Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
Full Title: The Relationship of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
The marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn was an unlikely match when considering the circumstances. When Anne Boleyn returned to England from France, her sister had already been in the English court for two years and was probably by this time already the mistress of King Henry VIII. It is unlikely that Anne would have been attracted to her sister’s lover at this time, and in any case, she was by now betrothed, having returned to England for the express purpose of marrying James Butler, her distant cousin. James was at court at the time as a kind of hostage and it is likely he and Anne would have seen each other often. The fact that they would have known each other combined with the lack of evidence of any friendship between the two shows that the potential spouses didn’t make much of an effort to get to know each other in preparation for marriage.
James Butler probably just didn’t have the wit to engage in the kind of repartee Anne Boleyn was known for. As soon as she arrived at court, Anne attracted a circle of admirers. Foremost among them was poet Thomas Wyatt, Anne’s childhood friend, with whom she shared a love of poetry and music. The already-engaged Earl of Northumberland fell under her spell and never got over her. “She knew perfectly how to sing and dance…to play the lute and other instruments,” wrote Lancelot De Carles. Her contemporaries mention that she seemed more French than English and thus had an exotic allure. She enjoyed gambling and flirting obviously made the men around her feel good about themselves. As her biographer Eric Ives mentions, the tradition of courtly love was still prevalent and can be seen as a kind of antidote to boredom at court. Anne loved games and was known for her skill in the game of courtly love.
King Henry, on the other hand, was more uncouth than the foppish men Anne would have known in France. Coming from an upstart dynasty with a somewhat debatable claim to the throne, he was desperate to be seen as cosmopolitan, a ruler on par with the great noble houses of the continent, most of whom saw England as a backwater island of no real importance. He was anxious to prove that he was every bit as good as his “brother” King Francis I of France, childishly asking his courtiers if they thought Francis had better looking legs than him. Perhaps this is why he took Mary Boleyn as a mistress-Francis had her first. If she was good enough for Francis, she was good enough for Henry. Henry had a queen, Katherine of Aragon, but Francis referred to her as “old and deformed” (despite the fact that his own wife Queen Claude was actually deformed). Katherine turned a blind eye to her husband’s infidelities so long as he was discreet, so Henry boosted his ego by sleeping with the cosmopolitan Mary Boleyn and the beautiful Elizabeth Blount.
As Henry grew tired of his affair with Mary, his eye began to wander to her little sister. Anne was younger, very popular, and didn’t have the sullied reputation that Mary did. For someone who considered himself an outstanding musician, an accomplished singer and player like Anne Boleyn was indeed a catch. Her father was an ambitious courtier who had already allowed one daughter to sacrifice her virtue to his ambition, so surely he wouldn’t mind if the king pursued his other daughter. When Henry discovered that Anne and Henry Percy, the aforementioned Earl of Northumberland, had actually become engaged, he ordered his minister Cardinal Wolsey to break the engagement. The couple had apparently been truly in love, having become engaged even when both were already promised to others, but it would never have occurred to the king to consider their feelings. He wanted something, and when he wanted something, it was given to him, simple as that.
Anne refused his advances at first, probably because she was still heartbroken over Henry Percy. Henry didn’t see it like that though. He was a hunter, and here was a hart giving chase-it was all sport at first. He came on very strong-sending her at least 17 love letters full of traditional courtly love imagery, calling himself Anne’s servant. When she replied that she should actually be considered his servant, this tickled Henry. In the courtly love tradition, the man was servant to the woman. By insisting she was actually the servant, Anne gave herself an appealing kind of androgyny that still stroked Henry’s dominant ego. Eventually he decided the French way would probably appeal to her-she could be his maitress en titre-official mistress. Again she refused.
Henry had by this time been conspiring secretly to get rid of his wife and marry another so he could have an heir. He was also completely in the thrall of Anne Boleyn, who probably did not feel the same, at least not yet. The idea slowly dawned that perhaps he could make Anne his queen instead of some foreign princess. He proposed marriage some time around New Year 1527, and this time, Anne could not refuse. We all know what happened next-Henry tried desperately to get a divorce for the next five years, eventually declaring himself head of the Church in England so he could order his first marriage declared invalid.
As the haze of love began to wear off, Anne’s faults became apparent to Henry. Instead of the boy-child he’d expected, her first child was a girl. Her wit began to grate on him, and she dared to argue with him, especially when he would sleep with other women. He started to wake up to the fact that instead of gaining international credibility, his obsession with Anne had made him a laughingstock and alienated his international allies. Of course, to an egomaniac like Henry, he hadn’t made a fool of himself, Anne must have seduced him through witchcraft. Her continental ways were no longer alluring. Now they made Henry wonder if she actually thought she was better than him.
Henry’s paranoia of course got the better of him. He couldn’t stand rivals and began an affair with one of Anne’s maids, Jane Seymour, who had no admirers to speak of and was being coached in how to stroke the king’s fragile ego. Her lack of good looks and education must have made Henry feel safe. He no longer wanted an exciting woman but one who would defer to him and be in his thrall. We can see this even more clearly in his later marriage to Katherine Howard, who stroked his ego and made him feel young, then made him feel like a fool and lost her life for it.
Anne Boleyn famously lost her life in May of 1536 and Henry married Jane a little over a week later. Though the English people had referred to Anne as “the king’s wh*re,” among other things, his hasty remarriage and subsequent behavior rehabilitated her image somewhat, as the people realized that both her rise and fall were precipitated by the king’s whims and ego. Her time as queen gave a foothold to the incoming Reformation, and her daughter became arguably the greatest monarch England has ever had. Her relationship with Henry was not all waste, either. As David Starkey says in his Six Queens, Anne “made him, for the first and last time in his life, fall properly in love.”
By Melissa
did Thomas Wyatt not contribute to the death of Anne Boleyn
In what way do you mean?
Yes Thomas Wyatt did join the death of Anne Boleyn since he was trying to get her attention, and in the programme called The Tudors, says that he was sleeping with her before King Henry viii wanted her.
The movie, The Tudors, was not historically accurate.
I don’t think the “affair” which involved Thomas Wyatt with Anne Boleyn had a direct impact on her downfall, however it did damage to her prospects -since she was unable just like Catherine of Aragon before her- to give the king a son. So, Cromwell took note of every aspect of her life previous to her marriage to the King. Her relationship with the poet being one such.
So, the movie “Anne Of The Thousand Days” which I’m now watching for the umpteenth time, is a fairly accurate portrayal of the relationship between Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, then? It seems so doubly tragic to have had her engagement to a man she really loved broken off, and only to lose her head in the end. What became of Mary Boleyn? How did she end her days?
Well I think after time Anne Remembered her but a lot a people thought of her as the true love first reject that was innored
Well I think after time Anne Remembered her but a lot a people thought of her as the true love first reject that was never royal
Ann was foolish and what i love so much about this Love story is, she did not mind contributing to the downfall of Cathering, she played with fire and in the end she paid with her life and head, Ann was not stupid she knew it could go horribly wrong esspecially if she was a gemini she would have been aware of this, she went in using logic, and lost here head and heart to a man she truelly belived loved her, but the facts are he never did, yes he was bossoted, but that is all, also he wanted to get rid of Cathering and the warning ign should have been when he was willing to get rid of a women in such a ugly fashion after being with her for many years, Ann was wise when she was logiacal, but when she began to love him and show it, he began to distance and fall out of love with her, the conquest was gone, He was a cancer man, and as long as they dont have you made, then you will keep there intreast, also they do not like weakness, they prefare strong, yet subdued women over the long term and a women who knows here place, is beneath the man, when Ann showed she was more than capable of standing alone he did not like this, and when the rumours he started to spread came out, he was to make sure she got the worst treatment to show her who was boss, actually advice to all women out there and from experiance the majority of cancer men are manipulitive and evil men, who are all about theselve and ego, the only person they ever trully love is themselves they want to know all your weaknesses, while they remain misterious, but she did what she did and was not innocent and therfore it is a good example of karma came around, I like this story a lot, and I like Ann, I know things are never black and white and people have those people who influence them, but one should becareful, for the steps we take, and the things we accept and let innfluence are the hill we will die on, and she did, Henry was nothing but ego, and Ann thought she could play it, untill she realized he never loved her, what that must have been like going to her death nowing that the man who was supposed to love her would have her head cut off, in fron of the world, and marry another in a week, love please.
mmmmk
I agree with your description of a manipulative man. My only disagreement is that these traits, (keeping secrets while wanting to know all of yours etc etc) would be indication that any man is manipulative. So I would say steer clear of not only men with the cancer zodiac sign, but any man who seems to have ego problems, self centered, doesn’t feel any responsibility, etc etc. I have been involved with a man like this and it is not fun. Steer clear.
How did their relationship affect England?
It had a dramatic impact on England because Henry’s desire to marry Anne led to him breaking with Rome, which, in turn, led to the English Reformation.
I have a different view on their relationship. It had a higher purpose. They were the ones destined to be together. As others have said – Elizabeth I turned out to be the greatest British monarch ever. Henry was able to jump over his pre-conceptions in many ways when it came to breaking with Rome, but he could not overcome his feeling that his heir needed to be male, even though he did have the intuition that Elizabeth was indeed very special. I also do not buy into the usual picture of Henry being an egomaniacal tyrant. It was the destiny of England to be emancipated from Rome and I believe that The Tudors gave the most accurate picture of Anne and Henry’s relationship. There were many forces working against their union abroad and in the UK – particularly centering around Catherine – Sir Thomas Moore – Duke of Bedford. I even believe that Anne was poisoned so as to quicken the loss of her sons and to sow many seeds of doubt in Henry. I do think that the statement that Anne was the only woman Henry really loved was true. And vice versa. And also that Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and James I were destined to bring a Middle Way of Christianity – a higher synthesis of Protestantism and Catholicism. The events around Anne’s demise were tragic – but as came out in the film “Anne of a Thousand Days” in the final scene before her beheading, she speaks prophetically of how Elizabeth would be the greatest monarch and that she would gladly die for that. So in a sense, she did fulfill her mission, even though it ended so tragically.
What was the reason she got executed i doing a project that is already due please HELP
While Henry was infatuated with Anne in the years coming up to their marriages, a few years after they married, he began to see that she was a human being like everyone else, and not the perfect woman he built up in his mind. He saw her faults, and her wit began to grate on him, as she often picked arguments. His temper was already short as she had failed to give him a son, instead have a daughter, later Elizabeth I. She put him out of his depth and made him look a fool. Perhaps that’s why he later married Jane Seymour; she was plain and stroked his ego. When Anne failed to give conceive again, even to a girl, Henry wanted her gone. Thomas Cromwell couldn’t have helped matters, as he had determined Anne as a threat and was plotting her downfall. Five men, including Mark Smeaton and Anne’s brother, George, were accused of having sexual relations with and were executed on the 18th May 1536. Anne herself scheduled be be executed the next on charges of witchcraft, incest and adultery, which resulted in high treason. However, he death was cruelly postponed and she was executed a day later, on May 19th 1536. Hope this helped you, good luck on your project!
Actually, the five men were executed on 17th may, Anne was scheduled to be executed the next day but due to the delay of the executioner her execution was put off for 19th may.
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I think it’s hard to forget Anne. If we’re still talking about her hundreds of years later, then it stands to reason that Henry was thinking about her very constantly even after her death. He was certainly consumed by her (in one way or another) when she was alive. I think he accepted the various testimonies and the ‘evidence’ of Cromwell because it was what he wanted to believe and suited his purposes of getting rid of her. After her death, I imagine Henry did everything possible to continue rationalizing killing her. Jane giving birth to Edward certainly “confirmed” that his actions were righteous. To me, Henry seems the kind of man who, being absolutely powerful and tyrannical, had a penchant for twisting the truth into what best suited his image and power.
As you’ve written before, it’s difficult to know who was the “true” Anne. Was she a ruthless, manipulative, cunning figure or a strong, progressive, intelligent and loving woman? My guess is, probably both. The reality of the court itself was that gentler women such as Jane Seymour probably had absolutely no ability to commend any kind of powerful presence or role in political life. Anne was definitely a “player,” but I think she genuinely was interested in England’s politics and prosperity. I think its impossible to regard her as a one sided victim or villain. She was a remarkable human being with many faults and a great deal of courage.