Possible reasons for Anne Boleyn’s miscarriage?
Rating: +5
There are all kinds of theories on this:-
- Anne Boleyn was Rhesus negative (Rh-) meaning that her body would reject all Rhesus positive babies after the first pregnancy, causing miscarriages. This is a theory put forward by Retha Warnicke to explain Anne's miscarriages following her first successful pregnancy. This would happen if Henry was Rhesus positive.
- Stress - Anne was under an incredible amount of pressure to "perform" and deliver a son. She had also had quite a difficult pregnancy with Elizabeth so I can only imagine the stress and anxiety she felt. Also her final miscarriage is thought to have happened shortly after Henry's jousting accident when he was unconscious for 2 hours and thought to be dead.
This must have been a shock for Anne. It is also said that on hearing of Catherine of Aragon's death, Anne suddenly became paranoid that she also would die and so was obviously worrying about her pregnancy and the birth.
Another stress would have been fears for her position as Henry's wife and Queen with Henry's infidelities.
- Syphilis - One theory, which has pretty much been debunked now, is that Henry had syphilis and that this venereal disease could then explain his ill health, Catherine's miscarriages, still births and infant fatalities, and Anne's miscarriages. However, Henry was not treated with mercury, the standard syphilis treatment of the time and he also did have three healthy legitimate children and at least one illegitimate child.
- Tudor times - Anne may just have been a victim of her times - A time when there was not much known about prenatal care.
- Just one of those things - Many women suffer miscarriages and Anne may just have been unlucky.
- Witchcraft, adultery and sin - Not a theory I give any credence to but people of the times believed that deformed babies, like the one that Anne was said to have lost in her final miscarriage, were due to the sexual sins of the parents. Obviously Henry didn't sin (splutter splutter!) so therefore Anne was an adulteress and witch.
- Poisoning - Some will have you believe that Anne was poisoned by the Cantrella of Borgia (secret poison) and that Wolsey, More and Seymour caused her miscarriages even though Wolsey and More were dead!
So, those are the main theories regarding Anne's miscarriages.
I doubt More woiuld have poisoned her, even if he was alive at that time. He seems to have been too gentle and holy for that. Not sure Jane would either, though her family might well have I can’t believe Henry, ad two wives executed for adultery, when you consider how many mistresses he had. SOOOOO hypocritical!!! By his own his own laws he should have been deposed long before.
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So hypocritical, I agree, but that was expected of a King in those days – the French monarchs were just the same. It’s funny how it is said that Henry viewed Anne’s miscarriages as a punishment from God but that it was a punishment for Anne’s wrongdoings not his own – mmm, double standards me thinks!
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It seems all Henry’s wives 1st pregnancys were born healthy. Even his mistress had a healthy baby. I believe he was rh positive, How ironic,,,it was not the womens fault at all. It was Henry;s!
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Noel Lynne Figart Reply:
December 28th, 2011 at 7:19 pm
RH incompatibility doesn’t work that way. It’s only a factor with a negative mother and a positive father, so that the BABY also has negative blood.
What happens is that at birth, some maternal and fetal blood mix. If there is an RH incompatibility, the mother’s blood generates antibodies against the positive blood types. This means that an RH Pos fetus can’t come to full term.
If the baby has RH neg blood (can happen, even with two RH pos parents, if they have secondary negative! I am living proof) then this is not an issue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rh_disease
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Well, one of the many reasons I’ve heard were that she became hysterical, another was that one of the many who were plotting against her, was actually one of the cooks, so he dabbed a little poison into her wine,and which did no harm to her, but even the slightest drops of poison could harmt he baby. Another one was that she was under far to much presssure, and with being queen, it was to much and it poisoned the baby. but hey, that’s what i’ve heard…
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Henry’s using God for an excuse was an easy out for him. That God would cause Anne to miscarry as punishment upon King Henry is really well playing on the ignorance of the times. The church was a potent force in those days and the poor little street person, totally uneducated was bound to believe anything the King would say, let alone the church. I completely agree once again with Claire that physical factors most likely did play a role and I firmly believe that the enormous amount of stress that Anne was living with all of the time it seems since the relationship began played a big part with the miscarriages. When you think about it, it was probably a lucky thing Elizabeth was born and born healthy yet. The saddest event for Anne was that she miscarried a son which happened because she loved Henry so much that the news of his jousting accident was the straw that broke the camels back causing her to miscarry. I could just take Henry by the lapels and say, “Stop always blaming the women in your life for everything that happens to you!!”
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I really like the Rh factor theory. It seems to fit very well, as she quickly had a successful birth and nothing but disaster afterward. I wonder, what would this theory mean for the incest theory? If we accepted that she was Rh negative, would that mean that the incest theory would be discredited? Or could it lend more credence to the theory?
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christina Reply:
January 1st, 2012 at 8:26 am
henrys wives including jane and the mistress all had healthy 1st babies but none other-granted jane died but still-this seems medically plausible..
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Thomas More was not that mild and gentle. He was humble, but he did burn heretics. That takes a strong stomach. He also wasn’t deceitful or sneaky. I think if he’s had any kind of direct evidence against Anne, he would have brought it to the king.
Even though she did survive her bout of “sweating sickness”, it could have weakened her. That combined with her difficult first pregnancy and the constant stress she was under could have contributed to the miscarriages.
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I’ve wondered for a long time if the inability of Henry’s first two wives to have healthy babies after the first was due to prolonged stress, knowing that they had, literally, to deliver.
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While Rh blood group antigens are rather common and they can cause hemolytic disease of the newborn there is another blood group antigen that is more likely to cause fetal demise especially after one exposure to the antigen. This antigen is the Kell antigen first described by doctors in the 1940′s. Note: not all preganancies from a Kell positive father will produce a Kell positive infant who will in turn cause the mother to make antibodies that attack the infant’s blood cells. There is a good article about Henry the VIII and the likelihood that he was a carrier of the antigen: http://www.science20.com/news_articles/henry_viii_and_miscarriages_was_it_kell_antigen-76877
There is also discussion about other symptoms of the Kell antigen, and an associated syndrome (McLeod syndrome described in 1961) that may be related to the symptoms that Henry had later in life. Additionally, and I have not seen this written about in literature, I suggest that Edward also carried the Kell gene (only males can get McLeod syndrome due to it’s X-linked inheritance) and it contributed to his death; I have read articles saying that McLeod syndrome can cause symptoms as early as age 10 and death is usually 5-10 years after symptoms are first seen, Edward died at 16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroacanthocytosis – Edward died with cough, lung problems, and swollen legs all of which are symptoms of dilated cardiomyopathy which can be a complication of Mc Leod syndrome.
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Cyd Reply:
November 9th, 2011 at 4:02 am
what do you get when you mix an OB/NICU nurse with a Tudor nerd? Me—someone who is ecstatically happy to read these kind of articles!!! Special thanks to Natalie (above) for her links—who knew other people thought about this stuff?
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Claire Reply:
November 9th, 2011 at 4:05 am
Welcome, Cyd!
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I can’t believe I never thought of her being RH negative! I am RH negative and had to get those nasty shots when I was pregnant. Too bad they didn’t have those in that time…
Another thing I thought of would possibly be endometriosis. It causes issues with fertility and causes cysts and fibroids (I actually think Mary might have had it on top of the uterine cancer)
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Anne may just have had pregnancies with problems, as have many of us, and miscarriages were nature’s way of saying the baby would not have been well. i was pregnant seven times and we had three beautiful children, but did lose four. it’s heartbreaking, but it’s the way things end sometimes. still, regardless of her horrible conduct in the marriage of Catherine and Henry (as well as his!) my heart always went out to her, to be under such pressure to have a son, back then they did not know the man determined the child’s sex!!
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It has nothing to do with Henry’s wives but talking about medical condition of the Tudor family members: isn’t it striking that Prince Arthur and both Henry’s sons, Edward and Henry Fitzroy, died as teenagers due to poor health? I know that muscoviscidosis was suspected but we probably will never find out anyway.
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The RH negative theory is interesting, I myself am a RH negative baby (my mother’s second child) and managed to reach full term without receiving any treatment (doctors werent aware) although I went into distress at the end and had to be delivered by c-section.
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Hello Everyone,
I remember reading an article in one of my BBC History Magazine’s, it put forth a theory that Henry suffered from a disease which attacked the white cells within the feotus. This theory logically explains the reasons why Katherine of Aragon (who had 7 pregnancies overall), and Anne Boleyn (who had 3) were having miscarriages, and stillborns.
Katherine of Aragon was from an extremely fertile family, the pomegranate being used as the familes emblem, was symbolism to their great fertility.
I will have a hunt through my magazines, in order to find the source, and then will put it up for anyone who is interested in this theory.
Rachel
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I kind of toyed with the idea, that Anne was given Hemlock in a drink and that helped to induce a miscarriage. Although who might have given her it I’m still trying to figure out..
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