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1533

1533

Events


- January 25 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne Boleyn, his second Queen consort.
- March 30 - Thomas Cranmer becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.
- April 9 - Troops of Ahmad ibn Ibrahim sack the monastic complex of Lalibela in Abyssinia.
- May 23 - King Henry VIII of England marriage with Catherine of Aragon officially declared annulled. Catherine refuses to accept and continues to believe herself the wife of Henry till her death.
- June 1 - Henry VIII of England's new wife, Anne Boleyn, is crowned as queen.
- July 11 Henry VIII is excommunicated by Pope Clement VII.
- November 15 - Francisco Pizarro arrives in Cuzco, Peru.
- Russia, Ivan IV succeeds his father Vasili III as Grand Prince of Muscovy at 3 years old.
- Peru, Inca Atahualpa pays Francisco Pizarro ransom of approx. $100 million in gold; Pizarro executes him anyway.
- Peace treaty divides Hungary between Suleiman I and King Ferdinand.

Births


- February 9 - Shimazu Yoshihisa, Japanese samurai (died 1611)
- February 28 - Michel de Montaigne, French essayist (died 1592)
- April 8 - Claudio Merulo, Italian composer and organist (died 1604)
- April 24 - William I of Orange (died 1584)
- August 2 - Theodor Zwinger, Swiss scholar (died 1588)
- August 7 - Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, Basque soldier and poet (d. 1595)
- September 7 - Queen Elizabeth I of England (died 1603)
- December 13 - King Eric XIV of Sweden (died 1577)
- Stephen Bathory, King of Poland (died 1586)
- David Rizzio, Italian secretary of Mary I of Scotland (died 1566)
- Amina Zazzua, Queen of Zazzua (died 1610)

Deaths


- April 10 - King Frederick I of Denmark (born 1471)
- April 28 - Nicholas West, English bishop and diplomat (b. 1461)
- June 25 - Mary Tudor, queen of Louis XII of France (born 1496)
- July 6 - Ludovico Ariosto, Italian poet (born 1474)
- September 20 - Veit Stoss, Geyour rubishrman sculptor
- December 3 - Grand Prince Vasili III of Muscovy (born 1479)
- Atahualpa, last Inca ruler of Peru (executed)
- John Frith, English Protestant priest and martyr (born 1503)
- Lucas van Leyden, Dutch artist (born 1494)
- Girolamo del Pacchia, Italian painter (born 1477)
- Gustav Trolle, Archbishop of Uppsala
- Fortún Ximénez, Spanish sailor and mutineer Category:1533 ko:1533년 simple:1533

January 25

January 25 is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 340 days remaining (341 in leap years).

Events


- 41 - After a night of negotiation, Claudius is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the Senate.
- 1327 - Edward III becomes King of England.
- 1494 - Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.
- 1533 - Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn.
- 1554 - Foundation of São Paulo city, Brazil.
- 1755 - Moscow University established.
- 1791 - The British Parliament splits the old province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada.
- 1792 - The London Corresponding Society is founded
- 1858 - The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn becomes a popular wedding recessional after it is played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia.
- 1881 - Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.
- 1890 - The United Mine Workers of America is founded.
- 1890 - Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.
- 1915 - Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service.
- 1917 - The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million.
- 1919 - The League of Nations is founded.
- 1924 - The 1924 Winter Olympics open in Chamonix, France (in the French Alps), inaugurating the Winter Olympic Games.
- 1941 - Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.
- 1942 - Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.
- 1946 - The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor.
- 1949 - At the Hollywood Athletic Club the first Emmy Awards are presented.
- 1949 - The first Israeli election -- David Ben-Gurion becomes Prime Minister.
- 1960 - The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the Payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records.
- 1961 - In Washington, DC John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference.
- 1971 - Charles Manson and three female "family members" are found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
- 1971 - Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda's president.
- 1971 - Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state.
- 1981 - Super Bowl XV: The Oakland Raiders defeat the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-10.
- 1986 - The National Resistance Movement topple the government of Tito Okello in Uganda
- 1987 - Super Bowl XXI: The New York Giants beat the Denver Broncos, 39-20.
- 1990 - The Burns' Day storm hits Northwestern Europe.
- 1990 - Honduras becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 1993 - Mir Amir Kansi kills two employees outside CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
- 1995 - The Norwegian Rocket Incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, is mistaken for a US Trident missile by the Olenegorsk early-warning radar station.
- 1998 - Super Bowl XXXII: The Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers, 31-24.
- 1999 - A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000.
- 2002 - Wikipedia switches to the new version of its software ("Phase II") aka Magnus Manske Day
- 2004 - Opportunity (MER-B) lands on surface of Mars.
- 2005 - A stampede during a pilgrimage in India kills at least 215.

Births


- 1477 - Anna, Duchess of Brittany, queen of Charles VIII of France (d. 1514)
- 1509 - Giovanni Morone, Italian cardinal (d. 1580)
- 1615 - Govert Flinck, Dutch painter (d. 1660)
- 1627 - Robert Boyle, Irish chemist (d. 1691)
- 1634 - Gaspar Fagel, Dutch statesman (d. 1688)
- 1640 - William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and statesman (d. 1707)
- 1736 - Joseph Louis Lagrange, Italian-born mathematician (d. 1813)
- 1739 - Charles François Dumouriez, French general (d. 1823)
- 1759 - Robert Burns, Scottish poet (d. 1796)
- 1794 - François-Vincent Raspail, French chemist (d. 1878)
- 1796 - William MacGillivray, Scottish naturalist and ornithologist (d. 1852)
- 1825 - George Pickett, American Confederate General (d. 1875)
- 1841 - Jackie Fisher, British First Sea Lord (d. 1920)
- 1858 - Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (d. 1954)
- 1860 - Charles Curtis, Vice President of the United States (d. 1936)
- 1874 - William Somerset Maugham, English writer (d. 1965)
- 1878 - Ernst Alexanderson, Swedish-born television pioneer (d. 1975)
- 1882 - Virginia Woolf, English writer (d. 1941)
- 1886 - Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (d. 1954)
- 1900 - Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian-American geneticist and biologist (d. 1975)
- 1900 - Yojiro Ishizaka, Japanese writer (d. 1986)
- 1913 - Witold Lutosławski, Polish composer (d. 1994)
- 1917 - Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2003)
- 1917 - Jânio Quadros, Brazilian politician (d. 1992)
- 1918 - Ernie Harwell, baseball sportscaster
- 1919 - Edwin Newman, American journalist and writer
- 1923 - Arvid Carlsson, Swedish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1927 - Antonio Carlos Jobim, Brazilian musician (d. 1994)
- 1928 - Eduard Shevardnadze, President of Georgia
- 1931 - Dean Jones, American actor
- 1933 - Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines
- 1936 - Diana Hyland, American actress (d. 1977)
- 1938 - Etta James, American singer
- 1938 - Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian poet, singer, and actor (d. 1980)
- 1941 - Buddy Baker, American race car driver
- 1941 - Gregory Sierra, American actor
- 1942 - Carl Eller, American football player
- 1942 - Eusébio, Portuguese footballer
- 1943 - Tobe Hooper, American film director
- 1944 - Leigh Taylor-Young, American actress
- 1947 - Tostão, Brazilian footballer
- 1949 - Paul Nurse, British biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1951 - Steve Prefontaine, American runner (d. 1975)
- 1952 - Timothy White, American journalist (d. 2002
- 1954 - Ricardo Bochini, Argentinian footballer
- 1958 - Dinah Manoff, American actress
- 1969 - Kina, American singer
- 1971 - Luca Badoer, Italian race car driver
- 1975 - Tim Montgomery, American athlete
- 1976 - Mia Kirshner, Canadian actress
- 1980 - Christian Olsson, Swedish athlete
- 1981 - Alicia Keys, American singer and musician
- 1984 - Robinho, Brazilian footballer

Deaths


- 477 - Geiseric, King of the Vandals and Alans
- 844 - Pope Gregory IV
- 1067 - Emperor Yingzong of China (b. 1032)
- 1366 - Henry Suso, German mystic
- 1431 - Charles I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1364)
- 1494 - King Ferdinand I of Naples (b. 1423)
- 1559 - King Christian II of Denmark, Sweden and Norway (b. 1481)
- 1586 - Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (b. 1515)
- 1640 - Robert Burton, English scholar (b. 1577)
- 1670 - Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1612)
- 1726 - Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (b. 1726)
- 1733 - Gilbert Heathcote, Mayor of London
- 1751 - Paul Dudley, Attorney-General of Massachusetts (b. 1675)
- 1881 - Konstantin Thon, Russian architect (b. 1794)
- 1908 - Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (b. 1850)
- 1908 - Ouida, English writer (b. 1839)
- 1925 - Ivan Vucetic, Croatian anthropologist (b. 1858)
- 1947 - Al Capone, American gangster (b. 1899)
- 1969 - Irene Castle, English dancer (b. 1887)
- 1970 - Jane Bathori, French mezzo-soprano (b. 1877)
- 1981 - Adele Astaire, American dancer (b. 1897)
- 1982 - Mikhail Suslov, Soviet politician (b. 1902)
- 1990 - Ava Gardner, American actress (b. 1922)
- 1994 - Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician (b. 1909)
- 1995 - Cal Jammer, American actor (b. 1960)
- 1996 - Jonathan Larson, American composer (b. 1960)
- 1999 - Robert Shaw, American conductor (b. 1916)
- 2004 - Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (b. 1918)
- 2004 - Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (b. 1979)
- 2005 - Stanisław Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (b. 1923)
- 2005 - William Augustus Bootle, American judge (b. 1902)
- 2005 - Philip Johnson, American architect (b. 1906)
- 2005 - Ray Peterson, American singer (b. 1935)
- 2005 - Nettie Witziers-Timmer, Dutch athlete (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances


- Catholicism and Anglicanism - Conversion of Saint Paul.
- Christian ecumenism — Week of Prayer for Christian Unity ends.
- Burns Night - Burns suppers are held in many parts of the world around this date.
- Tu Bishvat (Jewish holiday, 2005)
- Roman Empire - second day of the Sementivae in honour of Ceres and Terra
- Magnus_Manske_Day - The day in 2002 when Wikipedia switched to the new PHP software ("Phase II")
- Winter-een-mas - An annual celebration of games. Starts on January 25 and ends on January 31.

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/25 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/1/25 Today in History: January 25] ---- January 24 - January 26 - December 25 - February 25 — listing of all days ko:1월 25일 ms:25 Januari ja:1月25日 simple:January 25 th:25 มกราคม

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from 22 April 1509 until his death. He was the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty, succeeding his father, Henry VII. He is famous for having been married six times and for wielding the most untrammelled power of any British monarch. Notable events during his reign included the break with Rome and the subsequent establishment of the independent Church of England, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the union of England and Wales. Several significant pieces of legislation were enacted during Henry VIII's reign. They included the several Acts which severed the English Church from the Roman Catholic Church and established Henry as the supreme head of the Church in England, the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542 (which united England and Wales into one nation), the Buggery Act 1533, the first anti-sodomy enactment in England; and the Witchcraft Act 1542, which punished 'invoking or conjuring an evil spirit' with death. Henry is known to have been an avid gambler and dice player. He excelled at sport, especially royal tennis, during his youth. He was also an accomplished musician, author, and poet; according to legend, he wrote the popular folk song Greensleeves, along with the lesser-known Past Time With Good Company. He was also involved in the construction and improvement of several buildings, including King's College Chapel, Christ Church, Oxford, Hampton Court Palace, Nonsuch Palace and Westminster Abbey.

Early life

Westminster Abbey Born at the Palace of Placentia at Greenwich, Henry was the third child of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Only three of Henry's six siblings, Arthur (the Prince of Wales), Margaret and Mary, survived infancy. His Lancastrian father acquired the throne by right of conquest, his army defeating and killing the last Plantagenet king Richard III, but further solidified his hold by marrying Elizabeth, the daughter of the Yorkist king Edward IV. In 1493, the young Henry was appointed Constable of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. In 1494, he was created Duke of York. He was subsequently appointed Earl Marshal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, though still a child. In 1501 he attended the wedding of his elder brother Arthur and Catherine of Aragon, who were at the time only about fifteen and sixteen years old, respectively. The two were sent to spend time in Wales, as was customary for the heir-apparent and his wife, but Arthur caught an infection and died. Consequently, at the age of eleven, Henry, Duke of York, found himself heir-apparent to the Throne. Soon thereafter, he was created Prince of Wales. Henry VII was still eager to maintain the marital alliance between England and Spain through a marriage between Henry, Prince of Wales, and Catherine. Since the Prince of Wales sought to marry his brother's widow, he first had to obtain a dispensation from the Pope from the impediment of affinity. Catherine maintained that her first marriage was never consummated, if she were correct, no papal dispensation would have been necessary, but merely a dissolution of ratified marriage. Nonetheless, both the English and Spanish parties agreed on the necessity of a papal dispensation for the removal of all doubts regarding the legitimacy of the marriage. Due to the impatience of Catherine's mother, Queen Isabella, the Pope hastily granted his dispensation in a Papal Bull. Thus, fourteen months after her husband's death, Catherine found herself engaged to his brother, the Prince of Wales. By 1505, however, Henry VII lost interest in an alliance with Spain, and the young Prince of Wales was forced to declare that his betrothal had been arranged without his assent.

Early reign

1505 Henry ascended the throne in 1509 upon his father's death. Catherine's father, the Aragonese King Ferdinand II, sought to control England through his daughter, and consequently insisted on her marriage to the new English King. Henry wed Catherine of Aragon about nine weeks after his accession on June 11 1509 at Greenwich, despite the concerns of Pope Julius II and William Warham, the Archbishop of Canterbury, regarding the marriage's validity. They were both crowned at Westminster Abbey on 24 June 1509. Queen Catherine's first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage in 1510. She gave birth to a son, Henry, on 1 January 1511, but he only lived until February 22. For two years after Henry's accession, Richard Fox, the Bishop of Winchester and Lord Privy Seal, and William Warham controlled matters of state. From 1511 onwards, however, power was held by the ecclesiastic Thomas Wolsey. In 1511, Henry joined the Holy League, a body of European rulers opposed to the French King Louis XII. The League also included such European rulers as Pope Julius II, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and Ferdinand II, with whom Henry also signed the Treaty of Westminster. Henry personally joined the English Army as they crossed the English Channel into France, and took part in sieges and battles. In 1514, however, Ferdinand left the alliance, and the other parties made peace with the French. Irritation towards Spain led to discussion of a divorce with Queen Catherine. However, upon the accession of the French King Francis I in 1515, England and France grew antagonistic, and Henry became reconciled with Ferdinand. In 1516, Queen Catherine gave birth to a girl, Mary, encouraging Henry in the belief that he could still have a male heir despite his wife's previous failed pregnancies (one stillbirth, one miscarriage and two short-lived infants). Ferdinand died in 1516, to be succeeded by his grandson (Queen Catherine's nephew) Charles V. By October 1518, Wolsey had engineered the Papacy-led Treaty of London to resemble an English triumph of foreign diplomacy, placing England at the centre of a new European alliance with the ostensible aim of repelling Moorish invasions through Spain, which was the Pope's original aim. In 1519, when Maximilian also died, Wolsey, who was by that time a Cardinal, secretly proposed Henry as a candidate for the post of Holy Roman Emperor, though supporting the French King Francis in public. In the end, however, the prince-electors settled on Charles. The subsequent rivalry between Francis and Charles allowed Henry to act as a mediator between them. Henry came to hold the balance of power in Europe. Both Francis and Charles sought Henry's favour, the former in a dazzling and spectacular manner at the Field of Cloth of Gold, and the latter more solemnly at Kent. After 1521, however, England's influence in Europe began to wane. Henry entered into an alliance with Charles V, and Francis I was quickly defeated. Charles' reliance on Henry subsided, as did England's power in Europe. Henry's interest in European affairs extended to the attack on Luther's German revolution. In 1521, he dedicated his Defence of the Seven Sacraments, which earned him the title of "Defender of the Faith" (Defensor Fidei. Prior to this, his title had been "inclitissmus", meaning "most illustrious". The later title was maintained even after his break with Rome, and is still used by the British monarch today.

The King's Great Matter

Henry VIII's accession was the first peaceful one England had witnessed in many years; however, the new Tudor dynasty's legitimacy could yet be tested. The English people seemed distrustful of female rulers, and Henry felt that only a male heir could secure the throne. Although Queen Catherine had been pregnant at least seven times (for the last time in 1518), only one child, the Princess Mary, had survived beyond infancy. Henry had previously been happy with mistresses, including Mary Boleyn and Elizabeth Blount, with whom he had had a bastard son, Henry Fitzroy. In 1526, when it became clear that Queen Catherine could have no further children, he began to pursue Mary Boleyn's sister, Anne. Although it was almost certainly Henry's desire for a male heir that made him determined to divorce Catherine, he was very infatuated with Anne, despite her child-bearing inexperience and famously plain looks. Henry's long and arduous attempt to end his marriage to Queen Catherine became known as "The King's Great Matter". Cardinal Wolsey and William Warham quietly began an inquiry into the validity of her marriage to Henry. Queen Catherine, however, testified that her marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales had never been consummated, and that there was therefore no impediment to her subsequent marriage to Henry. The inquiry could proceed no further, and was dropped. Without informing Cardinal Wolsey, Henry directly appealed to the Holy See. He sent his secretary William Knight to Rome to argue that Julius II's Bull was obtained by trickery, and consequently void. In addition, he requested Pope Clement VII to grant a dispensation allowing him to marry any woman, even in the first degree of affinity; such a dispensation was necessary because Henry had previously had intercourse with Anne Boleyn's sister Mary. Knight found that Pope Clement VII was practically the prisoner of the Emperor Charles V. He had difficulty gaining access to the Pope, and when he finally did, he could accomplish little. Clement VII did not agree to annul the marriage, but he did grant the desired dispensation, probably presuming that the dispensation would be of no effect as long as Henry remained married to Catherine. Being advised of the King's predicament, Cardinal Wolsey sent Stephen Gardiner and Edward Fox to Rome. Perhaps fearing Queen Catherine's nephew, Charles V, Pope Clement VII initially demurred. Fox was sent back with a commission authorising the commencement of proceedings, but the restrictions imposed made it practically meaningless. Gardiner strove for a "decretal commission", which decided the points of law beforehand, and left only questions of fact to be decided. Clement VII was persuaded to accept Gardiner's proposal, and permitted Cardinal Wolsey and Lorenzo Cardinal Campeggio to try the case jointly. His decretal commission was issued in secret; it was not to be shown to anybody, and was to always remain in Cardinal Campeggio's possession. Points of law were already settled in the commission; the Papal Bull authorising Henry's marriage to Catherine was to be declared void if the grounds alleged therein were false. For instance, the Bull would be void if it falsely asserted that the marriage was absolutely necessary to maintain the Anglo-Spanish alliance. Cardinal Campeggio arrived in England in 1528. Proceedings, however, were brought to a halt when the Spanish produced a second document allegedly granting the necessary dispensation. It was asserted that, a few months before he had granted papal dispensation in a public Bull, Pope Julius II had secretly granted the same in a private Brief sent to Spain. The decretal commission, however, only made mention of the Bull; it did not authorise Cardinal Campeggio and Cardinal Wolsey to determine the validity of the Brief. For eight months, the parties wrangled over the authenticity of the Brief. Meanwhile, Queen Catherine appealed to her nephew, Charles V, who pressured the Pope into recalling Cardinal Campeggio to Rome in 1529. Angered with Cardinal Wolsey for the delay, Henry stripped him of his wealth and power. He was charged with præmunire — undermining the King's authority by agreeing to represent the Pope — but died on his way to trial. With Cardinal Wolsey fell other powerful ecclesiastics in England; laymen were appointed to offices such as those of Lord Chancellor and Lord Privy Seal, which were formerly confined to clergymen. Power then passed to Sir Thomas More (the new Lord Chancellor), Thomas Cranmer (the Archbishop of Canterbury), and Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex (the Chancellor of the Exchequer). On 25 January 1533, Cranmer participated in the wedding of Henry and Anne Boleyn. In May, Cranmer pronounced Henry's marriage to Catherine void, and shortly thereafter declared the marriage to Anne valid. The Princess Mary was deemed illegitimate, and was replaced as heiress-presumptive by Queen Anne's new daughter, the Princess Elizabeth. Catherine lost the title "Queen", and became the Dowager Princess of Wales; Mary was no longer a "Princess", but a mere "Lady". The Dowager Princess of Wales would die of cancer in 1536. Sir Thomas More, who had left office in 1532, accepted that Parliament could make Anne Queen, but refused to acknowledge its religious authority. Instead, he held that the Pope remained the head of the Church. As a result, he was charged with high treason, and beheaded in 1535. Judging him to be a martyr, the Catholic Church later made him a saint.

Religious upheaval

The Pope responded to these events by excommunicating Henry in July 1533. Considerable religious upheaval followed. Urged by Thomas Cromwell, Parliament passed several Acts that sealed the breach with Rome in the spring of 1534. The Statute in Restraint of Appeals prohibited appeals from English ecclesiastical courts to the Pope. It also prevented the Church from making any regulations without the King's consent. The Ecclesiastical Appointments Act 1534 required the clergy to elect Bishops nominated by the Sovereign. The Act of Supremacy 1534 declared that the King was "the only Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England"; the Treasons Act 1534 made it high treason, punishable by death, to refuse to acknowledge the King as such. The Pope was denied sources of revenue such as Peter's Pence. Rejecting the decisions of the Pope, Parliament validated the marriage between Henry and Anne with the Act of Succession 1534. Catherine's daughter, the Lady Mary, was declared illegitimate, and Anne's issue were declared next in the line of succession. All adults were required to acknowledge the Act's provisions; those who refused to do so were liable to imprisonment for life. The publisher or printer of any literature alleging that Henry's marriage to Anne was invalid was automatically guilty of high treason, and could be punished by death. Opposition to Henry's religious policies was quickly suppressed. Several dissenting monks were tortured and executed. Cromwell, for whom was created the post of "Vicegerent in Spirituals", was authorised to visit monasteries, ostensibly to ensure that they followed royal instructions, but in reality to assess their wealth. In 1536, an Act of Parliament allowed Henry to seize the possessions of the lesser monasteries (those with annual incomes of £200 or less). In 1536, Queen Anne began to lose Henry's favour. After the Princess Elizabeth's birth, Queen Anne had two pregnancies that ended in either miscarriage or stillbirth. Henry VIII, meanwhile, had begun to turn his attentions to another lady of his court, Jane Seymour. Perhaps encouraged by Thomas Cromwell, Henry had Anne arrested on charges of using witchcraft to trap Henry into marrying her, of having adulterous relationships with five other men, of incest with her brother George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, of injuring the King and of conspiring to kill him, which amounted to treason; the charges were most likely fabricated. The court trying the case was presided over by Anne's own uncle, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. In May 1536, the Court condemned Anne and her brother to death, either by burning at the stake or by decapitation, whichever the King pleased. The other four men Queen Anne had allegedly been involved with were to be hanged, drawn and quartered. Lord Rochford was beheaded soon after the trial ended; the four others implicated had their sentences commuted from hanging, drawing and quartering to decapitation. Anne was also beheaded soon thereafter.

Birth of a Prince

Only days after Anne's execution in 1536, Henry married Jane Seymour. The Act of Succession 1536 declared Henry's children by Queen Jane to be next in the line of succession, and declared both the Lady Mary and the Lady Elizabeth illegitimate, thus excluding them. The King was granted the power to further determine the line of succession in his will. Jane gave birth to a son, the Prince Edward, in 1537, and died two weeks thereafter. After Jane's death, the entire court mourned with Henry for some time. Henry also considered her to be his only "true" wife, being the only one who had given him the male heir he so desperately sought.

Major Acts

At about the same time as his marriage to Jane Seymour, Henry granted his assent to the Laws in Wales Act 1535, which legally annexed Wales, uniting England and Wales into one nation. The Act provided for the sole use of English in official proceedings in Wales, inconveniencing the numerous speakers of the Welsh language. Henry continued with his persecution of his religious opponents. In 1536, an uprising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace broke out in Northern England. To appease the rebellious Roman Catholics, Henry agreed to allow Parliament to address their concerns. Furthermore, he agreed to grant a general pardon to all those involved. He kept neither promise, and a second uprising occurred in 1537. As a result, the leaders of the rebellion were convicted of treason and executed. In 1538, Henry sanctioned the destruction of shrines to Roman Catholic Saints. In 1539, England's remaining monasteries were all dissolved, and their property transferred to the Crown. As a reward for his role, Thomas Cromwell was created Earl of Essex. Abbots and priors lost their seats in the House of Lords; only archbishops and bishops came to comprise the ecclesiastical element of the body. The Lords Spiritual, as members of the clergy with seats in the House of Lords were known, were for the first time outnumbered by the Lords Temporal.

Later years

Lords Temporal Henry's only surviving son, the Prince Edward, Duke of Cornwall, was not a healthy child. Therefore, Henry desired to marry once again to ensure that a male could succeed him. Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex suggested Anne, the sister of the Protestant Duke of Cleves, who was seen as an important ally in case of a Roman Catholic attack on England. Hans Holbein the Younger was dispatched to Cleves to paint a portrait of Anne for the King. After regarding Holbein's flattering portrayal, and urged by the complimentary description of Anne given by his courtiers, Henry agreed to wed Anne. On Anne's arrival in England, Henry is said to have found her utterly unattractive, privately calling her a "Flanders Mare". She was painted totally without any signs of her pockmarked face. Nevertheless, he married her on 6 January 1540. Soon thereafter, however, Henry desired to end the marriage, not only because of his personal feelings but also because of political considerations. The Duke of Cleves had become engaged in a dispute with the Holy Roman Emperor, with whom Henry had no desire to quarrel. Queen Anne was intelligent enough not to impede Henry's quest for an annulment. She testified that her marriage was never consummated. Henry was said to have came into the room each night and merely kissed his new bride on the forehead before sleeping. The marriage was subsequently annulled on the grounds that Anne had previously been contracted to marry another European nobleman. She received the title of "The King's Sister", and was granted Hever Castle, the former residence of Anne Boleyn's family. The Earl of Essex, meanwhile, fell out of favour for his role in arranging the marriage, and was subsequently attainted and beheaded. The office of Vicegerent in Spirituals, which had been specifically created for him, was not filled, and still remains vacant. On 28 July 1540 (the same day Lord Essex was executed) Henry married the young Catherine Howard, Anne Boleyn's first cousin. Soon after her marriage, however, Queen Catherine may have had an affair with the courtier, Thomas Culpeper. She also employed Francis Dereham, who was previously informally engaged to her and had an affair with her prior to her marriage, as her secretary. Thomas Cranmer, who was opposed to the powerful Catholic Howard family, brought evidence of Queen Catherine's activities to the King's notice. Though Henry originally refused to believe the allegations, he allowed Cranmer to conduct an investigation, which resulted in Queen Catherine's implication. When questioned, the Queen could have admitted a prior contract to marry Dereham, which would have made her subsequent marriage to Henry invalid, but she instead claimed that Dereham had forced her to enter into an adulterous relationship. Dereham, meanwhile, exposed Queen Catherine's relationship with Thomas Culpeper. In December 1541, Culpeper and Dereham were executed. Catherine was condemned not by a trial, but by an Act of Attainder passed by Parliament. The Act recited the evidence against the Queen, and Henry would have been obliged to listen to the entire text before granting the Royal Assent. Because "the repetition of so grievous a Story and the recital of so infamous a crime" in the King's presence "might reopen a Wound already closing in the Royal Bosom", a special clause permitting Commissioners to grant the Royal Assent on the King's behalf was inserted in the Act. This method of granting the Royal Assent had never been used before, but, in later reigns, it came to replace the traditional personal appearance of the Sovereign in Parliament. Catherine's marriage was annulled shortly before her execution. As was the case with Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard could not have technically been guilty of adultery, as the marriage was officially null and void from the beginning. Again, this point was ignored, and Catherine was executed on 13 February 1542. She was only about eighteen years old at the time. Henry married his last wife, the wealthy widow Catherine Parr, in 1543. She argued with Henry over religion; she was a Protestant, but Henry remained a Catholic. This behaviour almost led to her undoing, but she saved herself by a show of submissiveness. She helped reconcile Henry with his first two daughters, the Lady Mary and the Lady Elizabeth. In 1544, an Act of Parliament put them back in the line of succession after the Prince Edward, Duke of Cornwall, though they were still deemed illegitimate. The same Act allowed Henry to determine further succession to the throne in his will. A mnemonic for the fates of Henry's wives is "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived". An alternative version is "King Henry the Eighth, to six wives he was wedded: One died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded". The doggerel, however, may be misleading. Firstly, Henry was never divorced from any of his wives; rather, his marriages to them were annulled. Secondly, four marriages — not two — ended in annulments. The marriages to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were annulled shortly before their executions. Ironically the annulments undermined the process under which Boleyn and Howard were executed: annulments operate on the basis that there had never been a marriage. If they had never been married to him, they could not have committed adultery, one of the central charges brought against them. However this technicality did not stop their execution.

Death and succession

doggerel Later in life, Henry was grossly overweight, with a waist measurement of 54 inches (137 cm), and possibly suffered from gout. The well known theory that he suffered from syphilis was first promoted approximately 100 years after his death. Henry's increased size dates from a jousting accident in 1536. He suffered a thigh wound which not only prevented him from taking exercise, but also gradually became ulcerated and may have indirectly led to his death, which occurred on 28 January 1547 at the Palace of Whitehall. He died on what would have been his father's 90th birthday. Henry VIII was buried in St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, next to his wife Jane Seymour. Within a little more than a decade after his death, all three of his children sat on the English throne. Under the Act of Succession 1544, Henry's only surviving son, Edward, inherited the Crown, becoming Edward VI. Edward was the first Protestant monarch to rule England. Since Edward was only nine years old at the time, he could not exercise actual power. Henry's will designated sixteen executors to serve on a council of regency until Edward reached the age of eighteen. The executors chose Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, Jane Seymour's elder brother, to be Lord Protector of the Realm. They required, however, that Lord Hertford "not do any act but with the advice and consent of the rest of the co-executors". Nonetheless, Lord Hertford seized power to become the sole Regent. He was overthrown by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and executed for treason. The Duke of Northumberland, however, did not make himself Lord Protector; instead, he urged Edward to declare his majority before becoming eighteen years old, thereby transgressing Henry VIII's will. Under the Act of Succession 1544 and under Henry VIII's will, Edward was to be succeeded (in default of his issue) by Henry VIII's daughter by Catherine of Aragon, the Lady Mary. If the Lady Mary did not have children, she was to be succeeded by his daughter by Anne Boleyn, the Lady Elizabeth. Finally, if the Lady Elizabeth also did not have children, she was to be followed by the descendants of Henry VIII's deceased sister, Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk. Edward VI and his advisors, however, had different designs. As he lay on his deathbed, Edward created a will that purported to contradict the provisions of Henry's will. The Lady Mary and the Lady Elizabeth were excluded from the line of succession as illegitimate. Frances Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk (daughter of Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk) was laid aside because Edward feared that her husband Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk might claim the Crown for himself. Edward finally settled on the Lady Jane Grey, the daughter of the Duchess of Suffolk and the daughter-in-law of the powerful Duke of Northumberland. Upon Edward's decease in 1553, the Lady Jane was proclaimed Queen. Under the law, however, she should not have succeeded; an Act of Parliament specifically permitted Henry to devise the Crown in his will, but no similar legislation had been passed for Edward. With this justification, Mary deposed and executed Jane, taking the Crown for herself. When Mary I died without issue in 1558, she was succeeded by her sister Elizabeth. Elizabeth I did not marry or name an heir, causing a succession crisis. To prevent the Scottish from becoming the dynastic family of Europe, Elizabeth I ordered the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots to try to prevent her from taking the throne. Under Henry VIII's will, Elizabeth was supposed to be succeeded by the heir of Mary Tudor, Duchess of Suffolk (the Lady Anne Stanley). Elizabeth was actually succeeded, however, by James VI, King of Scots. James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots. He was already a powerful ruler in Scotland, and was Elizabeth's closest living relative. He argued that his hereditary right to succeed was greater than the statutory right of Lady Anne. James was sufficiently powerful, and his opponents weak; thus, his succession faced little opposition. James VI became James I, the first Stuart King of England.

Legacy

In modern times, Henry VIII has become one of the most popular historical kings of the English monarchy. This is mainly based on the common perception of his larger than life character as an over-eating, womanising bon vivant, which in turn is based on somewhat exaggerated or apocryphal stories of his life. In 2002, Henry VIII placed 40th in a BBC-sponsored poll on the 100 Greatest Britons. Henry VIII was the subject of William Shakespeare's historical play, Henry VIII: All Is True. The play, however, has never been one of Shakespeare's more popular plays. Curiously, it was Henry VIII that was playing on June 29 1613 when the Globe Theatre burnt down. There have been many films about Henry and his court. Two that bear mention are The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), starring Charles Laughton, whose performance earned him an Academy Award, and The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1972), starring Keith Michell. Richard Burton and Genevieve Bujold were nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress for their roles as Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969). Henry, played by Robert Shaw, also appears as one of the main characters in the multiple-Oscar-winning movie about Thomas More, A Man for All Seasons (1966), based upon Robert Bolt's play of the same name. Henry was almost certainly the inspiration for the title of the popular song "I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am" (1911), recorded by Harry Champion and later by Herman's Hermits; the actual song, however, is about a man named Henry whose wife has been married to seven different individuals, all named Henry. An episode of the 1960s American sitcom Bewitched had Samantha Stevens staving off a lustful Henry's intentions to make her his next wife. Sid James played Henry in the movie Carry On Henry (1970), which portrayed the relationship between the King and two fictitious wives ("Marie of Normandy" and "Bettina", a mistress). In 1973, Rick Wakeman released a rock concept album on The Six Wives of Henry VIII, his first solo album after splitting from Yes. Henry's life was the subject of a famous but inaccurate Simpsons television episode in 2004, in which Homer Simpson played the King.

Style and arms

Henry VIII was the first English monarch to regularly use the style "Majesty", though the alternatives "Highness" and "Grace" were also used from time to time. Several changes were made to the royal style during his reign. Henry originally used the style "Henry the Eighth, by the Grace of God, King of England, France and Lord of Ireland". In 1521, pursuant to a grant from Pope Leo X rewarding a book by Henry attacking Martin Luther and defending Catholicism, the royal style became "Henry the Eighth, by the Grace of God, King of England and France, Defender of the Faith and Lord of Ireland". After the breach with Rome, Pope Paul III rescinded the grant of the title "Defender of the Faith", but an Act of Parliament declared that it remained valid. In 1535, Henry added the "supremacy phrase" to the royal style, which became "Henry the Eighth, by the Grace of God, King of England and France, Defender of the Faith, Lord of Ireland and of the Church of England in Earth Supreme Head". In 1536, the phrase "of the Church of England" changed to "of the Church of England and also of Ireland". In 1542, Henry changed the title "Lord of Ireland" to "King of Ireland" after being advised that many Irish people regarded the Pope as the true head of their country, with the Lord acting as a mere representative. The style "Henry the Eighth, by the Grace of God, King of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith and of the Church of England and also of Ireland in Earth Supreme Head" remained in use until the end of Henry's reign. Henry's motto was Coure Loyall (true heart) and he had this embroidered on his clothes in the form of a heart symbol and with the word 'loyall'. His emblem was the Tudor rose and the Beaufort portcullis. Henry VIII's arms were the same as those used by his predecessors since Henry IV: Quarterly, Azure three fleurs-de-lys Or (for France) and Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England).

Issue



- Note: Of Henry VIII's reputedly illegitimate children, only the Duke of Richmond and Somerset was formally acknowledged by the King. The paternity of his other alleged illegitimate children is not fully established. There may also have been other illegitimate children born to short-term mistresses who we no longer know of.

See also


- List of British monarchs
- Church of England
- Annulment
- Divorce
- Protestant Reformation
- English Kings of France
- Erasmus' Correspondents
- I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am

References


- Bowle, John. (1964). Henry VIII: A Study of Power in Action Boston: Little, Brown.
- [http://tudorhistory.org/wives/ Eakins, L. E. (2004). "The Six Wives of Henry VIII".]
- "Henry VIII". (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. London: Cambridge University Press.
- [http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/tudor.htm Jokinen, A. (2004). "Henry VIII (1491–1547)".]
- [http://www.pbs.org/wnet/sixwives/ Public Broadcasting Service. (2003). "The Six Wives of Henry VIII".]
- [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07222a.htm Thurston, H. (1910). "Henry VIII". The Catholic Encyclopedia. (Vol. VII). New York: Robert Appleton Company.]
- [http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/vallieres.htm Vallieres, S. (1999). "Tudor Succession Problems"]
- Weir, Alison; The Six Wives of Henry VIII (Bodley Head, London, 1991)
- Bryant, M. (2001). Private Lives London: Cassell

External links


- [http://www.badley.info/history/Henry-VIII-England.biog.html Henry VIII World History Database]
- [http://www.tudor-portraits.com Buehler, Edward. (2004). "Tudor and Elizabethan Portraits".]
- [http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/aboutHenryVIII.htm Castelli, Jorge H. (2004). "Henry VIII".]
- [http://www.archsoc.com/games/Henry.html Stevens, Garry. (2003). "Henry VIII: Intrigue in the Tudor Court".]
- [http://members.ozemail.com.au/~tperrott/sirjohn.htm Perrott, Terry. (2004). "Sir John Perrott".] Category:1491 births Category:1547 deaths Category:Londoners Category:House of Tudor Category:Heirs to the English & British thrones Category:English monarchs Category:Earls Marshal Category:Knights of the Garter Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece Category:History of Wales Category:Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports Category:Dukes in the Peerage of England ko:잉글랜드의 헨리 8세 ja:ヘンリー8世 (イングランド王) simple:Henry VIII of England

Anne Boleyn

] Anne Boleyn, 1st Marquess of Pembroke (c.1501/1507 – May 19, 1536) was the second wife and queen consort of Henry VIII and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and marriage to Anne was part of the complex beginning of the considerable political and religious upheaval which was the English Reformation, with Anne herself actively promoting the cause of Church Reform. She is probably best known for her premature death when she was beheaded on false charges of adultery and treason. Her life has been the subject of numerous biographies, novels, motion pictures, plays and operas.

The birth controversy

Historians cannot agree precisely when Anne Boleyn was born. An Italian historian, writing in 1600, suggested that she had been born in 1499; whilst Sir Thomas More’s son-in-law suggested a much later date – 1512. Nowadays the debate centers around two key dates: 1501 and 1507. Two great authorities on the period, Eric Ives and Retha Warnicke — both of whom have written biographies of Anne — disagree. Ives promotes the 1501 date, whilst Warnicke believes the later 1507 is correct. The evidence supporting the later date is slightly stronger, given that a friend of Anne’s stepdaughter later claimed that Anne had been approaching her twenty-ninth birthday at the time of her death in 1536 and an Elizabethan writer, William Camden, stated firmly that Anne had been born in ‘MDVII’ (1507). It is also extremely unlikely that Anne would have been over thirty at the time of her marriage, because such an age was considered unhealthy for a first-time mother. There is, however, a letter from Anne in about 1514 which, some people believe, suggests she was a teenager when she wrote it. This is hardly conclusive and a full examination of the letter is still required, as both sides currently claim it as supporting evidence. The debate may never be fully solved since parish records chronicling precise dates of birth were not kept until the time of Elizabeth I. Some other writers, like Paul Friedmann, Norah Lofts and Hester W. Chapman, all suggested that a birthday somewhere between 1501 and 1507 might be the safest guess – such as 1505.

Childhood and Family

Anne was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire and 1st Earl of Ormonde, and his beautiful wife Lady Elizabeth Boleyn (née Lady Elizabeth Howard), daughter of the 2nd Duke of Norfolk. It is not known for certain where she was born – but it was either at her family’s mansion of Blickling Hall in Norfolk or at their favorite home of Hever Castle in Kent. She was probably the youngest of three children. Her sister Mary was a few years older than she was and there was also her brother George. In later life, Anne did not have a particularly affectionate relationship with her father but in her childhood she was anxious to please him. Her relationship with her sister Mary was problematic because Anne disagreed with what she saw as Mary’s promiscuous lifestyle and the two were not on speaking terms at the time of Anne’s death. Anne enjoyed a much happier relationship with her mother and her brother George, both of whom she was very close to. Spiteful rumors would later describe the Boleyn family as practically middle-class, but recent research has disproved this. Anne had a very powerful aristocratic heritage - her great-grandparents included a Lord Mayor of London, a duke, an earl, two aristocratic ladies and a knight. She was certainly more aristocratic than either Jane Seymour or Catherine Parr, two of Henry's other wives. She was also the elder cousin of Henry’s fifth wife, Lady Catherine Howard. Anne's father was a respected diplomat with a gift for languages and he had been a favorite of Henry VII and Henry VIII, who sent him on many diplomatic missions abroad. In Europe, Thomas Boleyn also won many admirers who were impressed with his professionalism and charm - including Archduchess Margaret of Austria, the daughter of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. Margaret was currently ruling the Netherlands on behalf of her father and caring for her nephew and three nieces. Margaret was so impressed with Thomas that she offered his youngest daughter Anne a place in her household. Ordinarily a girl had to be twelve years old to have such an honor, but Anne was evidently somewhat younger as Margaret affectionately referred to her as ‘‘la Petite Boleyn’’. Anne made a good impression in the Netherlands thanks to her good manners and her determination to work hard at her education. She is believed to have lived there from the spring of 1513 to the autumn of 1514. Intellectually brilliant, Anne was physically attractive. She was not beautiful by contemporary standards, since she was considered too thin and too dark. However, many people commented on her magnificent dark eyes and beautiful dark hair. One Italian who met her in 1532 wrote that she was “not one of the handsomest women in the world,” but others thought she was “competent belle” ("quite beautiful") and “young and good-looking.” In short, Anne was of above-average physical looks, but she definitely made the most of her natural appeal. Anne's personality was complex, and it has been greatly distorted by those opposed to her marriage and religious views. She was a devout Christian in the new tradition of Renaissance Humanism (calling her a Protestant would be too strong). She was also a very loyal woman who gave generously to charity and, contrary to popular myth, she was extremely emotional. In her youth she was "sweet and cheerful," enjoyed gambling, drinking wine and gossiping. She was also brave and charismatic. Her personal motto loosely translated as This will be, no matter who grumbles! and "The Most Happy." She was also well-educated, clever and charming. The French ambassador, Giles de la Pommeraye, was completely captivated by her and paid tribute to her formidable intellect and influence over English foreign policy. The diplomat John Barlow was devoted to her and spied for her in Rome. Later in life this ability to attract fanatical male devotion back-fired spectacularly when she found herself the object of feverish unrequited love from a Dutch musician in her household called Marc Smeaton. Yet Anne could also be extravagant, neurotic and bad-tempered. In a temper, she could be particularly vicious and she emotionally wounded or embarrassed many of the people around her. Her enemies claimed this was the main part of her character, but her friends stated categorically that her temper – whilst explosive – was never unprovoked. Her time in the Netherlands was followed by some years in France where she was a favored lady-in waiting to Queen Claude of France and also a translator whenever any English visitors arrived to meet the Queen. In the Queen's household, she completed her study of French as well as acquiring a thorough knowledge of French culture and etiquette. She also developed an interest in fashion and the religious philosophy which called for reform of the Church. Anne's European education ended in the winter of 1521 when she was summoned back to England on her father's orders. The French Royal Family protested at her leaving but it was to no avail and Anne sailed from Calais in January 1522.

A royal love affair

1522 first wife: the court headdress is still represented in the queens of Anglo-American playing cards]] On her return to England, Anne became a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's Spanish wife, who had failed to give Henry the son he desired. Catherine was popular with the people, but she had been inactive in politics and court life for some time. Anne made her court début at a masquerade ball in March 1522 where she performed an elaborate dance, accompanied by the king’s sister and his mistress (Anne’s sister Mary). Five other ladies also had a part to play. Anne was known as the most fashionable and accomplished woman at the Court and she has been referred to as ‘‘the Court Butterfly’’ and ‘‘the glass of fashion’’. During this time, there was much talk of marrying Anne to one of her cousins, James Butler, the son of Sir Piers Butler. This was cancelled for uncertain reasons. It is presumed that Anne's father was secretly against the marriage, which had been engineered by the king's chief minister Thomas Wolsey who had shown himself to be the enemy of the Boleyns in previous years. Around 1522, Anne began being courted by Lord Henry Percy, the son of the Earl of Northumberland. Some say that they became lovers, while others maintain that it was just a simple courtship. The latter was probably true. It would have been impossible to break their betrothal if it had been consummated and Anne had seen too many reputations ruined to risk hers. She seems to have reacted with prudish disdain to her sister’s brief affair with Henry VIII. The romance was broken off in 1523 when Lord Henry's father refused to sanction the marriage when he heard of it from Cardinal Wolsey. Legend has it that the liaison was secretly broken up because Henry desired Anne for himself. It is impossible to say if this is true and historians are divided on the issue. Anne was briefly sent from court to Hever Castle in Kent. She spent summer there before returning to Court and gathering a clique of female friends and male admirers for herself. She kept all of her admirers at arm’s length and the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt complained that she was unobtainable and temperamental and headstrong, despite seeming demure and quiet. In 1525 Henry VIII also fell in love with her and began his pursuit. Anne's elder sister had previously been King Henry's mistress. There was no truth in the rumor that her two children were Henry’s bastards, since they were born after the affair had ended. There is also no truth in the much later rumor that Anne’s mother had been Henry's mistress too. It seems that this scandalous accusation arose over a confusion of the Boleyn name with that of an early mistress of Henry’s, Elizabeth Blount. Henry’s affair with Mary had been ended for sometime when he fell in love with Anne. In any case, she refused to become the King's mistress, and she effectively dodged his advances for over a year. Feminist historians now believe Anne was suffering as a silent victim of 16th century sexual harassment. Anne’s mood altered rapidly between feeling flattered at these royal attentions and angry exasperation at his refusal to leave her alone. The King fell deeper and deeper in love with her. Henry proposed marriage to her sometime in 1527 (probably around New Year), and after some hesitation, she agreed. 1527 It is often thought that Henry's infatuation with Anne led him to seek a way to annul his existing marriage. However there is good evidence to suggest that Henry may well have made the decision to set aside his marriage with Catherine of Aragon solely because of her failure to bear him a male heir. He believed this was essential to prevent the collapse of the Tudor dynasty which had only been secured by his father Henry VII of England on winning the Wars of the Roses in 1485. At first, Anne was kept in the background but by 1528 it was common knowledge that the King intended to marry her. She kept herself out of politics and she enjoyed a civil relationship with Henry’s chief minister Cardinal Wolsey, despite her father’s hatred of him. In London, Anne became the victim of a public hate campaign mobilized by Queen Catherine's supporters. At Court, however, she reveled in her newfound lifestyle. Henry paid for everything and Anne spent a fortune on magnificent gowns, jewels, decorations, renovations and on maintaining a hectic social life that centered on lavish balls, dinner parties, gambling and hunting. She was particularly fond of importing French fashions, which she popularized, and buying diamonds and rubies for her beautiful dark hair. Anne had taken the decision not to sleep with Henry before their marriage. Henry initially objected to this, but later he too came to agree with the idea since it meant that any children they had would surely be born in legitimate wedlock. The couple spent much of the day together but at night retired to their own private apartments. At this time, Anne was also given her own staff and several ladies-in-waiting to advertise the fact that she was now the next queen.

The power behind the throne

In 1529 it still seemed as if Pope Clement VII was no nearer to granting Henry a divorce than he had been in 1527. Anne’s spies reported that part of the problem was her supposed ally, Cardinal Wolsey, who had assured her that the Pope would help make her queen. A group of aristocrats opposed to Wolsey had been at court for over a decade and they saw Anne as the perfect instrument to help topple the Cardinal from power. Henry refused to be persuaded until Wolsey’s promises once again proved unfounded, when one of the Pope’s delegates in England refused to find in the King’s favor and instead referred the matter back to Rome. Anne maintained pressure until Wolsey was dismissed from public office in 1529. Henry insisted upon Wolsey returning to York and keeping out of politics. The Cardinal begged Anne to help him return to power, but although she used ‘‘kind words’’ in answer to his pleas her diplomacy meant nothing because she absolutely refused to help him. Wolsey then began a secret plot with the depressed Queen Catherine to enlist Papal Support in having Anne exiled permanently from Court. When this plot was discovered, Anne flew into a terrible rage and from that moment onwards she developed a vicious hatred for Catherine that would remain with her for the rest of her life. Henry ordered Wolsey’s arrest and had it not been for Wolsey’s death from a terminal illness in 1530 he may have been executed for treason. A year later Catherine was banished from Court. treason With Wolsey gone, Anne became the most powerful person at Court. She had a great say over appointments and political matters. She clashed with the king’s new chief minister, Sir Thomas More, who was a bitter enemy of religious freedom and reform which was the cause Anne and her brother supported. Her exasperation with the Vatican also persuaded her to promote a new alternative to Henry. She suggested that he should follow the advice of religious radicals like William Tyndale who denied Papal Authority and believed that the monarch should lead the Church of his own nation. When the devoutly Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury died, Anne had her family’s chaplain – Thomas Cranmer – appointed to the vacant position. She also facilitated the rise of Thomas Cromwell, who became the king’s favorite new adviser. In later years, she would regret this. During this period, Anne also played an enormous role in England's international position, by solidifying the French alliance. She established an excellent rapport with the French ambassador, Giles de la Pommeraye, who was captivated by her. With his help, she helped arrange an international conference at Calais in the winter of 1532 in which Henry hoped he could enlist the support of the French king for his marriage to Anne. Before going to Calais Henry gave Anne the title Marquess of Pembroke. This was the first time in British history that a woman had ever been created a peer in her own right. Anne's family also profited from this. Her father became Earl of Ormonde and Wiltshire and her brother George Boleyn was made Viscount Rochford. Thanks to Anne's intervention, her widowed sister Mary received an annual pension of £100, and Mary's son Henry Carey received a top-quality education in a prestigious Cistercian monastery. Thanks to this, Anne’s relationship with her sister became warm once more and the two were soon seen in each other’s company at Court. The royal jewels were also taken from Catherine of Aragon and re-sized to fit Anne’s more slender neck. She sailed to Calais equipped like a queen.

Marriage

The conference was a political triumph, since the French government gave their support for Henry’s re-marriage. Immediately upon returning to Dover in England, Henry and Anne went through a secret wedding service. After that they enjoyed a long honeymoon in Anne’s native county of Kent, finally enjoying a sexual relationship after seven years of frustration. Anne became pregnant within a few months and the couple had another more public wedding Mass on January 25 1533 at Anne’s favorite palace of Whitehall. Catherine was formally stripped of her title as queen in time for Anne’s coronation in May 1533. In defiance of the Pope, Cranmer now declared that the English Church was under Henry’s control not Rome’s. This was the famous “Break with Rome,” which signaled the end of England’s history as a devout Roman Catholic country. Few people were aware of the signifance at the time and even fewer were prepared to defend the Pope’s authority. Anne was delighted at this development. She was a Catholic, but she believed the Papacy was a corrupt and immoral influence on Christianity. The cost of Anne’s coronation was enormous and the festivities lasted for three days. Catherine’s supporters turned out in force to state their opposition to the new queen, but Anne also made a good impression on other members of the City. She was not universally popular but religious reformers and patriots (who preferred an English queen to a Spanish one) championed her. After the Coronation, Anne settled into a quiet routine to prepare for the birth of her child. She was deeply distressed when Henry was caught committing adultery with a young palace maid, which provoked their first serious row. Anne won however when the girl was dismissed, since Henry wanted nothing to jeopardize her pregnancy. Henry and Anne’s child was born slightly prematurely on September 7 1533 at the king’s favorite palace of Greenwich. Disappointingly, the child was a girl who was christened Elizabeth in honor of Henry’s mother – Elizabeth of York. She was a given a splendid christening, but Anne feared that Catherine’s daughter Mary would still have enough popular support to threaten Elizabeth’s position. Henry soothed Anne’s fears by separating Mary from her many servants and sending her under guard to Hatfield House, where Princess Elizabeth was also given her own magnificent staff of servants. The country air was better for the baby’s health but Anne was an affectionate mother who regularly visited her daughter. Her visits were also the scenes of friction between Anne and Princess Mary who referred to Anne as “‘‘my father’s mistress,’’” whilst Anne called Mary “‘‘that cursed bastard.’’”

Life as Queen

Anne had a larger staff of servants than Catherine before her. There were over 250 servants to tend to Anne’s personal needs, everything from priests to stable-boys. The elite of her household were her favorite ladies-in-waiting, who included her close friend and cousin Lady Margaret Lee. There were also over sixty maids-of-honor, who served Anne and accompanied her to social events. In return, their parents hoped the Queen would act as their chaperone and arrange a suitable marriage for them. Anne maintained a strict control over her maids’ morals and spiritual well-being, chastising Margaret Shelton when she was caught writing poetry in her prayer book. She also employed several priests, who acted as her confessors, chaplains and religious advisers. Her favorite was the religious moderate Matthew Parker, who would become one of the chief architects of the modern Church of England under Anne’s daughter Elizabeth I. Elizabeth I]] Anne’s reputation as a religious reformer spread through Europe and she was hailed as a heroine by Protestant figures – even in Germany Martin Luther viewed her rise to the throne as a positive sign. She also saved the life of the French radical Nicolas Bourbon, who was sentenced to death by the French Inquisition. Anne appealed to the French Royal Family who spared Bourbon’s life as a favor to the English queen. Bourbon would later refer to Anne as “the Queen whom God loves.” Although Anne championed religious reform – especially translating the Bible into English – she did not challenge the core of Catholic belief which was the sacred doctrine of Transubstantiation. She was also a generous patron of charity – far more so than Catherine of Aragon. Anne gave heavily to poor relief, agricultural programs and educational foundations. Often, she and her ladies would sew shirts for the poor or beautiful cloths to decorate High Altars in churches. As queen, Anne also enjoyed having a good time. In the 1500s, royals were expected to be magnificently extravagant in order to convey to their people the importance and strength of the monarchy. Anne certainly did this and she spent an astronomical amount on her hundreds of gowns, jewels, head-dresses, tiaras, ostrich-feather fans, riding equipment and the finest furniture and upholstery from across the world. Numerous palaces were renovated to meet her exacting standards and it was from Anne that Henry learnt to love architecture – one of the most expensive tastes of the king’s life. Anne’s social life continued to be hectic and glamorous. A group of young gentlemen continued to visit the queen’s apartments, where they flirted with her ladies-in-waiting and danced elegantly with the Queen when she wanted them to. At times, Anne too flirted with them but this had always been part of her nature. She never stepped beyond propriety, even going so far as to reprimand them if they became too jovial with either her or her maids. There was nothing new in this, for a group of young men had also served as Catherine of Aragon’s adherents in the 1510s, it was only later that this behavior would harm Anne’s reputation. Anne’s married life continued to lurch from storm to sunshine. The royal couple still enjoyed periods of calm and affection, but Henry’s frequent infidelities greatly wounded Anne who reacted with tears and rage to each new mistress. For his part, Henry found Anne’s strident opinions about religion and politics as intolerance and he saw her failure to give him a son as a betrayal. Anne’s second pregnancy ended in a miscarriage in the summer of 1534. There were also unfounded rumors that she was pregnant again in 1535. The French Ambassador watched with amazement at the frosty atmosphere between the royal couple at a banquet in 1535. When he asked Anne about it later in the evening she laughed sadly and later told him that she felt utterly lonely and that she could feel the eyes of the entire Court spying on her. This pressure inflamed Anne’s temper and she clashed with her ambitious uncle, the duke of Norfolk, who she banished from his apartments when she discovered his loyalty to her was suspect. When her sister Mary secretly married a commoner Anne reacted with fury by exiling Mary from her Court – this may also have had something to do with the queen’s recent miscarriage which had left her emotionally disoriented. Both sisters refused to apologize to one another – Mary wrote a letter proclaiming her undying love for her new husband but repeated her affection for Anne. Anne responded by sending Mary a magnificent bejeweled present when she had a baby daughter in 1535. Even so, the two sisters did not meet again. Anne was also blamed for the tyranny of her husband’s government. When Henry’s old adviser Sir Thomas More was beheaded in 1535 for refusing to break his oath of loyalty to the Pope Anne was publicly blamed for pushing the King into signing the Death Warrant. This was untrue, however. Anne did not like More but there is no evidence that she had pushed for his death. It is unlikely she defended him, but he had acknowledged her as queen instead of Catherine. More died because he would not acknowledge Henry as Head of the Church of England.

1536

In January 1536 Catherine of Aragon died of cancer. Anne attempted to repair relations with Catherine’s daughter, Mary, but she was once again rudely rebuffed. At the time, none of this bothered Anne because she was pregnant once more. However, she was concerned about the king’s latest mistress – Jane Seymour – who was one of Anne’s maids. She often found Jane wearing jewels the King had given her. On one occasion, Anne ripped a locket from Jane’s neck and slapped her face. Later, she walked into a deserted room to find Henry and Jane in an embrace. A few days later, Henry fell from his horse and nearly died. The combined stress proved too much for Anne and she suffered a miscarriage on January 29. January 29 This was the beginning of the end of the royal marriage. What happened next is one of the most controversial periods of English history. Anne spent almost two weeks in bed, recovering from her miscarriage whilst Henry declared she was cursed by God. Jane Seymour was moved into new apartments and Anne’s brother was refused a prestigious court honor, the Order of the Garter, which was instead given to Jane Seymour's brother. She was irritable and depressed throughout 1536 fearing that she was about to be divorced.

The fall of Anne Boleyn

A Flemish musician in Anne’s service named Marc Smeaton had been arrested and tortured by Thomas Cromwell. He had denied that he was Anne’s lover, but under the torture he confessed. He also provided the names of another courtier – Sir Henry Norris – who was an old friend of Anne’s. He was arrested on May Day but since he was an aristocrat he could not be tortured. Norris denied his guilt and swore that Anne was absolutely innocent. Sir Francis Weston was arrested two days later, which shocked Anne because she didn’t like him. William Brereton, a groom of the King's privy chamber, was also arrested on grounds of adultery, But it seems likely he was innocent and was in fact the victim of an old grudge against him held by Thomas Cromwell. Anne’s own brother was also arrested on charges of incest and treason. Anne Boleyn's terror was realized on May 2 1536 when she was arrested at luncheon and taken up the River Thames to the Tower of London. In the Tower, Anne suffered a minor nervous breakdown demanding to know full details of her family’s whereabouts and the charges against her. Tower of London The fo