PoeForward

Dead Girls

PoeForward.com

DEAD GIRLS: Historical Contemporary Future

HISTORICAL: Celebrity Wives Depression Era European Executed Porno Stars Starlets Western

The Original Dead Girl: Mary Rogers/Marie Roget

HOME

POE

EVENTS

POETRY

GALLERIES

DEAD GIRLS

LIBRARY

ABOUT US

EUROPEAN DEAD GIRLS - ANNE BOLEYN

Anne Boleyn

1501 ? - 1536

EUROPEAN

Elizabeth
Bathory

Anne
Boleyn

Lucrezia
Borgia

Anne Boleyn's birth date, month and year are unknown. General opinion now favors 1501 or 1502, though some historians persuasively argue for 1507. She was probably born at Blickling Hall in Norfolk. Her father was Sir Thomas Boleyn, an ambitious knight who married well. Anne had two siblings, Mary and George. Mary was possibly just a year older; George was the eldest. Anne spent her adolescence in France, being educated under the watchful eye of the new French queen. This education had a uniquely French emphasis upon fashion and flirtation, though more intellectual skills were not neglected. Anne became an accomplished musician, singer and dancer. In 1521 or early 1522, with war between England and France imminent, Anne returned to England. Her wit and style gained her a circle of admirers and became secretly engaged to Henry Percy. She also entered the service of the Spanish born Katharine of Aragon, the wife and Queen of Henry VIII.

Henry was first attracted to Anne's sister, Mary. She was the king's mistress in the early 1520's and, as a mark of favor, her father was elevated to the peerage as viscount Rochfort in 1525. Mary herself would leave court with only a dull marriage, and possibly the king's illegitimate son, as her reward. But Anne learned much from her sister's example.

Anne soon caught Henry's eye. He ordered Percy from court and tried to make Anne his mistress. At first she refused and played hard to get. But with her hopes of marriage to Percy dashed, Anne demanded that the king marry her. For nearly seven years, she waited while Henry struggled to obtain an annulment.

Henry wanted Anne as much as he craved a legitimate son to be heir to his throne. He began to search for ways to get rid of his first wife.

As the struggle for an annulment proceeded, Anne's position at the English court became steadily more prominent. There were at first little signs. The king would eat alone with her; she received expensive gifts; she began to dress in the most fashionable and expensive gowns; the king paid her gambling debts (most courtiers enjoyed cards and dice). By 1530, Anne was openly honored by the king at court. She was accorded precedence over all other ladies and she sat by the king's side at banquets and hunts while Katharine was virtually ignored.

"'...a woman who is the scandal of Christendom."
- Katharine of Aragon, describing her rival, 1531

The pretense of his first marriage was allowed to continue. Katharine continued to personally mend his shirts and send him gifts and notes. But it was an untenable situation. It grated on both women. Anne nagged Henry about it. To placate her, she was titled "Marquees of Pembroke" on September 4, 1532. At the Windsor Castle ceremony, she wore a beautiful crimson gown and her hair hung loose. Now that she had been elevated to the peerage in her own right, she had wealth and lands of her own. But when she accompanied him to France on a state visit a short while later, the ladies of the French court refused to meet with her.

"She is of middling stature, with a swarthy complexion,
long neck, wide mouth, bosom not much raised,
and in fact has nothing but the King's great appetite,
and her eyes, which are black and beautiful -
and take great effect on those who served the Queen
when she was on the throne.
She lives like a queen,
and the King accompanies her to Mass -
and everywhere."
- the Venetian ambassador describes Anne, 1532

It is believed that her elevation to the peerage marked the physical consummation of Anne and Henry's relationship. She would give birth to Elizabeth just a year later, and there were rumors of a secret marriage in late 1532. It is possible that she became pregnant after just a few months and a second, legitimate wedding became a necessity.

The king had his fondest wish within his grasp. Anne was pregnant with his long-awaited son, or so he thought, and this son must be legitimate. He could no longer wait upon the pope. Henry rejected the authority of the Holy See and Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, annulled his marriage.

Henry and Anne finally became husband and wife, though few recognized the fact.

Her coronation was a lavish affair, but the people of London mocked their wedding tapestries. As the new Queen of England, Anne ordered new blue and purple livery for her servants and replacing Katharine's badge of pomegranates with her own falcon symbol. Katharine's motto had been "Humble and Loyal." Henry's mother, Elizabeth of York, had chosen "Humble and Reverent." But Anne chose "The Most Happy."

Despite her past sins, Anne remained a pious Catholic. But with Henry's rejection of the papacy and his creation of a new Church of England, the Reformation had come to England. Henry also remained a devout Catholic, but Anne knew Catholic Europe would never recognize her marriage and her future children as legitimate.

Anne gave birth to her first child on September 7, 1533. The female child was not the prince Henry had hoped for, but he had every reason to believe that strong princes would follow next. It was only when Anne miscarried two sons that he began to question the validity of his second marriage.

Elizabeth's christening was a grand affair. Although the king did not attend, he promptly declared Elizabeth as his heir, thus according her precedence over her 17-year-old half-sister, Princess Mary. This issue would become an enduring problem in English history.

In April 1534, Anne announced she was once again pregnant. She might have been pregnant in January and miscarried in February. Henry was thrilled. The elated king was often seen carrying baby Elizabeth about and playing with her, looking forward to the imminent birth of his first son.

In September 1534, Anne miscarried a six-month-old male fetus. Both Henry and Anne were bitterly disappointed.

When she became angry at Henry for having a casual affair that summer, Henry replied to her complaint, "You have good reason to be content with what I have done for you - and I would not do it again, if the thing were to begin. Consider from what you have come." The messy domestic scene was furious and overheard by her attendants.

The Treason Act was passed in November. It was now a capital crime to deny the legitimacy of Henry and Anne's marriage or children. By December, she and Henry had made up yet again.

Meanwhile, Henry began flirting openly with another woman, Madge Shelton, Anne's cousin and lady-in-waiting. Anne knew her only chance left was to birth Henry a son.

In June 1535, Anne became pregnant again. However, in January 1536, she lost the child.

"I have miscarried of my savior."
- Queen Anne Boleyn

Meanwhile, Henry's health had begun to worsen. The first signs of the illness which would kill him, occluded sinus on his leg, appeared. Headaches became unbearable and he was frequently impotent. The king was normally a hypochondriac. Now unable to indulge his love of sports, he instead indulged his fear of pain and illness. He was in his mid-forties and increasingly obese. He had a midlife crisis and began to question his virility. Henry decided to blame Anne for his lack of a male heir.

Katharine of Aragon died in January just a few days before Anne's miscarriage. Henry saw this as an opportunity. If his critics were right and Anne wasn't his lawful wife, then, with Katherine dead, he was now a widower, and available to marry a third time.

Henry began to discredit his marriage to Anne. Gossip and rumor ruined her public profile. She was critized and condemned. People derisively called her "Nan Bullen." She became the scrapegoat for all of Henry's unpopular decisions. Anne Boleyn had become the Monica Lewinsky of her day.

Henry had Anne arrested, charged with adultery, witchcraft, and incest. The crime of adultery was an act of treason for a Queen. Henry wanted Anne convicted and killed, so he could be free to marry Jane Seymour, Anne's lady-in-waiting.

During the trial, poor Henry Percy, her first love, swooned and had to be carried from the room. Anne had prayed to be sentenced to exile, to end her days in a nunnery, but she was condemned to death. She met her end with bravery and wit.

A skilled swordsman was brought over from France. She was assured that there would be little pain. She replied, with typical spirit, "I have heard that the executioner is very good. And I have a little neck."

"You have chosen me from low estate to be
your queen and companion, far beyond my desert or desire;
if, then, you found me worthy of such honor, good your grace,
let not any light fancy or bad counsel of my enemies
withdraw your princely favor from me;
neither let that stain - that unworthy stain - of a disloyal heart
towards your good grace ever cast so foul a blot on me,
and on the infant princess your daughter."
- Anne Boleyn's last letter to King Henry VIII, 1536

Anne walked to the scaffold at 8 o'clock in the morning on May 19, 1536. This was the first public execution of an English Queen.

"Good Christian people, I am come hither to die,
for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die,
and therefore I will speak nothing against it.
I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that,
whereof I am accused and condemned to die,
but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you,
for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never,
and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord.
And if any person will meddle of my cause,
I require them to judge the best.
And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all,
and I heartily desire you all to pray for me.
O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul."
- Queen Anne Boleyn 

She was then blindfolded and knelt at the block. She repeated several times, "To Jesus Christ I commend my soul; Lord Jesus receive my soul."

Henry waited impatiently to hear the Tower cannon mark the Queen's death. He was in a hurry to marry Jane Seymour. They wed ten days after the execution.

Anne was buried in an old arrow box since no coffin was provided. But the box was too short, so her head was tucked beside her. Her remains were taken to St. Peter, the church of the Tower of London.

It was later rumored that her few remaining friends smuggled her body to a more suitable grave and she is buried under a plain slab in a Norfolk church. The church is said to be haunted.

HISTORICAL: Celebrity Wives Depression Era European Executed Porno Stars Starlets Western