queenanneboleynthemosthappy

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January 25, 1533: King Henry VIII Marries Anne Boleyn for Second Time

On January 25th, St. Paul’s Day, in 1533, King Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn for the second time before daybreak in “the high chamber” over the Holbein Gate at York Palace (later known as Whitehall Palace).  Like the first time they had married, in November of 1532, their second wedding ceremony was also kept a secret, just not for very long. Only a few select family members and friends attended the ceremony “without any one of them having been summoned for that purpose,” to be witnesses to the simple, clandestine marriage.  According to one of Chapuys’ informants (Erickson, 1984), the wedding took place in hiding and in haste, with only the bride and groom, Anne’s parents, her brother, George, and two of her women. David Starkey (Starkey, 2003), on the other hand, states that the witnesses were Henry Norris, Thomas Heneage, and Anne Savage, who later became Lady Berkeley.  While Tudor wedding ceremonies were normally quick, this one most likely only had the couple exchanging their vows, followed by a quick blessing and prayer, and then the dispersal of the witnesses.  It is not known if Henry and Anne exchanged rings at this ceremony, but if they did so, they did not wear them.  And Anne, who was probably about one month pregnant, continued to hide her condition for a while.

How Long Was the Marriage Kept Secret?

There is some dispute about how long the marriage was kept secret.  It is thought that Thomas Cranmer did not find out about the marriage until about two weeks after it took place.  The following is what various authors have to say about how long the marriage was kept secret:

-  According to David Starkey (Starkey, 2003), Eustace Chapuys, the Imperial Ambassador, learned of their second marriage about a month later, when a confidential informant told him of it.  And around February 15th, in front of several people, Anne told the Duke of Norfolk that “immediately after Easter, she was resolved to go on a pilgrimage to Our Lady [of Walsingham]* in the event that she were not pregnant.”  Chapuys was one of the witnesses to this conversation, and he immediately grasped the significance of her statement, writing “it seems that she wishes the world to understand that she is pregnant or that she is so indeed.”

-  But other sources (Ridgway, 2012) say that Chapuys was still writing reports to the Emperor at the end of that March about rumors that a wedding ceremony was being planned for shortly before Easter.  

- Alison Weir (Weir, Henry VIII, 2001) (Weir, Six Wives of Henry VIII), writes of how, while their wedding was kept a secret for some time, both Henry and Anne loved dropping hints about their secret.  In late January, there were several people who were applying for positions in Anne’s household, due to her rapidly rising status, and they were told that they would not have long to wait until she was Queen.  In February, according to Chapuys, “amidst great company,” Anne informed “one she loved well [Thomas Wyatt], and who was formerly sent away from the court by the King out of jealousy, that she had had a furious hankering to eat apples, and the King had told her it was a sign she was pregnant.”  Anne’s own words were that she had “an inestimable wild desire to eat apples, such as she had never had in her life before, and the King had told her it was a sign she was with child, but she had said it was nothing of the sort.”  Anne then apparently burst into laughter, which, as Thomas Wyatt later told Chapuys, made him (Wyatt) ashamed of her behavior.  Then a few days later, Anne told the Duke of Norfolk that if she was not pregnant by Easter, she intended to go on a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Walsingham.  And then on February 24th, Anne was hosting a banquet for the French Ambassador in her chambers in York Palace, where Henry was so attentive to her and her ladies, that he ended up basically ignoring Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, Lord Chancellor Audley, and the other guests, including the French Ambassador and Eustace Chapuys.  Henry then proceeded to get so drunk that he became indiscrete and started pointing out the rich tapestries and plate that adorned Anne’s chambers, while asking the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, “Has not Madame la Marquise [Anne] a grand dot [dowry] and a rich marriage, as all that we see belongs to her?”  And since it was known that the only husband Anne intended to have was Henry, the court began speculating the meaning behind these statements, but very few guessed the truth.  

-  And according to Carolly Erickson (Erickson, 1984), there was no gossip about the wedding by anyone in the royal household and no news of the marriage reached any of the various ambassadors at court.  Erickson also writes that many of Katharine’s supporters actually began to believe that Henry was tiring of Anne and that his “great folly” was finally coming to an end.  Although later on in her book (Erickson, 1984), Erickson says that long before Cranmer received the Papal bulls* confirming him as Archbishop of Canterbury in late March, Henry had long before started hinting to his courtiers that he had married Anne, and that Anne herself began showing signs of her pregnancy, with her swelling belly and bosom, and a rounding of her heart-shaped face.  

So there are several things that these sources seem to confirm and agree upon.  That Anne told Thomas Wyatt about her craving for apples, that she told the Duke of Norfolk her intention to go to Our Lady of Walsingham at Easter if she was not pregnant by then, that Henry got drunk and pointed out that the plate and tapestries in Anne’s room were her dowry and that she had made a rich marriage. But the rest can only be speculated about.

Why Was the Wedding Kept a Secret?

So why did Henry and Anne marry for the second time, yet still keep their marriage secret?  There were several reasons for this:

1)     Henry was still technically married to Katharine of Aragon, and by marrying Anne, he was committing bigamy and adultery.

2)     The rumors that Anne and Henry’s romance was turning to dust lulled the Pope and his advisors into a false sense of security, and made them think that there was no harm in granting Henry’s request to have Thomas Cranmer confirmed as the Archbishop of Canterbury.  If the Pope suspected that Cranmer “did not hesitate to say openly he is ready to maintain with his life that the king can take the lady [Anne] for his wife,” he would have refused to grant the bull confirming Cranmer’s appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury.

3)     Weddings in Tudor times were normally very boisterous celebrations that involved “superfluous eating and drinking” early in the morning, and ending with the groom taking his bride to bed in the evening, where they would often invite their friends in for a post-coital drink.  The hours between involved feasting, processing and recessing “with a great noise of basins and drums,” guests singing “vicious and naughty ballads” to the newlyweds, as well as playing kissing games and “lifting up and discovering damsels’ clothes,” and pretty much every type of “vice, excess, and misnurture.”  It makes sense that Henry, who was 41, and Anne, who was somewhere between the age of 26 to 32, and therefore an “old maid”, would want to avoid such a spectacle.

4)     Henry and Anne would also have been eager to say their vows and finalize their marriage as quickly as possible, considering Anne’s pregnancy and the need to ensure that their child was legitimate, and the 7 long years they had had to wait before they could finally marry.

5)     And there was also the escalating tensions between Anne and her uncle, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk.  According to Erickson (Erickson, 1984), Norfolk had been making it clear to Anne that if she was not Queen, he no longer had any use for her.  Erickson also writes of how Thomas Boleyn, Anne’s father, had been trying to dissuade Henry from marrying Anne for years, possibly because he knew that Anne’s personality, while ideal for the mistress of Henry, would not be something that Henry would desire in a wife, or it is possible he was concerned over the potential political consequences that could occur if the marriage occurred.  But because of this, Anne and her father were constantly at odds with each other.

Who Officiated at the Wedding?

It was assumed that Thomas Cranmer had officiated at the wedding ceremony, but he denied these rumors vehemently.  In a letter he wrote in June of 1533, to Archdeacon Hawkyns, which told of Anne Boleyn’s coronation, Cranmer stated:

“But now, sir, you may not imagine that this coronation was before her marriage; for she was married much about St. Paul’s Day last, as the condition thereof doth well appear, by reason she is now somewhat big with child.”

Cranmer then went on to challenge the rumors that he had performed the ceremony, stating:

“Notwithstanding it hath been reported throughout a great part of the realm that I married her; which was plainly false, for I myself knew not thereof a fortnight after it was done.”

So who did officiate at the wedding?  Two years after the wedding, Chapuys was told that the wedding had been officiated by an Augustinian friar, later identified as George Brown, the future Archbishop of Dublin, who was rewarded for his service by being made the head of his Order.  But Dr. Rowland Lee has now been determined to be the most likely officiator.  The Catholic apologist, Nicholas Harpsfield, who wrote about Henry and Anne’s wedding in his “A Treatise of the Pretended Divorce between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon”, which was written during Queen Mary I’s reign:

“The first whereof was that the King was married to [the] Lady Anne Bulleyne long ere there was any divorce made by the said Archbishop [of Canterbury].  The which marriage was secretly made at Whitehall very early before day, none being present but Mr Norris and Mr Henage of the Privy Chamber and the Lady Barkeley, with Mr. Rowland the King’s chaplain, that was afterward made Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield.  To whom the King told that now he had gotten of the Pope a lycence to marry another wife, and yet to avoid the business and tumult the thing must be done (quoth the King) very secretly; and thereupon a time and place was appointed to the said Master Rowland to solemnize the said marriage.”

But according to Harpsfield, when the time for the wedding came, Lee was “in a great dump and staggering,” because Henry had not brought the documentations from the Pope that he had claimed to have.  Lee, who was hesitant to perform the ceremony without the license, asked Henry, “Sir, I trust you have the Pope’s license?”  Henry cavalierly replied, “What else?” but still failed to provide Lee with the license.  Lee was not satisfied with Henry’s response and demanded to see the license so that it could be read to all present “or else we run all and I more deep than any other into excommunication in marrying your grace without any baynes asking, and in a place unhallowed, and no divorce as yet promulged of the first matrimony.” But Henry was clever and he quickly came up with a suitable reply, saying, “I have truly a lycence, but it is reposed in another sure[r] place whereto no man resorteth but myself, which, if it were seen, should discharge us all.  But if I should, now that it waxeth towards day, fetch it, and be seen so early abroad, there would rise a rumour and talk thereof other than were convenient.  Go forth in God’s name, and do that which appertaineth to you.  I will take upon me all other danger.”  Lee now had two choices: he could ask for the license and show that he did not trust his King, or he could get on with the ceremony.  He made the obvious choice and performed the ceremony.  But Starkey seems to think that this whole exchange was “a carefully contrived performance,” and that Lee, who was actually a shrewd, efficient man, as well as an “accomplished bully”, was acting his part in a performance that, once the marriage became common knowledge, was intended to suggest that Henry had received permission from Rome to marry Anne.

Now, since Harpsfield was a Catholic recusant, his account of the ceremony could be discounted except for the fact that it contains one assertion, according to David Starkey (Starkey, 2003), that can be independently verified.  Harpsfield’s claim that the marriage took place “at Whitehall” at first seems to be inaccurate, since Henry’s itinerary in the Public Records Office states that the King remained in Greenwich for the entire January of 1533.  But this does not take into account the fact that Henry met with Dr. Edmund Bonner at York Palace on January 25th, which Bonner wrote about in a letter to Dr. William Benet.  This letter proves that Henry was indeed at York Palace overnight on Friday/Saturday on January 24/25th, even though it was a brief stay, since Henry left Greenwich late enough on the 24th to sign some warrant and he was back in time on the 25th to sign another warrant.  But this brief visit did give him enough time to marry Anne Boleyn. There is further proof that the marriage to place at York Palace, since Chapuys and Cranmer later stated that the marriage took place on the 25th.  There is also proof that this was Henry’s only visit to York Palace between Christmas of 1532 and February 4th, in 1533, when the new session of Parliament opened (Starkey, 2003).  So since the evidence supports Harpsfield’s claim about the location of the wedding, it is likely that the other details he provided are true as well.

*Our Lady of Walsingham – A shrine that women who were pregnant or wanted to become pregnant went to worship/pray for a healthy baby or to become pregnant.  Women who had also given birth successfully would go there to give thanks for their child, as did new fathers.  Sometimes men would go to worship/pray that their wife would become pregnant or, if she was already pregnant, give birth to a healthy child.  

*Papal Bulls – A solemn papal letter sealed with a bulla (the round, usually lead, seal attached to a papal bull) or with a red-ink imprint of the device on the bulla; a papal edict or decree.

Sources:

Erickson, C. (1984). Mistress  Anne. New York: Summit Books.

Ridgway,  C. (2012). On This Day in Tudor History. MadeGlobal Publishing.

Starkey,  D. (2003). Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII. New York City:  HarperCollins Publishers.

Weir,  A. (2001). Henry VIII. United States: Random House, Inc.

Weir,  A. (n.d.). Six Wives of Henry VIII.

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January 24, 1536: King Henry VIII Suffers a Severe Jousting Accident

On January 24th, in 1536, King Henry VIII suffered a severe jousting accident during a joust that was part of the celebrations of Katharine of Aragon’s death held at Greenwich Palace. Henry wanted to show off the new, youthful vigor he was feeling following his “freedom” from Katharine, so he began preparing for the jousts in earnest.  But Henry was no longer the young, athletic man who had shown such prowess during jousts in the past.  And during this joust, disaster struck.  Chapuys reported that Henry was “mounted on a great horse to run at the lists,” when, suddenly, “both [horse and rider] fell so heavily that everyone thought it a miracle he [Henry] was not killed.”  Henry was wearing a full suit of armor when the accident occurred. It turned out that Henry had come through the ordeal unscathed, a fact that was revealed once his armor was removed (depending on what source you use).  Other sources, including Alison Weir (Weir, Six Wives of Henry VIII) (Weir, Henry VIII, 2001) and Carolly Erickson (Erickson, 1984) say that Henry was thrown from his horse and that he lay unconscious for two hours “without speaking”, appearing to be near death, but that he roused himself and – much to everyone’s amazement – resumed normal activity almost immediately. Suzannah Lipscomb wrote in her book 1536: The Year that Changed Henry VIII, that it is astonishing that Henry survived the accident, since the combination of speed, the weight of Henry’s armor and the massive warhorse, and the blow to his head made it a very serious accident.

The Imperial Ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, wrote the following about the incident in one of his dispatches:

“On the eve of the Conversion of St. Paul, the King being mounted on a great horse to run at the lists, both fell so heavily that every one thought it a miracle he was not killed, but he sustained no injury. Thinks he might ask of fortune for what greater misfortune he is reserved, like the other tyrant who escaped from the fall of the house, in which all the rest were smothered, and soon after died.”

There was another record written a few days later by Dr. Ortiz to the Empress, which is as follows:

“The French king said that the king of England had fallen from his horse, and been for two hours without speaking.  ‘La Ana’ (Anne Boleyn) was so upset that she miscarried of a son.”

Queen Anne was not present at the joust when Henry had his accident.  It is possible she was feeling the burden of her pregnancy, or perhaps she had chosen to stay absent because of a temporary spat with Henry.  There is also the possibility that Henry forbade Anne from attending the joust so that Jane Seymour could watch the joust without having to deal with Anne’s disapproval (Erickson, 1984).  When she received news of Henry’s accident, she was sitting quietly with her women in her rooms, and the news came from her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk.  He told Anne the news in a blunt and unsympathetic nature, and it severely shocked and dismayed her (according to some sources).

There are other sources, including Alison Weir (Weir, Six Wives of Henry VIII) (Weir, Henry VIII, 2001) and Carolly Erickson (Erickson, 1984), that state that Norfolk “announced [the news] to her in a manner not to create alarm”, and that Anne “seemed quite indifferent to it”, even after Norfolk told her that most people considered it a miracle her husband had survived the accident.

Which Account is True?

I am inclined to believe that Anne was upset and shocked at the news of Henry’s accident, and that if she did indeed show little concern at the news, it was because she was trying to put on a brave face. She would have already been in a concerned and emotional state before hearing the news, given her concern over her pregnancy, her husband’s apparent interest in Jane Seymour, and the uncertainty of her future.  Since news of Katharine’s death, Anne had been acting anxious and agitated, sometime to the point of tears (Erickson, 1984).  And once she heard that her husband was in danger of dying (depending on what source you use), she would have needed to seem strong and capable, in case Henry did die and she was left widowed and pregnant with the hoped-for heir.  She would not have wanted to show any fear about her situation to her many enemies, who would have been eager to take advantage of it.

Sources:

Erickson, C. (1984). Mistress  Anne. New York: Summit Books.

Fox,  J. (2009). Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford.  New York: Ballantine Books.

Ridgway,  C. (2012). On This Day in Tudor History. MadeGlobal Publishing.

Starkey,  D. (2003). Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII. New York City:  HarperCollins Publishers.

Weir,  A. (2001). Henry VIII. United States: Random House, Inc.

Weir,  A. (n.d.). Six Wives of Henry VIII.

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“Of all losses, time is the most irrecuperable for it can never be redeemed.” 

Thank you for the mention, @boleynqueens!! Happy new year!!

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I Published My First Book!

Ok, so this post isn’t related to Anne Boleyn or her life, but I am so excited, I wanted to share the news with all of you anyway!  I published my first book on Kindle yesterday!  It is called Pelagrie Piptree and the Doubling Stone, and it is a children’s/pre-teen book.  However, I think people of all ages would enjoy reading it and it would also be a good book to read to your younger kids at bedtime, if you do a chapter or two a night.  I would love it if you would go to the link above and check it out :D

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The infamous birth announcement of the then Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. In the second closeup picture, if you look at the third line of text you can see where the extra S was squeezed in to make “Princess” instead of “Prince” after she was born a  girl and not the expected son.

By the Queen

Right trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. And whereas it hath pleased the goodness of Almighty God of His infinite mercy and grace to send unto us at this time good speed in the deliverance and bringing forth of a princess to the great joy and inward comfort of my Lord, us, and of all his good and loving subjects of this his realm, for which inestimable benevolence so shown unto us we have no little cause to give high thanks, laud and praise unto our said Maker, like as we do most lowly, humbly, and with all the inward desire of our heart. And inasmuch as we undoubtedly trust that this our good speed is to your great pleasure, comfort and consolation, we therefore by this our letters advertise you thereof, desiring and heartily praying you to give with us unto Almighty God high thanks, glory, laud and praise, and to pray for the good health, prosperity, and continual preservation of the said Princess accordingly. Given under our signet at my lords’ Manor of Greenwich. The 7th day of September, in the 25th year of my said lord’s Reign.

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someone: there are too many movies about anne boleyn! i don't want to hear about her anymore!

me: *yawns for so long i almost pass out*

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Why are you doing this? Why did you have to do this?! You have no one to blame but yourself for this!

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What would a silly girl like you have to say to a King?

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”Captivating to men, Anne was also sharp, assertive, subtle, calculating, vindictive, a power dresser and a power player, perhaps a figure to be more admired than liked.”

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On September 1, 1532, Anne Boleyn was made Marquis/Marquess of Pembroke during a ceremony in Windsor Castle��s Garter Throne Room (pictured above). She was given a patent of nobility (also pictured above) during the ceremony.

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August 26, 1533: Queen Anne Boleyn Enters Confinement

On August 26th, in 1533, Anne Boleyn entered confinement to prepare for the birth of her child. During Tudor times, women usually would go into confinement, also known as “taking to their chamber,” about four to six weeks before their due date. However, Anne took to her chamber on August 26th, 1533, which was less than 2 weeks before Elizabeth was born. This could have been because Anne miscalculated her due date, or because Elizabeth was born prematurely. She also could have entered confinement later than was normal, in order to show that Elizabeth had not been conceived out of wedlock and therefore, her child would be legitimate. Historian Eric Ives has suggested that Anne Boleyn realizing that she was pregnant led to her hurried, secret marriage to Henry on January 25th, 1533, as well as Thomas Cranmer’s rapid ascendance to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Audley’s promotion to Lord Chancellor of England, and the burst of parliamentary drafting. But since the early stages of pregnancy made it difficult to recognize that conception had occurred, this burst of activity may simply have been because the couple were sleeping together and were therefore risking pregnancy. The ceremony of Anne taking to her chamber took place at Greenwich Palace. Before taking to her chamber, she attended a special mass at the palace’s Chapel Royal. After mass, she was escorted to her great chamber, as were her ladies. Once there, the group was given spiced wine, after which, Anne’s lord chamberlain prayed that God would grant her a safe and easy birth, finishing with a pledge “to the Queen’s good hour”. After this, a procession formed to walk Anne to her chambers. Upon arrival at the Chamber doors, the Chamberlain and other gentlemen stood respectfully aside as Anne retired to her chamber with her ladies. From that moment on, until 30 days after delivering her baby, her chamber would be occupied only by women, an ordinance created by Lady Margaret Beaufort, Henry VIII’s paternal grandmother. She added several rules about how the birthing chamber should be prepared in the 15th-century “Royalle Book.” These rules were intended to ensure a safe delivery and a healthy baby. Lady Margaret Beaufort added the following ordinances in regards to the birthing chamber: 1. It should be carpeted. 2. It should have its walls, ceilings and windows covered with blue arras (also known as tapestries) that had calming and romantic images embroidered on them. 3. One window in the birthing room should be slightly uncovered, in order to let in light and air when needed. 4. It must be furnished with a bed for the Queen, as well as a pallet at the foot of the bed – The Queen would give birth on the pallet, so it was set at a height appropriate for the midwife to do her work. It would also be set up close to the fire and away from cold draughts. 5. The room should have soft, comfortable furnishings of crimson satin with embroidered gold crowns and the Queen’s arms 6. There should be an altar for the Queen and her ladies to use for prayer and worship. 7. The must be a tapestry covered cupboard that would hold the birthing equipment and swaddling bands*. 8. It must have a font* in case of a sickly baby needing to be baptized straight after the birth· 9. Since it was important for the Queen and her baby to be surrounded by symbols of wealth and the Queen’s high status, the room would have a display of gold and silver plate items from the Jewel House. Since fresh air was thought to be harmful to the mother and her child, the birthing rooms were fastened up against it using tapestries and other window coverings. Candles would be used to light the darkened rooms, and special objects like saint’s relics (there was a girdle said to ease birthing pains, amulets, and certain herbs. The idea was that this womb-like environment would protect the baby from any evil spirits when it came into the world. The birthing chamber would have undoubtedly been stifling, hot, and uncomfortable since fresh air was “harmful”! However, Anne was lucky in the fact that she gave birth to Elizabeth two weeks after entering confinement, instead of the usual four to six weeks, so she could leave that stifling chamber after a month and a half, instead of two to two and a half months! It was also advised that the woman remove all types of fastenings, knots, rings, buckles, and laces, so that they wouldn’t get in the way and so that they would not restrict her in any way. It was also a symbolic gesture, since their removal was seen as promoting an easier birth. There was a practice of having everyone remove or untie any knots, fastenings, etc., as well as opening doors and windows, if a woman was having an especially difficult birth. David Starkey describes how the Anne Boleyn’s chambers would have been prepared for the impending birth in his book “Elizabeth”: “The walls and ceilings were close hung and tented with arras – that is, precious tapestry woven with gold or silver threads – and the floor thickly laid with rich carpets. The arras was left loose at a single window, so that the Queen could order a little light and air to be admitted, though this was generally felt inadvisable. Precautions were taken, too, about the design of the hangings. Figurative tapestry, with human or animal images was ruled out. The fear was that it could trigger fantasies in the Queen’s mind which might lead to the child being deformed. Instead, simple, repetitive patterns were preferred. The Queen’s richly hung and canopied bed was to match or be en-suite with the hangings, as was the pallet or day-bed which stood at its foot. And it was on the pallet, almost certainly that the birth took place. Carpenters and joiners had first prepared the skeleton by framing up a false ceiling in the chamber. Then the officers of the wardrobe had moved in to nail up and arrange the tapestry, carpets and hangings. At the last minute, gold and silver plate had been brought from the Jewel House. There were cups and bowls to stand on the cupboard and crucifixes, candlesticks and images for the altar. The result was a cross between a chapel and a luxuriously padded cell.” David Starkey also describes this ritual confinement as “a sort of purdah” and writes of how it “emphasized that childbirth was a purely female mystery.” Despite how stifling Anne’s chambers would have felt, they were magnificent to behold. Her floors were carpeted, beautiful tapestries lined the chamber walls and ceiling, a special cupboard was built “with three shelves for the queen’s plate to stand upon”, there was a “false roof made in the queen’s chamber for to seal and hang it with cloth of arras”, and while the windows were covered, one was left open or “hanged that she may have light when it pleaseth her.” Chapuys reported that, “the king has taken from his treasures one of the richest and most triumphant beds which was given for the ransom of a duke of Alençon.” There was also a pallet bed next to the first bed that had a crimson canopy hanging over it. The pallet bed was where Anne would actually give birth. And in her presence chambers, a new state bed, which was hung with a lavish ceiler, tester, and counterpane, “all richly embroidered upon crimson velvet”, had been built for her to receive visitors and well-wishers after her delivery. There were also two cradles for the future royal baby waiting in Anne’s chambers, one a “great cradle of estate” that was upholstered in crimson cloth of gold and had an ermine-lined counterpane, and the other a carved wooden cradle painted gold. Her confinement, while it must have been rather claustrophobic, was a social occasion, with her female relatives and her ladies keeping her company. They would occupy themselves by playing cards, reading, giving Anne emotional support and encouragement, reminiscing over their own experiences giving birth, sing, and discourse on other various topics pleasing to Anne. Once labor began, her ladies would have immediately jumped to action, preparing a caudle for Anne to drink to give her strength during her labor, as well as assisting the midwife in bringing the mother and child safely through the delivery. One can imagine what an exciting time this was for Henry and Anne, as they eagerly awaited the day that Anne gave birth to the much desired son and heir. And despite the fact that she gave birth to a girl, they did succeed in conceiving one of England’s greatest monarchs. Sources: Erickson, C. (1984). Mistress Anne. New York: Summit Books. Fox, J. (2009). Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford. New York: Ballantine Books. Ridgway, C. (2012). On This Day in Tudor History. MadeGlobal Publishing. Starkey, D. (2003). Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII. New York City: HarperCollins Publishers. Weir, A. (2001). Henry VIII. United States: Random House, Inc. Weir, A. (n.d.). Six Wives of Henry VIII.

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August 22, 1532: Death of William Warham

On August 22nd, in 1532, seventy-six-year-old William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, as well as an administrator of King Henry VIII, died in Hackington, Kent. Warham had served Henry VIII as Keeper of the Great Seal, and Lord Chancellor for a time. Per his instructions, he was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, near where the martyr Thomas Becket was murdered. Warham’s death was fortunate for King Henry and Anne Boleyn, because it left a vacant See of Canterbury. Henry would now be able to appoint someone to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury that would be willing to help move things along with divorcing Katharine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne. And he knew that Thomas Cranmer was just the man for the job. The Boleyns wholeheartedly supported Cranmer’s appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury, but there were several obstacles that had to be overcome before Cranmer was granted that exalted position: the Pope had to approve, Cranmer had to agree to it, Cranmer had to be brought back from Spain (where he was serving as an ambassador), and there was also the matter of Cranmer’s secret marriage. On August 26th, Carlo Capello reported the death of Warham, writing: “Four days ago, the Reverend Archbishop of Canterbury died. The King sent the Dike of Norfolk to take possession as usual; he will keep it for a year and then give it to Dom. Gramello or to Master [Reginald] Pole.” Most scholars assume that Gramello is actually referring to Cranmer. Sources: Ridgway, C. (2012). On This Day in Tudor History. MadeGlobal Publishing. Starkey, D. (2003). Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII. New York City: HarperCollins Publishers. Weir, A. (n.d.). Six Wives of Henry VIII.

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Second Wife : Queen Anne Boleyn (Tudor) .

(28 May 1533 – 17 May 1536)

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Anne Boleyn youth at France - Aesthetic

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July 21, 1528: King Henry VIII Writes his Thirteenth Love Letter to Anne Boleyn

On July 21st, in 1528, King Henry VIII wrote his twelfth love letter to Anne Boleyn. "DARLING, I heartily recommend me to you, ascertaining you that I am not a little perplexed with such things as your brother shall on my part declare unto you, to whom I pray you give full credence, for it were too long to write. In my last letters I writ to you that I trusted shortly to see you, which is better known at London than with any that is about me, whereof I not a little marvel; but lack of discreet handling must needs be the cause thereof. No more to you at this time, but that I trust shortly our meetings shall not depend upon other men’s light handlings, but upon our own. Written with the hand of him that longeth to be yours. H. R." Source: http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/resources/anne-boleyn-words/henry-viiis-love-letters-to-anne-boleyn/love-letter-13/#ixzz3dP0La9Px