The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn (28 page)
Read The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn Online
Authors: Eric Ives
On occasion, even Anne’s father got the rough edge of her tongue for his timidity - the new earl, after all, now had much more to lose - while the duke of Norfolk found his position increasingly unenviable.
99
More and more he was called upon to present a radical Boleyn line he disliked, and (as his wife gleefully told Katherine) he had been heard to mutter that Anne would be the ruin of the Howards.
100
Stephen Gardiner, on the other hand, was careful to give her no opening to test her growing suspicion of him, and she met her match in Henry Guildford, controller of the household.
101
Although he signed the petition to the pope in June 1530, he had spoken out in council in favour of Katherine and, after accompanying an abortive delegation in May 1531 to persuade the queen to ‘be sensible’, had been heard to wish that all the lawyers and theologians arguing for the king could be put in a cart and shipped to Rome, there to be exposed for the charlatans they were. Anne was furious and warned Guildford that as soon as she was queen she would have him out. In that case, Sir Henry retorted, he would save her the trouble, and marched off to the king to resign then and there. Henry tried to smooth his old friend down with excuses about ‘woman’s talk’, and Guildford did eventually take back the white stave of office, but he registered his displeasure by retiring to his home in Kent.
99
More and more he was called upon to present a radical Boleyn line he disliked, and (as his wife gleefully told Katherine) he had been heard to mutter that Anne would be the ruin of the Howards.
100
Stephen Gardiner, on the other hand, was careful to give her no opening to test her growing suspicion of him, and she met her match in Henry Guildford, controller of the household.
101
Although he signed the petition to the pope in June 1530, he had spoken out in council in favour of Katherine and, after accompanying an abortive delegation in May 1531 to persuade the queen to ‘be sensible’, had been heard to wish that all the lawyers and theologians arguing for the king could be put in a cart and shipped to Rome, there to be exposed for the charlatans they were. Anne was furious and warned Guildford that as soon as she was queen she would have him out. In that case, Sir Henry retorted, he would save her the trouble, and marched off to the king to resign then and there. Henry tried to smooth his old friend down with excuses about ‘woman’s talk’, and Guildford did eventually take back the white stave of office, but he registered his displeasure by retiring to his home in Kent.
The opposition also began to argue back. Bishop Fisher and others had already written effective pieces in defence of Katherine, and in the spring of 1531 court preachers began to speak openly against Henry’s claims.
102
At the same time, the handlers of the Canterbury mystic, Elizabeth Barton, ‘the Nun of Kent’, were busy broadcasting her anti-Boleyn ‘prophecies’.
103
Reginald Pole, the king’s cousin and a man with a fair prospect of ending up as cardinal-archbishop of Canterbury, abandoned his lukewarm assistance to the divorce suit and wrote a critique of the king’s position so effective as to make Cranmer afraid that it would get into general circulation.
104
Particularly powerful were the pragmatic dangers Pole adduced: a disputed succession reviving the disasters of Lancaster and York, and economic damage should Charles V decide to block the two vital trade routes to Flanders and Spain. The points were shrewdly made and struck home.
105
Increasingly it began to look as though Henry might face a choice between a new wife and losing, or at least risking, his very crown.
102
At the same time, the handlers of the Canterbury mystic, Elizabeth Barton, ‘the Nun of Kent’, were busy broadcasting her anti-Boleyn ‘prophecies’.
103
Reginald Pole, the king’s cousin and a man with a fair prospect of ending up as cardinal-archbishop of Canterbury, abandoned his lukewarm assistance to the divorce suit and wrote a critique of the king’s position so effective as to make Cranmer afraid that it would get into general circulation.
104
Particularly powerful were the pragmatic dangers Pole adduced: a disputed succession reviving the disasters of Lancaster and York, and economic damage should Charles V decide to block the two vital trade routes to Flanders and Spain. The points were shrewdly made and struck home.
105
Increasingly it began to look as though Henry might face a choice between a new wife and losing, or at least risking, his very crown.
At this time Anne must often have felt that her only firm allies were her brother, Thomas Cranmer and Edward Fox, none of whom had political weight or belonged to the council. She had influence, as in ambassadorial appointments or the readiness of Anthony Browne of the privy chamber to surrender to the Boleyns his Crown office in Rayleigh, Essex.
106
Nevertheless, no leading politician was ready to commit himself to exploiting the radical victory over the Church. Anne had helped Henry conceptualize his instinctive feelings about kingship; the researchers she patronized had shown him that he had rights over the Church, and she had stood behind the king as he had made his claim. Yet what good was this without, if not the support, at least the acquiescence of the people who mattered? Or were Katherine’s supporters right: unilateral action was impossible? Francis Bryan no longer wrote hopefully to Anne or indeed mentioned her in the despatches he sent to Henry from the French court.
107
She was even deprived of Fox, whom Chapuys called ‘a sophisticated negotiator and a fire-brand on the divorce issue’. He was abroad from May 1531 until the end of the year, when he and Bryan came back together.
108
106
Nevertheless, no leading politician was ready to commit himself to exploiting the radical victory over the Church. Anne had helped Henry conceptualize his instinctive feelings about kingship; the researchers she patronized had shown him that he had rights over the Church, and she had stood behind the king as he had made his claim. Yet what good was this without, if not the support, at least the acquiescence of the people who mattered? Or were Katherine’s supporters right: unilateral action was impossible? Francis Bryan no longer wrote hopefully to Anne or indeed mentioned her in the despatches he sent to Henry from the French court.
107
She was even deprived of Fox, whom Chapuys called ‘a sophisticated negotiator and a fire-brand on the divorce issue’. He was abroad from May 1531 until the end of the year, when he and Bryan came back together.
108
One success alone gave Anne hope as midsummer came and went. Henry split with Katherine. The curious
ménage à trois
inaugurated at the end of 1528 had become more and more a matter of comment, and most European observers drew the obvious conclusion that Anne was the king’s mistress. If, as seems certain, this was not the case, it was not because they maintained a decorous separation: quite the contrary. Anne’s mother might usually be somewhere about, but the couple were always together and Henry’s privy purse expenses show how intertwined their lives were.
109
Anne would lay out money if Henry had no ready cash; far more often it was Henry who paid. When spring approached in 1530 he had set her up for travelling with him, with three saddles and a large quantity of tack, splendidly decorated in black and gold, and a set of harnesses for the mules which carried her litter.
110
It was perhaps in celebration of this present that Henry made an exhibition of himself on a journey from Windsor, by taking Anne up on his horse to ride pillion - and two observers who were ill-advised enough to comment found themselves in trouble.
111
Anne was also active in field sports, Henry’s great passion. The same month in which she received the harness for her mules, she was supplied with a full set of archery equipment - bows, broad-head arrows, bracer, shooting glove - with a further four bows to follow.
112
On one autumn hunt, one of her greyhounds got out of control and with another, belonging to Urian Brereton of the privy chamber (William’s brother), savaged a wretched cow.
113
ménage à trois
inaugurated at the end of 1528 had become more and more a matter of comment, and most European observers drew the obvious conclusion that Anne was the king’s mistress. If, as seems certain, this was not the case, it was not because they maintained a decorous separation: quite the contrary. Anne’s mother might usually be somewhere about, but the couple were always together and Henry’s privy purse expenses show how intertwined their lives were.
109
Anne would lay out money if Henry had no ready cash; far more often it was Henry who paid. When spring approached in 1530 he had set her up for travelling with him, with three saddles and a large quantity of tack, splendidly decorated in black and gold, and a set of harnesses for the mules which carried her litter.
110
It was perhaps in celebration of this present that Henry made an exhibition of himself on a journey from Windsor, by taking Anne up on his horse to ride pillion - and two observers who were ill-advised enough to comment found themselves in trouble.
111
Anne was also active in field sports, Henry’s great passion. The same month in which she received the harness for her mules, she was supplied with a full set of archery equipment - bows, broad-head arrows, bracer, shooting glove - with a further four bows to follow.
112
On one autumn hunt, one of her greyhounds got out of control and with another, belonging to Urian Brereton of the privy chamber (William’s brother), savaged a wretched cow.
113
This is not to say - and here is the key to the relationship between Henry and Anne - that all was pastoral bliss, nymphs and shepherds, hearts and flowers. Anne was where she was because of her own character and merits, a self-made woman who saw no percentage in bloodless simpering. Submissiveness had not won the king; Anne’s attraction was challenge. When a poison-pen drawing came into her hands, showing a male figure labelled ‘H’, and two female figures ‘K’ and ‘A’, and with ‘A’ having no head, she called to Anne Gainsford: ‘Come hither Nan, see here a book of prophecy; this he saith is the king, this the queen, and this is myself with my head off.’ The girl said sensibly, ‘If I thought it true, though he were an emperor, I would not myself marry him with that condition.’ Anne responded: ‘Yes, Nan, I think the book a bauble, yet for the hope I have that the realm may be happy by my issue, I am resolved to have him whatsoever might become of me.’ The patriotic desire for pregnancy has the ring of an Elizabethan accretion, but not the resolution.
114
Henry found himself facing a person prepared to stand up to him. When, in the summer of 1530, he dared to remind Anne how much she owed him and how many enemies she had made him, her reply was reported as: ‘That matters not, for it is foretold in ancient prophecies that at this time a queen shall be burnt. [Were they, by chance, discussing the poison-pen drawing?] But even if I were to suffer a thousand deaths, my love for you will not abate one jot.’
115
114
Henry found himself facing a person prepared to stand up to him. When, in the summer of 1530, he dared to remind Anne how much she owed him and how many enemies she had made him, her reply was reported as: ‘That matters not, for it is foretold in ancient prophecies that at this time a queen shall be burnt. [Were they, by chance, discussing the poison-pen drawing?] But even if I were to suffer a thousand deaths, my love for you will not abate one jot.’
115
Henry, we must suppose, generally found this exciting - he certainly became more and more committed. But he could grizzle and he could grumble. At the start of 1531 Paris and Rome were laughing at the story that, having quarrelled with Anne, Henry had been reduced to begging her relations ‘with tears in his eyes’ to mediate between them.
116
In April, when the two fell out over Princess Mary, Henry complained to Norfolk about her arrogance and her domineering attitude, saying plaintively that she was not like Katherine, who had never in her life spoken harshly to him.
117
From Katherine’s point of view it might have been better if she had. Observers noted, however, that once Henry had made it up with Anne, as ‘happens generally in such cases, their love will be greater than before’.
118
116
In April, when the two fell out over Princess Mary, Henry complained to Norfolk about her arrogance and her domineering attitude, saying plaintively that she was not like Katherine, who had never in her life spoken harshly to him.
117
From Katherine’s point of view it might have been better if she had. Observers noted, however, that once Henry had made it up with Anne, as ‘happens generally in such cases, their love will be greater than before’.
118
Through all this, Katherine had kept her hollow status, presided at court and, remarkably, continued the custom she and Henry had followed all their married life of communicating, if not in person at least by messages, every three days. Henry sometimes made half-hearted gestures towards a greater separation. After a formal state dinner on 3 May, Holy Rood Day, had turned out very well, Katherine ventured the next morning to suggest that Mary should pay them both a visit.
119
Henry, however, once more mindful of Anne, replied brutally that Katherine could go and visit her if she wanted to, and stay there too, whereupon the queen replied that neither for her daughter nor anyone in the world would she dream of leaving him; her proper place was at his side.
120
Anne Boleyn’s one refuge was Wolsey’s former palace of York Place, soon to be known as Whitehall. It had no separate ‘queen’s side’ for Katherine and her suite to occupy, but Anne and her mother could lodge in the chamber under the cardinal’s library, and her father and brother also had their own rooms elsewhere.
121
It was, thus, very much to her taste when Henry began the extensions at York Place in the spring of 1531, necessitating frequent visits to supervise the building which went on round the clock.
122
119
Henry, however, once more mindful of Anne, replied brutally that Katherine could go and visit her if she wanted to, and stay there too, whereupon the queen replied that neither for her daughter nor anyone in the world would she dream of leaving him; her proper place was at his side.
120
Anne Boleyn’s one refuge was Wolsey’s former palace of York Place, soon to be known as Whitehall. It had no separate ‘queen’s side’ for Katherine and her suite to occupy, but Anne and her mother could lodge in the chamber under the cardinal’s library, and her father and brother also had their own rooms elsewhere.
121
It was, thus, very much to her taste when Henry began the extensions at York Place in the spring of 1531, necessitating frequent visits to supervise the building which went on round the clock.
122
The one disappointment was that there were none of Anne’s leopard badges in the window-glass and on the striking new gate (later misnamed ‘the Holbein Gate’), nor ‘HA’ monograms. But there were no Aragonese pomegranates either, and with Anne and Henry having a common project and a shared refuge in York Place, the queen’s situation deteriorated. At the end of May the king was threatened with the supreme insult of having to appear before the pope at Rome; there could, Clement informed him, be no more delay. After intense discussion it was decided to make one last appeal to Katherine, and she was visited at Greenwich on the evening of the 31st by the most powerful delegation possible - some thirty nobles, courtiers and clerics.
123
For the sake of the country, they told her, she must save Henry from this indignity and consent to having the case settled in England. Katherine was impervious and they went away empty-handed. A few days later Henry began an almost continuous series of hunting trips, circulating restlessly between Hampton Court and Windsor and local hunting boxes, where he and Anne were accompanied only by Nicholas Carewe and two other attendants.
124
Early in July, the court and both the women in the king’s life moved to Windsor for the start of the summer progress, but Henry’s irresolution continued. Then on Friday, 14 July, after he had dealt with an important despatch to Bryan and Fox, he left with Anne for Chertsey Abbey and further hunting, saying no goodbye to Katherine but sending her a message to stay where she was.
125
It was only a few weeks past their twenty-second wedding anniversary, and this treatment hurt the queen as nothing before.
126
Her next regular message to Henry, authenticated by the countersign they had used for so long, made this hurt obvious, and the king exploded in anger. Katherine, he returned, had brought the indignity of a personal citation to Rome on him, the king of England; she had ignored the pleas of the wisest and most noble of his counsellors; he wanted no more messages. Katherine answered nevertheless, but her self-righteous tone, however justified, might have been calculated to make matters worse. Henry sulked for four days and then sent a bitter and formal reply, advising her to attend to her own business.
127
123
For the sake of the country, they told her, she must save Henry from this indignity and consent to having the case settled in England. Katherine was impervious and they went away empty-handed. A few days later Henry began an almost continuous series of hunting trips, circulating restlessly between Hampton Court and Windsor and local hunting boxes, where he and Anne were accompanied only by Nicholas Carewe and two other attendants.
124
Early in July, the court and both the women in the king’s life moved to Windsor for the start of the summer progress, but Henry’s irresolution continued. Then on Friday, 14 July, after he had dealt with an important despatch to Bryan and Fox, he left with Anne for Chertsey Abbey and further hunting, saying no goodbye to Katherine but sending her a message to stay where she was.
125
It was only a few weeks past their twenty-second wedding anniversary, and this treatment hurt the queen as nothing before.
126
Her next regular message to Henry, authenticated by the countersign they had used for so long, made this hurt obvious, and the king exploded in anger. Katherine, he returned, had brought the indignity of a personal citation to Rome on him, the king of England; she had ignored the pleas of the wisest and most noble of his counsellors; he wanted no more messages. Katherine answered nevertheless, but her self-righteous tone, however justified, might have been calculated to make matters worse. Henry sulked for four days and then sent a bitter and formal reply, advising her to attend to her own business.
127
Predictably, Eustace Chapuys attributed even this to the malevolence of Anne Boleyn, and we may imagine that Anne had time and again urged Henry to pluck up his courage, leave Katherine and join her. Yet this was not what he had done; egotistically he had chosen to suit himself. Katherine’s exclusion certainly left Anne supreme at court and so with an enormous advantage in the battle to control the king’s mind. But it did not mean that Henry had taken a final decision. He had whipped himself into a sense of grievance against a woman who had rubbed raw his kingly pride, and what he had done in irritation he could undo as easily; as late as November 1531, Henry and Katherine were attending state occasions together, though apparently they did not meet.
128
Anne’s own marriage was no nearer - indeed, as the months went by the obstacles must have seemed ever more formidable. The Venetian, Mario Savorgnano, visiting England soon after the separation, had no doubt about the odds:
128
Anne’s own marriage was no nearer - indeed, as the months went by the obstacles must have seemed ever more formidable. The Venetian, Mario Savorgnano, visiting England soon after the separation, had no doubt about the odds:
There is now living with him a young woman of noble birth, though many say of bad character, whose will is law to him, and he is expected to marry her, should the divorce take place, which it is supposed will not be effected, as the peers of the realm, both spiritual and temporal, and the people are opposed to it.
129
He noted too, that though the king’s pressure had somewhat reduced visitors to her court, Katherine still had thirty maids of honour and a household of 200.
10
THE TURNING-POINT, 1532 — 1533
C
HRISTMAS 1531 was the most miserable anyone at court could remember. Henry VIII made a great show, but ‘there was no mirth because the queen and the ladies were absent.’
1
Anne Boleyn herself was in no position to replace Katherine. She might occupy the consort’s lodgings at Greenwich and have a flock of attendants, but the increasing polarization of opinion made her more and more isolated.
2
She continued to extend her influence and her word began to command attention as far away as Calais.
3
Yet the continuation of that influence was wholly precarious ; this, indeed, may explain her reported anxiety to see Princess Mary lodged as many miles away as possible.
4
At Rome the divorce suit was going from bad to worse; in December Henry had been reduced to bribing cardinals to achieve a six-month hold-up.
5
That in turn reflected the situation in the king’s council, where the majority continued to resist the radical alternative, but could only suggest further appeals to Katherine’s good nature.
6
HRISTMAS 1531 was the most miserable anyone at court could remember. Henry VIII made a great show, but ‘there was no mirth because the queen and the ladies were absent.’
1
Anne Boleyn herself was in no position to replace Katherine. She might occupy the consort’s lodgings at Greenwich and have a flock of attendants, but the increasing polarization of opinion made her more and more isolated.
2
She continued to extend her influence and her word began to command attention as far away as Calais.
3
Yet the continuation of that influence was wholly precarious ; this, indeed, may explain her reported anxiety to see Princess Mary lodged as many miles away as possible.
4
At Rome the divorce suit was going from bad to worse; in December Henry had been reduced to bribing cardinals to achieve a six-month hold-up.
5
That in turn reflected the situation in the king’s council, where the majority continued to resist the radical alternative, but could only suggest further appeals to Katherine’s good nature.
6
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