Handwriting of the Kings and Queens of England, W. J. Hardy, 1893
Anne Boleyn (born circa 1501, died May 19, 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of King Henry VIII. Their marriage, and her execution by beheading for treason and adultery made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the beginning of the English Reformation. Anne was the daughter of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard, and received her education in the Netherlands and France, mostly as a maid of honour to Queen Claude of France. Anne returned to England in early 1522 to marry her Irish cousin, James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond. The marriage plans were broken off and Anne instead secured a post at court as maid of honour to King Henry VIII's wife, Catherine of Aragon.
Early in 1523, Anne was secretly betrothed to Henry Percy, son to the Duke of Northumberland, but this betrothal was broken off because the Duke refused to support their engagement. In January 1524, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey also opposed the match, and Anne was sent back home to Hever Castle. In early 1526, Henry began his pursuit of Anne. She resisted his attempts to seduce her and refused to become his mistress, which her sister Mary had been. Henry soon began focusing on his desire to annul his marriage to Catherine so that he would be able to marry Anne. Cardinal Wolsey failed to get Pope Clement VII to annul the marriage, and in 1529 and 1530, Anne helped to bring about his downfall and death. When it became obvious that the Pope would never annul the marriage, Henry and his advisors, among them Thomas Cromwell, began the breaking of the Catholic Church's power in England, closing the monasteries and nunneries. In 1532, Henry bestowed upon Anne the title of Marquess of Pembroke.
Henry and Anne had a secret wedding on November 14, 1532, followed by a formal wedding on January 25, 1533. On May 23, 1533, the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declared Henry's marriage to Catherine as null and void and the marriage to Anne as valid just five days later. Shortly after this, the Pope decreed sentences of excommunication against Henry and Cranmer. As a result of the marriage and excommunications, the first break between the Church of England and Rome took place, and Henry became the head of the Church of England, and therefore every British monarch since him has borne the title of "Defender of the Faith". Anne was crowned Queen of England on June 1, 1533. On September 7 that same year, she gave birth to a daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth I. Henry was disappointed that the child was not a son, but he hoped that one would come later, and he professed to love little Elizabeth. Anne subsequently suffered three miscarriages, and by March 1536, Henry had begun courting Jane Seymour. And in order to marry Jane, he had to find a reason to annul his marriage to Anne.
In April 1536, Henry had Anne investigated for high treason. On May 2, she was arrested and sent to the Tower of London, where she was tried before a jury of peers, which included her former fiancé, Henry Percy, and her own uncle, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. On May 15, Anne was convicted of adultery, incest, and plotting to assassinate the king; and she was beheaded on May 19. Although she initially panicked in anticipation of her death, she ultimately went to face it with calm acceptance and dignity, and made a short speech before she kneeled down in prayer. As a final act of "mercy", Henry had sent a French executioner with a quick sword to kill Anne so that she would die as quickly and painlessly as possible.
After her daughter Elizabeth's coronation in 1558, Anne became venerated as a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation, and to this day she is seen as one of the most important and influential queens consort in English history.
Anne wrote this letter to Cardinal Wolsey about three or four years before her marriage to Henry. The allusions to her correspondent's efforts to assist her in becoming the king's consort, and her promise of future gratitude, are exceedingly curious, as showing the action taken by the cardinal with Henry's second marriage. The expression, "how wretched and unworthy I am in comparying to his hyghnes," is probably an allusion to the position which she held as maid to Henry's first wife.
The letter:
My Lord after my most humble recommendacions this shall be to gyve unto your grace as I am most bownd my humble thankes for the gret payn and travell that your grace doth take in stewdyeng by your wysdome and great dylygens howe to brynge to pass honerably the gretyst welth that is possyble to come to any creatour lyvyng, and in especyall remembryng howe wretcchyd and unworthy I am in comparying to his hyghnes. And for you I do knowe my self never to have deservyed by my desertes so that you shuld take this gret payn for me yet dayly of your goodnes I do perceyve by all my frendes and though that I hade nott knowlege by them the dayly proffe of your dedes doth declare your words and wrytynge towards me to be trewe nowe good my Lord your dyscressyon may consyder as yet howe lytle it is in my power to recompence you but all onely with my good wyl the whiche I assewer you that after this matter is brought to pas, you shall fynd me, as I am bownd in the meane tym, to owe you my servyce, and then, looke what thyng in this woreld I can immagen to do you pleasor in, you shall fynd me the gladdyst woman in the woreld to do yt and next unto the Kynges grace of one thyng I make you full promes to be assewryd to have yt and that is my harty love unfaynydly dewerying my lyf and beyng fully determynd with Goddes grace never to change thys porpos I make an end of thys my reude and trewe meanyd letter, praying ower Lord to send you moche increse of honer with long lyfe. Wrytten with the hand of her that besychys your grace to except this letter as prosydyng from one that is most bound to be
Your humble and
Obedyent servaunt
ANNE BOLEYN.
Your humble and
Obedyent servaunt
ANNE BOLEYN.
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