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    <Metadata name="Page_topic">Anne of Cleves fourth wife of King Henry VIII</Metadata>
    <Metadata name="Content">Anne of Cleves fourth wife of King Henry VIII</Metadata>
    <Metadata name="Author">Marilee Mongello</Metadata>
    <Metadata name="Title">Anne of Cleves: Biography, Portraits, Primary Sources</Metadata>
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    <Metadata name="dc.Subject">Tudor period|Monarchs</Metadata>
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&lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;3&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; height=&quot;634&quot;&gt;
  &lt;tbody&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;td width=&quot;25%&quot; height=&quot;1&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td valign=&quot;top&quot; width=&quot;50%&quot; height=&quot;1&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td width=&quot;25%&quot; height=&quot;1&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;td width=&quot;25%&quot; height=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td width=&quot;50%&quot; height=&quot;3&quot;&gt;
      &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;4&quot;&gt;'My Lord, if it were not to
satisfy the world, and My Realm, I would not do that I must do this day
for none earthly thing.' &lt;/font&gt; &lt;br&gt;
      &lt;i&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;Henry VIII to Cromwell on his wedding day to
Anne of Cleves&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;br&gt;
&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td width=&quot;25%&quot; height=&quot;3&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
    &lt;tr&gt;
      &lt;td width=&quot;25%&quot; height=&quot;610&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td valign=&quot;top&quot; width=&quot;50%&quot; height=&quot;610&quot;&gt;
      &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
      &lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;_httpdocimg_/clevescardinal.gif&quot; width=&quot;352&quot; height=&quot;95&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
      &lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;_httpdocimg_/clevesholbein2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;miniature portrait of Anne of Cleves by Hans Holbein the Younger&quot; width=&quot;331&quot; height=&quot;325&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;miniature portrait of Anne of Cleves 
      by Hans Holbein the Younger&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Anne of Cleves was the fourth wife of King
Henry VIII; it was a very brief marriage, to the astonishment of all
observers but the relief of both spouses.&amp;nbsp; Henry infamously
referred to his bride as a 'Flanders mare' and told courtiers and
ambassadors that he could not perform his husbandly duties because of
Anne's appearance.&amp;nbsp; Anne's reaction to Henry's physical charms was
not recorded, but she agreed to an annulment very quickly and remained
in England for the rest of her life.&amp;nbsp; Henry was grateful for her
cooperation and granted her a generous income and several homes,
including Hever Castle.&amp;nbsp; Anne enjoyed an independent lifestyle
denied most women, often visiting Henry's court as an honored
guest.&amp;nbsp; Her fondness for English ale and gambling were her only
vices.&amp;nbsp; Along with her successor as Henry's wife, Catherine
Howard, Anne remains a mysterious figure about whom too little is
known.&amp;nbsp; Had she and Henry remained married and had children, the
course of English history might have changed dramatically.&amp;nbsp; But
the mysteries of physical attraction denied Anne her place on the
throne, ended the brilliant career of Thomas Cromwell, and thrust the
king into the arms of his ill-fated fifth queen, Catherine Howard.&lt;/b&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;blockquote&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fmonarchs%2fcleves.html#Biography&quot;&gt;
        &lt;font size=&quot;4&quot;&gt;Read the biography of Anne of Cleves.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Primary Sources&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br&gt;
Read &lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fletters.html&quot;&gt;letters
written by Anne&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;br&gt;
        &lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fpricleve.html&quot;&gt;Anne of
Cleves meets Henry VIII for the first time&lt;/a&gt;, 1540&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;/blockquote&gt;
      &lt;blockquote&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;Visit &lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=0&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fwww.marileecody.com%2fimages.html&quot;&gt;Tudor
England: Images&lt;/a&gt; to view portraits of Anne. &lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;Test your knowledge of Anne's life at &lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2ftudor1.html&quot;&gt;Tudor Quizzes&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;
        &lt;/p&gt;
        &lt;p&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Interact&lt;br&gt;
        &lt;/b&gt;Meet other Six Wives enthusiasts at &lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=0&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fladiesallfanlist.cjb.net&quot;&gt;Ladies All: A Fanlisting for
the Six Wives of Henry VIII&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;
        &lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=0&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2ftudorhistory.org%2flists%2flist.html&quot;&gt; Tudor Talk &lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;This
email discussion list is sponsored by Tudorhistory.org.&lt;br&gt;
        &lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=0&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fgroups.yahoo.com%2fgroup%2fReign%5fof%5fthe%5fTudors%5frpg&quot;&gt;Reign
of the Tudors&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; This is a role-playing game set in 16th century
England.&amp;nbsp; If you would like to 'play' Jane Grey or Anne Boleyn or
other Tudors, click the link to join.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;/blockquote&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
      &lt;td width=&quot;25%&quot; height=&quot;610&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
      &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
  &lt;blockquote&gt;
    &lt;blockquote&gt;
      &lt;p&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;4&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;p&gt;&lt;a name=&quot;Biography&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;4&quot;&gt;'So she came to
Greenwich that night, and was received as queen.&amp;nbsp; And the next
day, being Sunday, the king's grace kept a great court at Greenwich,
where his grace with the queen offered at mass, richly dressed.&amp;nbsp;
And on Twelfth Night, which was Tuesday, the king's majesty was married
to the said queen Anne solemnly, in her closet at Greenwich, and his
grace and she went publicly in procession that day, she having a rich
coronet of stone and pearls set with rosemary on her hair, and a gown
of rich cloth of silver, richly hung with stones and pearls, with all
her ladies and gentlewomen following her, which was a goodly sight to
behold.' &lt;/font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;i&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;2&quot;&gt; Anne of Cleves marries King
Henry VIII, 1540&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
    &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Biography&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br&gt;
Anne of Cleves was Henry VIII's fourth wife, though not his first
choice for the role by far.&amp;nbsp; His ambassadors searched out all the
eligible heiresses of Europe and discovered their king had a very nasty
marital reputation.&amp;nbsp; The beautiful Christina of Milan was told of
the king's interest and wittily replied that if she had two heads she
would risk it, but she had only one; Marie de Guise, who would later
wed his nephew the King of Scots, replied much the same.&amp;nbsp; The
tragic tale of his second queen, Anne Boleyn, had kept European gossips
busy for three years now.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;The king's poor and disrespectful treatment of his first wife (he
was rumored to have bullied Katharine of Aragon to an unhappy death)
and the quick end of his third (in his desperation for a healthy male
heir, the king was rumored to have ordered Jane Seymour cut open,
mangled and killed) only contributed to his low reputation. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;One wouldn't think a king would have too difficult a time finding
a wife, but Henry VIII - who defied his contemporaries in so many other
ways - did so in this respect as well. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;In the end, it was religion which brought Anne of Cleves to
England.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Henry had sought out Catholic princesses like Marie de Guise and
his fifth wife would be a Catholic as well.&amp;nbsp; Despite the Henrician
'reformation', England and its monarch remained a Catholic nation,
albeit one in which supreme authority resided within the king rather
than the pope.&amp;nbsp; But Henry's influential advisor, Thomas Cromwell,
wanted England to ally herself with a Protestant nation that also
rejected papal authority.&amp;nbsp; Cromwell recognized the inexorable
Catholic decline which was only just beginning to occur; the king's
assumption of supreme authority had merely been the first and most
spectacular opening shot in a new religious war.&amp;nbsp; Raised to be a
churchman until his brother's untimely death and deeply interested in
theological debate, Henry VIII didn't appreciate the Pandora's Box of
change he had opened.&amp;nbsp; Cromwell, younger and more philosophically
attuned to the attitudes of the rising middle class, did appreciate
it.&amp;nbsp; And he approved of it.&amp;nbsp; The marriage to Anne of Cleves
would openly ally England with a Protestant duchy, thus making the
'reformation' even more settled. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Henry VIII's previous two marriages had been love matches; he had
been quite independent in choosing women of his own court to
marry.&amp;nbsp; But this fourth marriage was necessarily a more diplomatic
endeavor.&amp;nbsp; In this, the king returned to the traditional role of
kings searching for brides; he also understood that, since the Act of
Supremacy in 1534, England stood dangerously isolated amongst the
Catholic powers of Spain and France. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;There was a gap of over two years between Jane Seymour's death in
October 1537 and Anne of Cleves's arrival in England in late December
1539.&amp;nbsp; Romantics believe the king waited such a long while to
marry again because he loved Jane so much.&amp;nbsp; Whether he loved her
or not is beside the point, though there is ample evidence that he
did.&amp;nbsp; Henry actually waited so long (and he did so quite
impatiently) because marriage negotiations took an unexpectedly long
time.&amp;nbsp; He actually sent out instructions regarding the search for
a new wife barely a month after Jane's death. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;But the French princesses would not assemble for his perusal; they
also made it clear they preferred other suitors.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Likewise,
other heiresses of Europe, some of which (like Christina of Milan) were
related through tangled Hapsburg bloodlines to the king's first wife,
Katharine of Aragon, avoided the English ambassadors.&amp;nbsp; And always,
busy with his paperwork and contacts throughout Europe, Cromwell sought
to arrange a Protestant alliance. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;During all of these negotiations, one must not forget the king's
own views regarding his future wife.&amp;nbsp; Henry was used to making his
own decisions about the women in his life; he had high standards for
female beauty and insisted his next wife be physically
attractive.&amp;nbsp; To that end, he told his ambassadors that no official
overtures be made to certain ladies until he had approved of their
looks.&amp;nbsp; 'The thing touches me too near,' said the king, which was
true enough but not the sort of thing kings were supposed to say.&amp;nbsp;
After all, he was not merely a man but a monarch; he was not supposed
to marry for himself alone. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;The ambassadors were often placed in embarrassing positions,
commissioning portraits and sending back detailed descriptions of pock
marks and hairstyles.&amp;nbsp; Finally, the choices were narrowed down to
four serious contenders - Marie de Guise, the widow of the duc de
Longueville, was tall, beautiful and already proven in
childbirth.&amp;nbsp; As mentioned earlier, she chose the Scottish king
James V.&amp;nbsp; Henry then looked to her younger sister, but she also
became otherwise engaged.&amp;nbsp; Then there was the beautiful and
intelligent Christina of Milan, just sixteen and one of the most
sought-after heiresses of her generation.&amp;nbsp; But the king of England
was three times her age, fat and with a cruel reputation; she allowed
herself to be painted by Holbein but did nothing to solve the problem
of her being a great-niece of Katharine of Aragon.&amp;nbsp; This
impediment of affinity was a nice way to avoid the king of England. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;The year of 1538 passed with no alliance.&amp;nbsp; Henry had intended
to use his fourth marriage as a balance between France and the Hapsburg
empire.&amp;nbsp; But it now seemed as if those two enemies might join
forces against him in defense of the papal supremacy. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Suddenly Cromwell's moment had arrived.&amp;nbsp; The fourth serious
contender was the sister of the duke of Cleves.&amp;nbsp; The duke was not
a Protestant himself but was allied through marriage with Saxony and
the league of Lutheran princes; he was also at odds with the Hapsburg
emperor Charles V over the duchy of Gelderland.&amp;nbsp; The duchy of
Cleves might one day rival the Netherlands in terms of trade and
strategic advantage.&amp;nbsp; The king was persuaded to send his favorite
court painter, Hans Holbein the Younger, to the German duchy.&amp;nbsp;
There he painted both Anne and her sister Amelia.&amp;nbsp; Henry, who by
this time was wearying of the endless rounds of negotiations (and whom
Cromwell feared would soon turn to another English noblewoman), was
interested in Anne.&amp;nbsp; Negotiations began in earnest. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Anne was 24 years old, and had spent most of her life at the ducal
court of Dusseldorf.&amp;nbsp; She was well-educated in domestic skills but
she was neither intellectual or flirtatious, both qualities the king
admired.&amp;nbsp; She had no musical skills, and music was one of Henry's
passions, and no interest in books.&amp;nbsp; On the trip to England, her
escort (perhaps sensing disaster ahead) tried to teach her the king's
favorite card games but Anne found them hopeless.&amp;nbsp; It was not her
fault, nor that of Henry VIII, but she was raised in a different
country and, as things turned out, was not given time to acclimatize
herself before the king rejected her.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;
  &lt;img height=&quot;280&quot; alt=&quot;Holbein's betrothal portrait of Anne of Cleves&quot;
 src=&quot;_httpdocimg_/cleves-bio1.jpg&quot;
 width=&quot;190&quot; align=&quot;left&quot; border=&quot;2&quot;&gt;The issue of the betrothal portrait is the most fascinating part
of this story.&amp;nbsp; Holbein was a man of vast talent; his best
portraits are simply astounding, beautifully composed and possessing
great psychological insight.&amp;nbsp; Look at the infamous portrait of
Anne of Cleves to the left; it is clear that Holbein was more
fascinated with the embroidery of her gown than with Anne's
personality.&amp;nbsp; Her eyes are downcast and her features lost beneath the ornate
trappings of her dress and hood. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;There has long been a rumor that Henry was so enraged with the
work, believing that Holbein had deliberately duped him with a false
portrait, that he fired the painter.&amp;nbsp; But that is not true.&amp;nbsp;
At the time, there were a few remarks that she did not look as well as
the portrait asserted, but this was not unlikely - she had arrived in
England after a long journey, perhaps the sea air did not agree with
her skin?&amp;nbsp; Or perhaps nervousness over the impending marriage
caused a change in her complexion.&amp;nbsp; We cannot know.&amp;nbsp; But we
do know that Henry's ambassadors, only too aware of their master's
wishes, allowed the portrait to be sent as a fair likeness of
Anne.&amp;nbsp; Would they have dared to mislead their monarch in such a
way?&amp;nbsp; It's not likely.&amp;nbsp; Even Henry himself did not make much
of the supposed difference between the painted and real Anne, aside
from a comment to Cromwell that she was 'nothing so fair as she had
been reported.'&amp;nbsp; Often expectations can be idealistic, and that
was possibly the case with Henry.&amp;nbsp; Holbein continued to receive
commissions from the English aristocracy before dying of plague in
London in 1543. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;What actually happened to drive Anne and Henry apart was a simple
matter of attraction.&amp;nbsp; Almost five hundred years later, we still
don't understand why certain people are physically attracted to each
other; it simply happens.&amp;nbsp; And it didn't happen with Anne and
Henry; in fact, quite the opposite occurred and the king was repulsed
by her.&amp;nbsp; Anne's feelings on the matter are not known but Henry was
no longer the strong, athletic king of years past; various injuries had
reduced his exercise but not his appetite.&amp;nbsp; He was increasingly
obese and subject to its attendant problems. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;There were other reasons for the king to look askance at this new
bride.&amp;nbsp; The foreign crisis which had caused Cromwell to seek an
alliance with the Protestant duchy had passed; France and Spain had
returned to their old enmity.&amp;nbsp; England was no longer threatened by
the Catholic powers.&amp;nbsp; Also, the dispute over Gelderland had become
more serious and Henry was not eager to fight the suddenly genial
Spanish in defense of Anne's brother.&amp;nbsp; These issues were clear in
mid-autumn 1539 but the marriage negotiations continued.&amp;nbsp; By that
point, they had a momentum of their own.&amp;nbsp; A proxy marriage
occurred and Anne left her home in late November.&amp;nbsp; She reached
Calais on 11 December; during the journey, she was addressed as Queen
of England and treated accordingly.&amp;nbsp; For a fortnight she waited at
Calais until the weather settled.&amp;nbsp; On 27 December she set out for
Deal; it was a stormy crossing.&amp;nbsp; It was on the first day of 1540
that the king, so impatient to see his new bride, entered her rooms in
disguise.&amp;nbsp; The scene was recorded by the Imperial ambassador,
Eustace Chapuys: &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;blockquote&gt;
    &lt;p&gt;And on New Years Day in the afternoon the king's grace with five
of his privy chamber, being disguised with mottled cloaks with hoods so
that they should not be recognized, came secretly to Rochester, and so
went up into the chamber where the said Lady Anne was looking out of a
window to see the bull-baiting which was going on in the courtyard, and
suddenly he embraced and kissed her, and showed here a token which the
king had sent her for New Year's gift, and she being abashed and not
knowing who it was thanked him, and so he spoke with her.&amp;nbsp; But she
regarded him little, but always looked out the window.... and when the
king saw that she took so little notice of his coming he went into
another chamber and took off his cloak and came in again in a coat of
purple velvet.&amp;nbsp; And when the lords and knights saw his grace they
did him reverence.... and then her grace humbled herself lowly to the
king's majesty, and his grace saluted her again, and they talked
together lovingly, and afterwards he took her by the hand and led her
to another chamber where their graces amused themselves that night and
on Friday until the afternoon.&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;You can read the entire account at &lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fpricleve.html&quot;&gt;Primary Sources&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/font&gt;
  &lt;br&gt;
  &lt;br&gt;
Henry had so far managed to conceal his dislike of Anne.&amp;nbsp; There is
reason to believe it was not an immediate revulsion; it was only after
their wedding night, which the king declared he could not consummate,
that word spread of his physical distaste.&amp;nbsp; When Cromwell asked
him the next morning, 'How liked you the Queen?', Henry replied, 'I
liked her before not well, but now I like her much worse.' &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;On Twelfth Night (6 January), they were married in the 'Queen's
Closet' at Greenwich Palace, where Henry had also married his last
bride.&amp;nbsp; But the king was already looking for ways out.&amp;nbsp; The
very day of the ceremony, he told Cromwell, 'My Lord, if it were not to
satisfy the world, and my Realm, I would not do that I must do this day
for none earthly thing.'&amp;nbsp; These were ominous words. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;It is also possible that around this time, the king met &lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fmonarchs%2fhoward.html&quot;&gt;Catherine
Howard&lt;/a&gt;, cousin of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, and now destined to
be lady-in-waiting to Anne of Cleves when her Flemish attendants were
dismissed.&amp;nbsp; There is no doubt he felt an instant attraction to the
lively, curvaceous Catherine.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Henry's nobility, which had long chafed against the power and
influence of &lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fcitizens%2fcromwell.html&quot;&gt;Cromwell&lt;/a&gt;
(much as they had against Wolsey), welcomed this opportunity to
discredit him.&amp;nbsp; The minister had pushed the king into the Cleves
marriage, they reminded Henry gleefully.&amp;nbsp; The king's wrath turned
against his former friend and Cromwell was executed on 28 July 1540, a
decision Henry almost instantly regretted.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;And so four things pushed Henry towards an annulment - his dislike
of Anne, foreign policy changes, his attraction to Catherine Howard,
and his courtiers' hatred of Cromwell. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;In the few days between the first meeting and the wedding,
Cromwell and the king had found a potential way out, though the
ceremony continued as planned.&amp;nbsp; In the mid-1530s, Anne had briefly
been engaged to Francis, duke of Lorraine.&amp;nbsp; The English had not
explored the issue too much, merely asking the government of Cleves if
negotiations had ended.&amp;nbsp; Now they looked more closely, with the
king waiting impatiently for the right response.&amp;nbsp; They suddenly
discovered there was no dispensation from the precontract; Anne was
still officially betrothed to Francis.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;The ambassadors from Cleves were not unaware of Henry's
intent.&amp;nbsp; They struggled to find the right documents but, on 26
February 1540, all they could produce was a report in their archives
which stated that negotiations with Lorraine 'were not going to take
their natural course.'&amp;nbsp; No actual papers of dispensation could be
produced since they did not exist.&amp;nbsp; Thus Henry's marriage to Anne
of Cleves was legally invalid from the start.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;This is one of the more ironic moments in Henry's checkered
marital career.&amp;nbsp; For once, his decision to end a marriage was
legally valid and acceptable to all. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Meanwhile, the king made certain comments regarding Anne's body
and virtue which reveal him in a less than gentlemanly light.&amp;nbsp; He
told Anthony Denny, a member of the Privy Chamber, that she had
'breasts so slack and other parts of body in such sort that [he]
somewhat suspected her virginity.'&amp;nbsp; He further told his court
physicians of the 'hanging of her breasts and looseness of her
flesh.'&amp;nbsp; Clearly, consummation of the marriage would not
occur.&amp;nbsp; The king bravely slept in the same bed at least every
other night, yet he reported a month later that Anne 'was still as good
a Maid.... as ever her Mother bare her.'&amp;nbsp; This contradiction - she
was not a virgin, yet was - was never mentioned. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;What did Anne think of all this controversy?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Luckily for her, she had only a small knowledge of English and
even less knowledge of the physical relationship between a man and
wife.&amp;nbsp; Her English ladies were astounded by her innocence.&amp;nbsp;
'When he [Henry] comes to bed, he kisses me and taketh me by the hand,
and biddeth me 'Goodnight, sweetheart,' and in the morning, kisses me,
and biddeth me, 'Farewell, darling.'&amp;nbsp; Is this not enough?' asked
Anne.&amp;nbsp; No, she was told emphatically, it most certainly was not. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Anne's ignorance casts a bad light on her mother, Duchess Maria,
but it served to protect her feelings in England.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;In the end, she ruled as queen for just four months; her last
official appearance as the royal consort was during the May Day
celebrations.&amp;nbsp; She was never crowned, though even if the king had
wished it, he could not have afforded such a ceremony.&amp;nbsp; During
those months, the Catholic nobility pushed their advantage against the
Protestant Cromwell.&amp;nbsp; The minister was too Lutheran for the king's
taste.&amp;nbsp; Likewise, the Catholics encouraged the flirtations of
young Catherine Howard, also a Catholic and the duke of Norfolk's
niece.&amp;nbsp; Too young and ill-educated to be aware of how others used
her as a pawn, she happily danced before the king and accepted his
gifts.&amp;nbsp; She was granted lands in April and the next month received
rich gifts of fabric and jewelry.&amp;nbsp; There is every possibility
Catherine consummated her relationship with the king in May.&amp;nbsp; How
else can we explain the sudden race to rid himself of Anne? &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;The investigation into her precontract with Lorraine had been
hastily done in January and February but for two months afterwards, the
king merely lamented his fate.&amp;nbsp; Parliament even confirmed Anne's
dowry in April.&amp;nbsp; But suddenly in May there was a fierce new
determination to annul the marriage; the king was no longer content to
complain.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;It is possible, and was rumored, that Henry had slept with
Catherine and consequently there was a chance she was pregnant.&amp;nbsp;
Another male heir was never far from Henry's mind.&amp;nbsp; He was also
deeply in love with his 'Rose without a Thorn', a somewhat pathetic
attraction between an elderly (the king was almost 49 years old) man
and a very young woman.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;And so Anne had to go.&amp;nbsp; She succumbed to the inevitable with
surprising grace.&amp;nbsp; Perhaps she was leery of the royal temper, or&lt;img
 height=&quot;218&quot; alt=&quot;engraving of Anne of Cleves, after Holbein&quot;
 src=&quot;_httpdocimg_/cleves-bio2.jpg&quot;
 width=&quot;154&quot; border=&quot;2&quot; align=&quot;right&quot;&gt; remembered the king's marital
history, or she simply didn't care.&amp;nbsp; Henry was very
grateful.&amp;nbsp; If she had not cooperated....&amp;nbsp; He knew, from the
example of Katharine of Aragon, what could happen if a queen fought an
annulment.&amp;nbsp; He had no desire to alienate Cleves or engage in
another lengthy legal and theological dispute.&amp;nbsp; The king declared
the marriage had not been consummated and, in any case, it was invalid
from the start.&amp;nbsp; Would Anne agree? &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;She did agree, most readily.&amp;nbsp; She was shocked at first by the
news; the king's representatives visited her at Richmond Palace, where
she had gone to escape the threat of plague.&amp;nbsp; They brought an
interpreter so there would be no misunderstanding.&amp;nbsp; For her part,
Anne quickly grasped the situation.&amp;nbsp; She had no advisers and the
king had already executed one wife and harassed another to death.&amp;nbsp;
Certainly she enjoyed the role of queen, was more fluent in English and
had taken a liking to her new country; even the people cheered her on
the occasional public ride between palaces.&amp;nbsp; But did she dare
fight Henry?&amp;nbsp; Of course not. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;The king's servants wrote that she was 'content always with your
Majesty', thus accepting Henry's judgment, and in her &lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fletter12.html&quot;&gt;letter of&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fletter12.html&quot;&gt; submission&lt;/a&gt;
she signed herself 'daughter of Cleves', not 'queen of England'.&amp;nbsp;
She agreed the marriage had never been consummated and signed all
necessary documents.&amp;nbsp; For his part, Henry was now prepared to be
generous.&amp;nbsp; Anne was to enjoy precedence over all the ladies in
England, except the Queen and the king's daughters.&amp;nbsp; She was to be
known as the king's 'good sister' and received a very nice settlement
of manors and estates, some of which belonged to Cromwell.&amp;nbsp; This
guaranteed her an income of 3000 pds a year, making her one of the
wealthiest women in England.&amp;nbsp; All this depended upon her remaining
in England, and this Anne was more than willing to do.&amp;nbsp; 'The
King's highness whom I cannot have as a husband is nevertheless a most
kind, loving and friendly father and brother,' she wrote to her
brother.&amp;nbsp; Why should she return home in ignominy, dependent upon
her brother's generosity, when she could remain in England and live a
comfortable, independent life? &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Anne was perhaps as content with the arrangement as Henry.&amp;nbsp;
She grew to enjoy English ale and gambling; she spent large sums on
gowns; she visited with the king's children and occasionally the king
himself.&amp;nbsp; She was heard to remark that she was more attractive
than Katharine Parr, to whom the king's attention turned in 1543.&amp;nbsp;
In fact, upon Catherine Howard's execution in 1542, rumors circulated
that perhaps the king would take back his former bride.&amp;nbsp; The
French ambassador was suitably impressed with Anne's handling of a
delicate situation, observing that 'all her affairs could never make
her utter a word by which one might suppose that she was
discontented.'&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;These rumors were understandable enough; Anne occupied a nebulous
place in English society, unmarried but wealthy and independent.&amp;nbsp;
She was not an heiress but still honored as a royal.&amp;nbsp; She answered
to no male authority but that of the king, and he did not choose to
trouble her.&amp;nbsp; For the rest of her life, rumors spread about her
lifestyle.&amp;nbsp; For Anne's part, she was content and happy and had
little reason to be otherwise. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;She made her last public appearance at Mary Tudor's coronation in
1553, riding alongside the Princess Elizabeth.&amp;nbsp; She died in 1557
of a 'declining illness' and was buried with appropriate honor at
Westminster Abbey.&amp;nbsp; Her will is perhaps most representative of her
kindly character.&amp;nbsp; In it, she remembered gifts to everyone who had
ever served her, no matter how humble or long ago. &lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;Anne had chosen as her motto 'God send me well to keep' and it
proved apt, though in a way few could have predicted.&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;center&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fmonarchs%2fwives.html&quot;&gt;to the Six
Wives main page&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt; &lt;br&gt;
  &lt;font size=&quot;-1&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor.html&quot;&gt;to
Tudor England&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;font size=&quot;-1&quot;&gt; &lt;a
 href=&quot;_httpextlink_&amp;amp;rl=1&amp;amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fprimary.html&quot;&gt;to Primary Sources&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  &lt;/center&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;

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