The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown

by Ridgway, Claire

  8th January 1536 – Free from All Suspicion of War!

  When a messenger arrived at Greenwich Palace with news of Catherine of Aragon's death, Henry VIII cried "God be praised that we are free from all suspicion of war!".1 Catherine's death meant that Henry no longer had a quarrel with the Emperor, Catherine's nephew, and that the French would have to keep him happy or risk him making an alliance with the Empire.2

  According to the imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, Henry VIII celebrated the day after Catherine's death by dressing in "yellow, from top to toe, except the white feather he had in his bonnet".3 He then paraded to mass with his two year old daughter, Elizabeth, "with trumpets and other great triumphs". The chronicler Edward Hall, however, puts Anne Boleyn in yellow, writing that "Quene Anne ware yelowe for the mournyng"4 and making no mention of the King's attire.

  The Catholic recusant Nicholas Sander, writing in Elizabeth I's reign, reported that "The king could not refrain from tears when he read the letter [Catherine's last letter to him], but Anne Boleyn, instead of putting on mourning on the day of Catherine's funeral, put on a yellow dress."5

  But then Sander quotes Hall as his source, so he is certainly not a new source for this information.

  Although some historians and authors have suggested that yellow was the colour of mourning in Spain, Catherine's homeland, I have never found any evidence of that being the case; white and black seemed to have been the only colours associated with mourning in Spain. In early Christian art,6 yellow symbolized renewal, hope, light and purity, so perhaps Henry, and/or Anne, were simply expressing their hope for a new start now that Catherine was gone - war was averted and Anne was carrying a child.

  As well as being good news for the King, Catherine's death was also good news for Thomas Cromwell who was open to the idea of an English-Imperial alliance. Charles V's aunt, Catherine of Aragon, was now out of the way, so Charles could negotiate with Henry VIII without worrying about his aunt's opposition to Anne Boleyn. In a letter dated 8th January 1536, Cromwell wrote to Stephen Gardiner and John Wallop, the English ambassadors in Paris, to inform them of Catherine's death, adding the postscript:-

  "P.S.—As the King had seen this letter he desired Cromwell to write somewhat more at length, viz.:—Considering the death of the Lady Dowager, and that as the Emperor has now no occasion of quarrel, he will seek the friendship of Henry, Gardiner is to keep himself more aloof and less ready for any modification of the King's requests, showing what advantages he may now have at the Emperor's hands, and tell the Admiral it will be good for them to hasten to an agreement before the King is pressed by the Emperor."7

  It is clear that Henry VIII and Cromwell were ready to play France and the Empire off against each other.

  24th January 1536 – Henry VIII's Jousting Accident

  On the 24th January 1536, the 44 year-old King Henry VIII had a serious jousting accident at Greenwich Palace. Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, reported it in his dispatches, writing:

  "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."1

  It could easily have been a fatal accident. From Chapuys' report, we know that both horse and rider fell. The mailed horse, which would have been a large horse due to Henry's height and weight, could easily have rolled on to the King and crushed him.

  Dr Ortiz also recorded the accident in a letter to the Empress:

  "The French king said that the king of England had fallen from his horse, and been for two hours without speaking. "La Ana" was so upset that she miscarried of a son."2

  So, although the King survived the accident, it still may have had a major impact on him, his family and his reign. Dr Ortiz was of the opinion that the miscarriage Anne Boleyn suffered on 29th January 1536, just five days later, was due to the stress she suffered at hearing news of the King's accident. Chapuys concurs with this, writing that "the said concubine wished to lay the blame on the duke of Norfolk, whom she hates, saying he frightened her by bringing the news of the fall the King had six days before."3 If you believe that Anne Boleyn's fall was a result of her failing to provide the King with a son, that she "miscarried of her saviour"4 that day, then the jousting accident was definitely a factor in her fall.

  An article in The Independent newspaper5 put forward the theory that Henry's jousting accident caused Henry to undergo a personality change. This article was based on the findings of three people - historian Lucy Worsley, Henry VIII biographer Robert Hutchinson and medical doctor Catherine Hood - in the History Channel documentary "Inside the Body of Henry VIII". This programme looked at issues concerning the King's diet and lifestyle, and the medical problems which saw Henry change from the handsome, young, sporty King with a 32 inch waist and 39 inch chest in his 20s, to a man who probably weighed 28 stone by his death in 1547, at the age of 55, and whose waist measured 52 inches and his chest 53 inches. As his health deteriorated, leaving him unable to do the sporting activities he enjoyed, his personality also changed and he became "plagued with paranoia and melancholy".6

  Although Henry had a few health issues by the time of the jousting accident in 1536 – malaria, contracted at the age of 30, and varicose ulcers which began on his left leg in around 1527 – the major decline in his health and personality seems to have started in 1536. Worsley, Hutchinson and Hood concluded that the accident caused his personality change from sporty, virtuous prince to monstrous tyrant. They noted that "from that date the turnover of the wives really speeds up", that negative perceptions of Henry increased and that being unconscious for two hours suggests "major trauma", a frontal lobe injury which can affect a person's personality.

  However, it is more likely that it was a combination of factors that led to the King's decline, both physical and mental, and it cannot be blamed on that one accident.

  29th January 1536 – Burial and Miscarriage

  On 29th January 1536, the day of Catherine of Aragon's funeral, Anne Boleyn suffered her second and final miscarriage. It was her third pregnancy1 – she had given birth to healthy baby girl, the future Elizabeth I, on the 7th September 1533, and then had suffered a late miscarriage in the summer of 1534 – and the loss of this baby must have been a devastating blow for both Anne and King Henry VIII.

  Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, reported Anne Boleyn's miscarriage in a dispatch to Emperor Charles V:

  "On the day of the interment [Catherine of Aragon's funeral] the Concubine had an abortion which seemed to be a male child which she had not borne 3½ months, at which the King has shown great distress. The said concubine wished to lay the blame on the duke of Norfolk, whom she hates, saying he frightened her by bringing the news of the fall the King had six days before. But it is well known that is not the cause, for it was told her in a way that she should not be alarmed or attach much importance to it."2

  Nearly a month later, Chapuys referred again to Anne's miscarriage in a report to Charles V, passing on gossip he had heard:

  "I learn from several persons of this Court that for more than three months this King has not spoken ten times to the Concubine, and that when she miscarried he scarcely said anything to her, except that he saw clearly that God did not wish to give him male children; and in leaving her he told her, as if for spite, that he would speak to her after she was "releuize." The said Concubine attributed the misfortune to two causes: first, the King's fall; and, secondly, that the love she bore him was far greater than that of the late Queen, so that her heart broke when she saw that he loved others. At which remark the King was much grieved, and has shown his feeling by the fact that during these festive days he is here, and has left the other at Greenwich, when formerly he could not leave her for an hour."

  Although Chapuys claims that the King had only spoken to Anne ten times in the past three months,3, this was more likely an exaggeration because we know that they celebrated Catherine of Arago
n's death together. As for the King leaving Anne at Greenwich during Shrovetide, Eric Ives points out that the King had business (the Reformation Parliament) to deal with at Westminster and that Anne was recuperating after her miscarriage. We just cannot take Chapuys' words at face value, particularly when he disliked Anne so much.

  The chronicler Charles Wriothesley recorded:-

  "This yeare also, three daies before Candlemas, Queene Anne was brought a bedd and delivered of a man chield, as it was said, afore her tyme, for she said that she had reckoned herself at that tyme but fiftene weekes gonne with chield; it was said she tooke a fright, for the King ranne that tyme at the ring and had a fall from his horse, but he had no hurt; and she tooke such a fright withall that it caused her to fall in travaile, and so was delivered afore her full tyme, which was a great discompfort to all this realme." 4

  So, it appears that Anne lost a son and not the "shapeless mass of flesh" that Nicholas Sander wrote of in 1585. This was a normal miscarriage, a heartbreaking tragedy, but something which was a common occurrence in Tudor times and is still common today. It is so sad that this pregnancy did not go to term; a healthy son would have made Anne secure in her position as queen. J E Neale, writes of how Anne "miscarried of her saviour". 5 Although this miscarriage is only one factor in her fall, it did make her vulnerable. Coming so quickly after the King's brush with death, it may also have panicked the King. He needed a son and heir to continue the Tudor line. Time was ticking, as was the 34 year old Anne's biological clock.

  10th February 1536

  Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, wrote to Charles V regarding Anne Boleyn's miscarriage, and regarding Catherine of Aragon's funeral and resting place, which he felt was not fitting for even "a simple baroness". The first mention of Jane Seymour is in this letter, in Chapuys' discussion of potential reasons for Anne's miscarriage:-

  "Some think it was owing to her own incapacity to bear children, others to a fear that the King would treat her like the late Queen, especially considering the treatment shown to a lady of the Court, named Mistress Semel [Seymour], to whom, as many say, he has lately made great presents."1

  It is not known exactly when Henry VIII started showing Jane Seymour favour or how serious this was. It may have simply been part of the courtly love tradition, but it was enough for it to be court gossip and to have reached Chapuys. Although some historians2 believe that Henry and Jane's relationship was "well-established" at this point and that Anne and Henry's marriage had irretrievably broken down, there is no evidence to support this theory. Anne had been pregnant up until the 29th January; in early February she would have been recovering from her miscarriage. It would have been typical of the time for Henry to have looked for a substitute, a flirtation, at this time. In fact, as Eric Ives3 points out, as late as 1st April 1536 Chapuys described Jane Seymour as the lady "whom he serves".4 This makes reference to the courtly love tradition of a knight serving a lady, and does not suggest a full-blown affair.

  Jane Seymour

  Jane Seymour was born around 1508/1509 probably at the family seat, Wolf Hall in Wiltshire. She was the daughter of Sir John Seymour, a soldier and courtier who served Henry VII at the Battle of Blackheath, and of his wife, Margery Wentworth, daughter of Sir Henry Wentworth of Nettlestead, Suffolk.

  Through the Seymours, Jane was descended from Frenchman Guy de St Maur who is thought to have come from France to England with William the Conqueror. Obviously St Maur, pronounced San-Mawr, had become anglicised to Seymour over the centuries. Through her mother's family, the Wentworths, Jane was descended from Edward III, through Edward's great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Percy. The Seymours became members of the gentry class in the 14th century when Roger Seymour married Maud Esturmy1 of Wolf Hall, Wiltshire; the house that became the Seymour family home.

  Jane was related to Anne Boleyn through a mutual connection to the Howard family. Jane's mother's first cousins were Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and Elizabeth Howard, Anne Boleyn's mother. Jane and Anne were, therefore, second cousins.

  Jane's exact birthdate is not known, but her biographer, Elizabeth Norton, points out that Jane had 29 ladies in her funeral procession in 15372 and that this was a traditional way of symbolising the age of the deceased. If this indeed was the case, then it indicates that Jane would have been born between October 1507 and October 1508.

  Jane had nine siblings, although not all of them survived childhood. The most famous of her siblings was Edward Seymour, who went on to become Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector in Jane's son Edward VI's reign. Also well-known was Thomas Seymour, Lord Admiral and Baron Seymour of Sudeley, who married Henry VIII's final wife and widow, Catherine Parr. Both men were executed as traitors. Jane also had another brother Henry, who died in 1578, and two sisters: Dorothy, who became the wife of Sir Clement Smith, and Elizabeth, who was married first to Sir Anthony Ughtred, then to Gregory Cromwell, son of Thomas Cromwell, and finally to administrator William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester.

  Chapuys described Jane as "of middle stature and no great beauty, so fair that one would call her rather pale than otherwise" and Hans Holbein's portrait of Jane is far from flattering. Jane was blonde, pale-skinned and rather chinless. However, this made her much closer to the Tudor ideal of beauty, the classic English Rose, than the dark-haired and sallow-skinned Anne Boleyn. We know nothing of Jane's early life and her education, although it appears that she could read and write, and had some knowledge of French and Latin.3 She would have learned music and needlework, as well as the country pursuits of horse riding and hunting. Elizabeth Norton writes of how records show that in 1647, during the reign of Charles I, "a bed of needlework with a chair and cushions, said to be wrought by the queen, Lady Jane Seymour" was passed back to the Seymour family from the royal collection.4

  It is not known exactly when Jane arrived at court but, taking into account her birthdate, she must have been appointed to Queen Catherine of Aragon's household between 1527 and 1529, the time when the King was courting Anne Boleyn and trying to annul his marriage to Catherine. The annulment finally went through in 1533. The King married Anne Boleyn this year and Catherine's household was disbanded in the August. Jane would have returned home to Wolf Hall. By this time, Jane's brother, Edward, had separated from his wife, Catherine Filiol, on the grounds of her infidelity. Edward went on to marry Anne Stanhope sometime before March 1535. On her arrival home, Jane's relative, Sir Francis Bryan, started trying to arrange a marriage between Jane and William Dormer, son of Sir Robert Dormer.5 It seems that the Dormers were not keen on the idea as they quickly married off William to Mary Sidney, a much better match, in their eyes, than the 26ish year-old Jane, who didn't even have a dowry.

  The failure of this potential marriage match must have been a huge blow to Jane and her family. Jane wasn't getting any younger and was now in the position where a good marriage looked unlikely, However, things looked up in early 1535; Jane was called back to court to serve Queen Anne Boleyn. This appointment was probably down to Bryan, who was also related to Anne Boleyn. Little did anyone know that this appointment would lead to Jane becoming Queen.

  Jane has gone down in history as Henry VIII's true love, the woman he chose to be painted with in the Whitehall family portrait and the woman he chose to be laid to rest with, but this surely had little to do with true love and more to do with the fact that she gave him the ultimate gift, that of a son and heir. He didn't treat her particularly well when they were married, but Jane's death so soon after their wedding, after giving him a son, made him look back fondly on their union, regarding Jane as his only true wife.

  Early 1536 – Foreign Policy

  On 1st November 1535, Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan died childless. This caused trouble between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and Francis I of France, and eventually sparked the Italian War of 1536-1538. The Duke's death put England into a tricky position. Either side may have dragged England in. Alternatively, as the Pope wanted, France and the Empire
might actually join forces against England. Anne Boleyn was pro-French, which is understandable given her time at the French court, but Cromwell seemed to want to keep his options open. Anne was looking for an alliance with France, through a marriage match for her daughter, Elizabeth,1 but, Cromwell 2 was open to negotiating with the Emperor.

  Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, was firm in his negotiations with Cromwell and the King. When the latter pair made overtures to Chapuys in February 1536, after Catherine of Aragon's death in the January, Chapuys made it clear that he welcomed a restoration of the friendship between England and the Empire, but that there were conditions:-

  A reconciliation between Henry VIII and Rome

  The King's eldest daughter, Mary, must be made legitimate again and "reinstated in her rank".3

  The formation of an Anglo-Imperial alliance against the 'Turk'.

  If requested by the Emperor, Henry VIII would "make besides a defensive and offensive league against whomsoever might act wrongly towards one of the parties".4

  If those points could be agreed upon, Chapuys was happy to go forward with a more general treaty.5 According to Chapuys, Cromwell's answer to the fourth point was the his master, the King, "would do anything that might be desired" and he did not see that the third point would be a problem. As far as the second point was concerned:

  "With regard to the Princess, Cromwell observed this was the fit opportunity to treat of her prospects, and of the settlement of her affairs in future, in a manner to please Your Majesty; the door was already open for negotiation."6