2 | The Legacy and Downfall of Anne Boleyn
Monday, September 28, 2015
I love and admire Anne Boleyn. I really do. She was the second wife of King Henry the VIII, a scandalous marriage given that he had been denied an annulment from his first wife by the Roman Church. One of his mistresses was Anne's sister too, Mary. King Henry VIII broke from the Church to marry Anne. She could not conceive a son, but she gave birth to a daughter. she served as queen of England in the 1530's. On May 19, 1536, Anne Boleyn was executed on false charge of incest, witchcraft, adultery, and conspiracy against the King. Her daughter, however, Queen Elizabeth the I, became one of England's greatest queens.
The Beginning
Anne Boleyn was born in around 1501, likely in Bickling, England. She was the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, who later became Earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard. She lived in France for a time during her youth, she returned to England in 1522 and made her way into King Henry's court as maid of honor to Catherine of Aragon, King Henry's wife and Queen Consort of England. Anne eventually became one of the most admired ladies of the court. She attracted the attention of many men because of her intelligence, quick wit, and amazing beauty. She was like no other woman at that time and era, she was forward-thinking and could go side-by-side with men when talking about affairs that only men were able to meddle with at the time. King Henry was one of her greatest admirers. King Henry was used to having mistresses; he even impregnated one of his mistresses even before he met Anne, but he always stayed true to his queen, Catherine of Aragon. He was used to flirting with women and getting what he wants that when he met Anne, everything changed. Anne was calculating and had great ambitions, she didn't want to settle as one of Henry's mistresses, so she devised a plan of her own.
When Henry kept sending her expensive gifts, she declined them. She returned those gifts to him. Making Henry want to have her even more. In one of the king's letters, he wrote: "If you give yourself up, heart, body, and soul to me ... I will take you for my only mistress, rejecting from thought and affection all others save yourself, to serve only you." Anne replied with rejection, however, explaining that she aimed to be married and not be a mistress: "Your wife I cannot be, both in respect of mine own unworthiness, and also because you have a queen already. You mistress I will not be."
Her response surprised Henry VIII, who is believed to have had several mistresses at that time. He eventually asked for an annulment with his queen, not only because of Anne, but because Queen Catherine could not bear a son. A male heir for King Henry. Henry was desperate to have Anne, so he engineered a way to officially abandon his marriage with Catherine. In his petition for annulment to the pope, he cited an excerpt from the book of Leviticus stating that a man who takes his brother's wife shall remain childless, and claimed that he and Catherine (who was his brother's widow.) would never have a son who survived infancy because their marriage was false and was a condemnation in the eyes of God.
Queen Anne's rise to power
During the time Henry and Anne had courted discreetly, Anne found out that she was pregnant in early 1533. They eventually married in a secret ceremony even without the blessing of the pope. The following june, an expensive coronation ceremony was held in honor of the new queen (a feat no woman in English history has ever done before). Queen Anne gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth the I. Who became Henry's only child with Anne Boleyn to survive infancy. Anne would have a miscarriage in 1534 and 1536, each delivery producing a stillborn baby. Little did she know, these miscarriages would lead to her very downfall in the next months to come. Henry decreed his marriage to Catherine invalid, and broke from Rome by setting up the Church of England. Catherine passed away two years later.
Queen Anne was sexually promiscuous. At least that's what the public chooses to see in her. It has to do with the fact that the public really loved and adored Catherine of Aragon. Though Anne was renowned for her stylish wardrobe at court, her efforts to play the traditional role of queen during her reign were sincere. However, England never warmed up to Queen Anne. She was always disliked by the public for the rest of her short life. But Anne wasn't just unprepared for being a traditional Queen. She was also unprepared as her new role as the king's wife. Just a year after their marriage, Henry engaged in relationships with two of Anne's maids-of-honor. One of them being Jane Seymour. Anne wasn't like Queen Catherine. Catherine knew of her husbands vices. but she let him do what he wanted and just kept her feelings for herself. Anne, on the other hand, was very angry by Henry's flirtatious ways and she became increasingly jealous. Henry's reasons were the same as with Catherine's. He wanted to have a son and heir to the throne. He became agitated and annoyed by Anne's questions and her constantly meddling with his affairs. The marriage was quickly falling apart.
The beginning of her downfall
In January 1536, Anne gave birth to yet another stillborn male child. This sealed her unfortunate fate. Henry VIII quickly settled on taking Jane as his wife in the future and looked for ways to annul his marriage to Anne. According to some historians, Henry asked Chief Minister, and Anne's former friend, Thomas Cromwell, to orchestrate a plan for Anne's downfall. Anne was detained at the Tower of London on several false charges, adultery, incest, and conspiracy about her plotting to murder the king.
Anne Boleyn was subject to trial on May 15, 1536. Amazingly, in court, she stayed articulate and quick-witted. She denied all of the charges against her calmly and clearly. Anne was unanimously convicted by the judges four days later. Henry's marriage to Anne was therefore annulled. At that day, Anne was taken to the Tower of Green in London for her execution by a French Swordsman (still mysterious to many historians of today as an axe was normally used for executions, not a sword). But before her death, she managed to deliver a speech. "I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused to die 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," she said adding, " I will take my leave of the world and of you all. And I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul."
Her mantle and headdress was removed, she was blindfolded and she kneeled down. She was then beheaded. Her head and body was buried in a grave in St. Peters. But rumor has it that her remains were actually buried near her old family home at Hever Castle. Not long after (just 24 hours) Henry and Jane were married. Anne's legacy, you say? Well, none other than her daughter, Elizabeth the I. Who soon emerged as one of England's most revered Queens. Her reign was known as "The Golden Age."
I really get teary-eyed when I go back and re-watch/re-read some of the stuff that's related to Anne. It's always a shame to see a good, intelligent woman go down because of the wickedness of this world.
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P.S. If you want to learn more about Anne, you can watch some movies and TV series about her online. "The other Boleyn girl." where she's played by Natalie Portman. And "The Tudors" where she's played by Natalie Dormer. Or you can watch a documentary about her on youtube. I have watched all of those and they are highly recommended.
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