Claire | October 11, 2016
On this day in history, 11 October 1532, at just before dawn, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Marquis of Pembroke, set sail from Dover in the King’s ship The Swallow. Their destination was Calais and the purpose of their trip was to gain King Francis I of France’s support for their relationship and their quest […]
Claire | November 11, 2015
On 11th November 1534, Philippe de Chabot, Seigneur De Brion and Admiral of France, landed on English soil. The purpose of the diplomatic mission he was leading was to renew Anglo-French relations. As Clare Cherry and I point out in our biography of George Boleyn, England had become “more and more isolated from her European […]
Claire | October 27, 2015
On 25th October 1532, Henry VIII and Francis I, King of France, arrived at Calais, which was English territory at the time to continue their talks and to meet with Anne Boleyn, Marquis of Pembroke, Henry’s queen-in-waiting. After his arrival in Calais, Francis sent Anne Boleyn a diamond via the Provost of Paris, but Anne […]
Claire | October 20, 2015
In October 1532, Henry VIII took Anne Boleyn, who he’d just made Marquis of Pembroke, to Calais with him. The main purpose of this trip was for Henry and Anne to gain King Francis I’s public recognition and approval of their relationship. Henry wanted Francis to then meet with the Pope and push the case […]
Claire | July 20, 2015
On 20th July 1524, Queen Claude of France, wife of Francis I, died at Blois at the age of just twenty-four. She was temporarily laid to rest in the chapel there, but then moved to the royal abbey of Saint-Denis just outside Paris in 1527. At Easter, Tim and I visited Saint-Denis and I was […]
Claire | October 29, 2014
On 29th October 1532, according to Wynkyn de Word, Henry VIII accompanied Francis I to Morgison, situated seven miles outside of Calais, and bid farewell to him there. Francis I then carried on to Paris: “And vpon the. xxix. daye of October the frensshe kynge departed fro Caleys to Parys ward and our kynge brought […]
Claire | October 28, 2014
Monday 28th October 1532 was the last full day of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s time with Francis I in Calais. The Maner of the Tryumphe of Cales and Bulleyn, which was printed in 1533 by Wykyn de Worde, gives us details of what happened that day: “And vpon monday whiche was the. xxix. day […]
Claire | October 27, 2014
On 27 October 1532 Anne Boleyn, Marquis of Pembroke and Henry’s consort in all but name, made a dramatic entrance at the banquet held by Henry VIII in Francis I’s honour at Calais. Chronicler Edward Hall describes Anne’s entrance: “After supper came in the Marchiones of Penbroke, with. vii. ladies in Maskyng apparel, of straunge […]
