Anne Boleyn's Revenge

The second wife of King Henry VIII and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I had been executed for adultery, incest and heresy; she'd been beheaded. These have been claimed to be false charges, manufactured by her enemies at court, chiefly Henry's right hand man, Cardinal Woolsey. Henry, however, was also eager to dispense with his current wife; he wished to begin courting Jane Seymour, who would become his third wife and mother of his only legitimate son.

Anne Boleyn had become a victim in the race to produce a male heir to the throne, which had been the obsession of both her people and her husband. Anne had been less fortunate than her predecessor, Henry's first wife Catherine of Aragon. She, too, had produced daughter, Mary. Mary would eventually become Queen and, later, become known in history as "Bloody Mary". He ended this marriage by dispensing with the Catholic Church in England, creating a new Church of England with himself at the head and granted himself a divorce. During this period in history, sons were considered to be the only truly viable heirs to the throne. Daughters were considered to be merely useful pawns in creating alliances, through carefully arranged political marriages. Anne Boleyn's downfall was in her failure to produce that male heir for her husband, the king; had she done so, her position as the Queen of England may have been well secured. However, her failure is the prime reason for her demise; at any rate, Henry could not continue to grant himself divorces.

Ironically, another of Henry's wives was executed for adultery, the same as Anne had been-by beheading. Henry's fifth wife, Katharine Howard, There was no pressure on her to bear Henry a son; Jane Seymour had already done this. Katharine was a great deal younger than her aging husband, who'd also gained a good deal of weight by this time, as well. It was well known that Katharine Howard was, indeed, guilty of adultery. The interesting irony of this case was that Anne Boleyn and Katharine Howard were, in fact, first cousins. Perhaps this particular twist of fate was Anne Boleyn's revenge for the injustice done to her-that her own flesh and blood actually did do what she'd been wrongly accused of years before.

Secondly, Anne's daughter, who'd not been enough to satisfy Henry's need of a male heir, grew up to become Queen Elizabeth I. The fact that her daughter's reign had become a golden age and had far exceeded that of the father's would have been sweet revenge to Anne, indeed.

It has been claimed that Anne Boleyn's spirit has been seen, haunting the Tower of London where she'd been held prior to her trial and execution; perhaps she does. Perhaps her spirit lingers as a reminder that she did get the last word in the end. Maybe that word is vindication.

Source:

The Wives of Henry VIII

By Antonia Frasier

Alfred A. Knoph, Inc. 1993