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| 14 | <title>Anne of Cleves: Biography, Portraits, Primary Sources</title>
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| 30 | </td>
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| 31 | <td width="50%" height="3">
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| 32 | <p align="center"><font size="4">'My Lord, if it were not to
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| 33 | satisfy the world, and My Realm, I would not do that I must do this day
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| 34 | for none earthly thing.' </font> <br>
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| 35 | <i><font size="-1">Henry VIII to Cromwell on his wedding day to
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| 36 | Anne of Cleves</font></i> <br>
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| 37 | </p>
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| 38 | </td>
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| 39 | <td width="25%" height="3"><br>
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| 41 | </tr>
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| 42 | <tr>
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| 43 | <td width="25%" height="610"><br>
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| 44 | </td>
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| 45 | <td valign="top" width="50%" height="610">
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| 46 | <p align="center"> </p>
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| 47 | <p align="center">
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| 48 | <img border="0" src="clevescardinal.gif" width="352" height="95"></p>
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| 49 | <p align="center">
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| 50 | <img border="0" src="clevesholbein2.jpg" alt="miniature portrait of Anne of Cleves by Hans Holbein the Younger" width="331" height="325"></p>
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| 51 | <p align="center"><i><font size="2">miniature portrait of Anne of Cleves
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| 52 | by Hans Holbein the Younger</font></i></p>
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| 53 | <p align="left"> <b><br>Anne of Cleves was the fourth wife of King
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| 54 | Henry VIII; it was a very brief marriage, to the astonishment of all
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| 55 | observers but the relief of both spouses. Henry infamously
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| 56 | referred to his bride as a 'Flanders mare' and told courtiers and
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| 57 | ambassadors that he could not perform his husbandly duties because of
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| 58 | Anne's appearance. Anne's reaction to Henry's physical charms was
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| 59 | not recorded, but she agreed to an annulment very quickly and remained
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| 60 | in England for the rest of her life. Henry was grateful for her
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| 61 | cooperation and granted her a generous income and several homes,
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| 62 | including Hever Castle. Anne enjoyed an independent lifestyle
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| 63 | denied most women, often visiting Henry's court as an honored
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| 64 | guest. Her fondness for English ale and gambling were her only
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| 65 | vices. Along with her successor as Henry's wife, Catherine
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| 66 | Howard, Anne remains a mysterious figure about whom too little is
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| 67 | known. Had she and Henry remained married and had children, the
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| 68 | course of English history might have changed dramatically. But
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| 69 | the mysteries of physical attraction denied Anne her place on the
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| 70 | throne, ended the brilliant career of Thomas Cromwell, and thrust the
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| 71 | king into the arms of his ill-fated fifth queen, Catherine Howard.</b> </p>
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| 72 | <p align="left"> </p>
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| 73 | <blockquote>
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| 74 | <p><a
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| 75 | href="cleves.html#Biography">
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| 76 | <font size="4">Read the biography of Anne of Cleves.</font></a></p>
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| 77 | <p><b><br>
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| 78 | Primary Sources</b> <br>
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| 79 | Read <a href="../letters.html">letters
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| 80 | written by Anne</a>. <br>
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| 81 | <a href="../pricleve.html">Anne of
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| 82 | Cleves meets Henry VIII for the first time</a>, 1540</p>
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| 83 | </blockquote>
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| 84 | <blockquote>
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| 85 | <p>Visit <a href="http://www.marileecody.com/images.html">Tudor
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| 86 | England: Images</a> to view portraits of Anne. </p>
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| 87 | <p>Test your knowledge of Anne's life at <a
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| 88 | href="../tudor1.html">Tudor Quizzes</a>.</p>
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| 89 | <p><br>
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| 90 | </p>
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| 91 | <p><font size="2"><b>Interact<br>
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| 92 | </b>Meet other Six Wives enthusiasts at <a
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| 93 | href="http://ladiesallfanlist.cjb.net/">Ladies All: A Fanlisting for
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| 94 | the Six Wives of Henry VIII</a>.<br>
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| 95 | <a href="http://tudorhistory.org/lists/list.html"> Tudor Talk </a> This
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| 96 | email discussion list is sponsored by Tudorhistory.org.<br>
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| 97 | <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Reign_of_the_Tudors_rpg/">Reign
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| 98 | of the Tudors</a> This is a role-playing game set in 16th century
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| 99 | England. If you would like to 'play' Jane Grey or Anne Boleyn or
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| 100 | other Tudors, click the link to join.</font></p>
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| 101 | </blockquote>
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| 102 | </td>
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| 103 | <td width="25%" height="610"><br>
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| 104 | </td>
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| 105 | </tr>
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| 106 | </tbody>
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| 107 | </table>
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| 108 | <blockquote>
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| 109 | <blockquote>
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| 110 | <blockquote>
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| 111 | <p><font size="4"><br>
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| 112 | </font></p>
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| 113 | <p><a name="Biography"></a><font size="4">'So she came to
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| 114 | Greenwich that night, and was received as queen. And the next
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| 115 | day, being Sunday, the king's grace kept a great court at Greenwich,
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| 116 | where his grace with the queen offered at mass, richly dressed.
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| 117 | And on Twelfth Night, which was Tuesday, the king's majesty was married
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| 118 | to the said queen Anne solemnly, in her closet at Greenwich, and his
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| 119 | grace and she went publicly in procession that day, she having a rich
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| 120 | coronet of stone and pearls set with rosemary on her hair, and a gown
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| 121 | of rich cloth of silver, richly hung with stones and pearls, with all
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| 122 | her ladies and gentlewomen following her, which was a goodly sight to
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| 123 | behold.' </font> <i><font size="2"> Anne of Cleves marries King
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| 124 | Henry VIII, 1540</font></i><br>
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| 125 | </p>
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| 126 | </blockquote>
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| 127 | </blockquote>
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| 128 | <p> </p>
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| 129 | <p><b>Biography</b> <br>
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| 130 | Anne of Cleves was Henry VIII's fourth wife, though not his first
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| 131 | choice for the role by far. His ambassadors searched out all the
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| 132 | eligible heiresses of Europe and discovered their king had a very nasty
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| 133 | marital reputation. The beautiful Christina of Milan was told of
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| 134 | the king's interest and wittily replied that if she had two heads she
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| 135 | would risk it, but she had only one; Marie de Guise, who would later
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| 136 | wed his nephew the King of Scots, replied much the same. The
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| 137 | tragic tale of his second queen, Anne Boleyn, had kept European gossips
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| 138 | busy for three years now. </p>
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| 139 | <p>The king's poor and disrespectful treatment of his first wife (he
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| 140 | was rumored to have bullied Katharine of Aragon to an unhappy death)
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| 141 | and the quick end of his third (in his desperation for a healthy male
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| 142 | heir, the king was rumored to have ordered Jane Seymour cut open,
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| 143 | mangled and killed) only contributed to his low reputation. </p>
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| 144 | <p>One wouldn't think a king would have too difficult a time finding
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| 145 | a wife, but Henry VIII - who defied his contemporaries in so many other
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| 146 | ways - did so in this respect as well. </p>
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| 147 | <p>In the end, it was religion which brought Anne of Cleves to
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| 148 | England. </p>
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| 149 | <p>Henry had sought out Catholic princesses like Marie de Guise and
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| 150 | his fifth wife would be a Catholic as well. Despite the Henrician
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| 151 | 'reformation', England and its monarch remained a Catholic nation,
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| 152 | albeit one in which supreme authority resided within the king rather
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| 153 | than the pope. But Henry's influential advisor, Thomas Cromwell,
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| 154 | wanted England to ally herself with a Protestant nation that also
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| 155 | rejected papal authority. Cromwell recognized the inexorable
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| 156 | Catholic decline which was only just beginning to occur; the king's
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| 157 | assumption of supreme authority had merely been the first and most
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| 158 | spectacular opening shot in a new religious war. Raised to be a
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| 159 | churchman until his brother's untimely death and deeply interested in
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| 160 | theological debate, Henry VIII didn't appreciate the Pandora's Box of
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| 161 | change he had opened. Cromwell, younger and more philosophically
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| 162 | attuned to the attitudes of the rising middle class, did appreciate
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| 163 | it. And he approved of it. The marriage to Anne of Cleves
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| 164 | would openly ally England with a Protestant duchy, thus making the
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| 165 | 'reformation' even more settled. </p>
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| 166 | <p>Henry VIII's previous two marriages had been love matches; he had
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| 167 | been quite independent in choosing women of his own court to
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| 168 | marry. But this fourth marriage was necessarily a more diplomatic
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| 169 | endeavor. In this, the king returned to the traditional role of
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| 170 | kings searching for brides; he also understood that, since the Act of
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| 171 | Supremacy in 1534, England stood dangerously isolated amongst the
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| 172 | Catholic powers of Spain and France. </p>
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| 173 | <p>There was a gap of over two years between Jane Seymour's death in
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| 174 | October 1537 and Anne of Cleves's arrival in England in late December
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| 175 | 1539. Romantics believe the king waited such a long while to
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| 176 | marry again because he loved Jane so much. Whether he loved her
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| 177 | or not is beside the point, though there is ample evidence that he
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| 178 | did. Henry actually waited so long (and he did so quite
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| 179 | impatiently) because marriage negotiations took an unexpectedly long
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| 180 | time. He actually sent out instructions regarding the search for
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| 181 | a new wife barely a month after Jane's death. </p>
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| 182 | <p>But the French princesses would not assemble for his perusal; they
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| 183 | also made it clear they preferred other suitors. Likewise,
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| 184 | other heiresses of Europe, some of which (like Christina of Milan) were
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| 185 | related through tangled Hapsburg bloodlines to the king's first wife,
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| 186 | Katharine of Aragon, avoided the English ambassadors. And always,
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| 187 | busy with his paperwork and contacts throughout Europe, Cromwell sought
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| 188 | to arrange a Protestant alliance. </p>
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| 189 | <p>During all of these negotiations, one must not forget the king's
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| 190 | own views regarding his future wife. Henry was used to making his
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| 191 | own decisions about the women in his life; he had high standards for
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| 192 | female beauty and insisted his next wife be physically
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| 193 | attractive. To that end, he told his ambassadors that no official
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| 194 | overtures be made to certain ladies until he had approved of their
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| 195 | looks. 'The thing touches me too near,' said the king, which was
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| 196 | true enough but not the sort of thing kings were supposed to say.
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| 197 | After all, he was not merely a man but a monarch; he was not supposed
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| 198 | to marry for himself alone. </p>
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| 199 | <p>The ambassadors were often placed in embarrassing positions,
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| 200 | commissioning portraits and sending back detailed descriptions of pock
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| 201 | marks and hairstyles. Finally, the choices were narrowed down to
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| 202 | four serious contenders - Marie de Guise, the widow of the duc de
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| 203 | Longueville, was tall, beautiful and already proven in
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| 204 | childbirth. As mentioned earlier, she chose the Scottish king
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| 205 | James V. Henry then looked to her younger sister, but she also
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| 206 | became otherwise engaged. Then there was the beautiful and
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| 207 | intelligent Christina of Milan, just sixteen and one of the most
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| 208 | sought-after heiresses of her generation. But the king of England
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| 209 | was three times her age, fat and with a cruel reputation; she allowed
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| 210 | herself to be painted by Holbein but did nothing to solve the problem
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| 211 | of her being a great-niece of Katharine of Aragon. This
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| 212 | impediment of affinity was a nice way to avoid the king of England. </p>
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| 213 | <p>The year of 1538 passed with no alliance. Henry had intended
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| 214 | to use his fourth marriage as a balance between France and the Hapsburg
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| 215 | empire. But it now seemed as if those two enemies might join
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| 216 | forces against him in defense of the papal supremacy. </p>
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| 217 | <p>Suddenly Cromwell's moment had arrived. The fourth serious
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| 218 | contender was the sister of the duke of Cleves. The duke was not
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| 219 | a Protestant himself but was allied through marriage with Saxony and
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| 220 | the league of Lutheran princes; he was also at odds with the Hapsburg
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| 221 | emperor Charles V over the duchy of Gelderland. The duchy of
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| 222 | Cleves might one day rival the Netherlands in terms of trade and
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| 223 | strategic advantage. The king was persuaded to send his favorite
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| 224 | court painter, Hans Holbein the Younger, to the German duchy.
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| 225 | There he painted both Anne and her sister Amelia. Henry, who by
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| 226 | this time was wearying of the endless rounds of negotiations (and whom
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| 227 | Cromwell feared would soon turn to another English noblewoman), was
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| 228 | interested in Anne. Negotiations began in earnest. </p>
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| 229 | <p>Anne was 24 years old, and had spent most of her life at the ducal
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| 230 | court of Dusseldorf. She was well-educated in domestic skills but
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| 231 | she was neither intellectual or flirtatious, both qualities the king
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| 232 | admired. She had no musical skills, and music was one of Henry's
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| 233 | passions, and no interest in books. On the trip to England, her
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| 234 | escort (perhaps sensing disaster ahead) tried to teach her the king's
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| 235 | favorite card games but Anne found them hopeless. It was not her
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| 236 | fault, nor that of Henry VIII, but she was raised in a different
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| 237 | country and, as things turned out, was not given time to acclimatize
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| 238 | herself before the king rejected her. </p>
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| 239 | <p>
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| 240 | <img height="280" alt="Holbein's betrothal portrait of Anne of Cleves"
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| 241 | src="cleves-bio1.jpg"
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| 242 | width="190" align="left" border="2">The issue of the betrothal portrait is the most fascinating part
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| 243 | of this story. Holbein was a man of vast talent; his best
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| 244 | portraits are simply astounding, beautifully composed and possessing
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| 245 | great psychological insight. Look at the infamous portrait of
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| 246 | Anne of Cleves to the left; it is clear that Holbein was more
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| 247 | fascinated with the embroidery of her gown than with Anne's
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| 248 | personality. Her eyes are downcast and her features lost beneath the ornate
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| 249 | trappings of her dress and hood. </p>
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| 250 | <p>There has long been a rumor that Henry was so enraged with the
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| 251 | work, believing that Holbein had deliberately duped him with a false
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| 252 | portrait, that he fired the painter. But that is not true.
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| 253 | At the time, there were a few remarks that she did not look as well as
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| 254 | the portrait asserted, but this was not unlikely - she had arrived in
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| 255 | England after a long journey, perhaps the sea air did not agree with
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| 256 | her skin? Or perhaps nervousness over the impending marriage
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| 257 | caused a change in her complexion. We cannot know. But we
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| 258 | do know that Henry's ambassadors, only too aware of their master's
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| 259 | wishes, allowed the portrait to be sent as a fair likeness of
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| 260 | Anne. Would they have dared to mislead their monarch in such a
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| 261 | way? It's not likely. Even Henry himself did not make much
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| 262 | of the supposed difference between the painted and real Anne, aside
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| 263 | from a comment to Cromwell that she was 'nothing so fair as she had
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| 264 | been reported.' Often expectations can be idealistic, and that
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| 265 | was possibly the case with Henry. Holbein continued to receive
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| 266 | commissions from the English aristocracy before dying of plague in
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| 267 | London in 1543. </p>
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| 268 | <p>What actually happened to drive Anne and Henry apart was a simple
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| 269 | matter of attraction. Almost five hundred years later, we still
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| 270 | don't understand why certain people are physically attracted to each
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| 271 | other; it simply happens. And it didn't happen with Anne and
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| 272 | Henry; in fact, quite the opposite occurred and the king was repulsed
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| 273 | by her. Anne's feelings on the matter are not known but Henry was
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| 274 | no longer the strong, athletic king of years past; various injuries had
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| 275 | reduced his exercise but not his appetite. He was increasingly
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| 276 | obese and subject to its attendant problems. </p>
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| 277 | <p>There were other reasons for the king to look askance at this new
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| 278 | bride. The foreign crisis which had caused Cromwell to seek an
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| 279 | alliance with the Protestant duchy had passed; France and Spain had
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| 280 | returned to their old enmity. England was no longer threatened by
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| 281 | the Catholic powers. Also, the dispute over Gelderland had become
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| 282 | more serious and Henry was not eager to fight the suddenly genial
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| 283 | Spanish in defense of Anne's brother. These issues were clear in
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| 284 | mid-autumn 1539 but the marriage negotiations continued. By that
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| 285 | point, they had a momentum of their own. A proxy marriage
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| 286 | occurred and Anne left her home in late November. She reached
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| 287 | Calais on 11 December; during the journey, she was addressed as Queen
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| 288 | of England and treated accordingly. For a fortnight she waited at
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| 289 | Calais until the weather settled. On 27 December she set out for
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| 290 | Deal; it was a stormy crossing. It was on the first day of 1540
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| 291 | that the king, so impatient to see his new bride, entered her rooms in
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| 292 | disguise. The scene was recorded by the Imperial ambassador,
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| 293 | Eustace Chapuys: </p>
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| 294 | <blockquote>
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| 295 | <p>And on New Years Day in the afternoon the king's grace with five
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| 296 | of his privy chamber, being disguised with mottled cloaks with hoods so
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| 297 | that they should not be recognized, came secretly to Rochester, and so
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| 298 | went up into the chamber where the said Lady Anne was looking out of a
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| 299 | window to see the bull-baiting which was going on in the courtyard, and
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| 300 | suddenly he embraced and kissed her, and showed here a token which the
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| 301 | king had sent her for New Year's gift, and she being abashed and not
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| 302 | knowing who it was thanked him, and so he spoke with her. But she
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| 303 | regarded him little, but always looked out the window.... and when the
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| 304 | king saw that she took so little notice of his coming he went into
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| 305 | another chamber and took off his cloak and came in again in a coat of
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| 306 | purple velvet. And when the lords and knights saw his grace they
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| 307 | did him reverence.... and then her grace humbled herself lowly to the
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| 308 | king's majesty, and his grace saluted her again, and they talked
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| 309 | together lovingly, and afterwards he took her by the hand and led her
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| 310 | to another chamber where their graces amused themselves that night and
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| 311 | on Friday until the afternoon.</p>
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| 312 | </blockquote>
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| 313 | <p><font size="-1">You can read the entire account at <a
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| 314 | href="../pricleve.html">Primary Sources</a>.</font>
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| 315 | <br>
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| 316 | <br>
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| 317 | Henry had so far managed to conceal his dislike of Anne. There is
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| 318 | reason to believe it was not an immediate revulsion; it was only after
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| 319 | their wedding night, which the king declared he could not consummate,
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| 320 | that word spread of his physical distaste. When Cromwell asked
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| 321 | him the next morning, 'How liked you the Queen?', Henry replied, 'I
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| 322 | liked her before not well, but now I like her much worse.' </p>
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| 323 | <p>On Twelfth Night (6 January), they were married in the 'Queen's
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| 324 | Closet' at Greenwich Palace, where Henry had also married his last
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| 325 | bride. But the king was already looking for ways out. The
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| 326 | very day of the ceremony, he told Cromwell, 'My Lord, if it were not to
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| 327 | satisfy the world, and my Realm, I would not do that I must do this day
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| 328 | for none earthly thing.' These were ominous words. </p>
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| 329 | <p>It is also possible that around this time, the king met <a
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| 330 | href="howard.html">Catherine
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| 331 | Howard</a>, cousin of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, and now destined to
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| 332 | be lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves when her Flemish attendants were
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| 333 | dismissed. There is no doubt he felt an instant attraction to the
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| 334 | lively, curvaceous Catherine. </p>
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| 335 | <p>Henry's nobility, which had long chafed against the power and
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| 336 | influence of <a
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| 337 | href="../citizens/cromwell.html">Cromwell</a>
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| 338 | (much as they had against Wolsey), welcomed this opportunity to
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| 339 | discredit him. The minister had pushed the king into the Cleves
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| 340 | marriage, they reminded Henry gleefully. The king's wrath turned
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| 341 | against his former friend and Cromwell was executed on 28 July 1540, a
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| 342 | decision Henry almost instantly regretted. </p>
|
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| 343 | <p>And so four things pushed Henry towards an annulment - his dislike
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| 344 | of Anne, foreign policy changes, his attraction to Catherine Howard,
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| 345 | and his courtiers' hatred of Cromwell. </p>
|
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| 346 | <p>In the few days between the first meeting and the wedding,
|
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| 347 | Cromwell and the king had found a potential way out, though the
|
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| 348 | ceremony continued as planned. In the mid-1530s, Anne had briefly
|
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| 349 | been engaged to Francis, duke of Lorraine. The English had not
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| 350 | explored the issue too much, merely asking the government of Cleves if
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| 351 | negotiations had ended. Now they looked more closely, with the
|
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| 352 | king waiting impatiently for the right response. They suddenly
|
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| 353 | discovered there was no dispensation from the precontract; Anne was
|
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| 354 | still officially betrothed to Francis. </p>
|
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| 355 | <p>The ambassadors from Cleves were not unaware of Henry's
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| 356 | intent. They struggled to find the right documents but, on 26
|
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| 357 | February 1540, all they could produce was a report in their archives
|
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| 358 | which stated that negotiations with Lorraine 'were not going to take
|
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| 359 | their natural course.' No actual papers of dispensation could be
|
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| 360 | produced since they did not exist. Thus Henry's marriage to Anne
|
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| 361 | of Cleves was legally invalid from the start. </p>
|
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| 362 | <p>This is one of the more ironic moments in Henry's checkered
|
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| 363 | marital career. For once, his decision to end a marriage was
|
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| 364 | legally valid and acceptable to all. </p>
|
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| 365 | <p>Meanwhile, the king made certain comments regarding Anne's body
|
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| 366 | and virtue which reveal him in a less than gentlemanly light. He
|
|---|
| 367 | told Anthony Denny, a member of the Privy Chamber, that she had
|
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| 368 | 'breasts so slack and other parts of body in such sort that [he]
|
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| 369 | somewhat suspected her virginity.' He further told his court
|
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| 370 | physicians of the 'hanging of her breasts and looseness of her
|
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| 371 | flesh.' Clearly, consummation of the marriage would not
|
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| 372 | occur. The king bravely slept in the same bed at least every
|
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| 373 | other night, yet he reported a month later that Anne 'was still as good
|
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| 374 | a Maid.... as ever her Mother bare her.' This contradiction - she
|
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| 375 | was not a virgin, yet was - was never mentioned. </p>
|
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| 376 | <p>What did Anne think of all this controversy? </p>
|
|---|
| 377 | <p>Luckily for her, she had only a small knowledge of English and
|
|---|
| 378 | even less knowledge of the physical relationship between a man and
|
|---|
| 379 | wife. Her English ladies were astounded by her innocence.
|
|---|
| 380 | 'When he [Henry] comes to bed, he kisses me and taketh me by the hand,
|
|---|
| 381 | and biddeth me 'Goodnight, sweetheart,' and in the morning, kisses me,
|
|---|
| 382 | and biddeth me, 'Farewell, darling.' Is this not enough?' asked
|
|---|
| 383 | Anne. No, she was told emphatically, it most certainly was not. </p>
|
|---|
| 384 | <p>Anne's ignorance casts a bad light on her mother, Duchess Maria,
|
|---|
| 385 | but it served to protect her feelings in England. </p>
|
|---|
| 386 | <p>In the end, she ruled as queen for just four months; her last
|
|---|
| 387 | official appearance as the royal consort was during the May Day
|
|---|
| 388 | celebrations. She was never crowned, though even if the king had
|
|---|
| 389 | wished it, he could not have afforded such a ceremony. During
|
|---|
| 390 | those months, the Catholic nobility pushed their advantage against the
|
|---|
| 391 | Protestant Cromwell. The minister was too Lutheran for the king's
|
|---|
| 392 | taste. Likewise, the Catholics encouraged the flirtations of
|
|---|
| 393 | young Catherine Howard, also a Catholic and the duke of Norfolk's
|
|---|
| 394 | niece. Too young and ill-educated to be aware of how others used
|
|---|
| 395 | her as a pawn, she happily danced before the king and accepted his
|
|---|
| 396 | gifts. She was granted lands in April and the next month received
|
|---|
| 397 | rich gifts of fabric and jewelry. There is every possibility
|
|---|
| 398 | Catherine consummated her relationship with the king in May. How
|
|---|
| 399 | else can we explain the sudden race to rid himself of Anne? </p>
|
|---|
| 400 | <p>The investigation into her precontract with Lorraine had been
|
|---|
| 401 | hastily done in January and February but for two months afterwards, the
|
|---|
| 402 | king merely lamented his fate. Parliament even confirmed Anne's
|
|---|
| 403 | dowry in April. But suddenly in May there was a fierce new
|
|---|
| 404 | determination to annul the marriage; the king was no longer content to
|
|---|
| 405 | complain. </p>
|
|---|
| 406 | <p>It is possible, and was rumored, that Henry had slept with
|
|---|
| 407 | Catherine and consequently there was a chance she was pregnant.
|
|---|
| 408 | Another male heir was never far from Henry's mind. He was also
|
|---|
| 409 | deeply in love with his 'Rose without a Thorn', a somewhat pathetic
|
|---|
| 410 | attraction between an elderly (the king was almost 49 years old) man
|
|---|
| 411 | and a very young woman. </p>
|
|---|
| 412 | <p>And so Anne had to go. She succumbed to the inevitable with
|
|---|
| 413 | surprising grace. Perhaps she was leery of the royal temper, or<img
|
|---|
| 414 | height="218" alt="engraving of Anne of Cleves, after Holbein"
|
|---|
| 415 | src="cleves-bio2.jpg"
|
|---|
| 416 | width="154" border="2" align="right"> remembered the king's marital
|
|---|
| 417 | history, or she simply didn't care. Henry was very
|
|---|
| 418 | grateful. If she had not cooperated.... He knew, from the
|
|---|
| 419 | example of Katharine of Aragon, what could happen if a queen fought an
|
|---|
| 420 | annulment. He had no desire to alienate Cleves or engage in
|
|---|
| 421 | another lengthy legal and theological dispute. The king declared
|
|---|
| 422 | the marriage had not been consummated and, in any case, it was invalid
|
|---|
| 423 | from the start. Would Anne agree? </p>
|
|---|
| 424 | <p>She did agree, most readily. She was shocked at first by the
|
|---|
| 425 | news; the king's representatives visited her at Richmond Palace, where
|
|---|
| 426 | she had gone to escape the threat of plague. They brought an
|
|---|
| 427 | interpreter so there would be no misunderstanding. For her part,
|
|---|
| 428 | Anne quickly grasped the situation. She had no advisers and the
|
|---|
| 429 | king had already executed one wife and harassed another to death.
|
|---|
| 430 | Certainly she enjoyed the role of queen, was more fluent in English and
|
|---|
| 431 | had taken a liking to her new country; even the people cheered her on
|
|---|
| 432 | the occasional public ride between palaces. But did she dare
|
|---|
| 433 | fight Henry? Of course not. </p>
|
|---|
| 434 | <p>The king's servants wrote that she was 'content always with your
|
|---|
| 435 | Majesty', thus accepting Henry's judgment, and in her <a
|
|---|
| 436 | href="../letter12.html">letter of</a><a
|
|---|
| 437 | href="../letter12.html"> submission</a>
|
|---|
| 438 | she signed herself 'daughter of Cleves', not 'queen of England'.
|
|---|
| 439 | She agreed the marriage had never been consummated and signed all
|
|---|
| 440 | necessary documents. For his part, Henry was now prepared to be
|
|---|
| 441 | generous. Anne was to enjoy precedence over all the ladies in
|
|---|
| 442 | England, except the Queen and the king's daughters. She was to be
|
|---|
| 443 | known as the king's 'good sister' and received a very nice settlement
|
|---|
| 444 | of manors and estates, some of which belonged to Cromwell. This
|
|---|
| 445 | guaranteed her an income of 3000 pds a year, making her one of the
|
|---|
| 446 | wealthiest women in England. All this depended upon her remaining
|
|---|
| 447 | in England, and this Anne was more than willing to do. 'The
|
|---|
| 448 | King's highness whom I cannot have as a husband is nevertheless a most
|
|---|
| 449 | kind, loving and friendly father and brother,' she wrote to her
|
|---|
| 450 | brother. Why should she return home in ignominy, dependent upon
|
|---|
| 451 | her brother's generosity, when she could remain in England and live a
|
|---|
| 452 | comfortable, independent life? </p>
|
|---|
| 453 | <p>Anne was perhaps as content with the arrangement as Henry.
|
|---|
| 454 | She grew to enjoy English ale and gambling; she spent large sums on
|
|---|
| 455 | gowns; she visited with the king's children and occasionally the king
|
|---|
| 456 | himself. She was heard to remark that she was more attractive
|
|---|
| 457 | than Katharine Parr, to whom the king's attention turned in 1543.
|
|---|
| 458 | In fact, upon Catherine Howard's execution in 1542, rumors circulated
|
|---|
| 459 | that perhaps the king would take back his former bride. The
|
|---|
| 460 | French ambassador was suitably impressed with Anne's handling of a
|
|---|
| 461 | delicate situation, observing that 'all her affairs could never make
|
|---|
| 462 | her utter a word by which one might suppose that she was
|
|---|
| 463 | discontented.' </p>
|
|---|
| 464 | <p>These rumors were understandable enough; Anne occupied a nebulous
|
|---|
| 465 | place in English society, unmarried but wealthy and independent.
|
|---|
| 466 | She was not an heiress but still honored as a royal. She answered
|
|---|
| 467 | to no male authority but that of the king, and he did not choose to
|
|---|
| 468 | trouble her. For the rest of her life, rumors spread about her
|
|---|
| 469 | lifestyle. For Anne's part, she was content and happy and had
|
|---|
| 470 | little reason to be otherwise. </p>
|
|---|
| 471 | <p>She made her last public appearance at Mary Tudor's coronation in
|
|---|
| 472 | 1553, riding alongside the Princess Elizabeth. She died in 1557
|
|---|
| 473 | of a 'declining illness' and was buried with appropriate honor at
|
|---|
| 474 | Westminster Abbey. Her will is perhaps most representative of her
|
|---|
| 475 | kindly character. In it, she remembered gifts to everyone who had
|
|---|
| 476 | ever served her, no matter how humble or long ago. </p>
|
|---|
| 477 | <p>Anne had chosen as her motto 'God send me well to keep' and it
|
|---|
| 478 | proved apt, though in a way few could have predicted.</p>
|
|---|
| 479 | <p> </p>
|
|---|
| 480 | <center>
|
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| 481 | <p><font size="-1"><a
|
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| 482 | href="wives.html">to the Six
|
|---|
| 483 | Wives main page</a></font> <br>
|
|---|
| 484 | <font size="-1"><a href="http://englishhistory.net/tudor.html">to
|
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| 485 | Tudor England</a></font></p>
|
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| 486 | <p><font size="-1"> <a
|
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| 487 | href="../primary.html">to Primary Sources</a></font></p>
|
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| 488 | </center>
|
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| 489 | </blockquote>
|
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| 490 | </body>
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