Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn by Arthur Hopkins c. 1860's-1870

When Henry VIII noticed Anne Boleyn in 1526, he didn’t wanted her to become his wife and queen. He simply desired Anne as his mistress. The king offered her a title of Maîtresse-en-titre, this title was very famous in France and meant that woman who had such a title was a chief mistress of a sovereign, and she had her own privileges like her own apartments, servants, etc. Although Henry VIII had many mistresses, he never actually had a maîtresse-en-titre and this title was offered only to Anne Boleyn. But Anne refused. Why would any woman refuse the king of England? Well perhaps Anne thought that if she refuse, then Henry will give up and find a new mistress. But perhaps, which is more likely, Anne learned from her sister’s example ; Mary Boleyn was Henry VIII’s mistress for few years, she gave birth to two children during affair with the king but in the end Henry casted her aside.

Anne’s refusal really made Henry VIII want her even more.  What was so special about Anne Boleyn? When she came back from France in 1522, she was considered a Frenchwoman – she was elegant, well-spoken and gracious. Although she was not a typical blue-eyed ‘English Rose’ with pale skin and blonde hair, she caught the attention of male courtiers and soon became very popular. She was a dramatic brunette with olive skin and enchanting black eyes, even French King called her a ‘Venus’ and Venus was synonym of beauty.

So Anne refused to have sexual relationship with Henry VIII until they were married. She was determined to preserve her virginity, but some people didn’t believe that she was as chaste as she wanted to be seen. She was seen by her enemies as a sexual predator, a lady with low moral standards, a harpy who entraped a great king. But was she really the one who entarped Henry?

Henry VIII c. 1536 by Hans Holbein

“Today, Henry’s approach to Anne would be instantly identifiable as sexual harassment. (…) Could she really tell the king to his face that she had no interest in him? She could reiterate her  desire to keep her chastity and her honor, but clearly he didn’t respect that. She could ignore his  letters and stay away from court, but he refused to take the hint. To offer him the outright insult he asked for would be to risk not only her own but her father’s and brother’s careers at court. She undoubtedly kept hoping he would tire of the chase and transfer his attentions to some newer lady-in-waiting. But he didn’t and she was trapped: there was no chance of her making a good marriage when every eligible nobleman knew the king wanted her. She began to realize she would have to give in. [as Wyatt wrote in his poem 'Whoso list to hunt'] ‘Nole me tangere, for Caesar’s I am’’.[1]

So Anne made her own conditions – she would became Henry’s wife and Queen, and not a mistress. But why Anne was slandered if she insisted so much to preserve her virginity?

Le Chateau d Amboise, France, where Anne Boleyn served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Claude of France

Perhaps because she spent her youth in France. Since c. 1515 to 1522 Anne Boleyn served as a lady-in-waiting to Francis I’s wife, Queen Claude de Valois. French court was infamous for it’s immorality and Francis himself cheated on his wife (who was constantly pregnant) with many mistresses. Brantome wrote that ‘rarely, or never, did any maid or wife leave that court chaste’[2]  How about Anne? Queen Claude, whom Anne served, was only 15 years old and she ‘insisted upon high morality and restraint and showed a strict regard for etiquette.‘[3] Because she was so religious and because of her almost annual pregnancies, she spent her time mainly at the Chateau of Amboise and Blois, while ‘her philandering husband entertained scores of mistresses and set the tone for one of the most licentious courts of the period’.[4] It seems that Anne Boleyn accompanied her royal mistress and learned from her. Although we don’t know the exatc date of Anne’s birth, we might assume, that she and Claude were the same age[5], so they understood each other perfectly well. Some historians claim, that Claude’s court was too boring for vivacious Anne, however she entertainded herself and her royal mistress by singing and playing on the instruments.

Anne’s attitude towards her duties is also expressed in a letter she wrote to her father in 1514. Although she was writing this letter from Margaret of Austria’s court, we can be sure that her sense of resposibility did not change when she was in France ;

‘Sir,

I understand by your letter that you wish that I shall be of all virtuous repute when I come to Court and you inform me that the Queen will take the trouble to converse with me, which rejoices me greatly to think of talking with a person so wise and virtuous. This will make me have greater desire to continue to speak French well and also spell, especially because you have so recommended me to do so, and with my own hand I inform you that I will observe it the best I can.’[6]

It was in 1585, 49 years after Anne Boleyn’s death, when a staunch Catholic on exile, Nicolas Sander, wrote about her that ;

“At fifteen she sinned first with her father’s butler, and then with his chaplain, and forthwith was sent to France, and placed at the expense of the King, under the care of a certain nobleman not far from Brie. Soon afterwards she appeared at the French court where she was called the English mare, because of her shameless behaviour; and then the royal mule, when she became acquainted with the King of France.”[7]

Anne's sister Mary Boleyn, who was French king's mistress and later went on to be Henry VIII's mistress

It is Sander who started rumours about Anne’s alleged six fingers, moles, projecting tooth and wen under her chin. So his writing is not reliable at all. He does not even get the right dates ; Sander wrote that Anne ‘sinned’ when she was 15, and then she was sent to France as a punishment. However, Anne was sent to Margaret of Austria’s court first in 1514 when she about 14 years old (if we assume she was born in 1501 and not in 1507, which would make her even younger at the time) and then, in 1515 she was sent to France as a lady-in-waiting to King’s sister, Mary Tudor. Sander also states that Anne Boleyn was called an ‘English Mare’ and she was Francis I’s mistress.

Informations about Anne Boleyn’s misconducts are also described in the Spanish Cronica del Rey Enrico ; for example there is a description of Anne’s escapades with Mark Smeaton or Thomas Wyatt. But this Spanish Cronicle is not a reliable source of information – Anne Boleyn was enemy of Spanish Queen Cathrine of Aragon, and it is obvious that Anne was maligned. Also Eustace Chapuys who was imperial ambassador, hated Anne and called her ‘the whore’, ‘the concubine’ or ‘the English Messalina or Agrippina’.

During their long courtship, there were rumours that Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII had few children together, but there is no evidence. We can assume that Anne Boleyn knew that if she surrender to Henry and get pregnant too soon, her child will be no more than another royal bastard. And she was clever enough to wait with the consummation of this relationship.

In his letters to Anne, Henry often described his feelings about her.

‘There is a strong sexual tone to this letters. The king spoke often of his need to be ‘private’ with Anne, and wished he was, ‘specially an evening, in my sweetheart’s arms, whose pretty dugs (breasts) I trust shortly to kiss’.’[8]

There are strong inclination that Anne Boleyn remained virgin until 1532.  Alison Weir states that ;

‘Some intimacies she may have permitted, but never full intercourse. This is substantiated not only by King’s repeated denials that she was his mistress in the sexual sense, but also by the fact that, once the affair was consummated, Anne became pregnant immediately and conceived regularly thereafter’.[9]

So what had convinced Henry VIII in 1536, that a woman, who refused to sleep with him for almost 7 years, was guilty of multiple adultery?

In the same book, Alison Weir stated that Henry VIII confided to imperial ambassador that Anne was ‘corrupted’ in France and that French King told Duke of Norfolk that Anne was not a virtuous person during her youth spent in France. However I did not found such informations in primary sources so I think that this is Alison Weir’s pure imagination.

Anne Boleyn

We can easily say that Anne Boleyn changed everything ; she was the second commoner to become English Queen (first one was Elizabeth Woodville) . She took Catherine of Aragon’s place and she set up an example for other ladies at court . Who could ever imagine that a ‘foolish girl’ as Wolsey described Anne once, could dare to replace the Queen? Anne Boleyn did it – for her Henry VIII broke up with the Catholic Church, risking everything. People had to find a scape goat – someone they could blame for all the evil that fallen on England – and Anne was such a scape goat. Henry could do a little to stop the malicious rumours about his future bride, but little did she cared about them. ‘Let them grumble’ was her motto in 1530. Anne Boleyn had her flaws. She was not afraid to express her own opinions, even if others did not approve of them. In the end Henry VIII felt tired of such an outspoken wife and he cheated on her with new mistresses. But Anne was not afraid to show how jelous she was although the queen’s role was to ‘shut her eyes and endure’.

Was Anne an immoral temptress? I think not. She was Henry’s victim. Anne Boleyn payed the ultimate price for her relationship with the king. She died accused of adultery, incest and witchcraft, and yet she said nothing at the scaffold, when she  prayed  ‘God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never’. [10] Even her enemies, like Chapuys, did not believe in her guilt ;

‘You never saw a prince or husband show or wear his horns more patiently and lightly than this one does.’[11]

Anne Boleyn died innocent. For many years to come her name was slandered and malicious rumours were spread about her. She was a brave woman who lived in a very difficult times. She proved that woman can be equal to a man. Today she is remembered and celebrated not only in England, but also in the whole world.

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

Detail from Boticelli's 'Birth of Venus'

We can certainly say that Anne Boleyn was not considered beautiful in her times. Typical beauty at Tudor court had blonde hair, pale skin and blue eyes, and Anne had dark complexion, dark hair and enchanting ‘black eyes’. She certainly was not a typical ‘English Rose’ but she was different and interesting. In her book ‘Six Wives of Henry VIII’ Alison Weir states that ;

‘Even King Francis was smitten by the fascinating Anne, and wrote :

Venus était blonde, on m’a dit:

L’on voit bien, qu’elle est brunette.’[1]

‘Venus was blonde, I’ve been told: Now I see that she’s a brunette!’  I was always very curious about this quote, and I never came across the information that Francis I was actually referring to Anne Boleyn.  Dr. Susan Bordo’s recent article made me question this quote once again and I decided to immerse myself into the primary sources and books, to find out whether King Francis was referring to Anne Boleyn when speaking about Venus.

In her book Alison Weir does not cite the reference so it is really hard to get to primary sources. Weir only gives us a hint:

‘For the duration of her stay in France, see Herbert, and also Emmanuel von Meteren’s Histoire des Pays Bas: Crispin, Lord of Milherve’s Metrical History (1618) ; Epistre contenant le process criminal fait a lencontre de la Royne Boullant d’Angleterre by Lancelot de Carles, Clement Marot, and Crispin de Milherve (1545 ; included in La Grande Bretagne devant l’Opinion Francaise by G.Ascoli, Paris, 1927), Histoire de la Royne Anne de Boullant (MS. In the Biblioteque Nationale, Paris, before 1550) ; and Charles de Bourgevilles Les Recherches et Antiquites de la Province de Neustrie’ (1583).’[2]

In her book ‘Anne Boleyn: a young Queen to be’ Josephine Wilkinson states that :

‘In matters of dress her tastes were said to have been adopted by other ladies, although, we are assured, none looked so well as Anne, who was described as the rival of Venus’ [3]

The Birth of Venus, Boticelli

Unfortunately Josephine Wilkinson does not cite her reference. She moves on and quotes Agnes Strickland’s description of Anne Boleyn’s costume, so I immediately thought that I will find more information about Venus in Agnes Strickland’s ‘Lives of the queens of England’ but unfortunately there is no mention about Francis I’s quote.

For me personally the best source of informations about Anne Boleyn is her biography by professor Eric Ives : ‘The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn’. Prof. Ives does not refer to French king’s alleged quote about Anne Boleyn as Venus. However in Ives’s biography we found few connections between Anne Boleyn and Venus ;

-          In George Cavendish’s ‘The Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey’ Cavendish writes about Anne ;

‘Thus passed the cardinal his life and time, from day to day, and year to year, in such great wealth, joy, and triumph, and glory, having always on his side the king’s especial favour; until Fortune, of whose favour no man is longer assured than she is disposed, began to wax something wroth with his pro- sperous estate, thought she would devise a mean to abate his high port; wherefore she procured Venus, the insatiate goddess, to be her instrument. To work her purpose, she brought the king in love with a gentlewoman, that, after she perceived and felt the king‟s good will towards her, and how diligent he was both to please her, and to grant all her requests, she wrought the cardinal much displeasure; as hereafter shall be more at large declared. This gentlewoman, the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, being at that time but only a bachelor knight, the which after, for the love of his daughter, was promoted to higher dignities.’ [4]

-          During Anne Boleyn’s coronation there appeared a figure of Venus :

‘A child then capped what Paris had said by announcing that there was another reward prepared for Anne, the crown imperial, and hailing the queen as a demonstration of divine providence. The parting song to Anne concluded with the stanza:

The golden ball

Of price but small,

Have Venus shall,

The fair goddess,

Because it was

Too low and bare

For your good grace

And worthiness.’[5]

In Francis I’s quote about Venus, he says ‘Venus was blonde, I’ve been told: Now I see that she’s a brunette!’  . Although Anne Boleyn’s hair color is a matter of dispute, her admirer, Sir Thomas Wyatt wrote in one of his sonnets about mysterious ‘Brunet’. In her book ‘She Wolves: The Notorious Queens of England’ Elizabeth Norton states :

‘This Brunet is obviously Anne Boleyn and Wyatt’s original final line for this poem refers to ‘Her that did set our country in a rore’. There is no doubt that this refers to Anne.’[6]

Also professor Eric Ives thinks that ‘Brunet’ must be Anne Boleyn.

Thomas Wyatt referred to Anne Boleyn as a 'Brunet'

So perhaps Francis I’s was referring to Anne Boleyn when he spoke about Venus being a ‘brunette’ but there is no evidence to back up this theory.  Perhaps he was referring to some other lady he was in love with, maybe he was speaking about one of his many mistresses?

Another possibility is that Francis I was referring to actress who played Venus in 1520 ;

‘Then in 1520 came the entry into Cognac of Queen Claude, with Anne Boleyn almost certainly in attendance. Claude was met by Mercury, who declared that the gods had come down to greet her, and her cavalcade encountered first Diana and her nymphs, and then Apollo, before being arrested by flames issuing from the forge of Vulcan. Next Venus arrived, followed by Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. At the city’s river bridge, Neptune appeared, escorted by dolphins, and when dusk fell, Pluto, Cerberus, Charon and the Furies.’[7]

I will ‘dig’ more about this matter and keep you updated, so stay tunes.

Modern interpretation of Anne Boleyn by Alexandre Jubran

Anne Boleyn was accused of adultery, incest, treason and plotting to kill a king. But among charges against her, also witchcraft was brought up. Why was Anne accused of witchcraft? Did she had something in common with ‘dark powers’?

In her book ‘The Lady in the Tower : the Fall of Anne Boleyn’ , Alison Weir states that ;

‘At that time witchcraft was not an indictable offence; it was not until 1542 that an act was passed under Henry Viiii making it a secular crime, and it did not become a capital offence until 1563, under Elizabeth I. Prior to that, the penalty for witchcraft had been determined according to evidence of actual criminality, which proof of evil deed being necessary to obtain a conviction; in the cases of persons of high rank, there was often a suspicion of treason against the Crown’.[1]

In England, Scotland and Ireland, between 1542 and 1735 a series of Witchcraft Acts enshrined into law the punishment (often with death, sometimes with incarceration) of individuals practising, or claiming to practice witchcraft and magic. [2] Witchcraft was the alleged use of magical or supernatural powers to harm people or their property. It was also widely believed that witches were in league with Devil. During the times when people did not know how to explain unexplained, they tend to believe in dark powers.

Effigies of Joan of Navarre and Henry IV

But Anne Boleyn was not the first great lady ever accused of witchcraft. First was Joan of Navarre. She was Duchess consort of Brittany and Queen consort of England. She was not very popular among English people, mainly because she was a foreigner. In 1419 Joan of Navarre was imprisoned on trumped-up charges of sorcery. She was released in 1422. In ‘She Wolves: The Notorious Queen of England’ Elizabeth Norton states ;

‘During the reign of her stepson, Henry V, her reputation took a dramatic turn for the worse when she was accused of plotting to murder the king through sorcery and spent several years in prison. Little evidence was ever presented to explain Joan’s arrest and, as the example of Joan’s stepdaughter-in-law Eleanor Cobham shows, an accusation of witchcraft was a covenient way of attacking a royal woman in the fiteenth century. Joan was certainly no witch but, as a foreigner in a troubled period, she was an easy target, just as her predecessors, such as Eleanor of Provence and Isabella of France had found’.

The penance of Eleanor Cobham : she had to walk barefoot and barheaded and carrzing a candle weighing two pounds

Another example was Eleanor Cobham, wife of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Henry V’s youngest brother and Henry VI’s uncle and heir apparent. She was arrested in 1441 and accused of using potions supplied by famous ‘Witch of Eye’ Margery Jourdemayne, to make Gloucester fall in love with and marry her. Eleanor also asked the atrologers, Thomas Southwell and Roger Bolingbroke, if her husband would suceed the king. In his book ‘Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of Prnces in the Tower’, David Baldwin states that ;

‘The three magicians had apparently made a wax image which the prosecution alleged was of the King and design to procure his death (by melting it)m but which Eleanor said represented a baby and was intended only to help her bear a child.’[4]

In the end Eleanor’s marriage was dissolved ‘on the premise that , by using witchcraft, she had interfered with Duke Humphrey’s freedom of choice.’[5] Margarey Jourdemayne was sentenced to death by burning at Smithfield, Thomas Southwell died in prison, and Roger Bolingbroke was hanged, drawn and quartered. What about Eleanor Cobham? She had to do a public penance in London, and was condemned to life inprisonment on the Isle of Man.

Depiction of first meeting between Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV

Edward IV’s Queen consort, beautiful Elizabeth Woodville, was also accused of witchcraft. She was the first commoner (the second one was Anne Boleyn) to become Queen consort of England. Elizabeth was considered beautiful so it is no wonder that king Edward IV fell in love with her. The tradition says that Elizabeth heard that the king was hunting in Whittelwood Forest ans she waited under the Oak tree with her two sons from first marriage. After her husband’s death Elizabeth found herself in a difficult financial position so her goal was to ask king for help. And when he rode by she threw herself at his feet and Edward fell in love with her.

In the beggining Edward IV did not plan to marry Elizabeth Woodville. He wanted her simply as his mistress. But she did not agreed and the king married her in a great secret.

‘To many of her contemporaries it was unthinkable that the king would have freely chosen to marry a woman so far beneath him and there were rumours of witchcraft and seduction which marred Elizabeth’s reputation both during her lifetime and afterwards. Elizabeth’s detractors were simply unable to believe that the couple could have been motivated only by love and this critisism of Elizabeth was something that her greatest enemy, Richard III, was happy to publicise during his reign’.[6]

Also Elizabeth’s mother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, was accused of using sorcery to help her daughter. Certainly neither Elizabeth nor her mother were guilty of witchcraft ; such an accusation was a powerful tool in hands of their political enemies.

And what about Anne Boleyn? Henry VIII claimed that he was ‘bewitched’ by her and this is the reason why they married. We can easily assume, that people did not had an explanation why did Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn ; today we know that he fell in love with her, but in times when kings always married for political reasons, they would find in witchcraft an explanation of why Henry had turned his back from Catherine of Aragon and married Anne Boleyn.

The only ‘proof’ of Anne Boleyn’s witchcraft might be a story about deformed foetus. In January 1536, Anne Boleyn miscarried a child, imperial ambassador Chapuys wrote that it was ‘ a male about three months and a half old’. [7] Eric Ives statest that ;

‘Some sixteenth-century moralists did associate witches with monstrous births, so fantasizing about a ‘deformed foetus’ has led to historians speculating about a link between Anne’s fall and an accusation of witchcraft.’[8]

It was Nicolas Sander, author of theories about Anne’s six fingers, moles and projecting tooth, who wrote that in January 1536  she miscarried a ‘shapeless mass of flesh’ but yet we have no eveidence from Anne’s contemporaries who knew much about queen’s miscarriage.

Anne Boleyn, Hever Castle

‘No deformed foetus was mentioned  at the time or later in Henry’s reign, despite Anne’s disgrace. In Mary’s reign, when there was every motive and opportunity to blacken Anne, the substantial anti-Boleyn material which appeared in England said nothing. Nor was any such report known to the more raffish European Catholic sources nor to William Thomas, a Protestant writer hostile to Anne. Lacking all corroboration, the appearance of the story forty years after the event must be dismissed as a Sander promotion designed to support his description of Anne as a misshapen monster. It is as little worthy of credence as his assertion that Henry VIII was Anne’s father.’[9]

What exactly did Henry VIII meant when he said that he was ‘bewitched’ by Anne? Eric Ives argues that he perhaps meant that he was ‘deceived’  by her. Eric Ives wrote very important thing ;

‘In any case, alleging witchcraft was a commonplace excuse for foolish male behaviour.’[10]

Henry VIII could not admit that he was wrong about woman he so passionately fought for almost 7 years. The easiest way was to blame her and and tell everyone that she ‘bewitched’ him although Henry might not think about being ‘bewitched’ in a magical sense. Chapuys wrote in 1533 that ‘this accursed lady has so enchanted and bewitched him that he will not dare to do anything against her will’ [11] and he meant that Henry was so madly in love with Anne rather than accusing Anne of being a witch. The most probable explanation is that Henry wanted to blame Anne and that is why he though he was ‘bewitched’ but, as professor Ives points out, he might meant that he was ‘deceived’ by Anne.

Anne’s alleged sexual offences were also connected with accusations of witchcraft. It was a common believe that witches used spells and charms to entice men into marriage, that they had a power to cause impotence (and Anne was said to speak to Lady Rochford about Henry’s sexual problems) and that they were lustful. But Anne Boleyn was certainly not a witch – the accusations against her were false, and her fall was very much about the fall of the whole Boleyn faction.

Women that I have described in this article have few things in common – they were misunderstood and slandered in their times, because with their beauty and inteligence they were noticed by powerful men. The example of Elizabeth Woodville and Anne Boleyn proves that a man in love risk everything just to get woman he wanted. In times when kings were married for politics, Edward IV and Henry VIII married for love, putting their country in chaos. And then the rumours started – but not rumours about king’s behaviour, but against a woman who ‘enchanted’ him. The accusations of witchcraft were very convenient way of accusing a royal lady – how else could they explain that the king married a simple woman with no political agenda, forgetting about consequences and common sense?

Why do you think women are blamed for men’s foolishness? It looks like in history it was a common practice.