The Anne Boleyn Collection II: Anne Boleyn & the Boleyn Family (13 page)

The extra finger makes a good story for guides to tell tourists and novelists to explore, but it's just that: a story. Yet another myth that surrounds this fascinating historical woman.

It is frustrating that we do not know exactly what Anne Boleyn looked like, but I think it is safe to say that she had dark hair and eyes, olive skin and moles, and that she was of medium build with small breasts. It is impossible to say what the blemish/deformity was on her hand, but there was obviously something on it.

Notes and Sources

1 Sander, Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism, 25.

2 "Nicholas Sander."

3 Rose, Cases of Conscience: Alternatives Open to Recusants and Puritans Under Elizabeth I and James I, 47.

4 Ibid.

5 Pollen, "Dr. Niholas Sander," 36.

6 Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 11: Reign of Elizabeth Part V:203–4.

7 "Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, Venice, Vol. 4 (1527-1533)," n. 824.

8 Sergeant, The Life of Anne Boleyn, 129.

9 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 585.

10 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 30.

11 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 4: Part 2," n. 1077, 1081.

12 Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, 151.

13 Ascoli, La Grande-Bretagne Devant L'opinion Française Depuis La Guerre de Cent Ans Jusqu'à La Fin Du XVIe Siècle, 234, line 61.

14 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 2: 1536-1538," 127.

15 Ridgway, "Anne Boleyn Myths Coming Soon."

16 "Anne Boleyn, Six Wives Info."

17 Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, 151.

18 Cavendish, The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, Volume 2, 2:188.

19 "Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts, Venice, Volume 4: 1527-33," n. 824.

20 Bell, Notices of the Historic Persons Buried in the Chapel of St Peter Ad Vincula in the Tower of London, 19–21,26.

9.
29 May 1533 – Anne Boleyn's Coronation River Pageant

The coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533 was a huge, four-day affair and was more like the coronation of a monarch, rather than that of a queen consort. It was a PR exercise; a statement by Henry VIII that Anne Boleyn was his rightful wife and queen, whatever people thought of her or of the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The Milanese ambassador estimated that Anne's coronation cost the City of London was £46,000, or 200,000 ducats, and that Henry VIII spent half that sum again.
¹
We don't know how accurate that figure is, but there's no denying that the coronation was a sumptuous and a lavish occasion.

The coronation celebrations began on 29th May 1533, the day after Archbishop Cranmer had proclaimed valid Anne's marriage to Henry VIII. They culminated in the coronation ceremony on Whitsun (1st June).
Hall's Chronicle
²
and
The Noble Tryumphaunt Coronacyon of Quene Anne
, the latter printed by Wynkyn de Worde, give us all the details of what happened on 29th May.
³
The pageantry began at 1pm, when the London livery companies' fifty barges set off from Billingsgate. These sixty- to seventy-foot long barges,
⁴
escorted by small boats, were decorated with streamers, bunting, cloth of gold, and banners displaying the arms of the companies. Minstrels entertained the fleet with music and in front of the Mayor's barge was a "foyst", or wherry, bearing a great dragon which was was "continually moving and casting wildfire".
⁵
This dragon was surrounded by "terrible monsters" and "wild men" also casting fire and making "hideous noises". It sounds like quite a spectacle.

Then came the Mayor's barge and the bachelors' barge, the latter being full of musicians playing trumpets and other instruments. The bachelors' barge was hung with cloth of gold and silk, and bore two huge banners displaying the arms of the King and Queen, along with streamers and bells. It also bore the arms of the company of "Haberdashers" and "Merchant Adventurers." On its starboard gunwale were thirty-six "scochyons", or metal shields, showing the King and Queen's arms impaled (the King's colours on the right and the Queen's colours on the left). These shields were fastened to hangings of cloth of gold and silver. Another feature of this river procession was a wherry carrying a representation of Anne's falcon badge. This crowned, white falcon stood on a gold tree stump surrounded by white and red roses, and "virgins singing and playing sweetly".

The procession arrived at Greenwich Palace at 3pm to pick up the pregnant Queen and escort her to the Tower of London. Anne appeared, dressed in cloth of gold, and boarded her barge. Her ladies boarded a second barge, then the King's guard boarded the King's barge – the King was not part of the procession. These three barges were joined by the barges of bishops and of courtiers. Noblemen in attendance that day included the Duke of Suffolk, the Marquess of Dorset, the Earls of Arundel, Derby, Rutland, Worcester, Huntingdon, Sussex and Oxford, as well as Anne's father, Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire. By this time there were "some 120 large craft and 200 small ones"
⁶
on the Thames.

Letters and Papers
⁷
describes how gun salutes heralded the Queen as she made her way along the Thames and that "when she came over against Wapping mills the Tower 'lousyd their ordinaunce' most triumphantly, shooting four guns at once." Anne landed at Tower Wharf and was greeted by dignitaries lined up across the King's bridge to the Tower's private royal entrance, the Court Gate of the Byward Tower. Among the dignitaries were Sir Edward Walsingham, Lieutenant of the Tower, and Sir William Kingston, Constable of the Tower. When Anne entered the Tower, she was received by her husband, the King, "who laid his hands on both her sides, kissing her with great reverence and a joyful countenance", before leading her to her chamber. The King and Queen then supped together.

Notes and Sources

1 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 181.

2 Hall, Hall's Chronicle, 798–800.

3 The Maner of the Tryumphe of Caleys and Bulleyn and The Noble Tryumphaunt Coronacyon of Quene Anne, Wyfe Unto the Most Noble Kynge Henry VIII.

4 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 173.

5 Hall, Hall's Chronicle, 799.

6 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 173.

7 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 563.

10.
30 May 1533 – The Knights of the Bath

1. Figure 13
   - Engraving showing the Ceremony of The Knights of The Bath
   

1. Figure 14
   - Engraving showing the Ceremony of The Knights of The Bath
   

Part of coronation celebrations in medieval and Tudor times was the Order of the Bath ceremony, where favoured courtiers were created Knights of the Bath. In 1533, during Anne Boleyn's coronation celebrations, this event took place in the Tower of London on the night of 30th/31st May. Eighteen Knights of the Bath were created:
¹

• • Henry Grey, Marquess of Dorset
  
• • Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby
  
• • Henry Clifford, Lord Clifford
  
• • Henry Ratcliffe, Lord Fitzwalter
  
• • Francis Hastings, Lord Hastings
  
• • William Stanley, Lord Monteagle
  
• • Thomas Vaux, Lord Vaux
  
• • Henry Parker, son of Henry, Lord Morley
  
• • William Windsor, son of Lord Windsor
  
• • John Mordaunt, son of Lord Mordaunt
  
• • Francis Weston
  
• • Thomas Arundell
  
• • John Hudletson
  
• • Thomas Poynings
  
• • Henry Savile
  
• • George Fitzwilliam
  
• • John Tyndall
  
• • John (or Henry?) Germayne (Edward Hall says Thomas Germayne
  ²
  )
  

A record in Letters and Papers adds further names: "Mr. Corbet, Mr. Wyndham, John Barkely… Ric. Verney of Penley… Rob. Whitneye of Gloucestershire".
³

In his book on the Tower, George Younghusband describes this traditional coronation ceremony in relation to the coronation of Henry IV.
⁴
He writes that forty-six baths were arranged in one of the halls of the White Tower. Each bath had a canopy over it and was filled with warm water and draped with clean sheets. The forty-six knights bathed and then a procession, led by the King, entered the hall. The King the approached each Knight, still in his bath, and dipped his finger into the bath water and made the sign of the cross on the Knight's bare back. While he did this, the King said:

"You shall honor God above all things; you shall be steadfast in the faith of Christ; you shall love the King your Sovereign Lord, and him and his right defend to your power; you shall defend maidens, widows, and orphans in their rights, and shall suffer no extortion, as far as you may prevent it; and of as great honor be this Order unto you, as ever it was to any of your progenitors or others."

When he had done this to all forty-six knights, King Henry IV processed out of the hall. The knights then dried themselves off and were put to bed in "beds with rich hangings", which had been placed behind their baths. After they had rested for a while, they were summoned to rise by the curfew bell of the Bell Tower. Their esquires helped them dress as monks in long brown woollen cassocks, with cowls, then they processed into St John's Chapel as music played. Their new helmets, armour, swords and spurs had been arranged around the high altar, "and before these each Knight knelt in devotion, and watched his armour all night".

That is what happened at Henry IV's coronation in 1399 and it gives us a good idea of what might have taken place on the night of 30th May 1533. Of course, because he was monarch King Henry VIII, not Anne, would have dubbed the Knights.

Notes and Sources

1 Shaw, The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time to the Present Day of the Knights of All the Orders of Chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1:149–50.

2 Hall, Hall's Chronicle, 800.

3 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 562.

4 Younghusband, The Tower from Within, 107–108.

11.
31st May 1533 – Anne Boleyn's Coronation Procession

At 5pm on 31st May 1533, Anne Boleyn left the Tower of London to begin her procession through the streets of London to Westminster Hall. Chronicler Edward Hall
¹
describes how the streets were gravelled. and railed off so that people would not get hurt. Cornhill and Gracehurch Street were decorated with scarlet and crimson cloth, arras, tapestries and carpets, while Cheapside was decorated with "cloth of tissue, gold, velvet and many rich hangings".

The mayor was clothed in crimson velvet and escorted by footmen dressed in white and red damask, and the Queen's part of the procession was led by the servants of Jean de Dinteville, the French ambassador. These servants were dressed in blue velvet coats with sleeves of blue and yellow velvet. Their horses were "trapped with close trappers of blue sarcenet powdered with white crosses".
²
After them came "gentlemen, squires and knights", followed by the judges, and the Knights of the Bath, dressed in ermine trimmed violet gowns and hoods. Next were abbots, barons, bishops, earls, marquesses, the Lord Chancellor, the Archbishop of York, the Venetian ambassador, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the French ambassador, the Mayor of London, William Howard (acting as Deputy Earl Marshal for his brother, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk) and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, acting as Constable of England.