Video: 'On This Day 25 January 1533 Marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn'
(Saturday, January 25, 1533, just before dawn local time) — England’s King Henry VIII, seeking to father a legitimate male heir to the throne, secretly married his second wife Anne Boleyn today at Whitehall.
Henry VIII had applied for a dispensation to marry Anne back in August 1527 and had assumed that the Pope would annul his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which he believed to be contrary to God’s law, without any problem. Royal annulments were not unusual.
In recent history, King Louis XII had had his marriage to his first wife, Joan, annulled without too much problem, so Henry would have had no idea that he would encounter opposition.
The trouble with Henry’s request for an annulment was that it was opposed by his wife, who was the aunt of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The Pope couldn’t make one powerful leader happy without upsetting the other; it was an impossible situation.
The king’s union with Anne Boleyn was made public on Easter of that year, and on May 23, 1533, the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declared Henry and Catherine of Aragon’s marriage null and void; five days later, he declared Henry and Anne’s marriage valid.
Shortly afterward, Pope Clement VII excommunicated Henry and Cranmer. As a result of this marriage and these ex-communications, the first break between the Church of England and the Catholic Church took place, and the king took control of the Church of England.
Video: 'Tudor Minute January 25, 1533: Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's Secret Wedding'
Anne was crowned Queen of England on June 1, 1533. On September 7, she gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I, who would become one of the most famous monarchs in history. Henry was disappointed to have a daughter rather than a son but hoped a son would follow and professed to love Elizabeth.
Anne subsequently had three miscarriages and by March 1536, Henry was courting Jane Seymour. In order to marry Seymour, Henry had to find reasons to end the marriage to Anne.
Henry VIII had Anne investigated for high treason in April 1536. On May 2, she was arrested and sent to the Tower of London, where she was tried before a jury of peers, including Henry Percy, her former betrothed, and her uncle Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk; she was convicted on May 15 and beheaded four days later.
Modern historians view the charges against her, which included adultery, incest, and plotting to kill the king, as unconvincing.
After her daughter, Elizabeth, became Queen in 1558, Anne became venerated as a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation, particularly through the written works of John Foxe.
She has inspired, or been mentioned in, many artistic and cultural works and retained her hold on the popular imagination. She has been called “the most influential and important queen consort England has ever had,’ as she provided the occasion for Henry VIII to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and declare the English church’s independence from the Vatican.
