Helena Bonham Carter as Anne Boleyn

The anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s death is approaching so I’ve decided to take a closer look on events that occurred before Anne’s death. One of the most popular myths about Henry VIII’s second wife is her alleged involvement with witchcraft.

It all started with Imperial ambassador’s report. Eustace Chapuys, always ready to report anything that about Anne Boleyn, wrote that Henry VIII told one of his courtiers that he;

‘made this marriage seduced and constrained by sortileges and for this reason he held the said marriage void and that God had demonstrated this in not allowing them to have male heirs and that he considered that he could take another.’

How Chapuys did come to such knowledge? Henry VIII’s  first cousin,  Marquis of Exeter who was in touch with ambassador, reported that the king confided this information in one of his courtiers. What was the meaning of the king’s words? It is all dependant if we are reading it in original language in which Chapuys reported them. Eric Ives wonders;

“Thus, did Henry use the term ‘sortilege’, or was the word provided en route? Even if Henry did use the noun, since its primary English meaning was ‘divination’ and since Henry spoke in the same breath of male heirs, the simple construction is that he was referring to the premarital predictions that union with Anne would produce sons”. (p. 298)

Professor Ives also adds that the word ‘sortilege’ could meant also occult practices, but ;

“in usual parlance ‘bewitched’ meant no more than ‘deceived’ – as in Tyndale’s 1526 New Testament: ‘Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” (p. 298)

But did the word ‘bewitched’ indicate that Anne Boleyn dabbled into witchcraft? The word ‘bewitched’ could offer two possible meanings; ‘fascinated’ or ‘enchanted’ in a supernatural way. Back in Anne Boleyn’s days, Eustace Chapuys used the word ‘enchanted’ to reflect how huge influence Anne had over Henry;

‘This accursed lady has so enchanted and bewitched him that he will not dare to do anything against her will.’

It is highly unlikely that Chapuys meant that Anne ‘bewitched’ Henry VIII in a supernatural way. He believed that she used her womanly charms to influence the king.

During Anne’s trial no accusations about her dabbling in witchcraft had been made. 50 years after her death, Nicolas Sander in his book “The Rise and Growth of Anglican Schism” wrote about Anne’s abnormalities like sixth finger, moles, huge wen under her chin and projecting tooth. But he wrote also that back in January 1536 Anne miscarried a deformed foetus.

Of course those are words of a recusant Catholic who blamed Anne Boleyn for the spread of reformation in England, but it were Sander’s untrue remarks that later spread across the world forming ‘the black legend of Anne Boleyn’ as I call it. Even today many people believe that Anne Boleyn really had six fingers, or that the child she lost in January 1536 was deformed. And people link those myths with witchcraft.  Abnormalities and deformed children were associated with God’s displeasure over certain person, or – that this person was dabbling into black arts. Witches were associated with deformities of their bodies, unnatural lustful behaviour, abominable sexual practices, or hurting other people by using evil ‘spells’. They could cause death, weather change or even impotence in males. But there is no evidence that Anne Boleyn was deformed in any way, or that she gave birth to a deformed baby. No such thing was mentioned during her trial or the trial of 5 men that were accused along her.

So, Anne Boleyn was never accused of witchcraft. When Henry VIII made a remark that he ‘made this marriage seduced and constrained by sortileges’ he probably exaggerated or merely meant that Anne promised him male heir and failed at this task. Whatever the king said or meant – Anne Boleyn certainly was no witch and witchcraft was not used against her during her trial.

]]> http://www.anne-boleyn.com/eng/anne-boleyn-and-witchcraft/feed/ 3 http://www.anne-boleyn.com/eng/anne-boleyns-reaction-on-catherine-of-aragons-death/ http://www.anne-boleyn.com/eng/anne-boleyns-reaction-on-catherine-of-aragons-death/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:21:58 +0000 Sylwia http://www.anne-boleyn.com/eng/?p=68

Catherine of Aragon in 1530s, artist unknown

On 7  January 1536 Katherine of Aragon – first wife of Henry VIII and former queen of England – died on Kimbolton Castle. Some historians claim that Katherine’s death was the beggining of the end of Anne Boleyn – since she became one and only Queen of England and couldn’t bear male heir. But professor Eric Ives states that ;

”She had (Katherine) suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly gone downhill at the end of December, and her death was greeted at court by an outburst of relief and enthusiasm for the Boleyn marriage, which gives the lie to later historians who suggest that Anne was already living on borrowed time.” / p. 295 /

As long as Katherine of Aragon lived, Henry and Anne couldn’t enjoy their marriage in a proper way. There was still a reminder of the fact, that Henry had to sacrifice his kingdom for Anne Boleyn. With Katherine death new hopes arrived and both Henry and Anne were aware of it.

So how did Anne Boleyn react on her rival’s death? She received the news at Greenwich and she gave the messenger a ‘handsome present’. And what about Henry VIII? He said :

‘God be praised that we are free from all suspicion of war!’

He called Katherine ‘a cause of our enmity’ (in his relations with Katherine’s nephew, Charles V) and was relieved that she died. If Henry had any feelings left for his late ex-wife he did not showed them in public.

The next  day Henry and Anne ”appeared in joyful yellow from top to toe, and Elizabeth was triumphantly paraded to church. After dinner Henry went down into the Great Hall, where the ladies of the court were dancing, with his sixteen-month-old daughter in his arms, showing her off to one and another”.  /p. 295/

Scene from 'The Tudors' ; only Anne appeared in 'joyfull yellow' , Henry appeared in black - the official color of mourning

The ‘joyfull yellow’ was for many years a subject of speculations – some historians claimed that yellow was a Spanish mourning colour. Thus Henry and Anne appeared in Spanish mouring colour to show respect for Katherine. However this is not the case – yellow was not the mouring colour in Spain. It is rather a colour that indicates Henry and Anne’s real feelings towards Katherine’s death – they were actually overjoyed! In her book ‘The Lady in the Tower’ Alison Weir states that :

‘It is a misconception that yellow was the colour of Spanish Royal mourning: Anne’s choice of garb was no less than a calculated insult to the memory of the woman she had supplanted.’ / p. 18/

David Starkey described ‘the carnival-like celebration of Catherine’s death’ / p. 549/ pointing out on Henry’s flamboyant dress. So was 8 of January 1536 really a celebration of Catherine’s death? It appears to look so, yes. We should not forget that at the time of Catherine’s death Anne Boleyn was pregnant and thus she hopefully looked what future holds for her. Henry was overjoyed because of the political aspect of this death – now he could built a better relationship with Charles V.

And how did Eustace Chapuys react on Catherine of Aragon’s death? He was the Imperial Ambassador (1525-1549) and staunch supporter of Catherine of Aragon and her daughter Lady Mary Tudor. His reports states (please note – Chapuys reffers to Catherine of Aragon as ‘Queen’, Anne Boleyn is a ‘Concubine’ and Elizabeth ‘a Little Bastard’) ;

”You could not conceive the joy that the King and those who favor this concubinage have shown at the death of the good Queen, especially the earl of Wiltshire and his son, who said it was a pity the Princess did not keep company with her. The King, on the Saturday he heard the news, exclaimed “God be praised that we are free from all suspicion of war”; and that the time had come that he would manage the French better than he had done hitherto, because they would do now whatever he wanted from a fear lest he should ally himself again with your Majesty, seeing that the cause which disturbed your friendship was gone. On the following day, Sunday, the King was clad all over in yellow, from top to toe, except the white feather he had in his bonnet, and the Little Bastard was conducted to mass with trumpets and other great triumphs. After dinner the King entered the room in which the ladies danced, and there did several things like one transported with joy. At last he sent for his Little Bastard, and carrying her in his arms he showed her first to one and then to another. He has done the like on other days since, and has run some courses (couru quelques lances) at Greenwich. ”

In his later dispatch Chapuys wrote also that Anne Boleyn wept and feared that Henry would have no scruples to dispose of her as he did with Catherine of Aragon. Chapuys is definitely a source of many informations about life at court and Anne Boleyn herself however we must remember that he was Catherine of Aragon’s staunch supporter and thus he was hostile to Anne Boleyn.  There must be some truth in Chapuys’ dispatches but many of them could be exagerated or even come from courtly gossips.

And what about other sources? Chronicler Edward Hall, a contemporary to Anne Boleyn wrote that ;

“And the viii. day of January folowyng dyed the princes dowager at Kymbalton and was buried at Peterborough. Quene Anne ware yelowe for the mournyng.”

Hall mentiones Anne wearing ‘yellow for mourning’ and does not mention about Henry VIII’s dress. Perhaps Hall did not wanted to comment on the subject so he diplomatically wrote about Anne’s yellow dress. Retha M. Warnicke states that ;

‘This intriguing statement may have been a reference to her pregnancy, for the chamber at Eltham, which had been prepared for her confinement in 1534, had been redecorated in yellow ochre.’ (p. 294)

Another source is Nicolas Sander (author of rumours that Anne Boleyn had 6 fingers, many moles and projecting tooth, etc.) wrote that ;

‘‘The King could not refrain from tears when he read the letter; but Anne Boleyn instead of putting on mourning on the day of Catherine’s funeral put on a yellow dress; and on being congratulated on the removal of her rival, replied, “No, I am sorry, not indeed because she is dead, but because her death has been so honourable.” (131)

The phrase ‘being congratulated on removal of her rival’ may indicate that Sander wanted his readers to believe that Anne had something to do with Catherine’s death.

Sander wanted also to portray Henry stricken by grief after death of his ex-wife and Anne appeared (again) as a villain. Whatever Henry felt for Catherine – in the public eye he appeared as overjoyed king standing on the edge of the new world.

Sources :

Eric Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn

David Starkey, 6 wives of Henry VIII

Alison Weir ‘The Lady in the Tower’

Nicolas Sander ‘The Rise and Growth of Anglican Schism’

Letters and Papers

This is a 3D reconstruction of Anne Boleyn's face, based on National Portrait Gallery

I’ve always wanted someone to do a 3D reconstruction of Anne Boleyn’s face, based on her famous NPG portrait. it never happened so I decided to become this ‘someone’. I learned how to use a program for 3D face reconstruction. This program gives a chance to make a 3D face reconstruction based on photographs. Well, obviously we do not have Anne Boleyn’s photographs so I used her portrait. It was quite hard to do such reconstruction. At my first reconstruction, many of you commented that Anne looked like Cher. I admit – I got too creative with first work. But my second reconstruction is successful – I worked on it for few days, and here it is!

I based Anne Boleyn’s 3D face reconstruction entirely on NPG portrait. It came out very realistic and reconstructed Anne looks a lot like on her portrait. What is even more interesting – I noticed that after reconstruction, Anne looks similar also to John Hoskins’ miniature, and this miniature is the most authentic likeness of Anne Boleyn.

For this montage I used Milara’s photograph based on NPG portrait of Anne Boleyn (I had to paste the reconstructed face). It wasn’t easy to find a real-life photograph based on Anne’s portrait, and I didn’t wanted to use any actresses pictures.

I think that Venetian ambassador’s comment about Anne Boleyn is entirely accurate ;

“Madame Anne is not the handsomest women in the world (…) her eyes, (…) are black and beautiful” /Francesco Sanuto, 1532/

]]> http://www.anne-boleyn.com/eng/3d-reconstruction-of-anne-boleyns-face/feed/ 2 http://www.anne-boleyn.com/eng/affair-of-the-necklace/ http://www.anne-boleyn.com/eng/affair-of-the-necklace/#comments Sat, 10 Dec 2011 20:15:35 +0000 Sylwia http://www.anne-boleyn.com/eng/?p=62

Miniature of Anne Boleyn by John Hoskins

Thanks to my friend, Maria who runs her own blog about Anne Boleyn, she shared with me an article that states that the ‘B’ necklace on Anne’s portraits stands for ‘Brandon’ and not ‘Boleyn’. Quite an interesting theory, isn’t it? I’ve decided to research this theory and I found few informations.

In her book ”The Feminine Dynamic in English Art, 1485-1603”  Susan James states that famous portrait of Anne Boleyn showing her with ‘B’ pendant is Mary Tudor Brandon.  Susan James writes ,;

“Although there were no firmly authenticated portraits of Jane Grey or Anne Boleyn known to copyists, a pool of portraits of unidentified women dating from the reign of Henry VIII still existed. As was common, these original paintings were not labelled and … the identities of the sitters were generally problematic. Yet for copyists in need of an image, clues within and without seem to have encouraged them to arrive at speculative identifications. The face pattern generally chosen for Jane Grey was Kateryn Parr and the face pattern chosen for Anne Boleyn was Mary Rose Tudor…”

What do we know about Mary Tudor Brandon’s appearance? Is there a chance she could be confused with Anne Boleyn? Well – if we will take only contemporary descriptions of both Anne and Mary, there is no chance that they were similar to each other. Mary Tudor Brandon was :

”Petite, poised and beautiful, with red-gold hair and the pale translucent complexion that usually accompanies it. She was the ideal picture of womanhood, certainly and the quintessence of Tudor beauty”. / Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII’s Favourite Mistress /

According to contemporary sources, Anne Boleyn was quite the opposite ;

‘Madame Anne is not the handsomest women in the world , she is of middling statue, swarthy complexion, long neck, wide mouth, bosom not much raised, and (…) her eyes, which are black and beautiful’ /Venetian ambassador, 1532/

Sketch of Mary Tudor when she was Queen of France

She was also reffered by poet Sir Thomas Wyatt as a ‘Brunette’.

Susan James states that well known miniature by John Hoskins depicting Anne Boleyn is in fact, Mary Tudor Brandon and  ”jewelled “B” stood not for Boleyn but for Brandon and tha the portrait was not Henry VIII’s wife but his sister”. Susan James points out that ” It is the only picture in Charles I’s collection with Anne Boleyn’s name attached to it.”

In his book ‘The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn’ Eric Ives writes about Hoskins’ miniature ;

”Fortunately, the sequence also has the effect of corroborating a seventeenth-century miniature in thecollection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry. Charles I had this copied as ‘Anne Boleyn’ by John Hoskins the elder (c.1590–1664/5), and it is endorsed ‘from an ancient original’ . How ‘ancient’ it is impossible to say. Although the relationship to examples in the NPG pattern is evident, these were only thirty years old or perhaps less. It is more likely that Hoskins had access to an earlier image of the kind from which the NPG image originated. A full-length portrait of Anne was owned by Lord Lumley in 1590 and existed as late as 1773. Could it even be that Hoskins’ source was or was derived from a Holbein paintingnow lost?” /Eric Ives , ‘The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn’ /

Mary Tudor Brandon (left) and Anne Boleyn (right)

Hoskins’ miniature of Anne Boleyn depicts a woman with pointed chin, dark eyes, oval face, reddish hair and typical ‘B’ pendant on double strand of pearls. She may bear a certain resemblance to wedding portrait of Mary Tudor Brandon and Charles Brandon.

I think that there is no chance that ‘B’ on Anne’s portraits stands for ‘Brandon’ and not ‘Boleyn’. Here are the arguments :

-          Hoskins’ miniature was said to be  ‘don by Hoskins after an oweld pictur’ which means that this miniature was labelled as ‘Anne Boleyn’ from the very beggining ;

-          As professor Eric Ives pointed out, the miniature was endorsed ‘from an ancient original’ which means that it was probably copied from exisiting orginal portrait of Anne Boleyn, or copy of such portrait ;

-          There is plenty of portraits of Anne Boleyn, painted during Elizabeth Tudor’s reign, depicting Anne wearing a famous ‘B’ necklace ; and they are all labelled as ‘Anne Boleyn’  and not ‘Mary Tudor Brandon’

-          Mary Tudor Brandon had no reason to wear a ‘B’ pendant because in Tudor period noble men and women were known widely not by their surnames but titles ; so Charles Brandon was famous as Charles Suffolk, Duke of Suffolk, so it makes no sense why Mary Tudor Brandon would want to be portrayed with ‘B’ pendant ;

-          The similarity between portraits of Anne Boleyn and her daughter Elizabeth are astounding so it is hard to believe that the sitters is not Anne Boleyn ;

Sources :

”The Feminine Dynamic in English Art, 1485-1603”, Susan James

“The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn”, Eric Ives

 ”Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII’s Favourite Mistress “, Josephine Wilkinson

“The kyng, after his returne [from Calais] maried priuily[privily] the lady Anne Bulleyn on sainet Erkenwaldes daie, whiche mariage was kept so secrete, that very fewe knewe it, til she was greate with child, at Easter after”

Considering that Elizabeth was born in September 1533, she must have been conceived around December 1532 and it is not enitirely impossible that the couple decided to marry after succesful meeting with king Francis I in Calais.

Wedding scene from 'The Tudors'

Henry VIII was not yet free to marry Anne, because his marriage to Catherine of Aragon was still officially valid. The second marriage ceremony that took place in January 1533 is more reliable date, but perhaps, on 14th of November 1532 Henry VIII vowed his loyalty to Anne Boleyn, in order to ease her conscience, because evidence indicates that they consummated their relationship on their return from Calais in 1532.

Another wedding ceremony took place on 14th of November, but few years earlier – young Catherine of Aragon married Arthur Tudor, an heir to the English throne. It was a huge and glittery ceremony, but as we know – only six moths later joy changed into grief when young prince died and Catherine became a widow.

Jane Seymour by Hans Holbein, 1537

On this day in history, 24^th October 1537, Queen Jane Seymour died after long and exhausting childbirth. She was the third wife of king Henry VIII, but they were married only for 1 year, 4 months and 24 days. But Jane was Henry’s most beloved wife, because she gave him what he desired since 1509 – a son, a male heir to succeed him in the future – Prince Edward Tudor.

Jane was never described as a great beauty. Chapuys wrote that she was ‘of middle height, and nobody thinks that she has much beauty. Her complexion is so whitish that she may be called rather pale.’ Additionally imperial ambassador noticed that she was ‘not very intelligent, and is said to be rather haughty’.[1] Jane was about 27-28 years old when Henry VIII took an interest in her, so by the standards of her age, she was considered to be an old maid. Chapuys expressed his doubts about Jane’s virginity, but here is no proof to confirm or deny that she lived an unchaste life before she became king’s new love. For some reasons, Henry VIII fell in love with Jane Seymour, neglecting his wife Anne Boleyn. Anne and Jane were so different – Anne was pretty and intelligent, with olive skin and dramatic black eyes while Jane was meek, ‘not very intelligent’ as Chapuys described her and she was pale blonde with not much beauty.

But Jane Seymour managed to maintain king’s interest in her and only 11 days after Anne Boleyn’s execution, Jane stepped into her shoes and became Henry’s third wife and queen.

Pregnancy and delivery

The whole court rejoiced when rumors about queen Jane’s pregnancy, although no official announcement was made. Elizabeth Norton writes how;

‘By late May it was noted that she would soon be appearing in an open-laced gown, signifying her status as a pregnant woman’ [2]

We can only imagine how Jane Seymour felt about her pregnancy. She knew exactly that two of her predecessors had failed to give Henry a male heir. Catherine of Aragon had 6 pregnancies and born only one healthy girl, and Anne Boleyn was pregnant 4 times and also gave birth to only one girl. Jane knew that her position is in danger until she would give Henry a long awaited son.

Sketch of Jane Seymour by Hans Holbein, Jane was believed to be in early stages of pregnancy

Jane’s pregnancy was not a private matter – she was now a public person, queen of England and wife of Henry VIII. The whole court anxiously awaited news about a prince, and Jane was certainly under high pressure. Henry VIII became king in 1509. He had two wives, and both of them failed to give him a son. His bastard son by Bessie Blout died in July 1536, leaving Henry without male heir, without heir at all since his two daughters were disinherited. So Jane’s pregnancy was very important and her success or failure was dependant on the sex of the baby she was caring in her womb.

‘As her pregnancy advanced, Jane found that Henry was unusually solicitous of her. It was probably in the summer of 1537 that Henry made Jane the gift of a great rich bed with a gilt bedstead. Henry also relaxed his insistence that Jane stay away from politics and when, in June, a new Imperial ambassador arrived to treat for a marriage between Mary and the brother of the king of Portugal, Jane was allowed to meet with the ambassador and discuss the negotiation for the match’[3]

Henry probably had a high trust in his wife, because she had a great relationship with Mary and she desired her to marry. Perhaps Mary told Jane that she wanted to get married and had children, and that is why the queen was allowed to negotiate the terms of marriage. Jane certainly felt confident about her role as a queen and peacemaker.

During her pregnancy, Jane Seymour had a craving for quails – a great delicacy – and Henry VIII made a diplomatic matter from it. He shipped quails from Calais  to please his pregnant wife and also Lady Mary sent her some in June. Jane was certainly well taken care of.

Childbirth

Prince Edward

On the 9^th October Jane Seymour went into labor. For three days and three night she suffered, but on 12 October she finally gave birth to a healthy baby boy. People of England rejoiced at the news of a Prince – the next morning Te Deums were sang in London, there was music and cannons where shot from the Tower. Elizabeth Norton describes how ;

‘That night there were bonfires lit in the streets, with music and impromptu feasts. Hogsheads of wine were distributed and further guns were shot in celebration of the news with the noise going on past 10 p.m. that night.’ [4]

Jane Seymour accomplished what her predecessors had failed – she gave birth to a son, a little prince named Edward who would later become a king of England, although his reign would be very brief. Because of her painful and exhausting delivery, the rumors spread though England that her belly was open and the boy was cut out, or that her limbs were stretched to ease the delivery. In later years there would be gossips that Jane underwent a Caesarian cut, but there is no evidence to prove this theory. Jane was able to play a public role in her son’s christening, and if she would have had the Caesarian cut she would not be able to do so.

Although Henry and Jane did not participate in their son’s christening, they awaited him in special chamber. Jane was ‘wrapped by her attendants in velvet and furs to guard against the cold and carried to the christening on a special sofa’[5] Little prince was named Edward because he was born on St Edward’s Eve and also to commemorate his great-grandfather, king Edward IV. Lady Mary stood as a godmother and even 3-year-old Elizabeth was present during the christening.

The Seymour family triumphed – Jane was safe and her brothers were being elevated by the king – Edward Seymour was knighted and proclaimed Earl of Hertford, and Thomas Seymour was knighted and become a member of king’s privy chamber. But the most important was Prince Edward, who was now an official male heir and his father’s greatest pride.

Unfortunately, two days after christening, Jane became ill. Her health deteriorated. On 23^rd of October the queen was very ill, and those around her knew that it was probably her last day.  Duke of Norfolk wrote to Cromwell praying him ‘to be early here tomorrow to comfort our good master, for as for our mistress there is no likehood of her life, the more pity, and I fear she shall not be on lyve  at the time ye shall read this’[6]

Elizabeth Norton writes how ;

‘On the morning her confessor came to her and spent the whole morning with her, providing some comfort , if Jane was aware of anything at all’[7]

Jane Seymour was dying and there was nothing anyone could do about it. It was very often when women died after childbirth, although Cromwell blamed Jane’s attendants that they neglected their mistress’s health by providing her with the wrong food and letting her catch a cold. But it was probably a childbed fever, which caused Jane’s death. For three days and three nights she struggled and she probably lost a lot of blood and was exhausted. She was left with wounds that might have caused an infection. Because of the long delivery, her placenta might not have been entirely expelled, causing an infection.

Funeral

Posthumous portrait of Jane Seymour, 'Family of Henry VIII', 1545

Duke of Norfolk was responsible for funeral arrangements. Although Henry VIII was married twice before, none of his wives ever received a proper funeral. Catherine of Aragon was buried as a Dowager Princess of Wales and Anne Boleyn was buried in arrow chest. But Jane Seymour was about to have a funeral fit for the Queen and mother of the future king of England.

Elizabeth Norton provides details about Jane’s funeral ;

‘Soon after her death, Jane was embalmed, and carried to the presence chamber where she lay in state, dressed in a gold and jeweled robe. Once in the presence chamber, Jane’s ladies took off their rich clothes and, instead, wore ‘mourning habit and white kerchers hanging over their heads and shoulders’. Mass was heard and a vigil was kept around Jane both day and night, with tapers burning around her. On All Saints Day, Jane was carried through the galleries of Hampton Court, all hung with black cloth. She was taken to the chapel and laid on a hearse decorated with banner rolls showing Jane’s descent and that of her husband and son. The chapel itself was also hung with black cloth and images appropriate to Jane. ‘[8]

Lady Mary was a chief mourner but she did not attend on religious services at 1^st November. Perhaps she was too grief stricken after Jane’s death, remembering her mother’s death in January 1536. Mary again lost her mother and found herself in mourning. Jane did everything to promote Mary’s interest, and Mary certainly remembered and appreciated her kindness. She paid for masses to be sung for late Queen’s soul and took charge of her household.

On 12^th of November Jane’s funeral went ahead. It was a great ceremony, ‘designed to match the grand funeral procession of Elizabeth of York over thirty years before.’[9]

Jane Seymour was buried at Windsor. Henry VIII did not participate in her funeral, as was customary, but he was very much depressed after her death. Jane was his beloved wife who gave him a son, he waited for 27 years. But however grief stricken the king was, he still had in mind that his sons is only a boy in a cradle, and in life anything can happen. So Henry knew he will probably remarry. And he did. Three times.

The most beloved wife?

Jane Seymour's death in tv series 'The Tudors'

Had Jane lived, she might have been the most influential and celebrated wives of Henry VIII. The king would never cast aside woman who gave him a son, and perhaps he would glorify her even more. We can only assume that Henry would try to beget more heirs by Jane. Some people claim that Jane Seymour died too soon and Henry VIII did not have time to get bored with her. Perhaps there is a little bit of truth in this statement, but is it really true? Henry loved Jane Seymour because she was a good and obedient wife. With her, he enjoyed a peaceful and happy family life. Her motto was ‘Bound to obey and serve’ and she lived in accordance to this motto. Although we do not know if it was Jane’s clever tactic to play the role of obedient and meek wife, she proved to be a good wife to Henry, and a good stepmother to his two daughters, although she was more attached to Lady Mary than to little Elizabeth. But it is not a strange thing – after all Jane served as Catherine of Aragon’s lady-in-waiting and she shared her mistresses’ religious (catholic) beliefs.

Although I would like to think that Henry’s one true love was Anne Boleyn, I think it was Jane Seymour whom Henry loved the most. This marriage brought him happiness, stabilization and peace.

Although Henry remarried three times after Jane’s death, none of his marriages proved to be as successful as his marriage to Jane. Elizabeth Norton writes how;

“During the last decade of his life, Henry frequently looked back on his marriage to Jane with longing and, whilst he had not always treated her kindly when she was alive, after her death she became his one true love. It is Jane who appears as Henry’s wife in the great dynastic portrait painted in 1545, showing the king with his three children, and Jane also appears in other representations of the Tudor dynasty. It was with Jane that Henry asked to be buried as he lay on his deathbed and it was with her that he wished to spend eternity. Jane died giving Henry exactly what he wanted and she passed away in all her glory” 

I think that Jane Seymour died a horrible death and she suffered before she finally passed away. In this article I wanted to commemorate Henry’s most beloved wife. When he died, Henry was buried beside her.

What do you think about Jane? Do you think Henry truly loved her more than any of his wives?