ANNE BOLEYN
BORN: c.1500? OR 1507 OR 1509 her age its not certain
MARRIED: JANUARY 1533
EXECUTED: 19 MAY 1536
THE EARLY YEARS
For a woman who played such an important part in English history, we know very little about her earliest years.
Anne spent part of her childhood at the court of the Archduchess Margaret. It was from there that she was transferred to the household of Mary, Henry VIII's sister, who was married to Louis XII of France. Anne's sister Mary was already in 'the French Queen's' attendance. However, when Louis died, Mary Boleyn returned to England with Mary Tudor, while Anne remained in France to attend Claude, the new French queen. . Because of her position, it is possible that she was at the Field of Cloth of Gold, the famous meeting between Henry VIII and the French king, Francis I.
During her stay in France she learned to speak French fluently and developed a taste for French clothes, poetry and music.
Life in England and the Attentions of the King
Anne
returned to England around 1521 for details for her marriage were being
worked out. Meanwhile she went to court to attend Queen Catherine. Her
first recorded appearance at Court was March 1, 1522 at a masque.
After her marriage to the heir of Ormonde fell through, she began an affair with Henry Percy, also a rich heir. Cardinal Wolsey put a stop to the romance, which could be why Anne engendered such a hatred of him later in life. It has been suggested that Wolsey stepped in on behalf of the King to remove Percy from the scene because he had already noticed Anne and wanted her for himself. Fraser asserts that this is not the case since the romance between Anne and Percy ended in 1522 and the King didn't notice Anne until 1526. It is possible that Anne had a precontract with Percy.
Exactly when and where Henry VIII first noticed Anne is not known. It is likely that Henry sought to make Anne his mistress, as he had her sister Mary years before. Maybe drawing on the example of Elizabeth Woodville, Queen to Edward IV (and maternal grandmother to Henry VIII) who was said to have told King Edward that she would only be his wife, not his mistress, Anne denied Henry VIII sexual favors. We don't know who first had the idea marriage, but eventually it evolved into "Queen or nothing" for Anne
King Henry's passion for Anne can be attested to in the love letters he wrote to her when she was away from court. Henry hated writing letters, and very few documents in his own hand survive. However, 17 love letters to Anne remain and are preserved in the Vatican library.
