Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn, called in English Anne Boleyn (pronounced /ˈbʊlɪn/, /bʊˈlen/ or /bəˈlɪn/; Norfolk or Kent, c. 1501-07 - London, May 19, 1536), was queen consort of England by her marriage to Henry VIII. In 1532, before his marriage to her, the king granted him the marquisate of Pembroke, created over her extinct earldom; it was the first time that a woman in England had been granted a hereditary peerage. Anne Boleyn was arrested on May 2, 1536, tried on the 12th in a contentious trial, and executed on the 19th.

Her date of birth used to be set at 1507, but most modern historians date it to 1501. Anne Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry VIII and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, one of the most important monarchs of the british history. The marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and her subsequent execution, were part of the considerable political and religious turmoil with which the English Reformation began. Ana Bolena participated actively in the promotion of the cause of the reform of the Church. She has been called "the most influential and important queen consort England has ever had."

Anne Boleyn is popularly known for having been beheaded on charges of adultery, incest and treason. It is widely accepted that she was innocent of these charges, and she was later recognized as a martyr in English Protestant culture, particularly due to the work of John Foxe. Her life has been adapted into numerous novels, plays, songs, operas, television dramas, and films, including Anne of a Thousand Days, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Tudors, The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Doomed Queen Anne.

In recent years, scholarly and historical opinion of her has been generally favourable, thanks in large part to two lengthy biographies written by Professor Eric Ives (1986 and 2004). The works of David Starkey, David Loades, John Guy, Retha Warnicke, and Diarmaid Macculloch have also been favorable or admiring. The popular biographies of Joanna Denny and the feminist Karen Lindsey were approached in a similar way. A notable exception is the work of the British writer Alison Weir, whose books are often rather more critical of Anne Boleyn.

Early Years

Controversy over his birth

The lack of parish archives from the period has made it impossible to establish the exact date of Anne Boleyn's birth. Evidence from the 16th century century is contradictory, with different dates being proposed by various authors. An Italian historian, in 1600, suggested that she was born in 1499, while Thomas More's son-in-law, William Roper, suggested a much later date, 1512. Today, scholarly debate centers around two key dates: 1501 and 1507. Ives, a British historian and legal scholar, favors the 1501 date, while Retha Warnicke, an American historian who has also written a biography of Anne, prefers 1507.

The key piece of written evidence supporting this argument is a letter Anne wrote in 1514. She wrote it in French (her second language) to her father, who was still living in England while Anne completed her education in the Netherlands. Low. Ives argues that the style of the letter and its mature handwriting show that Anne must have been approximately thirteen years old at the time of writing it. This would also be around the minimum age at which a girl could be a maid of honor, when Ana was for the regent Margarita. This is supported by statements by a chronicler from the late XVI century who wrote that Anne was twenty when she returned from France. These conclusions are disputed by Warnicke in various books and articles, but the evidence does not yet conclusively support any date.

Childhood and family

Anne was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, later 1st Earl of Wiltshire and 1st Earl of Ormonde, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Boleyn (née Elizabeth Howard), daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. It is not known for sure where she was born, but it must have been between her family mansion, Blickling Hall in Norfolk and her favorite residence, Hever Castle in Kent.

There were rumors that Ana suffered from polydactyly (six fingers on her left hand, then considered a sign of the devil) and a birthmark or mole on her neck, which she always covered with a jewel. Today there is no evidence to support this popular legend. None of the many eyewitness accounts of Anne Boleyn's appearance—some of them meticulously detailed—mention any deformity, let alone a sixth finger. Also, in an age when physical deformities were often interpreted as a sign of evil, it's hard to believe that Anne Boleyn would appeal to King Henry, if she actually had any deformities.

It is also uncertain when her two siblings were born, but it seems clear that her sister, Maria, was older than her. Maria's children believed that her mother was her older sister; as well as Anne's daughter, Isabel, her brother George Boleyn was born around 1504.

In her adult life, Ana did not maintain a close relationship with her father, although she did during childhood. Her relationship with her sister Maria hers appears to have been cordial, but not intimate. She had a closer relationship with her mother and her brother Jorge, whom she seemed to feel closest to.

At the time of his birth, the Boleyn family was considered one of the most respectable of the English aristocracy, though they had held a title for only four generations. Later, they were branded as social climbers, but this was a political attack. The tradition that the Boleyns were a London merchant family is unfounded; in fact they were aristocrats, Anne counted among her great-grandparents a mayor ( Lord Mayor ) of London, a duke, a jarl, two aristocratic ladies and a gentleman; Among her relatives were the Howards, one of the most prominent families in the country. She surely was of nobler birth than either Joan Seymour or Catherine Parr, two of Henry's other English wives.

Ana's father was a diplomat respected for his talent for languages; he was already a favorite of Henry VII, who sent him on many diplomatic missions abroad. He continued his career under the reign of Henry VIII, who ascended the throne in 1509. In Europe Thomas Boleyn had many admirers for his professionalism and charm, including Archduchess Margaret of Austria, daughter of Maximilian I, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire who ruled the Netherlands in his father's name. She was so impressed by Thomas Boleyn that she offered his daughter, Anne, a place in her home. Usually a girl had to be 12 years old to earn such an honor, but Ana may have been a little younger at the time. Marguerite affectionately referred to her as "La petite Boleyn" (it is not known, however, whether the adjective referred to her age or her height). She made a good impression in the Netherlands for his manners and dedication and lived there from the spring of 1513 until his father ordered him to continue his education in Paris in the winter of 1514.

In France, Anne was a lady-in-waiting to Claudia of France and also acted as an interpreter whenever there was an important English guest at court. At the Queen's home she completed her French studies and gained a detailed knowledge of French culture and etiquette. She was also interested in fashion and the ethics that the reform of the Church demanded. Her European education ended in the winter of 1521, when she returned to England on her father's orders. She set out from Calais, then still an English possession, in January 1522.

Appearance and personality

A portrait of Ana Bolena painted some years after her death. His most recent biographer considers him very close to “the real Ana Bolena”.

Anne Boleyn was not conventionally beautiful for her time. She was thin and her skin was considered too dark. However, many of her were impressed by her dark eyes and her long dark hair that she wore loosely. The Venetian ambassador to Henry VIII's court who met Anne in 1532 wrote, "She was not one of the most beautiful women in the world", yet other acquaintances considered her "completely belle" (absolutely beautiful).) and "a handsome young woman." A historian has compiled all the descriptions and concludes thus:

He never described it as a great beauty, but even those who hated it admitted he had an exacerbated charm. The dark cutis and black hair gave him an exotic aura in a culture that saw white paleness as milk as an essential part of beauty. He had a particularly remarkable eye: 'black and beautiful' wrote a contemporary, while another said they were 'always the most attractive', and that she 'knows how to use them effectively.'

People seemed drawn mainly to Anne's charisma. She made a good impression with her taste in fashion and inspired many trends among the ladies of the court. In retrospect, she was probably the greatest English fashion icon of the early XVI century . William Forrest, author of a contemporary poem about Catherine of Aragon, praised Ana's "excellent step" and her skill as a dancer. "Here," he wrote, "she was [a] fresh maiden who could stumble and go on."

Ana's charm was not so much in her physical appearance as in her vivid personality, her elegance, her sharp wit and other abilities. It was low and ostentatious fragility [...] it stood out in the song, composing music, dancing and conversation [...] It was not surprising, therefore, that the young people of the court strung around it.

She was a devout Christian in the new tradition of the Renaissance humanist movement (characterizing her as a Protestant would be an exaggeration). She made generous donations and sewed shirts for the poor. In her youth she was "sweet and merry" and she enjoyed gambling, drinking wine, and gossiping.She was courageous and emotional. However, according to her enemies, Ana she could also be extravagant, neurotic, spiteful and moody.

It seems to us religiously inconsequent, rather than aggressive; calculator, more than emotional; with a slight courteous touch but with great political control... a woman who took control of her own situation in a world of men; a woman who made her education, her style and her presence weigh more than the disadvantages of her sex; she went from being moderately well seen, to driving a storm in court and the King. Perhaps, in the end, it is Thomas Cromwell's assessment that is closer: intelligence, spirit and courage.

Henry VIII

Real loves

Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII.

When Anne Boleyn came to court, Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was popular despite not participating in politics or court life for some time. All the children she had with Henry had died young, and the king was concerned about having a male heir to his throne in order to preserve the monarchy and avoid civil war.

Boleyn made her court debut at a costume ball in March 1522, when she performed an elaborate dance accompanying the king's younger sister, several great ladies of the court, and her sister Mary (then, king's lover). Within weeks of this performance, Boleyn was known as the most important and fashionable woman at court and was referred to as "the glass of fashion".

She was being courted at the time by Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, son of the Earl of Northumberland. The exact nature of the relationship between the two is unclear. Many novels and film adaptations have romanticized the story by describing how the young lovers consummated their relationship. However, it is worth noting that it would have been impossible to keep their betrothal, had it been consummated, and several of her biographers have indicated that Anne had seen too many ruined reputations to risk her own. A Catholic priest, George Cavendish, who disliked her but was a friend of Henry Percy, later stated categorically that they had never been her lovers. With that, it seems unlikely that their relationship was sexual.

The idyll was broken in 1523, when Lord Henry's father refused to support the betrothal. One theory is that it was secretly broken up by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry's chief minister, because the king wanted Anne for himself. Whether this was the case is impossible to know precisely, and historians are divided. The evidence, from statements made to Ana's sister, María, and her husband, William Carey, indicates that Enrique was then involved in an affair with María Boleyn.

According to George Cavendish, Anne was briefly sent from court to her family's country estates, but for how long is unknown. When she returned to court she gathered a coterie of friends and admirers and became famous for her ability to keep men at a distance. The poet Thomas Wyatt wrote about her in the poem Whoso List to Hunt, in which he described her as unapproachable and stubborn, despite appearing demure and quiet. In 1525, Henry VIII fell in love with her. from her and began to chase her.

Henry VIII of England. He broke Ana with dozens of love letters.

Ann's sister, Mary, had previously been King Henry's mistress for a time, during the time she was married to William Carey, a gentleman of the King's Privy Chamber. It was long rumored that one or both of Mary Boleyn's children were fathered by Henry. Some writers, such as Alison Weir, now question whether Henry Carey (Mary's son) was really the king's son.

Ana resisted his seduction attempts and refused to become his lover. She rejected the king's initial proposals saying, "I beg his highness very earnestly to desist, and to this my response is largely my response. I'd rather lose my life than her honesty.” The king was even more attracted after her refusal and pursued her incessantly, even after she left court to return to Kent. Historians are divided on Ana's motives for rejecting Enrique—some say it was virtue and others ambition. In the end he proposed to her and she accepted. However, she decided not to sleep with him before they were married, since the premarital relationship meant that if they had a child, it would be illegitimate. It is often thought that Henry's infatuation with her was a way of annulling her marriage, while there is good evidence that Henry made the decision to end her marriage to Queen Catherine, because she had not given him an heir; the two points of view are not exclusive. Henry and his ministers petitioned the Holy See for an annulment in 1527.

At first, Boleyn kept it a secret, but by 1528 it was public knowledge that Henry intended to marry her. Anne's relatives supported her cause and had many supporters at court. At first, however, she stayed away from politics. She reveled in her newfound lifestyle. Enrique paid for everything, and accumulated a significant amount of clothing, furs, and jewelry. He was assigned his own servants, several ladies-in-waiting, and new quarters in the palace.

The power behind the throne

In 1529, it seemed that Pope Clement VII was not going to grant Henry the annulment he had requested in 1527. In part, the problem was that Emperor Charles V, Catherine of Aragon's nephew, had taken Clement prisoner. So Henry saw that it was unlikely that the pope would grant the annulment to the emperor's aunt. Furthermore, the Church, entangled in the Reformation, could hardly afford to contradict itself with the annulment of a marriage that originally warranted a dispensation, without giving its enemies further reason to ridicule its authority. With political tension abroad, the court was thrown into turmoil and from then on Cardinal Wolsey's loyalty to the Boleyns was in question.

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.

Convinced he was a traitor, Anne Boleyn kept up the pressure until Wolsey was dismissed from public office in 1529. After his dismissal, the cardinal asked her to help him return to power, but she refused. So he began to hatch a secret plot to force Ana into exile. For this he initiated contacts with Queen Catherine and the Pope. When the plot was discovered, Henry had Wolsey arrested, and had it not been for his death from a terminal illness in 1530, he might have been executed for treason. A year later, Queen Catherine was banished from court and her former apartments were given to Anne.

With Wolsey dead, Anne Boleyn became the most powerful person at court, with considerable power in appointing members of government and in political matters.

Her exasperation at the Vatican's refusal to make her queen turned her to a new alternative. She suggested that Henry should follow the advice of religious radicals such as William Tyndale, who denied papal authority and believed that the monarch should lead the Church. When William Warham, the Conservative Archbishop of Canterbury, died, Boleyn appointed her family chaplain, Thomas Cranmer, to the post. She also supported the rise of the radical Thomas Cromwell, who became the king's new favourite.

During this period, Boleyn also played a large role on England's international scene, solidifying the alliance with France. She established an excellent relationship with the French ambassador, Gilles de la Pommeraye, who was captivated by her. With his help, she arranged an international conference at Calais in the winter of 1532, at which Henry hoped to win the support of Francis I of France for his remarriage.

Before leaving for Calais, Henry granted Anne the Marquess of Pembroke, making her the first English commoner to become a noblewoman in her own right rather than by inheritance. Ana's family also took advantage of the relationship; Her father, already Viscount Rochford, was made Earl of Wiltshire and (thanks to a deal between the King and Anne's Irish cousins, the Butler family) Earl of Ormonde. Thanks to the intervention of Anne from her, her widowed sister Maria from her received an annual pension of 100 pounds, and her son, Henry Carey, was educated in a prestigious Cistercian monastery.

Marriage

Drawing of Hans Holbein the Young man who shows the pregnant queen. Some historians doubt that it is Ana, as it is believed that her hair color was much darker.

The Calais conference was a political triumph, as the French government finally gave its support to Henry's remarriage. Immediately after returning to Dover in England, Henry and Anne held a secret wedding ceremony. She became pregnant within a few months and, as was customary for royalty, there was a second wedding ceremony, which took place in London on 25 January. from 1533.

At that moment events began to move at a rapid pace. On May 23, 1533, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, at the trial session of a special tribunal which met at Dunstable Priory to decide on the validity of the King's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, declared Henry's marriage and Catalina without legal force. Five days later, on May 28, 1533, Cranmer declared the marriage of Henry and Anne to be authentic and valid. Seven years after his relationship with Henry began, Anne was finally his legal wife and Queen of England. Catherine was formally stripped of her title as queen in time for Anne's coronation, which occurred on June 1, 1533. Defying the pope, Cranmer declared that the Church of England was under Henry's control, not Rome's. This was the famous "Break with Rome," which marked the end of England's history as a Catholic country. Few people were aware of the meaning at the time, and even fewer were prepared to defend the authority of the pope. Queen Anne was delighted with this development—even though she kept up appearances, in Catholic regalia (the king would not have allowed any other option), she believed that the Papacy was a corrupting influence on Christianity. Her residual Catholic tendencies can be seen in the ostentatious devotion to the Virgin Mary in her coronation display.

After her coronation, Ana settled into a quiet routine to prepare for the impending birth. She was deeply distressed when Henry became infatuated with a court lady, which led to her first serious confrontation. The affair was brief, since Enrique wanted nothing to endanger the pregnancy of his wife.

Isabel, daughter of Ana Bolena. Declared bastard when her mother was executed in 1536.

The daughter of Henry and Anne was born somewhat prematurely on September 7, 1533, in the king's favorite palace, the Palace of Placentia. They baptized her daughter with the name of Isabel, in honor of Enrique's mother, Isabel of York. They gave her a splendid christening, but Ana feared that Catalina's daughter, Maria, would threaten Elizabeth's position. Henry assuaged her wife's fears by separating Mary from her many servants and sending her to Hatfield House, where Princess Elizabeth lived with her own magnificent personal staff of servants. The country air was better for the baby's health, and Anne was a doting mother who regularly visited her daughter. Her visits were also displays of friction between her and her stepdaughter Princess Mary, whom she referred to as " my father's lover", while Ana called María "that bloody bastard".

Life as a queen

I hear of Ana Bolena as consort queen of England.

Anna had a larger staff of servants than Catalina: there were more than 250 servants to attend to her personal needs, from priests to stable boys. There were also more than 60 bridesmaids who served her and accompanied her to social events. She also employed several priests who acted as her confessors, chaplains, and religious advisors to her. One of these was the religious moderate Matthew Parker, who would become one of the leading architects of the modern Church of England in the reign of her daughter Elizabeth I.

Her reputation as a religious reformer spread throughout Europe, and she was hailed as a hero by Protestant figures; even Martin Luther saw her accession to her throne as a good sign. She also saved the life of French reformer Nicholas Bourbon, who was sentenced to death by the French Inquisition.She appealed to the French royal family, who spared Bourbon's life as a favor to the English queen. Bourbon would later refer to her as "the queen God loves." Although she advocated for religious reform, especially translating the Bible into English, she did not challenge the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. In addition, when her husband opposed most of the Lutheran doctrinal reforms, Anne had to be careful about leading England toward what was often called "the New Learning." She was also a generous patron of charity, distributing alms to help the poor and funds educational foundations.

As queen, she presided over a magnificent court. In the 16th century royal families were expected to be extravagant, in order to communicate the strength of the monarchy. Anne spent enormous sums on dresses, jewelry, headdresses, ostrich feather fans, riding equipment, and the finest upholstery and furniture from around the world. Numerous palaces were renovated to suit her extravagant tastes.

Other pregnancies

Considering the conditions of their marriage and Enrique's desperate desire for a child, the sequence of Ana's pregnancies has attracted much interest. There are estimates that she had no fewer than three pregnancies, all of them ending in miscarriages occurring so early in gestation that they were never widely known and the sex of the children could not be determined.

Reliable sources certify the birth of Elizabeth in September 1533, an abortion in the summer of 1534, and the abortion of a male fetus, approximately four and a half months pregnant, in January 1536. The dates on which these pregnancies must have begun suggest that the only other time she could have conceived and miscarried would have been between September 1534 and early summer 1535. Anne possibly had a further, unsuccessful pregnancy in the early months of 1535, but it seems very It is unlikely that she had had three other pregnancies in addition to the three confirmed by official sources. Mike Ashley, in British Kings & Queens, writes that Anne had two stillborn children after the birth of Elizabeth and before the birth of "Edward", clearly an unwarranted reference to the boy Anne lost in 1536; no one would have thought of giving a name to a child born so prematurely. No contemporary source is explicit about the sex of Anne's ill-fated child in 1534.

Death of Catherine of Aragon

In January 1536, Catherine of Aragon died of cancer. After the news of her death, Enrique and Ana are said to have decked themselves out in bright yellow clothes. Some historians have interpreted this as public displays of joy over Catherine's death, but it is doubtful that the royal couple would have celebrated Catherine's death in public, since Henry regarded her as the "Dowager Princess of Wales", the widow from his brother Prince Arthur.

Rumors circulated that Catalina had been poisoned (they blamed both Ana and Enrique); the rumors arose after discovering during her embalming that her heart was blackened. Modern medical experts agree that the darkness of Catherine's heart was not due to poisoning, but to heart cancer, something unknown at the time. After Catherine's death, Anne tried to improve her relations with her daughter. from Catalina, Maria, but was rejected again.

On the day of Catherine's burial, January 29, 1536, Ana suffered a miscarriage. For most observers, this personal loss was the beginning of the end of the royal marriage. What happened next is one of the most contentious periods in English history, as it is both a personal tragedy and indicative of the broader political trends that ruled the House of Tudor in that period.

When Ana recovered from her miscarriage, Enrique declared that their marriage had been cursed by God. Juana Seymour was transferred to new premises and Ana's brother was not accepted into a prestigious order of chivalry, the Order of the Garter, which instead was awarded to Juana Seymour's brother. On several occasions throughout these months, Ana expressed her fear at the possibility of an upcoming divorce.

Fall

Ana Bolena at the Tower of London.

Thomas Cromwell: Ana's old ally who later prepared the plot that caused her death.

In the last days of April, a flamenco musician in Anne's employ named Mark Smeaton was arrested and tortured by Thomas Cromwell. At first he denied that he was the queen's lover, but, under torture, he confessed. He also provided the name of another courtier, Henry Norris, an old friend of both Anne and the King. Norris was arrested on May Day (May 1), but since he was an aristocrat he could not be tortured. He denied his guilt and swore that Boleyn was also innocent. Francis Weston was arrested two days later on the same charge. They also arrested William Brereton, a groom in the king's privy chamber, who was also arrested for adultery, but it really seems likely that he was the victim of an old grudge against him, held by Thomas Cromwell. The final defendant was George Boleyn, Queen Anne's own brother, arrested on charges of incest and treason, accused of having carnal relations with his sister during the last twelve months.

On 2 May 1536, after attending a tennis match, Anne was arrested and taken to the Tower of London. There she suffered a minor nervous breakdown, demanding to know all the details about the whereabouts of her family and the charges against her.

Four of the men were tried at Westminster on May 12, 1536. Weston, Brereton and Norris publicly maintained their innocence and only the tortured Smeaton supported the Crown by pleading guilty. Three days later, Ana and Jorge were tried separately at the Tower of London. She was charged with adultery, incest, and high treason. Popular suspicion against Henry and his mistress, Joan Seymour, who were seen banqueting on the Thames, was widespread. Several pamphlets circulated around London mocking the trials and supporting the queen.

Execution

Aerial view of the Tower of London.

Jorge Bolena and the other defendants were executed on May 17. Mr. and Mrs. Kingston, the managers of the Tower, related that Ana seemed very happy, and ready to continue her life. She is said to have commented, when Lord Kingston brought her the news that the king had commuted his sentence of burning to beheading, and had hired a swordsman from Calais for the execution with a double-edged sword, instead of decapitating a queen with the hatchet: "It won't be much of a problem, since I have a small neck. I will be known as La Reine sans tête [The Headless Queen]!”

They came for Ana on the morning of May 19 to take her to the "Green Tower," where she was to be allowed the dignity of a private execution. The Governor (Constable) of the Tower wrote of her:

This morning he made me call, see if I could be with her while I received the good Lord [i.e. comulgaba]with the intention that he would hear it and make his innocence clear. And in the writing of this she called me, and on my arrival said, "Mr. Kingston, I hear that I will not die before noon, and I am very sorry for it, for I thought I would be dead for those hours and before my suffering." I told him this shouldn't be any suffering, which would be very brief. And then she said, "I heard that the executioner is very good, and I have a small neck," and then put his hands on the neck, laughing cordially. I have seen many men and women executed, and who have been in great sorrow, and for my knowledge this lady has much joy in death. Sir, your almsman is continually with her, and it was so from two o'clock after midnight.

She was wearing "a red petticoat under a dark gray damask gown, trimmed with fur." Her dark hair was up and she was wearing a gable headdress instead of her usual French headdress.She made a short speech:

Good Christian people, I have come here to die, according to the law, and according to the law it is judged that I die, and therefore I will not say anything against it. I have come here not to accuse any man, nor to say anything of it, that I am accused and doomed to die, but I pray to God that he may save the king and give him much time to reign over you, for the most generous merciful prince there was never: and for me he was always good, a gentle and sovereign lord. And if anyone gets involved in my cause, I require them to judge the best. And so I take my departure from the world and all of you, and I cordially ask you to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, I commend my soul to God.

Then he knelt upright (in French-style executions, with a sword, there was no block to support the head). His final prayer consisted of repeating, “To Jesus Christ I commend my soul; the Lord Jesus receives my soul». His ladies removed his headdress and tied a blindfold over his eyes. The execution was fast, consisting of a single blow. According to legend, the swordsman was so considerate of Ana that he said: "Where is my sword?" or "Boy, bring my sword" and then beheaded her, so she would think she had a few more moments to live and not know the sword was on its way.

Along the river, Scottish reformer Alesius accompanied Thomas Cranmer as he walked through the gardens of Lambeth Palace. They must have heard the cannon shot from the Tower, signaling the end, for the Archbishop looked up and proclaimed: "She has been an English Queen on earth and today she will be a Queen of Heaven." He then he sat on a bench and cried.

The government did not approve providing a proper coffin for Ana. Thus, her body and head were deposited in a long chest and entombed in an unmarked grave in the chapel of San Pedro ad Vincula. Her daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, upon her arrival to the throne, never bothered to rehabilitate her memory and find a more dignified place to rest her remains; In 1876 her body was identified in chapel renovations under Queen Victoria and thus the resting place of Anne's remains is now marked on the marble floor.

Theories about the cause of his fall

Historians still argue over the cause of Anne's fall from the throne. There are several prominent theories surrounding the death of Anne Boleyn, which the Oxford historian Steven J. Gunn described as historic "trench warfare".

• Guilty of his accusations: English historian George W. Bernard is the only modern historian to argue that Ana was guilty of adultery and betrayal. In 1991 he wrote: "Perhaps the safest guess for a modern historian is that Ana had indeed committed adultery with Norris and briefly with Mark Smeaton and that there were quite a few circumstantial evidence to make reasonable doubt the denials of others."
• A romantic victim: the traditional theory is that Ana was the victim of her husband's cruelty and that her failure to conceive a child meant that Henry would stop at nothing until he got rid of it. Geoffrey Elton, tudorist historian of the centuryXX.“Ana and five men were sentenced to death in the legal process because the king wanted to marry again... Enrique had discarded the scruples to get his goal and was prepared to appear as a cuckold and a victim of witchcraft."
• A political attack: the most popular theory is that Ana was eliminated by a palace plot orchestrated by her enemies. An alliance with Spain became desirable for several reasons, and Ana was so unpopular among the Spanish royal family that her presence was a serious obstacle to achieving it. Thomas Cromwell, his former supporter and the king's chancellor, therefore he realized where Ana would have to stop. He was more than willing to sacrifice five innocent men to do so (who were also friends of Ana and could therefore oppose their destruction if they remained alive).

Portrait after his death

An idealized portrait of Ana Bolena, painted in the century after his death (from there the style of dressing anachronistic), attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Young.

After 1558, Anne was revered as a martyr and hero by English Protestants, particularly in the works of John Foxe, who held that Anne had saved England from the evils of Roman Catholicism and that God had provided proof of her innocence and virtue by ensuring that her daughter, Elizabeth I, would later become queen. As a result of this vision, much of the English nobility displayed pictures of Anne in her homes, in order to show her loyalty to the queen and the Protestant monarchy. Although this veneration of Anne diminished in the 18th and XIX, her idea as a Protestant heroine was recently revived by an English historian, Joanna Denny.

The most common opinion in the 18th and XIX was the image of Ana as a romantic victim; a tenacious and beautiful woman who was destroyed by her husband, presented as a brutal tyrant by the most popular historians. A 19th century lowercase biography of Anne by Margaret Benger was particularly full of praise for Anne, as was the one entitled "Star of The Court" by Serena Banbury. Famous writers and novelists who subscribed to this view of Anne (which persisted into the 20th century) include Jane Austen, Agnes Strickland, Jean Plaidy, and Maxwell Anderson. The Oscar-winning play and film Anne of a Thousand Days is inspired by this interpretation of Anne's life, as is Donizetti's opera Anna Boleyn. Several popular novels have also adopted this favorable idea of Anne Boleyn.

Finally, in the second half of the 20th century, academic historians determined to study the rule of Henry VIII and his court, and serious political and cultural institutions held that Anne Boleyn had been one of the most ambitious, intelligent and important queens in European history. They investigated her political sympathies, patronage network, and her influence on foreign policy and religious affairs. This led to several scholarly studies of her life, the most famous of which are the two biographies written by the British historian Eric Ives. David Starkey is another historian who enthusiastically promotes this interpretation of Anne. Combined with the intellectual force of feminism, which has interpreted Anne Boleyn in a very favorable light, most scholarly histories write about her with respect and compassion. The work of the American academic, Retha Warnicke, concentrates on the gender prejudices of the early XVI century and its role in the rise of Anne Boleyn and her subsequent fall.

There were various treatments of her life by popular historians such as Marie Louise Bruce, Hester W. Chapman, Norah Lofts, Carolly Erickson, Alison Weir, Lady Antonia Fraser, and Joanna Denny. In film, television, and the performing arts, she has been portrayed by a wide variety of famous actresses, including Clara Kimball Young, Merle Oberon, Geneviève Bujold (Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner), Dame Dorothy Tutin, Dame Joan Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter, Jodhi May, Natalie Dormer, Natalie Portman, and Claire Foy.

Lineage

Movies

Predecessor: Catalina de Aragón

Queen Consort of England 1533-1536

Successor: Juana Seymour