She Wolves (28 page)

Anne is little documented between 1522 and 1526 but she appears to have quickly established herself as one of Catherine of Aragon’s ladies. Negotiations for her marriage to James Butler dragged on but it soon became clear that they would come to nothing, perhaps due to her father’s unwillingness to abandon his hopes of a title. Anne enjoyed court life and it is likely that she would also have been unwilling to marry her Irish cousin and leave court for his estates. Some time after her arrival at court she also became involved with another, more eligible, suitor. According to Cavendish’s
Life of Wolsey
, Henry Percy, who was heir to the earldom of Northumberland, often spent time in the queen’s chambers and would flirt with her ladies there.
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It quickly became apparent that he preferred Anne Boleyn to all the other ladies:

It is unlikely that the king had any romantic feelings for Anne at that time but he probably still hoped that the Butler marriage would occur and was angry that Anne and Percy should have gone against his wishes. Henry may well have felt that Anne was too far beneath Percy socially to ever be a credible wife for him.

Following the king’s intervention, Henry Percy was summoned to Wolsey and rebuked by the Cardinal for attaching himself to a woman who was beneath him.
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Percy wept and tried to defend Anne, saying that she was the woman he loved most and pointing out her noble descent. This was fruitless and Wolsey sent for Percy’s father who took him back to Northumberland and married him swiftly to the Earl of Shrewsbury’s daughter. It is unclear whether Anne returned Henry Percy’s affection, but she may have done. Certainly, she blamed Cardinal Wolsey for the loss of such a grand marriage and later became his greatest enemy. There was certainly a secret engagement between Anne and Henry Percy, although both attempted to suppress the knowledge of this once she became queen. Anne’s affair with Henry Percy clearly shows her appeal and ability to breach convention and arrange a marriage for herself. It also shows clearly, for the first time, the great ambition which the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn could harbour.

Henry Percy was not the only person with whom Anne became romantically involved during her first years at court. She also attracted the attentions of the married poet, Sir Thomas Wyatt. The exact nature of Anne and Wyatt’s relationship is unclear and Anne, who was trying to arrange an advantageous marriage, may have seen the relationship as merely harmless flirtation. Wyatt was clearly interested in Anne and in one poem refers to his love for ‘Brunet’.
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This Brunet is obviously Anne Boleyn and Wyatt’s original final line for this poem refers to ‘Her that did set our country in a rore’. There is no doubt that this refers to Anne. The exact nature of Anne and Wyatt’s relationship is perhaps summed up in another poem by Wyatt:

From the evidence of this poem it seems likely that Wyatt pursued Anne, hoping that she would become his mistress but that this affair was never consummated and Anne considered him the least of her suitors. Anne knew the value of marriage and would not have thrown away her propects for a mere flirtation. Nevertheless the liaison did prove useful to her since Wyatt’s interest in Anne seems to have triggered the king’s own interest in her.

The exact date of the king’s interest in Anne Boleyn is unclear but there is no doubt that she was present at court for some time before she came to his attention. Her sister, Mary Boleyn, had been the king’s mistress during the early 1520s and it is likely that initially Henry expected Anne to fulfil a similar role to that of her sister. A number of love letters written by Henry to Anne survive and it seems that he first sought to offer her the position of his official mistress. Anne, perhaps remembering how her own sister had been cast aside by the king once he had tired of her, refused Henry’s offer and instead retreated to her family home of Hever. Henry did not, however, forget about Anne and wrote to her begging her to return to court.
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By around 1526, Henry was apparently completely confused about Anne’s conduct towards him. In his fourth surviving letter to Anne he begged to know her feelings towards him:

The fact that Anne was unavailable caused what had begun as a flirtation to become an obsession. By the time of this letter, Henry was desperate to win Anne and undertones in the letter suggest that he would even be prepared to offer her marriage. On receiving the letter, Anne must have realised that she was now being offered something more than merely being Henry’s mistress. Although her reply does not survive, Henry’s next letter refers to her submission to him and a present that she commissioned representing a maiden in a storm-tossed ship.
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Henry signed this letter with a drawing of a heart and it is clear that this was the moment that their relationship became a serious commitment for them both.

Anne made it clear to Henry from the start that only marriage would suffice. She may well have based her stance on that taken by Elizabeth Woodville and from this would have known the heights a woman who stood out against the king could reach. Henry had been married to Catherine of Aragon for almost twenty years by the time he began his relationship with Anne but his passion for Anne meant that he was eager to be rid of Catherine. Although Henry always claimed that it was his conscience that compelled him to leave an ungodly marriage with Catherine, who had been the wife of his elder brother, there is no doubt that in 1527 his instigation of divorce proceedings was due to his desire to marry Anne. Anne Boleyn was at first kept separate from the divorce but as time went by she was given more prominence at Henry’s court.

In December 1527, she moved to court permanently and kept a queenly state, despite the presence of her rival, Catherine.
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In 1527, Anne must have felt triumphant and she and Henry probably believed that their marriage was imminent. However, as the divorce dragged on, both became increasingly frustrated and Anne was able to direct Henry’s frustration towards her long-term enemy, Cardinal Wolsey. Anne appears to have been willing to work with Wolsey whilst she thought that he could procure the divorce for her. When it became apparent that he could not achieve this, she became hostile towards him, perhaps believing that he was deliberately procrastinating.

Wolsey knew of Anne’s attitude towards him and attempted to gain her favour through providing feasts and entertainments for her and the king.
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This did not help him however, and she built up an anti-Wolsey faction at court whilst he was absent on a diplomatic mission to France. She also spoke against Wolsey to Henry and took great pains to keep the two apart. One day when Wolsey had an appointment with Henry in the early morning, he arrived to find Henry ready to ride on a hunting expedition arranged by Anne.
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Anne provided a picnic so that Henry would not need to return all day and Wolsey spent a fruitless day waiting for Henry to return before returning home without seeing him. Wolsey was unable to compete with the influence of Anne Boleyn and he was arrested for treason, primarily due to his inability to obtain Henry’s divorce. Wolsey died on 29 November 1530 on his way to prison.
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In spite of the delay in Henry’s divorce, Anne had gradually taken on more of a queenly role. On 8 December 1529, Sir Thomas Boleyn was made Earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde. Anne took the place of the queen at the celebrations the next day.
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On 1 September 1532, Anne was also created Marquis of Pembroke in her own right and given £1,000 worth of land.
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On 11 October 1532, Henry and the new Lady Marquis sailed to Calais for a meeting with the French king.
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Anne must have been glad to return to France for a visit and she may have speculated just how much her status had changed in the decade since her return to England. Francis I of France certainly remembered Anne. On one occasion Anne and Francis dined together and then sat and talked privately. The recognition of Anne’s position by the King of France gave Anne and Henry confidence in French support for their marriage. They slept together for the first time in Calais and Anne must finally have been certain that her marriage would occur soon. Events were, in any event, forced to move quickly after the French visit and Anne became pregnant early in 1533.

By early 1533 it was clear to everyone that the Pope would never grant Henry his divorce. Catherine of Aragon was the aunt of the Emperor Charles V who was currently holding the Pope as a virtual prisoner and would never allow his aunt to be disgraced. After years of fruitless waiting, by 1533 both Henry and Anne had begun to look around for alternative solutions but it was Anne that took the initiative. At some point in the early 1530s, Anne acquired a copy of
The Obedience of a Christian Man and How Christian Rulers Ought to Govern
, which had been published by the religious reformer, William Tyndale.
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This book suggested an answer to Henry’s problem and Anne marked out passages for Henry to read, including arguments that the king’s law was God’s law and not the law of the Pope. Henry was very taken with the idea and with the death of the elderly Archbishop of Canterbury, was able to put these ideas into reality. Henry appointed Anne’s chaplain, Thomas Cranmer, to the vacancy and with his archbishop’s compliance, declared himself Head of the Church of England, denying the Pope’s authority in England.

Anne was very interested in religious reform and must have approved of Henry’s actions towards the Church. According to her chaplain, William Latymer, Anne believed that her elevation to the queenship was the work of God.
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Whilst Latymer wished to provide a flattering picture of Anne in his biography of her it is possible that Anne saw herself as appointed by God to spread reform. During her time as queen, she was certainly very interested in Protestantism. She is known to have patronised Protestants who had been persecuted on the continent, welcoming a Nicholas Borbonius who had been imprisoned in France for speaking against the Pope.
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Anne also used her influence with Henry to have reforming churchmen appointed to prominent Church positions and tried actively to turn people away from the Pope. Whilst Anne was visiting Winchcombe during her marriage, she sent commissioners to investigate the relic of the blood of Christ that was housed at nearby Hailes Abbey.
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The blood was found to be either that of a duck or red wax and Anne had Henry remove it from the abbey. Anne was clearly committed to reform in England and she is known to have kept a copy of the English Bible in her chamber so that anyone who wished to read it could do so. It certainly must have pleased Anne that her marriage led to the break with Rome and the English Reformation.

The date of Anne and Henry’s marriage was not recorded and it was deliberately kept secret whilst Henry’s divorce was finalised. They were probably married around 25 January 1533, around the time that Anne would have begun to suspect that she was pregnant.
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Although the marriage remained secret for several months, Anne was jubilant and dropped hints to members of the court, claiming that her craving for apples meant that she was pregnant.
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Anne finally appeared publicly as queen at Easter 1533.
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Henry wanted his second marriage to appear completely legitimate and arranged a grand coronation for Anne, intending to demonstrate the finality of what he had done for her. On 20 May 1533, Anne made a ceremonial entry into London and was given a gun salute from the Tower and the guns on the ships in the Thames.
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She spent the night before her coronation in the royal apartments at the Tower and then, on 31 May set out for Westminster Abbey in a rich chariot, covered in cloth of silver and followed by an escort of ladies in gowns of crimson velvet. Anne must have been exhausted by her coronation, but also triumphant. Only the hostility of the crowds that flocked to see her procession must have marred the day for her and they reportedly taunted her with cries of ‘Ha! Ha!’ in a mocking salute to the entwined initials of Henry and Anne that appeared on banners around the city.

Anne Boleyn made many enemies during her rise to the queenship. She is known to have become estranged from her aunt, the Duchess of Norfolk, early in Henry’s courtship of her. The duchess was one of Catherine of Aragon’s most enthusiastic supporters.
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Several reports state how, secure in the hold she had over the king, Anne became proud and haughty and she alienated many of her supporters. She also quarrelled with both her father and her uncle the Duke of Norfolk so her relations with Norfolk during her reign were always uneasy.
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It is likely that, in an apparently unassailable position after her marriage, Anne no longer needed the support of her family as she had once done, believing that Henry would protect her. Anne was also disliked by the majority of people of England. Catherine of Aragon and her daughter Mary were very popular in England and Anne Boleyn was seen as beligerent and Henry’s concubine. Anne must have known of the hostility towards her but it is likely that she did not believe it posed her any threat. Anne adopted as her motto, ‘the most happy’, and must have felt secure in her new position as queen in 1533.