Claire | May 28, 2015
On 28th May 1533, five days after he declared the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer proclaimed the validity of Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn following a secret enquiry at Lambeth Palace. Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn had already been married four months, long before the annulment, but […]
Claire | April 30, 2015
According to Alexander Alesius, the Scottish theologian, it was on 30th April 1536 that he witnessed Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn having some kind of argument. Years later, he gave an account of the event to Elizabeth I, who he describes as being in her mother’s arms while Anne tried to placate the king.* “Never […]
Claire | April 11, 2015
Good Friday 1533, the 11th April, was a big day for Anne Boleyn because it was on that day that Henry VIII ordered his council to recognise Anne Boleyn as his righful wife and queen. While Henry was meeting with his council, his new Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, was working on the annulment of […]
Claire | January 25, 2015
On 25 January 1533, St Paul’s Day, Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn in a secret ceremony at Whitehall. In a letter to Archdeacon Hawkyns, written in June 1533 and recording Anne Boleyn’s coronation, Cranmer wrote: “But now, sir, you may not imagine that this coronation was before her marriage; for she was married much about […]
Claire | January 5, 2015
On 5th January 1531, Pope Clement VII wrote to Henry VIII following a plea from Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s wife. In his letter he forbade Henry to remarry while the case for the annulment was still on-going and threatened him with excommunication if he took matters into his own hands and disobeyed Rome: “At […]
Claire | November 14, 2014
Although we know that Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn had a private, and rather secret, marriage ceremony on 25th January 1533, chronicler Edward Hall also records a marriage ceremony on 14th November 1532, St Erkenwald’s Day: “The kyng after his returne, maried priuily the lady Anne Bulleyn, on sainct Erkenwaldes daie, whiche mariage was kept […]
Claire | September 29, 2014
On 29th September 1528 Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio, papal legate, landed at Dover on the Kent coast. He had arrived in preparation for hearing the case for the annulment of the marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, at a special legatine court. You can read more about this in my article […]
Claire | September 23, 2014
Today we have a guest article from student Brittany Frazza who is just about to embark on a PhD course – thank you Brittany! A strand of understated pearls with a gold ‘B’ pendant, adorned with three teardrop shaped pearls suspended from under the letter… It’s safe to say that Anne Boleyn is synonymous with […]
