Claire | May 23, 2016
Thank you to Clare Cherry, co-author of George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier and Diplomat, for sharing her thoughts on Anne Boleyn’s position as “the other woman” and second wife. Divorce is highly distressing and stressful, especially when there is a third party involved. Sometimes couples come to the mutual decision that their marriage is at […]
Claire | May 23, 2016
I always find it odd at this time of year that I spend three weeks counting down to Anne Boleyn’s execution in 1536 and then suddenly have to shift gear and go back to the events surrounding her coronation in 1533! What very different years and only three years apart. On 23rd May 1533, Archbishop […]
Claire | April 5, 2016
On 5th April 1533, Convocation gave its ruling on Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, stating that the Pope had no power to dispense in the case of a man marrying his brother’s widow, and that it was contrary to God’s law. Here is the record from Letters and Papers: “Notarial attestation of the […]
Claire | January 29, 2016
Today is the anniversary of Catherine of Aragon’s burial at Peterborough Abbey in 1536, so I just wanted to pose a question: “Was Catherine of Aragon right in fighting for her marriage and not accepting the annulment?” I’d love to hear your views on this so please do leave a comment. Allow me first to […]
Claire | September 29, 2015
On this day in history, 29th September 1528, the papal legate, Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio, landed at Dover on the Kent coast. He had been made papal legate in June 1528 in preparation for hearing the case for the annulment of the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon at a special legatine court. Click […]
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 | May 23, 2015
Now we’re leaving the “bloody days” of 1536 and going back in time to 1533 when Anne Boleyn was queen consort and waiting to be crowned. On 23rd May 1533, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer declared that Henry VIII’s marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, had been annulled: “My lord of Canterbury gave sentence this […]
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 […]
