History UsefulNotes / AnneBoleyn

* SpotlightStealingSquad: Anne by far and away gets the most individual attention out of Henry VIII's wives in pop culture. Being the catalyst for England's split from the Roman Catholic church and the mother of [[UsefulNotes/ElizabethI an equally influential English monarch]] will do that.

* RavenHairIvorySkin: As the portrait shows, Anne was known for black hair and pale skin. Contemporary writers called her sallow, but none of them mentioned her hair colour. The 1576 ring locket portrait worn by Queen Elizabeth I has her with red hair.

Anne grew up as the (probably younger) daughter of the ambitious diplomat and courtier Thomas Boleyn, who when she was around 12[[note]]a letter from Anne to her father dated c. 1514 was almost certainly written when she was around thirteen[[/note]] secured for her a post as maid of honour to Archduchess UsefulNotes/MargaretOfAustria, regent of the Low Countries. From there, she traveled to France to attend Princess Mary of England as she married the French King. After his death and Mary's departure Anne became a member of the court of Queen Claude of France. Heavily influenced by French culture and fashion, she made a splash at the English court when she returned in 1521. Five years later she came to the notice of the very married (and very Catholic) King Henry VIII - and what happened after that has been hotly debated for centuries.

Whichever story one believes, the result is that Henry decided he would marry Anne and to that effect petitioned the Pope to annul his marriage to Katherine on the basis of consanguinity (she having previously been married to his brother). Ten years earlier he might have succeeded ... but with the troops of Charles V (Katherine's nephew) threatening Rome again and with [[UsefulNotes/TheProtestantReformation Martin Luther]] standing on the sidelines taunting the Church over its immorality, Pope Clement VII was hardly going to accede to Henry's wishes -- but nor could he reject them entirely, as Henry just happened to be one of his few political allies. So he stalled, and hemmed, and hawed, and probably prayed one of the parties would just die before he was forced to make a decision; until Henry, tired of waiting, took matters into his own hands and broke with Rome, had his marriage to Katherine annulled in England, and married Anne in either November 1532 or January 1533.

As Queen, Anne may have thought she had some amount of protection, but in truth, she was far more vulnerable than Katherine had ever been. The general population seems to have disliked her and blamed her for the treatment of the former/'true' queen and Henry's break with Rome; she had no powerful foreign relatives willing to declare war if she was deposed or worse; her abrasive, brittle temperament alienated many members of the court not in her clique (including Henry's close friends Charles Brandon and Francis Bryan, and her own uncle the Duke of Norfolk) and, when Henry started getting up to his old tricks and taking mistresses, Anne didn't look the other way as Katherine had done but made her displeasure very evident, which only served to turn Henry even further against her. Katherine's death in January 1536 made her even more vulnerable, as the Catholic world now saw Henry as unmarried; if only the 'concubine', as she was known, could be gotten rid of, Henry could contract a legal marriage and be returned to the fold.

Matters came to a head in the spring of 1536. Nobody now knows who was behind the decision to get rid of Anne, but by the end of April the court was as tense as a bowstring. Loose words by Anne - asking if courtier Henry Norris was waiting for the King to die so he could marry her - set the plot in motion. Two days later Anne was arrested along with five men, including Norris and Anne's own brother George, and charged with adultery, incest, and treason. Many writers have had Anne charged with witchcraft as well, but this is incorrect; although Henry did say after her arrest that he thought Anne had bewitched him, the lawyers who drew up the warrants knew that such a charge would never fly with the hard-headed Kentish jurors who would first hear the case. The whole 'charged as a witch' belief came later with 19th century historians.

As Queen, Anne may have thought she had some amount of protection, but in truth, she was far more vulnerable than Katherine had ever been; the general population seems to have disliked her, she had no powerful foreign relatives willing to declare war if she was deposed or worse, her abrasive, brittle temperament alienated many members of the court not in her clique (including Henry's close friends Charles Brandon and Francis Bryan) and, when Henry started getting up to his old tricks and taking mistresses, Anne didn't look the other way as Katherine had done but made her displeasure very evident, which only served to turn Henry even further against her. Katherine's death in January 1536 made her even more vulnerable, as the Catholic world now saw Henry as unmarried; if only the 'concubine', as she was known, could be gotten rid of, Henry could contract a legal marriage and be returned to the fold.

Matters came to a head in the spring of 1536. Nobody now knows who was behind the decision to get rid of Anne, but by the end of April the court was as tense as a bowstring. Loose words by Anne - asking if courtier Henry Norris was waiting for the King to die so he could marry her - set the plot in motion. Two days later Anne was arrested along with five men, including Norris and Anne's own brother George, and charged with adultery, incest, and treason. Many writers have had Anne charged with witchcraft as well, but this is incorrect; although Henry did say after her arrest that he thought Anne had bewitched him, the lawyers who drew up the warrants knew that such a charge would never fly with the hard-headed Kentish jurors who would first hear the case.

As Queen, Anne may have thought she had some amount of protection, but in truth, she was far more vulnerable than Katherine had ever been; the general population seems to have disliked her, she had no powerful foreign relatives willing to declare war if she was deposed or worse, and her abrasive, brittle temperament alienated many members of the court not in her clique, including Henry's close friends Charles Brandon and Francis Bryan. Katherine's death in January 1536 made her even more vulnerable, as the Catholic world now saw Henry as unmarried; if only the 'concubine', as she was known, could be gotten rid of, Henry could contract a legal marriage and be returned to the fold.

Anne Boleyn (c. 1501[[note]]the longtime-held assumption that she was born in 1507 has been fairly conclusively disproven[[/note]] – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of King UsefulNotes/HenryVIII, and was mother of UsefulNotes/ElizabethI. There are few people in history who were and are as polarizing as Anne Boleyn. During her lifetime she was both much maligned and much admired. To Protestants she was the equivalent of a Saint, while Catholics detested her. Nowadays lines are drawn again, although now her supporters and detractors look more at her personality and deeds as Queen - or as a fictionalized character.

* In the film version of ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'', a portrait of Anne Boleyn is briefly seen alongside the Hogwarts Grand Staircase, suggesting that she may be a real witch in the Potterverse.

* HistoricalBeautyUpdate: Anne is often depicted as an alluring beauty, despite the fact that she reportedly wasn't anything special in real life. She was reportedly very much the opposite of the standards of beauty at the time - when it was fashionable to be fair, she was sallow. Likewise she had small breasts when voluptuous figures were in. In fact Henry was largely attracted to her for her personality and intellect.
** It should however be noted that only one contemporary image of Anne has survived; a defaced prototype medallion that only shows the rough outlines of her face. The portrait at the top of this page was painted sixty years after her death by an artist who'd never seen her. We don't really know what she looked like. There are even those who think she had red hair. Contemporary accounts seem to agree on one thing; in looks, she was about average.

Anne Boleyn (c. 1501[[note]]the longtime myth that she was born in 1507 has been fairly conclusively disproven[[/note]] – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of King UsefulNotes/HenryVIII, and was mother of UsefulNotes/ElizabethI. There are few people in history who were and are as polarizing as Anne Boleyn. During her lifetime she was both much maligned and much admired. To Protestants she was the equivalent of a Saint, while Catholics detested her. Nowadays lines are drawn again, although now her supporters and detractors look more at her personality and deeds as Queen - or as a fictionalized character.

* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Anne was known for being rather abrasive and short-tempered and during her first pregnancy, was prone to throwing things at her servants. If the narrative isn't sympathetic, these traits get played up. That said, there's a reason that most well-known portrayals have at least some of these traits: even sympathetic historical accounts admit that she was a prototype for TheMeanBrit.

Whichever story one believes, the result is that Henry decided he would marry Anne and to that effect petitioned the Pope to annul his marriage to Katherine on the basis of consanguinity. Ten years earlier he might have succeeded but with the troops of Charles V (Katherine's nephew) threatening Rome again and with Luther standing on the sidelines taunting the Church over its immorality Pope Clement was hardly going to accede to Henry's wishes - or reject them entirely, as Henry was also one of the Pope's only political allies. So he stalled, and hemmed, and hawed, and probably prayed one of the parties would just die before he was forced to make a decision; Henry, tired of waiting, finally broke with Rome, had his marriage to Katherine annulled in England, and married Anne in either November 1532 or January 1533.

Was Henry influenced by Anne's reformist ideas? It's a good question. The Whigs, desperate to discover a whiff of Protestantism in the stridently ultra-Catholic if non-papal Henry, believed she managed to turn his heart toward the new faith, but the evidence we have suggests that Henry only cherry-picked what he could use from reformist thought to get what he wanted - which was all Henry ever really cared about, stories of heirs and England's future notwithstanding.

Henry's expectations that the world would go his way at long last were dashed when instead of the hoped-for son Anne gave birth to a 'worthless' daughter (the future UsefulNotes/ElizabethI). This must naturally have been a blow to the King, but what eventually led to him falling out of love with Anne is debatable; certainly the numerous miscarriages Anne suffered after Elizabeth's birth had something to do with it, but a factor not taken into consideration by Whig historians is that Anne basically organized the early Church in England on her own, taking much of the work off Henry's shoulders and gaining a great deal of political power in the process. Henry, a lazy man who loathed governing, was prone to lifting men up to do the work and then banishing or killing them when that work led them to become too powerful. This trait of his may have influenced Anne Boleyn's fate as much as it did Wolsey's, More's, Cromwell's, and even Gardiner's.

Matters came to a head in the spring of 1536. Nobody now knows who was behind the decision to get rid of Anne, but by the end of April the court was as tense as a bowstring. Loose words by Anne - asking if courtier Henry Norris was waiting for the King to die so he could marry her - set the plot in motion. Two days later Anne was arrested along with five men, including Norris and Anne's own brother George, and charged with adultery, incest, and treason. (Many writers have had Anne charged with witchcraft, but this is incorrect; although Henry did say after her arrest that he thought Anne had bewitched him, the lawyers who drew up the warrants knew that such a charge would not fly with the hard-headed Kentish jurors who would first hear the case.)

Anne defended herself well in court, as well she should have; modern scholarship has found that most of the charges of adultery were logistically impossible, Anne not even being in the same county as her supposed paramours on most of the dates given in the warrants. Nevertheless she and her codefendants were still convicted and sentenced to death because that's what Henry wanted. The men were beheaded on Tower Hill on May 17, but Henry paid the exceptionally talented Executioner of Calais to travel to London and behead Anne two days later on Tower Green with a sword - a seeming gesture of mercy, until you realize that for him to reach England on time Henry must have sent for him before the trial. That Henry, [[SarcasmMode always the gentleman]].

* NiceHat: Over the centuries Anne became associated with the French hood (as shown in the portrait above), while Katherine of Aragon became associated with the gable hood. In truth both women wore both hoods; the most famous portrait of Katherine as a young widow has her wearing an early French hood, and Anne wore a gable hood to her execution.

* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Anne was known for being rather abrasive and short-tempered and during her first pregnancy, was prone to throwing things at her servants. If the narrative isn't sympathetic, these traits get played up. That said, there's a reason that most well-known portrayals have at last some of these traits: even sympathetic historical accounts admit that she was a prototype for TheMeanBrit.

Given her popularity with writers who fancy themselves historians, there are probably more myths and urban legends surrounding Anne Boleyn and her downfall than about any other figure in English history. No, she did not have six fingers on one hand or a mole on her chest or, as the Book of Lists invented, a third breast - since we don't have contemporary images, it's not easy to reconstruct what she looked like, but contemporary accounts seem to attest that she was of average appearance. No, she was not accused or convicted of witchcraft. No, her sister-in-law Lady Rochford did not testify against her husband (it was Lady Worcester). No, she did not commit adultery. No, there is no evidence her sister Mary Boleyn had children by Henry VIII during the time that she was his mistress, and quite a bit of evidence against it. And on, and on, and on. Suffice to say that the reader who believes pop "historians" like Alison Weir might be better off reading something by a real, trained historian.

Given her popularity with writers who fancy themselves historians, there are probably more myths and urban legends surrounding Anne Boleyn and her downfall than about any other figure in English history. No, she did not have six fingers on one hand or a mole on her chest or, as the Book of Lists invented, a third breast - since we don't have contemporary images, it's not easy to reconstruct what she looked like, but contemporary accounts seem to attest that she was of average appearance. No, she was not accused or convicted of witchcraft. No, her sister-in-law Lady Rochford did not testify against her husband (it was Lady Worcester). No, she did not commit adultery. No, there is no evidence Mary Boleyn was the mother of Henry VIII's children, and quite a bit of evidence against it. And on, and on, and on. Suffice to say that the reader who believes pop "historians" like Alison Weir might be better off reading something by a real, trained historian.

* Appears in Creator/PhilippaGregory's novel ''Literature/TheOtherBoleynGirl'' and TheFilmOfTheBook [[Film/TheOtherBoleynGirl of the same name]]. Here Anne is portrayed as a cruel, irreligious hypocrite and a coward. She is played in the film by Creator/NataliePortman; although still retains many of her flaws from the book her nastier traits are toned down in the film and she comes off more sympathetically. Notably in this version, the charges of adultery are based off a misunderstanding rather than being completely trumped up.[[note]]Anne is about to force her brother to sleep with her to conceive a baby after Henry's failures to have a son with her, since if they keep it in the family there's no risk of a ChocolateBaby with features that clearly come from someone who's neither Henry nor Anne, but breaks it off at the last minute. His jealous wife witnesses the first part and tells the king. There is no historical basis for this; despite the popular belief, there is actually no evidence that George's wife testified against her husband at the trial.[[/note]]

As Queen Anne may have thought she had some amount of protection but in truth she was far more vulnerable than Katherine had ever been; the general population seems to have disliked her, she had no powerful foreign relatives willing to declare war if she was deposed or worse, and her abrasive, brittle temperament alienated many members of the court not in her clique, including Henry's close friends Charles Brandon and Francis Bryan. Katherine's death in January 1536 made her even more vulnerable, as the Catholic world now saw Henry as unmarried; if only the 'concubine', as she was known, could be gotten rid of, Henry could contract a legal marriage and be returned to the fold.

Anne defended herself well in court, as well she should have; modern scholarship has found that most of the charges of adultery were logistically impossible, Anne not even being in the same county as her supposed paramours on most of the dates given in the warrants. Nevertheless she and her codefendants were still convicted and sentenced to death because that's what Henry wanted. The men were beheaded on Tower Hill on May 17, but Henry paid the exceptionally talented Executioner of Calais to travel to London and behead Anne two days later on Tower Green with a sword - a seeming gesture of mercy, until you realize that for him to reach England on time Henry must have sent for him before the trial. That Henry, always the gentleman.

** She first appeared in Case #11, where the victim was Catherine of Aragon, who had been murdered in 1515, eighteen years before her actual death, thanks to disturbances in time. She at first claimed mourning over Catherine’s death, insisting that the late Queen was like a mother to her. She was later confronted about the victim’s claims of Anne being a harlot. Anne revealed that Catherine suspected her of trying to seduce Henry VIII, which at the time was not true, and expressed fury of being accused of adultery. She was later proved innocent.

** Her final appearance was at King Henry VIII’s wedding to Lady Fiore de Medici, who was actually a childhood friend of Anne’s. However, after the player found a letter from Anne calling Fiore SCUM, Anne revealed that Lady Fiore had not invited her to her wedding, which infuriated Anne, making her believe Fiore thought herself to be above Anne now that she was marrying a King. Anne forced her way into the wedding to give herself a chance to shine and embarrass Fiore for her snub. Once again, Anne was proven innocent of the murder. She then explains that during the investigation, she and Henry got close and sparks flew between them, and he proposed to her. The wedding went on, with Anne taking the place as Henry’s bride.
* In ''Theatre/{{Six}}'' (a West End musical reimagining the wives of Henry VIII as pop stars), she was portrayed by Millie O'Connell.

As Queen Anne may have thought she had some amount of protection but in truth she was far more vulnerable than Katherine had ever been; she had no powerful foreign relatives willing to declare war if she was deposed, and her abrasive, brittle temperament alienated many members of the court not in her clique, including Henry's close friends Charles Brandon and Francis Bryan. Katherine's death in January 1536 made her even more vulnerable, as the Catholic world now saw Henry as unmarried; if only the 'concubine', as she was known, could be gotten rid of, Henry could contract a legal marriage and be returned to the fold.

* Appears in Philippa Gregory's novel ''Literature/TheOtherBoleynGirl'' and TheFilmOfTheBook [[Film/TheOtherBoleynGirl of the same name]]. Here Anne is portrayed as a cruel, irreligious hypocrite and a coward. She is played in the film by Creator/NataliePortman; although still retains many of her flaws from the book her nastier traits are toned down in the film and she comes off more sympathetically. Notably in this version, the charges of adultery are based off a misunderstanding rather than being completely trumped up.[[note]]Anne is about to force her brother to sleep with her to conceive a baby after Henry's failures to have a son with her, since if they keep it in the family there's no risk of a ChocolateBaby with features that clearly come from someone who's neither Henry nor Anne, but breaks it off at the last minute. His jealous wife witnesses the first part and tells the king. There is no historical basis for this; despite the popular belief, there is actually no evidence that George's wife testified against her husband at the trial.[[/note]]

* Genevieve Bujold in ''Film/AnneOfTheThousandDays''.

* Helena Bonham Carter in ''Series/HenryVIII''.

* Charlotte Rampling in ''Henry [=VIII=] and his Six Wives''.

* Creator/NatalieDormer in ''Series/TheTudors''.

* Appears in Philippa Gregory's novel ''Literature/TheOtherBoleynGirl'' and TheFilmOfTheBook [[Film/TheOtherBoleynGirl of the same name]]. Here Anne is portrayed as a cruel, irreligious hypocrite and a coward. She is played in the film by Creator/NataliePortman. Notably in this version, the charges of adultery are based off a misunderstanding rather than being completely trumped up.[[note]]Anne is about to force her brother to sleep with her to conceive a baby after Henry's failures to have a son with her, since if they keep it in the family there's no risk of a ChocolateBaby with features that clearly come from someone who's neither Henry nor Anne, but breaks it off at the last minute. His jealous wife witnesses the first part and tells the king. There is no historical basis for this; despite the popular belief, there is actually no evidence that George's wife testified against her husband at the trial.[[/note]]

* Anne is mostly an offscreen character in Carolyn Meyer's ''Mary, Bloody Mary'' - a HistoricalFiction on Mary Tudor's childhood. Anne is only seen from a distance whenever Mary is at court, but Mary's narrative naturally [[WickedStepmother doesn't describe her favourably]]. Most information about her comes from Mary's spies at court, and she only properly appears for the scene of Elizabeth's birth.

* ''Series/ChillingAdventuresofSabrina'' references Anne in season one, when Sabrina and her aunts invoke the names of various Spellman witches in order to exorcise a demon. This implies that Anne was not only a witch, but a distant relative of Sabrina's.

* Appears in Philippa Gregory's novel ''Literature/TheOtherBoleynGirl'' and TheFilmOfTheBook [[Film/TheOtherBoleynGirl of the same name]]. Here Anne is portrayed as a cruel, irreligious hypocrite and a coward. She is played in the film by Creator/NataliePortman. Notably in this version, the charges of adultery are based off a misunderstanding rather than being completely trumped up.[[note]]Anne is about to force her brother to sleep with her to conceive a baby after Henry's failures to have a son with her, since if they keep it in the family there's no risk of a ChocolateBaby, but breaks it off at the last minute. His jealous wife witnesses the first part and tells the king. There is no historical basis for this; despite the popular belief, there is actually no evidence that George's wife testified against her husband at the trial.[[/note]]

* Appears in Philippa Gregory's novel ''Literature/TheOtherBoleynGirl'' and TheFilmOfTheBook [[Film/TheOtherBoleynGirl of the same name]]. Here Anne is portrayed as a cruel, irreligious hypocrite and a coward. She is played in the film by Creator/NataliePortman. Notably in this version, the charges of adultery are based off a misunderstanding rather than being completely trumped up.[[note]]Anne is about to force her brother to sleep with her to conceive a baby but breaks it off at the last minute. His jealous wife witnesses the first part and tells the king. There is no historical basis for this; despite the popular belief, there is actually no evidence that George's wife testified against her husband at the trial.[[/note]]

* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Anne was known for being rather abrasive and short-tempered and during her first pregnancy, was prone to throwing things at her servants. If the narrative isn't sympathetic, these traits get played up. That said, there's a reason that most well-known portrayals have at last some of these traits: Even sympathetic historical accounts admit that she was a prototype for TheMeanBrit.