Anne Boleyn (1501-19 May 1536) was Queen consort of England from 28 May 1533 to 17 May 1536 as the second wife of King Henry VIII of England. She was executed after being accused of adultery, incest, and plotting to kill the king.
Biography[]
Boleyn as a courtier
Anne Boleyn was born in Blicking Hall, Kent, England in 1501, the daughter of Thomas Boleyn and the sister of Mary Boleyn. She served as a maid of honor to Queen Claude of France after being educated in the Netherlands and France, and she returned to England in 1522 to become a maid of honor to Queen Catherine of Aragon. In 1526, King Henry VIII of England began his pursuit of Anne, whose previous betrothals had all gone awry. She resisted his attempts to seduce her, refused to become his mistress (which her sister Mary had been), and tempted Henry into divorcing his wife, Catherine of Aragon. Her father was complicit in this scheme, as he sought to be able to influence King Henry.
Queen of England[]
On 25 January 1533, King Henry married Anne Boleyn, and Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer was forced, after five days of declaring the marriage void, to declare it valid. This marriage led to the break of the Church of England from the Catholic Church, and Henry became the head of English Christianity. On 7 September 1533, Boleyn gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I of England. However, she would have three miscarriages over the next three years, and she would fail to produce a male heir. Henry decided to instead court Jane Seymour, and he decided to get rid of Anne. He accused her of high treason, sending her to the Tower of London. She was found guilty of adultery, incest, and plotting to kill the king, and her own uncle, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, went against her in court. On 19 May 1536, she was beheaded.
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