A (Very Short) History Of Anne Boleyn
The commoner who changed the history of England
Born circa 1501, Anne Boleyn is probably one of the most famous, and most maligned, historical figures in English history. As the second wife of the infamous King Henry VIII and mother of the illustrious Queen Elizabeth I, much of her own fame lies in the fact that her own husband had her sentenced to death and beheaded on what we know today were false charges.
Anne’s marriage to Henry was highly controversial at the time. Henry had already been married to his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, for almost twenty years when he fell in love with Anne.
Katherine, the youngest daughter of the famed monarchs, King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile, had first been married to Henry’s older brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales, heir to the throne of England. Arthur died only a few months into their marriage and Katherine was forced to stay in England, in poverty, for more than seven long years afterward.
Henry married her when he became king in 1509, with the dying blessing of his father, Henry VII. It was, by all accounts, a happy marriage at first. But as the years passed and Katherine only produced one living child, the future Mary I (aka Bloody Mary), after perhaps ten pregnancies, Henry began to tire of her. His eye landed on one of her maids of…
