Anne Boleyn was the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, later made Viscount Rochford in 1525 and Earl of Wilshire and Ormond in 1529 by Henry VIII, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard.  On her mother’s side, Elizabeth Howard was the daughter of Thomas Howard, the 2nd Duke of Norfolk.  Anne was therefore of very noble descent, more so than Jane Seymour, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.

 

Anne Boleyn and her siblings spent their early childhood at the family home at Hever in Kent.  Thomas Boleyn served as an excelling diplomat both during the reign of Henry VII and Henry VIII.  Margaret of Austria, daughter of Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire, was so enamoured by Thomas Boleyn that she agreed to take Anne as a lady in waiting at the royal court in the Netherlands, which she ruled on behalf of her brother, Charles I.

 

Having spent her early adolescence at the court of Margaret of Austria, Thomas Boleyn arranged for Anne to be sent to France in October 1514 to attend Henry VIII’s sister, Mary, who was about to marry Louis XII of France.  Anne would later stay at the court of Francis I for seven years.  There, at the French court, she became fluent in French and also developed her interests in literature, the arts, religious philosophy and music accompanied with becoming adept in etiquette and courtly behaviour.  Little is known of the precise details of Anne’s stay at the French court, however it is thought her acquaintances and surroundings provided ample inspiration for the religious reform she would later champion in England.  It is likely she made the acquaintance of King Francis’s sister, Marguerite of Navarre, who was a patron of humanists and reformers, that plausibly could have introduced her to the intellectual thought against the Papacy.

 

In 1522, Anne was recalled to England to marry her Irish cousin, James Butler, in an arrangement intended to settle a dispute over the lands belonging to the Earl of Ormond. In 1515, the 7th Earl of Ormond died, bequeathing his lands in the will to Thomas Boleyn’s mother, Margaret Boleyn and her sister Anne St Leger.  Sir Piers Butler, being the great grandson of the 3rd Earl of Ormond, claimed ownership of the lands and had some force behind him being in possession of Kilkenny Castle, the ancestral home of the Earl. Thomas Boleyn appealed to his brother-in-law, the Duke of Norfolk who spoke to Henry VIII.  The King, fearful of civil war in Ireland, arranged for an alliance between the two parties to be made, Anne marrying Sir Piers Butler’s son, and offering the lands as a dowry. However, Thomas Boleyn, perhaps hoping for a grander betrothal for his daughter, withdrew from the arrangement in the end and James Butler married Lady Joan Fitzgerald, heiress of the lands of the 10th Earl of Desmond, instead.

 

Anne Boleyn’s older sister, Mary Boleyn, had been recalled from France in late 1519 after engaging overabundantly in affairs with the French King and his courtiers.  In February 1520, she married a minor noble, William Carey, at Greenwich with Henry VIII in attendance.  Shortly afterwards, Mary Boleyn would become the mistress of King Henry.

 

However, Anne would make her first appearance at the English court on the 4th March 1522 at the Château Vert (Green castle) pageant in honour of the imperial ambassadors, in which she played the character “Perseverance” in a play.  The court would witness the dancers perform resplendently while all wearing gowns of white satin embroidered with gold thread.  There, at the English royal court, Anne quickly established herself as one of the most stylish and accomplished women present and ensured a number of courtiers were soon competing for her.

 

Following reports injurious to her reputation, which publicly circulated, Anne was sent away from court to her family’s estates in Hever by Henry VIII.  This was enacted not before May 1528.  This is proved by a letter from Fox, Bishop of Hereford to Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, which is dated to the 4th May 1528, in which Fox, who had just returned from Rome, where he had been attempting to negotiate the king’s divorce, gives an account of his landing at Sandwich on the 2nd May and his arrival at Greenwich on the same night, where the king was, and the order he received from the king to go to the apartments of Anne Boleyn, at Tiltyard, to inform her how anxious Henry had been to hasten the arrival of the legate and how much he was rejoiced by it.  

 

Henry, therefore, was clearly courting Anne Boleyn at this point and had, indeed, been infatuated by her since 1525.  Letters that are still preserved today, from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, while she had been sent away from court and resided at Hever castle, provide us with an insight into the love romance between the two figures.  The first of the series of letters Henry VIII sent to Anne Boleyn demonstrates Henry’s ardent displeasure that Anne has been sent away from London.  Henry’s words were:

 

“My mistress and friend, my heart and I surrender ourselves into your hands, beseeching you to hold us commended to your favour, and that by absence your affection to us may not be lessened: for it were a great pity to increase our pain, of which absence produces enough and more than I could ever thought could be felt, reminding us of a point in astronomy which is this: the longer the days are, the more distant is the sun, and nevertheless the hotter; so is it with our love, for by absence we are kept a distance from one another, and yet it retains its fervour, at least on my side; I hope the like on yours, assuring you that on my part the pain of absence is already too great for me; and when I think of the increase of that which I am forced to suffer, it would be almost intolerable, but for the firm hope I have of your unchangeable affection for me: and to remind you of this sometimes, and seeing that I cannot be personally present with you, I now send you the nearest thing I can to that, namely, my picture set in a bracelet, with the whole of the device, which you already know, wishing myself in their place, if it should please you.  This is from the hand of your loyal servant and friend, H.R.”

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Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were, therefore, in the middle of courting each other. In the second of the series of letters, Henry complains of the dislike Anne is showing towards returning to court.  Henry’s words were:

 

“To my mistress.  Because the time seems very long since I heard concerning your health and you, the great affection I have for you has induced me to send you this bearer, to be better informed of your health and pleasure, and because, since my parting from you, I have been told that the opinion in which I left you is totally changed, and that you would not come to court either with your mother, if you could, or in any other manner; which report, if true, I cannot sufficiently marvel at, because I am sure that I have since never done anything to offend you, and it seems a very poor return for the great love which I bear you to keep me at a distance both from the speech and the person of the woman that I esteem most in the world: and if you love me with as much affection as I hope you do, I am sure that the distance of our two persons would be a little irksome to you, though this does not belong so much to the mistress as to the servant.

 

Consider well, my mistress, that absence from you grieves me sorely, hoping that it is not your will that it should be so; but if I knew for certain that you voluntarily desired it, I could do no other than mourn my ill-fortune, and by degrees abate my great folly.  And so, for lack of time, I make an end of this rude letter, beseeching you to give credence to this bearer in all that he will tell you from me.

 

Written by the hand of your entire Servant,  H.R.”

 

Henry VIII was thirty-seven years old at this point and Anne Boleyn was ten years younger at twenty-seven. The King is clearly infatuated by the Lady Anne and the extent of his emotions towards Anne Boleyn is evident.  However, the letter makes no mention of the plague that were running rife through England in the summer of 1528.  This is later mentioned in the next of the series of letters, which was probably written in July 1528. Henry’s words were:

 

“The uneasiness my doubts about your health gave me, disturbed and alarmed me exceedingly, and I should not have had any quiet without hearing certain tidings,  But now, since you have as yet felt nothing, I hope, am assured that it will spare you, as I hope it is doing with us.  For when we were at Walton, two ushers, two valets de chambres and your brother, master-treasurer, fell ill, but are now quite well; and since we have returned to our house at Hunsdon, we have been perfectly well, and have not, at present, one sick person, God be praised; and I think, if you would retire from Surrey, as we did, you would escape all danger.  There is another thing that may comfort you, which is, that, in truth in this distemper few or no women have been taken ill, and what is more, no person of our court, and few elsewhere, have died of it.  For which reason I beg you, my entirely beloved, not to frighten yourself nor be too uneasy at our absence; for wherever I am, I am yours, and yet we must sometimes submit to our misfortunes, for whoever will struggle against fate is generally but so much the farther from gaining his end: wherefore comfort yourself, and take courage and avoid this pestilence as much as you can, for I hope shortly to make you sing, la renvoyé.  No more at present, from lack of time, but that I wish you in my arms, that I might a little dispel your unreasonable thoughts.  

 

Written by the hand of him who is and always will be yours,

 

H.R.”

 

The bout of sweating sickness, and the survival of it, would only increase both Anne Boleyn’s and Henry VIII’s love for each other.  There are two letters, written a few days apart from one another some time between July and September, that illustrate the progression of the romance.  In the first, Henry steps the romance up a level and demands an answer from Lady Anne.  Henry’s words were:

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“On turning over in my mind the contents of your last letters, I have put myself into great agony, not knowing how to interpret them, whether to my disadvantage, as you show in some places, or to my advantage, as I understand them in some others, beseeching you earnestly to let me know expressly your whole mind as to the love between us two.  It is absolutely necessary for me to obtain this answer, having been for above a whole year stricken with the dart of love, and not yet sure whether I shall fail of finding a place in your heart and affection, which last point has prevented me for some time past from calling you my mistress; because, if you only love me with an ordinary love, that name is not suitable for you, because it denotes a singular love, which is far from common.  But if you please to do the office of a true loyal mistress and friend, to give up yourself body and heart to me, who will be, and have been, your most loyal servant, (if your rigour does not forbid me) I promise you that not only the name shall be given you, but also that I will take you for my only mistress, casting off all others besides you out of my thoughts and affections, and serve you only.  I beseech you to give an entire answer to this my rude letter, that I may know on what and how far I may depend.  And if it does not please you to answer me in writing, appoint some place where I might have it by word of mouth, and I will go thither with all my heart.  No more, for fear of tiring you.  Written by the hand of him who would willingly remain yours, H.R.”  

 

Henry VIII is offering to make Anne her sole mistress, which is a greater honour that what might have been common for the times, however it is clear that, at this point, the offer to Anne is to rather become Henry’s mistress than the full-blown Queen she would later become.  However, the change of events after the bout of sweating sickness has prompted an advancement of the relationship and, indeed, Anne sends a letter and gift accepting the offer to become the king’s mistress.  In the fifth letter of the series, Henry replies offering his ardent gratitude at her acceptance.  Henry’s words were:

 

“For a present so beautiful that nothing could be more so (considering the whole of it), I thank you most cordially, not only on account of the fine diamond and the ship in which the solitary damsel is tossed about, but chiefly for the fine interpretation and the too humble submission which your goodness hath used towards me in this case; for I think it would be very difficult for me to find an occasion to deserve it, if I were not assisted by your great humanity and favour, which I have always sought to seek, and will seek to preserve by all the kindness in my power, in which my hope has placed its unchangeable intention, which says, Aut illic, aut nullibi. 

 

The demonstrations of your affections are such, the beautiful mottoes of the letter so cordially expressed, that they oblige me for ever to honour, love, and serve you sincerely, beseeching you to continue in the same firm and constant purpose, assuring you that, on my part, I will surpass it rather than make it reciprocal, if loyalty of heart and desire to please you can accomplish this.

 

I beg, also, if at any time before this I have in any way offended you, that you would give me the same absolution that you ask, assuring you, that henceforth my heart shall be dedicated to you alone.  I wish my person was so too.  God can do it, if He pleases, to whom I pray every day for that end hoping that at length my prayers will be heard.  I wish the time may be short, but I shall think it long till we see one another.

 

Written by the hand of that secretary, who in heart, body and will, is, Your loyal and most assured Servant, H.R.”

 

Henry VIII is clearly set on divorcing Queen Catherine at this point, and is eyeing up a future relationship with Anne Boleyn, albeit as a mistress at this stage.   Henry is working quick at hand to ensure a divorce between him and Queen Catherine and in the following two letters to Anne Boleyn, he speaks of the arrival of the Papal legate in Paris.  The romance between himself and Anne Boleyn is nonetheless blossoming, so much so Henry VIII pays a visit to Anne Boleyn in Hever during the summer of 1528.  The talk of the Papal legate, through whom they can negotiate a divorce from Queen Catherine, can be observed in the sixth letter sent from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn during the end of September 1528.  Henry’s words were:  

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“The reasonable request of your last letter, with the pleasure also that I take to know them true, causeth me to send you these news.  The legate which we most desire arrived at Paris on Sunday or Monday last past, so that I trust by the next Monday to hear of his arrival at Calais: and then I trust within a while after to enjoy that which I have so longed for, to God’s pleasure and our both comforts.

 

No more to you at this present, mine own darling, for lack of time, but that I would you were in mine arms, or I in yours, for I think it long since I kissed you.

 

Written after the killing of a hart, at eleven of the clock, minding, with God’s grace, to-morrow, mightily timely, to kill another, by the hand which, I trust, shortly shall be yours.  Henry R.” 

 

It seems Anne Boleyn is hastening King Henry to endow her with a greater honour and not just take her as a mistress, but as Queen.  They are both awaiting the Papal legate so they can take their relationship a step further and not just be illegitimate lovers.  Anne Boleyn’s desires can be observed from a letter from her to Cardinal Wolsey in the autumn 1528 regarding the news of the Papal legate.  Anne’s words were:

 

“My lord, in my most humblest wise that my heart can think, I desire you to pardon me that I am so bold to trouble you with my simple and rude writing, esteeming it to proceed from her that is much desirous to know that your grace does well, as I perceive by this bearer that you do, the which I pray God long to continue, as I am most bound to pray; for I do know the great pains and troubles that you have taken for me both day and night is never likely to be recompensed on my part, but alonely in loving you, next unto the king’s grace, above all creatures living.  And I do not doubt but the daily proofs of my deeds shall manifestly declare and affirm my writing to be true, and I do trust you do think the same.

 

My lord, I do assure you, I do long to hear from you news of the legate; for I do hope, as they come from you, they shall be very good; and I am sure you desire it as much as I, and more, an it were possible; as I know it is not: and thus remaining in a steadfast hope, I make an end of my letter.

 

Written with the hand of her that is most bound to be Your humble Servant, Anne Boleyn.”

 

It is evident, therefore, that both Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn are eyeing up a divorce over Henry’s marriage to Queen Catherine.  Here, it can be observed that Anne is bold enough to assert her desires and views to Cardinal Wolsey. The break away from the Catholic Church to secure the divorce by necessity required somewhat of an audacious and forthright prospective Queen.  During the reign of Henry VIII, factions among the royal court were also a prominent force and ensured that those who had fought their way to positions of power close to the king would still remain at the mercy of different emerging factions. Both Anne Boleyn and Cardinal Wolsey would suffer a downfall and death for different reasons later in their lives.   As for the legate the letter refers to, sources confirm that he was delayed as a result of falling ill in the spring 1529. This is derived from the last letter of the series Henry VIII sent to Anne Boleyn, which confirms that the correspondence between the two ended in May 1529, at which point the court of legates was open for a final verdict on the divorce.  

 

Much to the dismay of King Henry VIII, Pope Clement VII only offered a conditional dispensation, which Cardinal Wolsey judged to be insufficient.  As a result, Cardinal Wolsey took over “The Great Matter” from the king’s secretary, William Knight, and convened an ecclesiastical court in England with a special emissary to the Pope joining as well.  However, Pope Clement VII was at the time a hostage of Charles I, the Holy Roman emperor, and had not empowered his deputy to make a decision.  The Pope forbade a decision to be made unless it was decided in Rome.  The failure of Cardinal Wolsey to secure a divorce resulted in him being dismissed from office in 1529.  

   

In 1531, two years before Henry’s marriage to Anne, Catherine was banished from court and her rooms were instead given to Anne Boleyn.  Later, in 1532, after the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Warham, passed away, the Boleyn family chaplain, Thomas Cranmer, was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury with Papal approval.  However, after the demise of Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell enacted further steps to take England away from the Papacy, bringing before Parliament a number of acts in 1532, including the Supplication against the Ordinaries and the Submission of the Clergy, which together recognised the royal supremacy over the church, thereby finalising the break with Rome. As a result of these measures, Thomas More resigned as chancellor, leaving the Protestant-sympathetic Thomas Cromwell as Henry’s chief minister.

 

As for Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, Anne’s father, Thomas Boleyn, was elevated to the Earl of Wiltshire and the Earl of Ormond.  She, herself, was created the Marquessate of Pembroke, an appropriate peerage for a future queen.  In the winter of 1532, Henry VIII and the French king, Francis I, convened at a conference at Calais, in which Henry hoped to enlist the support of the French king for their intended marriage.  Francis I offered Henry his implicit approval, however maintained he could not defy his alliances with the Pope.  Nonetheless, at the resplendent banquet, Anne took precedence over the Duchesses of Norfolk and Suffolk and sat next to the king, which was usually reserved for the queen. 

 

The couple would eventually be married in secret ceremony on the 14th November 1532. However, Anne soon became pregnant and a second wedding service was held in order to legalised to the first wedding, which was considered unlawful at the time.  On the 23rd May 1533, Thomas Cranmer, presided at a special court at Dunstable Priory to rule over the validity of Henry’s marriage to Catherine.  Somewhat inevitably by this point, he declared it null and void.  Five days later, on 28th May 1533, Cranmer declared Henry’s marriage to Anne to be good and valid.  Thus the final transgression of Anne and Henry’s romance was her coronation on the 1stJune 1533, in which Catherine was formally stripped of her title as queen and Anne was crown queen consort in magnificent ceremony in Westminster Abbey.  Their seven year romance had reached its final pillar in making Anne queen.