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| 8 | <title>Primary Sources: The romance between Anne Boleyn and Henry Percy, 1523</title>
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| 20 | <p align="center"> <br>
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| 21 | <p align="center">
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| 22 | <img border="0" src="1523.gif" alt="Primary Sources: 1523: The romance between Anne Boleyn & Henry Percy" width="417" height="101"><p align="center"> </td>
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| 23 | </tr>
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| 29 | <tr>
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| 30 | <td valign="top" width="48%" bgcolor="#FFFFE8"><font size="2">The account
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| 31 | at right </font><font size="-1">was written by George Cavendish, Cardinal Wolsey's gentleman-usher.</font><p>
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| 32 | <img SRC="anne2.jpg" ALT="portrait of Anne Boleyn" BORDER=0 height=194 width=139 align=LEFT></p>
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| 33 | <p><font size="2">Anne Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry VIII.
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| 34 | The year of her birth is unknown; it was possibly 1501 or 1507. She
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| 35 | spent her adolescence at the French court but returned home to England in
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| 36 | 1522. As the daughter of an ambitious courtier and niece of the duke
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| 37 | of Norfolk, she was invited to serve at court as lady-in-waiting to
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| 38 | Katharine of Aragon. It was here that she caught the attention of
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| 39 | King Henry. Anne, however, had fallen in love with Lord Henry Percy,
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| 40 | heir to the earl of Northumberland. They were secretly engaged and
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| 41 | planned to marry. As Cavendish's account makes plain, Henry ordered
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| 42 | Cardinal Wolsey to end the engagement. The Cardinal did so, thus
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| 43 | earning Anne's lasting enmity.</font></p>
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| 44 | <p><font size="2">Henry's 'secret love' for Anne was highly controversial,
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| 45 | and not merely because he was already married. Kings did, after all,
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| 46 | have mistresses. But he had already had an open affair (and possibly
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| 47 | a son) with her sister, Mary. His relationship with Anne, however,
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| 48 | was far more serious. In love and desperate for a legitimate male
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| 49 | heir, Henry planned to annul his marriage to Katharine of Aragon and marry
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| 50 | Anne. The pope's refusal to help eventually led Henry to break with
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| 51 | the church of Rome and declare himself supreme head of a new English
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| 52 | church.</font></p>
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| 53 | <p><font size="2">It was all for naught. Anne did not give Henry a
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| 54 | surviving son and she was executed on 19 May 1536.</font></p>
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| 55 | <p> </td>
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| 56 | <td width="4%"></td>
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| 57 | <td valign="top" width="48%">
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| 58 |
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| 59 | <p> I will tell you as best I can how the king's love came about and what
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| 60 | followed thereafter. When this lady, Mistress Anne Boleyn, was very
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| 61 | young she was sent to France to be a lady-in-waiting to the French queen.
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| 62 | When the queen died she was sent back to her father who arranged for her to
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| 63 | become a lady-in-waiting to queen Catherine, wife of Henry. Such was
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| 64 | her success in this post, shown both by her exemplary behavior and excellent
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| 65 | deportment that she quickly outshone all the others. To such an
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| 66 | extent, in fact, that the flames of desire began to burn secretly in the
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| 67 | king's breast, unknown to all, least of all to Anne herself. </p>
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| 68 |
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| 69 | <p>At this time Lord Percy, the son and heir of the earl of Northumberland,
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| 70 |
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| 71 | was aide and secretary to Wolsey, the lord cardinal, and whenever the lord
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| 72 |
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| 73 | cardinal happened to be at court Lord Percy would pass the time in the
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| 74 |
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| 75 | queen's quarters where he would dally with the ladies-in-waiting.
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| 76 |
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| 77 | Of these, he was most familiar with mistress Anne Boleyn, to such an extent
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| 78 |
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| 79 | that a secret love grew up between them and they pledged that, in time,
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| 80 |
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| 81 | they intended to wed. When knowledge of this reached the king's ears
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| 82 |
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| 83 | he was greatly distraught. Realizing that he could no longer hide
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| 84 |
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| 85 | his secret love, he revealed all to the lord cardinal and discussed with
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| 86 |
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| 87 | him ways of sundering the couple's engagement to each other.
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| 88 |
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| 89 | <p>When the lord cardinal had left the court and returned to Westminster,
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| 90 |
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| 91 | he remembered Henry's request and summoned Lord Percy to his presence,
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| 92 |
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| 93 | saying in front of us, his servants: 'I am amazed at your foolishness in
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| 94 |
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| 95 | getting entangled, even engaged, to this silly girl at court - I mean Anne
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| 96 |
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| 97 | Boleyn. Have you not considered your position? After the death
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| 98 |
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| 99 | of your noble father you stand to inherit one of the greatest earldoms
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| 100 |
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| 101 | in the country. It would thus have been more proper if you had sought
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| 102 |
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| 103 | the consent of your father in this affair and to have made his highness
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| 104 |
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| 105 | the king privy to it, requesting his royal blessing. Had you done
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| 106 |
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| 107 | so, he was not only have welcomed your request but would, I can assure
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| 108 |
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| 109 | you, have promoted you to a position more suited to your noble estate.
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| 110 |
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| 111 | And thence you might have gained the king's favor by your conduct and wise
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| 112 |
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| 113 | council and and thus risen further still in his estimation.
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| 114 |
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| 115 | <p>'But now look what you have done by your thoughtlessness. You
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| 116 |
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| 117 | have not only offended your own father but also your sovereign and pledged
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| 118 |
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| 119 | yourself to someone whom neither would agree to be suitable. And
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| 120 |
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| 121 | do not doubt that I shall send for your father and when he comes he will
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| 122 |
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| 123 | break off this engagement or disinherit you forever. The king himself
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| 124 |
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| 125 | will make a complaint to your father and demand no less an action than
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| 126 |
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| 127 | I have suggested. Indeed, I happen to know that the king has already
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| 128 |
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| 129 | promised this lady to someone else and that though she is not yet aware
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| 130 |
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| 131 | of it, the arrangements are already far advanced. The king however,
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| 132 |
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| 133 | being a man of great prudence and diplomacy, is confident that, once she
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| 134 |
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| 135 | is aware of the situation, she will agree to the union gladly.'
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| 136 |
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| 137 | <p>'Sir,' said Lord Percy, weeping, 'I knew nothing of the king's involvement
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| 138 |
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| 139 | in all this, and I am sorry to have incurred his displeasure. I considered
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| 140 |
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| 141 | myself to be of sufficient age and in a good enough situation to be able
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| 142 |
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| 143 | to take a wife of my own choosing and never doubted that my father would
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| 144 |
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| 145 | have accepted my decision. And though she is just a simple maid and
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| 146 |
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| 147 | her father is only a knight, yet she is of very noble descent. On
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| 148 |
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| 149 | her mother's side she has Norfolk blood and on her father's side she is
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| 150 |
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| 151 | a direct descendant of the earl of Ormond. Why then, sir, should
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| 152 |
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| 153 | I query the suitability of the match when her pedigree is of equal worth
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| 154 |
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| 155 | to mine? Thus I humbly beg your favor in this matter and ask you
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| 156 |
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| 157 | to beg the king to be benevolent concerning this issue of my engagement,
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| 158 |
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| 159 | which I cannot deny, still less break it off?'
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| 160 |
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| 161 | <p>'See, gentlemen,' said the lord cardinal to us, 'what nonsense there
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| 162 |
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| 163 | is in this willful boy's head! I though that when you heard me explain
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| 164 |
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| 165 | the king's involvement in this business you would have relented in your
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| 166 |
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| 167 | suit and have submitted yourself to the king's will, allowing his highness
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| 168 |
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| 169 | to decide on the matter as he thinks fit.'
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| 170 |
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| 171 | <p>'Sir, and so I would,' said Lord Percy, 'but in this matter I have gone
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| 172 |
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| 173 | so far that I am no longer able to renounce my commitment in full conscience.'
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| 174 |
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| 175 | <p>'What?' said the cardinal, 'Do you think that the king and I do not
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| 176 |
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| 177 | know what to do in such a serious matter as this? One thing's for
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| 178 |
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| 179 | sure, I can see no point in your making any further pleas in this case.'
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| 180 |
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| 181 | <p>'Very well,' said Lord Percy, 'if it please you, I will submit myself
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| 182 |
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| 183 | completely to the king's will in this matter and will release my conscience
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| 184 |
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| 185 | from the heavy burden of the engagement.'
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| 186 |
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| 187 | <p>'So be it, then,' said the cardinal, 'I will send for your father in
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| 188 |
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| 189 | the north, and he, the king and I will take whatever measure for the annulment
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| 190 |
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| 191 | of this hasty folly the king thinks necessary. And in the meantime,
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| 192 |
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| 193 | I order you - and in the king's name command you - not to see her again
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| 194 |
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| 195 | if you intend to avoid the full wrath of his majesty.' Having said
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| 196 |
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| 197 | this, he got up and went off to his study.
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| 198 |
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| 199 | <p>Then the earl of Northumberland was sent for, who, learning of the request
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| 200 |
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| 201 | being at the king's command, made great speed to court. his first
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| 202 |
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| 203 | port of call after leaving the north was to lord cardinal, by whom he was
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| 204 |
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| 205 | briefed about the cause of his hasty summons and with whom he spent a considerable
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| 206 |
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| 207 | time in secret discussions. After their long talk, the cardinal ordered
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| 208 |
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| 209 | some wine and after they had drunk together the meeting broke up and the
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| 210 |
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| 211 | earl left.
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| 212 |
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| 213 | <p>As he was leaving, he sat down on a bench that the servants used and
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| 214 |
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| 215 | called his son Lord Percy to him, saying, in our presence: 'Son, you have
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| 216 |
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| 217 | always been a proud, presumptuous, headstrong wastrel. And you have
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| 218 |
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| 219 | so proved yourself once more. What possible joy, comfort, pleasure
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| 220 |
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| 221 | or solace could I ever receive from you who have so misconducted yourself
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| 222 |
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| 223 | without discretion and in such secrecy. With no regard for your own
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| 224 |
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| 225 | father, nor for your sovereign to whom all honest and loyal subjects give
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| 226 |
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| 227 | faithful and humble obedience, nor even for your own noble estate, you
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| 228 |
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| 229 | have ill-advisedly become engaged to this girl and thereby incurred the
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| 230 |
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| 231 | king's displeasure - an action intolerable in any of his subjects!
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| 232 |
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| 233 | <p>'If it wasn't for the wisdom of the king and his benevolence towards
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| 234 |
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| 235 | your empty-headedness and willful stupidity, his wrath would have been
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| 236 |
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| 237 | sufficient to cast me and all my family for generations to come into abject
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| 238 |
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| 239 | poverty and desolation. But by the supreme goodness of his grace
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| 240 |
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| 241 | and the worthy lord cardinal, I have been excused your transgression -
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| 242 |
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| 243 | they have decided to pity your stupidity rather than blame it - and have
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| 244 |
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| 245 | presented me with a command concerning you and your future conduct.
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| 246 |
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| 247 | <p>'I pray to God that this may serve as sufficient warning to you to conduct
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| 248 |
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| 249 | yourself with more care hereafter, for I can assure you that, if you do
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| 250 |
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| 251 | not amend your ways, you will be the last earl of Northumberland if I have
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| 252 |
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| 253 | anything to do with it. You do nothing but waste and consume everything
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| 254 |
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| 255 | that all your ancestors have built up and cherished with great honor.
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| 256 |
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| 257 | But in the name of the good and gracious king, I intend - God willing -
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| 258 |
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| 259 | so to arrange my succession that you will benefit from it but little.
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| 260 |
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| 261 | For I have no intention, I can assure you, of making you my heir.
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| 262 |
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| 263 | I have, after all, praise be to God, a wide choice of sons who will, I
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| 264 |
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| 265 | am sure, prove themselves worthier than you and abler to conduct themselves
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| 266 |
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| 267 | as true nobles should. And from these I will choose the best as my
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| 268 |
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| 269 | successor.
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| 270 |
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| 271 | <p>'Now gentlemen,' he said to us servants, 'it may so happen that when
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| 272 |
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| 273 | I am dead you will see these things that I have spoken of to my son prove
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| 274 |
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| 275 | to be the case. Yet in the meantime, I would be grateful if you could
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| 276 |
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| 277 | be his friends and tell him when he strays from the path or is at fault.'
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| 278 |
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| 279 | And with that he took his leave of us and said to his son: 'Go on your
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| 280 |
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| 281 | way and serve the lord cardinal, your master, and make sure you carry out
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| 282 |
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| 283 | your duty.' And thus he departed and went down through the hall and
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| 284 |
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| 285 | out to his barge.
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| 286 |
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| 287 | <p>After much debate and consultation about lord Percy's case it was finally
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| 288 | decided that his engagement to Anne Boleyn should be dissolved and that he
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| 289 | should instead marry one of the earl of Shrewsbury's daughters, Mary Talbot,
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| 290 | which he later did.<p> <p align="center">
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| 291 | <a href="monarchs/boleyn.html">
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| 292 | <font size="2">to the Anne
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| 293 | Boleyn website</font></a></p>
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| 294 | <p align="center"><a href="primary.html">
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| 295 | <font size="2">to Primary Sources</font></a></td>
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| 296 | </tr>
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| 297 | </table>
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