Anne Boleyn
Grades 7+
- Anne Boleyn is about to die.
- Her husband, King Henry VIII, has decreed it.
- From the raised platform she looks down at the crowd.
- Must keep calm, she tells herself.
- Must keep calm.
- She wants to scream her anger and curse Henry.
- But she must not.
- If she does, he might have their daughter, Elizabeth, also killed.
- Anne makes a short speech.
- She praises Henry as “good, a gentle and sovereign lord.”
- The executioner blindfolds her.
- She kneels.
- The executioner’s sword slashes down.
- She has been queening for about a thousand days.
- She is the first queen Henry executes, but not the last.
- She is very beautiful, and the daughter of a knight.
- She is elegant and has wide black eyes.
- She has lived abroad, in both Holland and France, so she knows things people do not learn in school.
- When she returns to England, the king notices her.
- He wants her as his girlfriend, but she gives him a firm “No.”
- Though Henry’s wife is in prison, he is still married.
- Besides, Anne’s sister, Mary, was with Henry for a short time.
- It brought Mary heartache and headaches.
- Everyone talked about her and looked at her with hatred when she wasn’t watching.
- Anne demands the king marry her, or she will find another man who will.
- Which won’t be a problem.
- Almost every nobleman who is single wants her for a wife.
- But Henry cannot marry her.
- The Church does not allow divorce.
- Desperate, he comes up with a plan.
- He starts a new Church.
- With himself at the head of it.
- Many Englishmen are against such an idea.
- A war almost starts.
- But then Henry promises them the lands and buildings that belong to the Church.
- He will give them to nobles who agree with his decision.
- He soon divorces his wife, Catherine, and marries Anne.
- Catherine dies shortly afterward.
- Henry and Anne are happy.
- They soon have a baby girl.
- They name her Elizabeth.
- “You need to have a motto,” Henry tells Anne one day.
- “Most queens have one.
- You know, a saying people will remember.”
- Anne chooses “The Most Happy.”
- And happy she is.
- For a while.
- She thinks that, as a queen, her life will be carefree.
- She will not have any of the troubles most people have.
- She becomes pregnant again.
- How happy she is!
- But the baby, a boy, dies before it is born.
- Then another baby boy dies the same way.
- Henry feels cursed.
- He thinks God is punishing him for divorcing Catherine and starting a new Church.
- He begins walking up and down the castle halls in the middle of the night, muttering to himself.
- He walks with a limp, for he was horribly injured when he was jousting.
- Finally, he can barely walk.
- He lies in bed or sits on his throne.
- He begins eating too much.
- His advisers say he must not eat anything from the ground.
- He is the king and should only eat things from bushes and trees.
- Because of that, his health quickly worsens.
- He becomes very fat.
- He looks around for another wife.
- Someone who will give him a baby boy.
- A young woman shows up in court.
- She is happy and giggly.
- Her name is Jane Seymour.
- Henry falls in love with her.
- He tells everyone he and Anne are not married anymore.
- “But why, your Majesty?” people ask him.
- “Because she has been seeing other men,” he says.
- “She is cheating on me.”
- It is a charge punishable by death.
- It is a lie, but no one dares say so.
- Not even Anne speaks against him.
- She fears for their daughter’s safety.
- Because Anne was queen, it is decided she will not be beheaded with an axe.
- Henry sends to France for one of the most skilled swordsmen in all Europe.
- Her brother is also executed.
- So are other men, Sir Henry Norris among them.
- The Groom of the Stool, he was the nobleman in charge of emptying Henry’s toilet bowl every morning.
- Henry claims she has been seeing them all.
- It is a lie. (85) But when you are king, you can lie whenever you feel like it.