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Christina Williams
Professor Robinson
EUH 2000
April 2, 2020
Research Paper #2
The Mysteries of Anne Boleyn

Henry VIII and his six wives are a well-known topic but most of the time, the only

information about his wives that is discussed in history books is this common rhyme: divorced,

beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived. Anne Boleyn was Henry VIII’s second wife and

the first wife that he had beheaded. However, in many ways, Anne Boleyn is a mystery. There is

a lot of information about her that is either unknown or highly debated. Unfortunately, there is

not a lot of historical evidence to prove many things about her life. Most of the concrete

knowledge scholars share discuss her beheading, but there are other facets to Boleyn’s life that

are widely discussed and interesting to investigate. In particular, her experiences as a young

woman in many different courts, which led her to her relationship with Henry VIII, her religious

beliefs and practices, and her impact on her daughter all offer great insight into her life as a wife,

mother, and Queen of England.

Anne Boleyn came from “right noble and high parentage”1; she was the daughter of

Thomas Boleyn a courtier-administrator for Henry VIII and Elizabeth Howard the daughter of

the second duke of Norfolk. As a young pre-teen, Anne Boleyn was sent to be one of eighteen

ladies and maids of honour to the Archduchess Margaret of Austria.2 For English aristocracy, it

was very common to send their children to be “educated in the households of patrons or of other

1
Bernard, G.W. Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions. Yale University Press, 2010, p 5.
2
Bernard, Anne Boleyn, p 7.
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members of their social class.”3 These positions were highly competitive because they not only

offered the maids the ability to “attract suitable husbands but also to advance their family’s

political ambitions.”4 Therefore, parents were willing to spend a great deal of money and “exert

great efforts in providing their daughters with the proper educational background and training”5

so that they would have the honor of serving in the household of a patron.

The ladies and maids in these households “were both companions and servants keeping

their mistress company and running errands.”6 Oftentimes they would be expected to do things

such as play musical instruments, sing, dance, or entertain guests. Additionally, they would

accompany their mistress to church or festivities, and they would assist their mistress in daily

tasks like preparing clothing or embroidery.7 Throughout their time in the household, the ladies

would gain knowledge of languages, fashionable dress, poise, and manners; all of which would

aid them greatly in their future endeavors.8 Boleyn was fortunate to serve the Archduchess for

about a year and then for about seven years, she served as a member of Queen Claude’s

household in France.9 In her young twenties, Boleyn continued to serve as a lady at court most

likely back in England, while her father was continuing to rise in prominence in Henry VIII’s

court.

Her experiences in households as a maid were no doubt an influence on how Anne

Boleyn began her relationship with Henry VIII. Among the young ladies at court, Anne was

unusual in having spent so long abroad, first in the court of Margaret of Austria and then much

3
Warnicke, Retha M. “Anne Boleyn’s Childhood and Adolescence”. The Historical Journal, Vol. 28, No. 4.
(December 1985), p 944.
4
Warnicke, p 943.
5
Warnicke, p 943.
6
Bernard, Anne Boleyn, p 7.
7
Bernard, Anne Boleyn, p 7.
8
Warnicke, p 943.
9
Bernard, Anne Boleyn, p 9.
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longer in France in the court of Queen Claude.10 She was very well versed and spoke fluent

French in addition to English. While some scholars attributed Henry VIII’s taking with Boleyn to

be purely based on her outward appearance, it is more likely that it was “Anne’s excellent

gesture and behavior”11 that attracted him. Much of the information on Boleyn and Henry VIII’s

early relationship comes from letters the two of them exchanged. From those letters, it can be

deduced that Henry VIII was quite infatuated with Boleyn and was willing to do whatever it took

to make her his wife.12 However, Boleyn was not the femme fetale that some scholars made her

out to be. Instead, it is more likely that Boleyn eventually agreed to a more intimate relationship

with the king on the basis that Henry VIII was committed to her entirely.13 The likelihood of

Boleyn doing so with the intention of Henry VIII divorcing Catherine of Aragon; however, is not

high.

Another topic that is widely debated is Anne Boleyn’s religious beliefs and what

practices she tried to implement as queen. There are two commonly held beliefs. The first is

perpetrated in writings done by two men written in the early years of Boleyn’s daughter

Elizabeth I’s reign. William Latymer who was one of Boleyn’s chaplains and John Foxe a

martyrologist.14 According to their writings, Boleyn was extremely involved in the English

Reformation and influential in the spread of Christianity. Latymer wrote that she chose her

council members and chaplains to be “the lanterns in the light of her court.”15 She told her

council members to be “men of great honesty, modesty, wisdom, and experience” and she

expected them to show it “by their virtuous conversation and government.”16 Additionally, it is

10
Bernard, Anne Boleyn, p 20.
11
Bernard, Anne Boleyn, p 21.
12
Bernard, Anne Boleyn, p 24.
13
Bernard, Anne Boleyn, p 28.
14
Bernard, Anne Boleyn, p 92.
15
Bernard, Anne Boleyn, p 93.
16
Bernard, Anne Boleyn, p 93.
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suggested that Boleyn was extremely charitable and gave alms to the poor and handed out

clothing to the needy.17 However, the timing of when Latymer and Foxe wrote these accounts

can be attributed to the beginning of Elizabeth I’s reign. Therefore, it is not outrageous to assume

that Latymer and Foxe wrote in such a way as to sway Elizabeth I in her religious beliefs.

Later scholars have argued a very different opinion on Boleyn’s religion. Boleyn’s

actions throughout her reign as the queen can be interpreted more as “a matter of politics and

radical chic than a matter of religious conviction.”18 Now, most scholars believe whatever

religious sentiments Boleyn shared were merely used to explain and defend the break with Rome

which made her marriage to Henry VIII possible. Furthermore, during Boleyn’s imprisonment in

the Tower of London, she was under the watch of Sir William Kingston. After her trial and

beheading, Kingston wrote about his final conversations with Boleyn. He shared that Boleyn

asked, “shall I be in heaven for I have done many good deeds in my days.”19 “What she revealed

in the tower through her belief in good works in her attachment to the sacraments was a deeply

conventional Catholicism.”20 While Boleyn was most likely impacted by some religious beliefs,

it is more probable that she made her decisions as queen from a need for political advancement

than a motive to further spread Christianity or Lutheranism.

Although there is very little known about the relationship between Anne Boleyn and her

daughter Elizabeth I, there have been some speculations about the influence that Boleyn had on

her daughter. Boleyn’s beheading happened when Elizabeth I was only two years old and since

Elizabeth I did not often speak about her mother, it can be assumed that she had little or no

memories of her mother. However, some scholars have made an argument that Boleyn and the

17
Bernard, Anne Boleyn, p 93.
18
Bernard, G.W. “Anne Boleyn’s Religion”. The Historical Journal, Vol. 36, No. 1. (March 1993), p 20.
19
Bernard, “Anne Boleyn’s Religion”, p 19.
20
Bernard, “Anne Boleyn’s Religion”, p 20.
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other wives of Henry VIII had some effect over Elizabeth I’s reign and decision never to marry.21

In Anne Boleyn’s own life, it seems as though her power and influence went away completely

once she finally married Henry VIII. Before her marriage to the king, Boleyn had her own

desires and aspirations and was a source of intrigue and desire for Henry VIII, but once she was

married, she lost all of that and eventually lost her life.22 After her death, Henry VIII goes on to

marry four more women each one negatively impacted by that relationship. Elizabeth I also

witnessed her older sister Mary be passed over and rejected for years by their father.23 It is no

wonder then why many scholars believe that the reason Elizabeth I never got married was

because “her history suggests that the two roles (queenship and marriage) are incompatible and

that marriage is a death sentence.”24

With so little concrete historical evidence to support different theories, it is hard to gain a

clear understanding of who Anne Boleyn was. What is clear though is that she was very smart

both politically and romantically. She was not the reckless and nefarious woman who was

obsessed with her own self-gain that some scholars made her out to be. Instead, her experiences

go to show that while her life originally was full of potential and aspiration, it was ultimately

squashed by the power and greed of Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn is now remembered for little more

than her death, but by delving into her past and questioning the beliefs many scholars hold about

her, she can become a model for what it was like as a woman in a society where the men hold all

the power and to have any advancement, women often have to sacrifice their own dreams just to

stay alive.

21
Dolan, Frances E. Marriage and Violence: The Early Modern Legacy. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009, p
138.
22
Dolan, p 138.
23
Dolan, p 139.
24
Dolan, p 140.
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Bibliography

Bernard, G.W. Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions. Yale University Press, 2010.

Bernard, G.W. “Anne Boleyn’s Religion”. The Historical Journal, Vol. 36, No. 1. (March 1993),

pp. 1-20. Published by Cambridge University Press.

Dolan, Frances E. Marriage and Violence: The Early Modern Legacy. University of

Pennsylvania Press, 2009.

Warnicke, Retha M. “Anne Boleyn’s Childhood and Adolescence”. The Historical Journal, Vol.

28, No.4. (December 1985), pp. 939-952. Published by Cambridge University Press.