaret of Austria, who Anne had been serving, asking her to release his daughter. In the letter, Sir Thomas explains that Mary Tudor had requested for Anne to wait on her as Queen of France. Again, if we believe Anne was born in 1507, we have to think Mary Tudor asked for a seven-year-old to attend her. Based on this, it seems more probable that Anne Boleyn was born in 1501.
Nicholas Sander, a Catholic propagandist, is responsible for much of the black legend surrounding Anne Boleyn’s appearance, but one has to remember that he had never met Anne and was five at the time of her execution.
In 1585, Sander wrote in his book, The Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism, that Anne had a mole on her neck and that she wore high necklines to cover it, yet the two Hever Castle portraits of Anne and the picture in the National Portrait Gallery show Anne wearing low necks. Sander claims that Anne had an extra finger on her right hand. Historian and novelist Alison Weir endorsed this claim. In the 19th Century, writer Alison Strictland, going from Sander’s work, popularised this legend, but she states that it was Anne’s left hand that had an extra finger.
In 1876, excavation work was undertaken in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula. The body of what is thought to be Anne Boleyn, a headless corpse, was exhumed from the chancel, from the spot where she was recorded to have been buried. The pathologist recorded that there were no extra finger bones. All in all, I think it is safe to say the legend of Anne Boleyn’s extra finger is likely no more than a tall tale. After all, one must also ask the question: if Anne Boleyn was as unattractive as Sander describes, how did she capture and hold the attention of King Henry VIII?
The traditional historical narrative tells us that the Boleyns were upstarts, set on climbing the ranks at court at any cost. These accusations rest on the fact that the Boleyns did rise to power and that their wealth was rooted in the merchant trade. In Thomas Boleyn’s lifetime, Catholic supporters of Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife, and Jane Seymour, his third accused Thomas and Anne of being cold and callous opportunists who saw no limits to their ambitions.
Tradition, however, leads us astray. Anne’s great grandfather, Geoffrey Boleyn, had become Lord Mayor of London in 1457 after making his fortune as a London merchant. Geoffrey’s wealth had made it possible for his son William Boleyn to marry Lady Margaret Butler, whose father was the Earl of Ormonde. Anne’s father had in turn made an equally advantageous marriage to Elizabeth Howard, whose father was Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk.
Anne’s father Thomas Boleyn was a trusted courtier. In 1503 he was part of the envoy who escorted Princess Margaret, Henry VII’s daughter, to Scotland for her marriage to James IV. By 1509, he had risen to the rank of Squire of the Body, and he walked in Henry VII’s funeral procession.
The Tudors had won the Crown of England after years of civil war. Their claim was a shaky one that rested on an illegitimate line. Henry VIII was paranoid about the threat posed by rival aristocratic families, which gave men of low birth and rank an advantage at his court. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the son of a butcher who had been Henry’s priest, had risen to Lord Chancellor. Thomas Cromwell, the son of a blacksmith, was appointed to a post within Wolsey’s council.
In 1521, Anne Boleyn learned that her father had arranged for her to marry her cousin James Butler, his rival for the title of Earl of Ormonde, to settle their land dispute. In November 1521, Anne’s father wrote to Cardinal Wolsey pressing him about the matter of Anne’s marriage. This paints a different picture from the Hollywood films that portray a father who re-called his daughter from France to seduce the King of England.
Anne wrote in her book of hours, which is on display at Hever Castle, ‘le temps viendra’, meaning ‘the time will come’. This is often interpreted as meaning that the time would come when Anne would be Queen of England. However, Anne wrote this below a picture of the last judgement and drew a picture of an astrolobe, symbolising time. The saying itself is an abbreviation of a proverb: ‘a day will come that shall pay for all’. Anne believed in reform, and this saying refers to judgement and the idea of we reap what we sow. The book itself dates to 1450. Anne bought it home with her from France, so it’s highly likely she wrote this early on in her life, which says a lot about her personality.
Anne did, however, attract the attention of King Henry VIII, as she did many others at the English court. The French poet and scholar of the time, Lancelot de Carles, remarked of Anne: ‘for her behaviour, manners, attire, and tongue she excels them all’. Cardinal Wolsey’s usher George Cavendish wrote the same, and also said that Henry Percy, the son of the Duke of Northumberland, was interested in Anne, but that the King wanted Anne for himself. Sir Thomas Wyatt wrote some of the most enduring love poetry dedicated to Anne.
What is clear is that King Henry and Anne were friends. Remarkably for the time, considering the political-religious temperament, Anne felt comfortable and confident enough to share heretical books with Henry. This suggests that Anne trusted Henry and that they had a connection that went beyond that of a sexual nature.
Whether Anne loved Henry or Henry truly loved Anne, no one can know, but after years of legal wrangling with the Pope, Henry and Anne were married by Thomas Cranmer in a private ceremony in January 1533.
Anne’s spectacular coronation followed in June. She was crowned Queen of England with St Edward’s crown, traditionally reserved for reigning male monarchs.
On 7th September 1533, Anne gave birth to a daughter, who would become Elizabeth I.
Some historians have concluded that Anne was not up to being Queen because she didn’t close her eyes to Henry’s indiscretions like her predecessor had done, as if this were all a Queen should do. Anne had different ideas about being Queen of England, and they don’t marry up with that of a seductress schemer. Anne played an active role in reforming the church, and she supported the injunction that prohibited the display of relics and false miracles.
In July 1533, Anne and Henry set out on the summer Royal Progress. While staying at Sudeley Castle, Anne sent her chaplains to nearby Hailes Abbey to investigate the relic known as the Relic of the Holy Blood. The relic had made the abbey a favourite place for pilgrims. After a thorough search of the Abbey, the relic was found to contain, not the blood of Christ but the blood of a duck, killed that morning. Anne had the relic removed immediately.
According to Anne’s Chaplin Latimer, Anne kept an English Bible on display in her rooms for anyone who wanted to read it. In 1534, Anne restored Richard Herman to the membership of the English Society of Merchants, from which Wolsey had expelled him for his involvement in translating the New Testament into English. Anne also offered safe passage to England to French humanist reformers.
But on 19 May 1536, Anne was taken to the Tower of London and beheaded for treason and adultery. Why?
In October 1535, Anne Boleyn was pregnant again, and her influence on Henry VIII was stronger than ever and inclined him towards greater spiritual freedom. Miles Coverdale published the Bible in English, which he had completed for William Tyndale, and he dedicated it to King Henry and Queen Anne.
On 7th January 1536, Katherine of Aragon died. Henry and Anne celebrated the news with a joust. Henry fell from his horse and lay unconscious for two hours. Anne’s uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, delivered the news to Anne that it was doubtful the King would live. Henry had made Anne Boleyn regent in the event of his death. The prospect of a Regent Queen Anne struck fear into the hearts of the Catholic faction at court.
When she heard the news, Anne Boleyn collapsed in public and miscarried a child that had the appearance of a male. The King recovered and was hugely disappointed by the miscarriage.
The Catholic lobby at court, who believed the King’s marriage to Katherine was legal, began to whisper that the King was a widower and free to choose a new wife.
Henry’s near-death experience bought back his fear God would not give him male heirs. After three years of marriage to Anne, he had one daughter and no male heir. Anne’s influence over Henry started to wane, and Cromwell’s became stronger, bringing Anne and Cromwell into direct conflicts.
On 11th March 1536, parliament passed a Bill for the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The King needed the wealth of the Church, but Queen Anne disagreed with her husband and Cromwell about where the revenue should go.
Anne had her Chaplin, John Skip, preach an audacious coded sermon on 2nd April 1536, Passion Sunday. His address was about Queen Esther (www.karenldavies.com/2019/04/skips-sermon). Esther was the Jewish wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes I), and her cousin Mordecai persuaded the king to retract an order for the annihilation of Jews throughout the empire. King Ahasuerus’s scheming minister, Haman plotted the massacre. The powerful sermon marked out Cromwell as the wicked Haman, Anne as Esther, and the King as Ahasuerus, receiving evil counsel.
Cromwell, aware that Haman had paid with his life, removed himself from the court, feigning illness, and plotted Anne’s demise. Ironically, the text for Skip’s address had come from the parable of the woman taken for adultery, and maybe this was what inspired Cromwell’s charges against Anne for adultery.
Cromwell saw an opportunity. Henry’s divorce from Katherine had left England isolated in Europe, but Katherine’s death was no longer an impediment to reconciliation with Spain. Until now, Henry, under Anne’s influence, had been seeking an alliance with the German protestants from as early as 1531. But Anne’s uncle the Duke of Norfolk and the Bishop of Winchester sought to influence the King after his fall, praying on his fears of civil war if he were to die without a male heir. They began to open his mind to the possibility of divorcing Anne, reconciling with Spain, and marrying again to father a legitimate heir. Norfolk was now father-in-law to the King’s illegitimate son, whom Henry had created Duke of Richmond in 1525, which had given the boy precedence over everyone, except for any legitimate son the King might have. Time was running out for Henry to father a legitimate son as he was almost 45. He would have to act soon. So when Cromwell laid charges of adultery against Anne, Henry turned on his wife and seized the way out.
In Kent, Lincolnshire, and the north of England, there was discontent over the new order for the Dissolution of the Monasteries that threatened to spill into violence. Instead of preparing to fight the rebels and the Catholic faction at court, Cromwell joined them. By getting rid of Anne, he appeased the Catholics and gave the King what he wanted – the chance to sire a legitimate heir. The men Cromwell accused of adultery with Anne, including Anne’s brother, were all supporters of the Queen and her view of how the New Religion should be administered. Cromwell wiped out the whole Boleyn faction in one fell swoop. It’s worth noting the accused men were already convicted before the Queen stood trial. The Queen’s fate was sealed.
In the Great Hall of the Tower of London, where Anne had celebrated her coronation feast three years earlier, she now stood accused. Her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, represented the King. Charles Wriothesley, an officer of the arms, was moved by Anne’s strength. He wrote: ‘She made such wise and discreet answers to all things laid against her, excusing herself with her words so clearly, as though she had never been faulty to the same.’
Lancelot De Carles recorded that her speech affected even the most hardened of her audience. But she was no match for Cromwell’s rough justice. Her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, passed the sentence and pronounced her punishment. No longer Queen of England, now a condemned traitor, she would be burned on Tower Green or else have her head smitten off at the King’s pleasure.
On 16th May, the day after Anne’s trial, Henry sent her old friend Thomas Cranmer to see her. Cranmer’s brief was to convince Anne to annul her marriage to Henry. Anne was at her most vulnerable, and she agreed to the annulment. Maybe she hoped for her life and wanted to protect Elizabeth’s but she hoped in vain.
Henry had what he wanted. With all three of his children now illegitimate, his illegitimate son, the Duke of Richmond, would take precedence over Elizabeth and Mary if he failed to get a son with Jane Seymour.
After such a show trial and the execution of five men, Anne could not be allowed to live. Henry had broken with Rome to marry her and then allowed himself to be a cuckold; letting her live would have made him look like a fool.