Anne Boleyn Tudor courtship Get set up As forced marriage is forbidden by the church, marriages can’t strictly be ‘arranged’, but couples are often matched up by their parents to ensure a suitor of acceptable social standing Love matches occur, but are only really acceptable if the wealth of both is suitable Shower her with gifts Once a suitable lady has been chosen, a Tudor gentleman will begin to visit her frequently and bestow her with an array of valuable gifts in hope of winning her over Ribbons, girdles and gloves can all be used to capture a lady’s heart Show your commitment Known as betrothal or handfasting, when the couple have agreed to marry they will go through a period similar to a modern-day engagement This may involve a ceremony where pledges are made After betrothal the couple can begin sexual relations Get married The marriage ceremony itself is a very public and high-profile affair in a church with the more guests the better Wedding dresses will usually be the bride’s best dress and, for those who can afford it, the ceremony will be followed by a great feast with food, music and dancing woman would bear him the male heir that would in a secret betrothal However, all those with their ensure the continuation of his line Sometime gaze fixed upon the enchanting young debutante soon found themselves facing a rival they could not in 1527, after a year of chasing her, he proposed marriage to Anne, and finally she said yes hope to better – the King of England While we have reams of Henry’s love letters, Henry prided himself on his image – he was and the extreme decisions that would follow his obsessed with his appearance and was constantly proposal as evidence of his strong feelings for attempting to prove himself as an accomplished, Anne, we can only speculate on what was going charismatic and capable leader With his own claim on in the young woman’s head She was under to the throne emerging from the turbulent War of immense pressure from her ambitious father and the Roses, he was determined to everything in uncle to elevate the family name – something a his power to secure his and his descendant’s place match with a king would no doubt achieve – but as king As models of the Renaissance man, Henry the lengths to which Henry would go to ensure had a friendly rivalry with Francis I of France she became queen must have been captivating for and did anything he could to outmatch him the younger daughter of a family with commoner Anne was trained at the French courts herself, roots Because Henry did indeed have great lengths and boasted all the glamour, exceptional skills and to travel, there was the small matter of his current intelligence Henry wished to embody himself He wife, the now-infertile Catherine of Aragon wanted her instantly Henry, at least in the early part of his However, unlike her sister, Anne reign, was well known as a devout was not a weak-willed girl who Catholic He had even been named would bow to the will of a man a so-called ‘defender of the faith’ Anne’s courtly education 17 love letters that by Pope Leo X, and it was to in the royal palaces of the Henry wrote to the Bible he turned to seek an Netherlands and France had Anne have survived annulment for his 24-year-long given her grace, elegance and marriage to the mother of his a beautiful singing voice – but and are stored in the only legitimate child to date it had also given her one other Vatican Library He argued with Pope Clement thing: knowledge of the game VII that his marriage to Catherine, of courtly love She knew what who had been his late brother’s became of the mistresses of kings; wife, directly went against the words in she had witnessed her own sister Leviticus 20:21 But the Pope wasn’t a fool; to tossed aside the moment his attention had allow the annulment would contradict the decision been drawn by another She had already been made by a previous infallible Pope to allow the denied the love of her sweetheart, Henry Percy, marriage between Henry and Catherine in the first having been deemed unworthy by his father place Again Henry was told no and again he was Henry’s obvious affections for her would provide denied Anne and the male heir he so badly desired the perfect opportunity to prove just how much Henry had heard enough ‘nos’ so on 23 May 1533 she was worth Anne did something no woman he took matters into his own hands and ordered before her had dared to do: she said no to the king the newly elected and specially selected archbishop Rather than outraging him, Anne’s rejection of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, to grant him the spurred Henry to chase her more fervently He annulment he so desperately needed That simple bestowed her with gifts, penned love letter after action would have consequences that would reach love letter, but the enchanting but strong-willed far beyond Henry or Anne’s own life, forever woman still said no When he offered for her to changing the religious and political landscape of be his official mistress, that too was rejected She the country, leading to the English Reformation was everything all the women in his life had never Breaking away from Rome was a rash, dangerous been – rather than agreeing politely, she challenged and groundbreaking move, but Henry finally had his opinions, debating with him on subjects such what he wanted – he was allowed to marry the as theology She was passionate, brash and fiery, enchanting Anne And it was just in time, because and she had well and truly set Henry alight There she was already pregnant, and any child born out was no doubt in his mind that such a young, virile 69