Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of King Henry VIII. She was a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation. After her daughter, Elizabeth, was crowned as queen in 1558, Anne became venerated as a martyr. Modern historians view the charges against her as unconvincing.

About Anne Boleyn in brief

Summary Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of King Henry VIII. She was a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation. After her daughter, Elizabeth, was crowned as queen in 1558, Anne became venerated as a martyr. She has inspired, or been mentioned, in many artistic and cultural works and retained her hold on the popular imagination. Modern historians view the charges against her, which included adultery, incest, and plotting to kill the king, as unconvincing. Some say that Anne was also accused of witchcraft but the indictments make no mention of that. Anne was executed for treason and other charges by beheading on 19 May 1536. She had three miscarriages and by March 1536, Henry was courting Jane Seymour. Henry VIII had Anne investigated for high treason in April 1536 and on 2 May, she was arrested and sent to the Tower of London, where she was tried before a jury of peers, including Henry Percy, her former betrothed, and her uncle Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Henry and Anne formally married on 25 January 1533, after a secret wedding on 14 November 1532. On 7 September, she gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I. Henry was disappointed to have a daughter rather than a son but hoped a son would follow and professed to love Elizabeth. Anne and her siblings grew up at Hever Castle in Kent in Kent. Contemporary evidence is contradictory, with several dates having been put forward by various historians, while Sir Thomas More-in-law gave a date of 1512.

An Italian Italian writer suggested that she had been born in 1499, but this has been put back to 1501. Anne’s son William Roper-oper-law said that she was born in 1599, while a lack of parish records has made it impossible to establish Anne’s date of birth. Anne had a daughter, Thomas Howard Howard, later Earl of Ormond, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard, a gift for languages; he was also a favourite of Henry VII of England, who sent him on many diplomatic missions abroad. In 1522, Anne returned to England to marry her Irish cousin James Butler, 9th Earl of ORmond. The marriage plans were broken off, and instead she secured a post at court as maid of honour to Henry VIII’s wife, Catherine of Aragon. In February or March 1526, Henry VIII began his pursuit of Anne. She resisted his attempts to seduce her, refusing to become his mistress, which her sister Mary had been. Henry soon focused his desires on annulling his marriage to Catherine so he would be free to marry Anne. On 23 May 1533,. newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declared Henry and Catherine’s marriage null and void. Shortly afterwards, Clement excommunicated Henry and Cranmer. As a result of this marriage and these excommunications, the first break between the Church of England and Rome took place, and the King took control of the church of England.