Birth of Anna von Kleve (Anne of Cleves).  She was the second of the children of Johann (III), duke of Jülich-Kleve (1490–1539), and Maria (1491–1543), heir of Jülich.

She married in 1539 Henry VIII as his fourth wife.  He took a dislike to her and they were divorced 1540.  She survived Henry by 10 years and died on 16 July 1557.

Reference:

Retha M. Warnicke, ‘Anne [Anne of Cleves] (1515–1557)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.  [accessed online 31 Aug. 2015]

Tags: Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII

The ‘Rainbow Portrait’ of Elizabeth I, which hangs at Hatfield House

Birth of Princess Elizabeth

Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was born on 7 September 1533 at Greenwich Palace.  She was named after her grandmother, Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of Edward IV.

Elizabeth spent part of her youth at the Old Palace at Hatfield, Herts., built by Bishop John Morton.  She was residing here when her sister, Queen Mary, died on 17 November 1558.  She ascended the throne as Queen Elizabeth I and  would reign for nearly 45 years until her death on 24 March 1603.

Tags: Elizabeth I, Henry VIII

Death of Katherine Parr, sixth consort of Henry VIII.  She was born in August (probably) 1512.

Her first husband was Edward Borough, whom she married about May 1529.  Edward died shortly before April 1533, and she married John Neville, third Baron Latimer, in the summer of 1534.  John died on 2 March 1543 and she was married to Henry VIII just four months later on 12 July 1543.  She also survived Henry, who died on 28 January 1547.  In May 1547, she secretly married for a fourth time, Sir Thomas Seymour, in whom she had already been interested before attracting Henry’s attention.  She gave birth to a daughter, Mary, on 30 August 1548, but died a few days later of puerperal fever.

Katherine was an influential patron of religious and educational reform, the arts in the fields of drama, miniature painting, and music.  She was the first known Englishwoman to publish a work of prose in the sixteenth century, and advocated the publication of affordable vernacular religious writings.  Politically she contributed to the re-establishment of her stepdaughters Mary and Elizabeth in the line of succession.

Source:  ODNB:  Susan E. James, ‘Katherine [Katherine Parr] (1512–1548)’, accessed:  5 September 2013

Tags: Henry VIII

Birth of Henry (later Henry VIII) at Greenwich Palace, sixth child of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York (daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville).  He became heir to the throne after the death of his brother Arthur in 1502, and became king on his father’s death on 21 April 1509.

Illustration:  Henry VIII, 1509, by an unknown artist. The Denver Art Museum.

Tags: Elizabeth of York, Henry Tudor, Henry VIII

Coronation of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon.

Tags: Henry VIII, Katherine of Aragon

Wedding of  Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII at the Franciscan church at Greenwich.

Tags: Henry VIII, Katherine of Aragon

Margaret Pole is executed at the Tower of London.  Margaret was the daughter of George, duke of Clarence, and thus Richard III’s niece.

She was born on 14 August 1473 at Farleigh Castle, Somerset.  She lost her mother when she was three years old and her father two years later.  She and her brother Edward were then in the care of her uncles, first Edward IV and then Richard III.  While her brother was executed in 1499, she was married to Sir Richard Pole and they had five children.  She and her children remained steadfast Catholics during the Reformation.  In December 1886, Pope Leo XIII beatified her, her feast day is celebrated on 28 May.

Tags: George of Clarence, Henry VIII

Ruins of Sopwell Nunnery, St Albans (© D Preis)

Marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn

On 25 January 1533, Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn in secret, possibly at Sopwell Nunnery in St Albans. This is suggested among others on the blog The Tangible Past.

Henry was very much attracted by Anne’s charm and wit.  To be able to marry her, Henry wanted to divorce his first wife Katherine of Aragon, to whom he had been married for 24 years.  This meant he also had to break with the Church of Rome, who did not accept his reasons for a divorce.  Their marriage was only annulled on 23 May 1533, when Thomas Cranmer declared it null and void.  On 28 May 1533 he declared the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn valid.

However, as Anne did not produce the looked-for male heir, after approx. 1000 days of marriage, Henry ordered Anne’s execution.

You might find Suzannah Lipscomb‘s article on this marriage of interest.

Tags: Henry VIII, St Albans

Anne of Cleves by Hans Holbein the Younger

Marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves

On 6 January 1540, Henry VIII married Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg.

Certainly not one of the happiest marriages in history and it was over in six months time.  Henry – of course – blamed Anne entirely as being too unattractive.  Though I doubt that by that stage she found him very attractive either.  However, she managed to come out of the divorce fairly well provided and with the title of the “King’s Sister”.

My interest in Anne was re-kindled after reading Mavis Cheek’s Amenable Women (this review was also published in the Ricardian Bulletin, June 2010, pp. 28-29).

More information:

Antonia Fraser, The Six Wives of Henry VIII.  Phoenix Paperback, UK, 2003.  ISBN 978-1-8421-2633-2 (pbk)

Elizabeth Norton, Anne of Cleves:  Henry VIII’s Discarded Bride.   Amberley Publishing, UK, 2009.  ISBN 978-1-84868-329-7

Mary Saaler, Anne of Cleves:  Fourth Wife of Henry VIII.  The Rubicon Press, UK, 1995.  ISBN 0-948695-41-2

Retha M. Warnicke, The Marrying of Anne of Cleves:  Royal protocol in early modern England.  Cambridge University Press, UK,  2000.  ISBN 0-521-77037-8

Online:

Retha M. Warnicke, ‘Anne [Anne of Cleves] (1515–1557)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [last accessed online 2 Jan. 2020]

Various articles on The Anne Boleyn Files, URL:  http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/

Fiction:

Margaret Campbell Barnes, My Lady of Cleves.  (Originally published in 1946, but there are various later editions)

Mavis Cheek, Amenable Women.  Faber and Faber, UK, 2008.  ISBN 978-0-571-23953-5

Dorothea Preis

Tags: Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII