The Coronation of Anne Boleyn

The weight of the crown that Anne Boleyn wore proved too heavy to bear.

May 29 to June 1 1533

King Henry VIII 1509-1547

Henry VIII Woos Anne Boleyn at Cardinal Wolsey’s Ball, by Karl von Piloty.

By Karl von Piloty (1826-1886), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

‘Henry VIII Wooing Anne Boleyn at Cardinal Wolsey’s Ball’, by Karl von Piloty (1826-1886). Anne Boleyn (?1501-1536) was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine, Henry VIII’s wife, joining her staff in 1522. Henry first noticed Anne at a Shrovetide pageant at Whitehall Palace, hosted by Cardinal Wolsey, in March that same year. They began to live together openly in 1531, and married secretly on November 14th, 1532, with a more public ceremony performed on January 25th, 1533. On May 28th, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, annulled Henry’s marriage to Catherine, and five days later confirmed the legality of his marriage to Anne. Her coronation followed immediately, the ceremony itself taking place on Whit Sunday (Pentecost), June 1st.

Introduction

On Saturday afternoon, May 31st, 1533, Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, was taken from the Tower of London to Westminster Hall, to be crowned in the Abbey next morning. The wider public was disgusted by the way Henry had jilted Catherine, by a two-year affair, a secret marriage, and a controversial divorce (in that order); yet crowded streets were hung with bunting, and the cavalcade was magnificent.

by J. A. Froude 1818-1894

Abridged.

Glorious as the spectacle was, however, it passed unheeded. Those eyes were watching all for another object, which now drew near. In an open space behind the constable there was seen approaching “a white chariot,” - drawn by two palfreys* in white damask which swept the ground, a golden canopy borne above it making music with silver bells: and in the chariot sat the observed of all observers, the beautiful occasion of all this glittering homage; fortune’s plaything of the hour, the Queen of England — queen at last - borne along upon the waves of this sea of glory, breathing the perfumed incense of greatness which she had risked her fair name, her delicacy, her honour, her self-respect, to win; and she had won it.

There she sat, dressed in white tissue robes, her fair hair flowing loose over her shoulders, and her temples circled with a light coronet of gold and diamonds — most beautiful — loveliest — most favoured, perhaps, as she seemed at that hour, of all England’s daughters.

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* A palfrey was a Middle English term for any horse that had been bred and chosen for easy and graceful riding, especially by a woman.

Précis

On May 31st, 1533, Henry VIII’s wife Anne Boleyn rode from the Tower of London to Westminster Hall in a horse-drawn carriage, behind a glamorous cavalcade. Anne had paid dearly for this, said J. A. Froude, sacrificing her reputation as a woman to gain it; but now she could enjoy her moment as the nation’s loveliest and most favoured bride.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

How did Anne Boleyn travel to Westminster Hall that afternoon?

Suggestion

She rode in a white horse-drawn carriage.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Anne Boleyn was to be crowned. The public disapproved of her. They came to watch.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IDespite. IIQueen. IIISee.

Clay Lane The Copybook

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