Did Henry VIII love Anne Boleyn?

[Music] hi I'm Claire Ridgeway if you don't know me if this is the first video you've seen online then I'm the founder of the ambolyn Falls website founder of the Tudor society and also author of several history books including this pile here I wrote this one the fall of Anne Boleyn a countdown and yes various others now this is the first video in a series that I'm going to be doing on Anne Boleyn answering questions that I received on the ambulance Falls website I actually asked people what questions they had about Anne Boleyn that they liked answering and today's video today's presentation is really an opinion piece and you may have a very different view to me on this on this question well you may completely agree with me but either way I'd love to hear your take on it so please please please leave comments below this video just sharing your opinion too because I'd love to know there's no right answer to this one so the question today is did King Henry the eighth love and the lid now it's a question that is impossible for me or any author historian anyone to answer in fact only Henry the eighth himself would be able to answer is unfortunately I can't go back in time and ask him but it's a question that often pops up it's a question that I often get asked and so it's one I want to explore today and I thought it was the perfect question to get us started because I feel it's a question that we can really explore and you can comment and share your views now let's set some context now ambolyn was recalled from serving Queen Claude who was the wife of King Francis the first of France in late 1521 now it appears that Thomas Boleyn Anne's father had recalled her from France due to marriage negotiations negotiations regarding a potential marriage match with James Butler who was related to and butlers were Thomas villains mother's family the idea was that this marriage would settle a dispute between James's father Sapir Stutler and Anne's father Sir Thomas Boleyn over a title this is the title of the Earl of ohand and there was a dispute over this title following the death of Thomas's grandfather Thomas Butler 7th Earl of Ormonde now on her arrival in England we don't know where the Anne arrived in late 1521 or whether it was early 1522 her arrivals are not recorded she comes up in the records in Shrovetide March 15 22 and she took part in the chateau there pageant and but on her arrival in England and began serving Queen Catherine of Aragon who was Henry the first first wife and she began serving her as maid of honor now some time not long after her debut at the English Court now we don't have dates for this because at this point Anne Boleyn is not very important at some point after her arrival back at the English Court and became romantically involved with a certain Henry Percy who was son and heir of the 5th Earl of Northumberland now we know some of this story from a biography written or cardinal wolsey by walls ease gentlemen uh sure George Cavendish so he was serving Cardinal Wolsey he was there at the English Court and in his biography he writes that when the Cardinal spent time at court Percy would then resort for his pastime unto the Queen's Chamber and there would fall in dalliance among the Queen's ladies being at the last more conversant with mistress Anne Boleyn than with any other it was then that there grew such a secret love between them that at length they were insured together intending to marry so came courting each other and they fell in love and they were going to get married but according to George Cavendish in this biography of Wolsey the King found out about the romance and was much offended that's how it's described because of his own secret affection his own feelings for Anne Boleyn and he ordered Cardinal Wolsey his right-hand man at the time to put a stop to this relationship Wolsey and Percy's father the Earl of Northumberland berated Percy and a marriage match with Mary Tolbert who was a daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury was arranged for him instead and actually Anne was sent back to her family home of hever castle so she was kind of banished from the court for a bit to kind of calm down and forget Percy and Percy was quickly married off to Mary Tolbert now although Cavendish says that the King found out about the romance and put a stop to it because of his own secret affection Cavendish was actually writing this biography with the hindsight that Anne Boleyn and Henry the eighth's were going to fall in love and that the King would eventually marry Anne so did did the King had the King fallen enough levan at this point well we don't know what is more likely at this point is that the negotiations for an - Mary Jane's Butler to settle the dispute of the earldom was still ongoing and actually the king was heavily involved in these negotiations he was helping with them and also that Percy's father had arranged a marriage match with Mary Tolbert and so the couple's amounts was a risk to all of these negotiations the couple's folly as it was called you know threatened these marriage bans it is impossible to date the start of Henry the eighth's interest in amberle in whether she caught his eye as soon as she got to court in beer lake 1591 early 1522 or whether it was later historian dr. David Starkey believes that an first caught the Kings eye in the winter of 1524 1525 as that fits in with Cavendish's account of Woolsey's fall so he dates it based on Cavendish's biography and the events of ballsy's fall Erich Ives and the lens biographer however has a different view he dates the start of their courtship to Shrovetide 1526 a spring 1526 when the King rode out to the Shrovetide doused with the motto declare is your nose declare I dare not embroidered on his costume along with an image of a man's heart engulfed in flames it may however simply have been one of those chivalric kind of seems these Shrovetide pageants and jazz always had themes such as you know unrequited love oh yeah not in some way a chivalric tradition so it may not have been anything to do with and it may not have had anything to do with the Kings love life it was just the theme that had been chosen for that shroud hides entertainment it is hard to say whether it meant anything at all but whatever the truth of the matter whether whether they fan in 1524 and 25 15 26 or rather the king sort of fell for her whatever the truth of that in August 15 27 Henry the eighth applied to the pipe for a dispensation to cover the impediment of affinity in the first degree now impediment of a finishing first degree meant that Henry wanted to marry someone who was closely related ie mother or sister of a woman he'd already been sexually involved with so that surely has to be Anne Boleyn because we know that the King had been involved with Mary Boleyn so that fits with him having fallen in love with Anne by this point and wanting to marry her so some time before he applied for this dispensation some time before August 1527 Henry the Eighth had proposed to Anne Boleyn and she had accepted his proposal a very romantic way in a very symbolic way by sending him a costly diamond and the ship in which the solitary damsel is tossed about and that Henry describes in a love letter to Anne Boleyn and he took that as her humble submission ie her yes to him saying will you marry me now David Starkey believes that this jeweled trinket was sent by Anne to the king as a New Year's gift this was a tradition at court gifts weren't exchanged at then there was the Roman tradition of gift-giving at a new year and the king would receive gifts from favorite courtiers he would give them gifts in return and Starkey believes that an gave him this jeweled trinket as a New Year's gift in January 15 27 because in Henry's love letter about this trinket that he's received from her he it's in French he describes it as an eighth throne a gift usually given at new year not just the word caddo which I'm throwing my friend sure pronunciation is pretty much not just a CAD I which is a present but this special were this different word which seems to be reserved in New Year's gifts so an acceptance of the Kings marriage proposal in January 1527 does fit in nicely with Henry then applying to the Pope for a dispensation in August 1527 so it seems like a very valid theory but what do we know of their courtship you know what led to this point well unfortunately I'm afraid very little even though we have love letters from Henry Ghaith - and we don't have her replies to him it's all--it's it makes a wonderful blank canvas for novelists so we know very little there is not one iota of evidence and I want to say there's very strongly there is no evidence at all for the idea that Anne's father and her uncle acted as must guess the only word you can describe as is pimps for Ann and Mary Boleyn and that they pushed the girls at the King so that they could rise in favor at court no evidence for that at all makes great fiction but it's not factual there's also no evidence that Anne Boleyn was the kind of woman that set out to seduce and in Pilate the king that she had her eyes on the crown and she was going to throw herself at the King because she wanted to be queen there's no evidence for that and it doesn't make sense at all Henry how could an think that by throwing herself at the King she could ever be Queen Catherine of Aragon was queen how could she ever think that the king was going to leave his wife of 21 years it doesn't make sense there was no kind of precedent for that so that doesn't make sense but what we do know from the Kings love letters to Anne Boleyn which are now housed in the Vatican archives and unfortunately undated I mean please Henry why didn't you put dates on them what we do know is that the King pursued and he bombarded her with these love letters and gifts things like sending her a deer that he had caught which was a good gift in those days I'm not sure that I'd be that impressed today we know that on being bombarded with letters and gifts that Anne retreated from court to her family home of Hever Castle in Kent and to get away from it all it was a very difficult position for her being maid of honor to the King's wife and receiving love letters we then know that Henry offered her the opportunity to be his official mistress which would have been a position of power she would have not just been a mistress who was a secret mistress she would have been his official mistress like King Francis the first had official mistresses we know that she refused for that wanting to hang on to her Maidenhead and keep it thought her husband and that the King eventually proposed marriage and that and submitted antics to his proposal now Henry's feelings fan was it love did he love her or was this all just lust again I can't answer that it's it's impossible to say I can only give you my opinion but in June 15 28 there was an outbreak of the sweating sickness illness this was something that could kill people in ours we've got contemporary reports where people felt okay at breakfast apparently but by dinner were dead we have reports which are slightly exaggerated as I think of people just falling down dead in the street while they were walking it was that bad an illness and many of Henry's courtiers became ill with it and some died of it and became ill with it she was at Hever Castle she came down and was sweating sickness the King heard news that his sweetheart had been taken ill with this awful disease he and Catherine of Aragon had removed from court to get away from the disease and he'd taken sort of his positions with him and he wrote her a very very panicked letter you'll be able to find the text of it it's amusing in a way because he talks about sending her his second best doctor yeah is that what she meant to you that you sent her your second best doctor but that that was good you know obviously he needed his best daughter in case he came down with it so he was sending her the next best thing now my dear friend author Sandra verso Lee has been to the Vatican archives and she has held and looked at Henry the eighth's love letters to Anne which must have been an amazing experience I've got a book of photos of them which is lovely enough to actually hold them would be wonderful and she noticed a marked contrast between this letter this panic letter written after Henry's received news of Ann's illness and the others that are in the collection Sandra describes it as visually a mess and I completely agree with her looking at the photos of it the ink is smeared there are sprays of ink where the nib of the quill have actually caught on the parchment as the Kings been hurriedly writing this letter there are ink blots crossings out it is a complete mess from a king that was usually very neat the other love letters don't have this mess it was a hurried letter written by a panicked man I believe that its appearance is evidence of Henry the eighth's pure terror on receiving news that the woman that he loves has gone down ill with an illness that could kill her and I believe that that surely points to it being more than lust that it points to Henry loving now Henry also waited over six years for Anne Boleyn to pencil when you date started their courtship but at least six years for her he went through all the stress of the great matter his quest for the annulment he made enemies of the Pope and Charles v the Holy Roman Emperor who of course was Katharine of Aragon's nephew he risked excommunication from a church that he had defended in the past you know he'd been given the title of defender of the faith and he finally broke with Rome who you know it had been his beloved Rome all of this to be with and the Lynn that strikes me as a bit much the lust I just can't see that Henry could have taken mistresses to satisfy his lust he didn't need to go through all of this now you could argue well Claire this is all because Henry was intent on having a son you know Catherine of Aragon by this point couldn't have any more children she was not fertile anymore and he he'd only got an illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy he didn't have a son and heir to secure the succession but I'm sure that he could have legitimized Henry Fitzroy with the Pope's blessing though easier ways of going about getting a son and heir I think he could have legitimized Henry Fitzroy who he had raised the Duke of Richmond and Somerset but Henry wanted an that that is how I see it but let's go back a little bit let's go back to his pursuit of an now Thomas Wyatt the famous Judah parrot Thomas why the elder this is not his son a man who appears to have been in love with Ann himself at this point at one point we know this because his grandson George Wyatt wrote a biography of Anne Boleyn and States quite clearly in it that his grandfather was in love with Anne now in Wyatt's poem the poet Robert is hunting a deer but have to give up he has to withdraw from the hunt when another hunter comes into play and claims the hind for himself and the words Caesars I am or written about the Hinds neck now Wyatt's here is I mean the symbolism isn't very hard to uncover as it why it is describing on how he's had to give on amberlynn because the King Caesar has claimed her for himself Henry the eighth is the hunter ambolyn is the powerless hind hunted down by this hunter and then possessed entirely by him now when you combine this with the Kings love letters which hit bombarded and with and his gifts and retreat from court when you combine that this has led to the idea that and can claim to be a sort of member of the hashtag me to campaign that Anne walls a victim of sexual harassment it's an interesting idea Karen Lindsay and her book which I would recommend you read divorced beheaded survived a feminist reinterpretation of the wives of Henry the eighth rights today Henry's approach to Anne would be instantly identifiable a sexual harassment and however had no social or legal recourse against the man who ruled the country she continued as so many women before and since Verdun to dodge her pursuers advances while sparing his feelings it didn't work now I think the key word there in the quotation but I've taken from Lindsay's book is today she said today Henry's approached Anne would be sexual harassment today today a business owner bombarding an employee which is what you know and walls to Henry she was a maid of honor to his wife a business owner bombarding his employee with love letters and gifts after she has declined his advances and even taken time off work to get away from it all would be accused of sexual harassment and rightly so obviously but context is key here Henry the eighth and Anne Boleyn were 16th century people we cannot review it or judge with 21st century you know eyes and morals the King was expected to get what he wanted he could just you know click his fingers and and and get what he wanted and Anne was pretty unusual in saying no to him once the King proposed her she submitted she said yes and from that point on and seems to have put her all everything she had all of her effort into supporting his quest for an annulment and fighting really hard frustratingly so at times to be his wife and queen so I don't believe that you can say that she is a member of these sort of you know that me too you know victims just can't see that did and love have me yet again impossible to say and I think probably not that start but I think she did come to do say now it's easy for us to forget when when the iconic portraits of Henry the eighth all the ones from him later in life the ones we kind of think of Henry the eighth's is always being this this monster this man that executed lots of people this brutal man and it's easy for us to forget that Henry the eighth was quite a capture start at one point when Ann knew him he was handsome he was charming he was witty he was intelligent he was athletic a great sportsman he was a gifted Renaissance Prince when his father died people whisper joyous that this this Renaissance prince was going to become King of England there was real hope for England because of this prince there's this amazing man that Anne was intelligent she was well educated far more educated than women Norman and Ann and Henry shared lots of interests they were both interested in architecture music theology all sorts of things that they could talk about what wasn't there to love about this man except that he had the wife so I I believe that Ann did fall in love with him I don't think she was sort of berated so much bombarded so much that she finally had to submit him just say yes because you know my family are at risk and I don't I don't think it was that way at all now I've heard it said that Henry the eighth couldn't have loved ambolyn because he ended up hating her and executing her and also execution isn't really a demonstration of pure love I've heard it said that will love can't lead to a man standing by while his wife is framed for you know crimes that she didn't commit and then beheaded as a result but I can't agree with that we all know I'm sure couples that have started off deeply in love not just lust deeply in love but have somehow years later ended up absolutely hating each other I'm wanting to destroy each other acrimonious divorces the you know but the relationship started with what can only be seen as pure love we've all read about cases in the news where a man has murdered his wife and sometimes his children and yet friends and neighbors are completely shocked they all testify about how happy you know this family were how happy this couple used to be how much in love they were it seems that people can go from having stars in their eyes hearts floating around their heads being completely head over heels in love being prepared to give their life for their partner their loved ones to wanting the object of their affections in the past to die a slow painful death we hear about crimes of passion love really does turn to hate does that mean that love never properly existed in the first place because of the fact that there is the hate there that this person has murdered their partner does that mean that it was never love in the first place no I don't believe so of course not it's just the feelings change we're people we it's all emotions people are human they make mistakes they hurt people they love they can change and not be the same person that you fell in love with there can be outside pressures on the relationship all kinds of things can change a relationship and change a person and when we realize that the love of our life is not who we thought they were when the person that we've invested lots of time effort and feelings into into when they let us down or they change and become someone that we don't really know anymore then we can get really angry and hurt and that hurts and that anger or combined can turn into just pure hatred sorry Tim just made me and laugh there because he's sitting behind the camera and I was sort of talking about you know people hating each other love turning to hate and he's thinking I can see it on his face she doesn't feel that way about me does she know darling you're fine now when I first got married a friend when I got to be serious now when I first got married a friend quoted the Bible verse do not let the Sun go down while you're still angry which is Ephesians 4:26 to me and it was brilliant advice and it's something that I've tried to keep - it's very wise advice because if you've had an argument with your other half and you go to bed angry without sorting that argument out without apologizing and moving on from it then if you'll like me you toss and turn when there's something that's upset you and you're angry you toss and you turn that anger Fester's and turns into resentment which in time can turn to hate you your mind breaks out of the mind your mind brings forth memories from the past when that person has hurt you before when you'd be angry with them before and you just get angrier and angrier and that is really bad for the relationship now this may well have happened in Henry the eighth and amber Lynn's marriage we just don't know but Harry does seem to have been the kind of person that could just flip a switch and flip from love to hate if he felt let down by a person in any way whatsoever an example here is Thomas Moore he went from being a loved and respected father figure I don't think I'm going too far by calling him a father figure so he went from that to being a victim of the accident because he refused to do what the King wanted him to do we only have to look as well at Catherine of Aragon and Mary you know Catherine of Aragon was the king's beloved wife for many years he didn't have to marry her you know when she was the widow of his brother he didn't have to marry her he chose to marry her and it seems to have been a loving relationship at the start and they had a daughter Mary who seems to have been you know the apple of his eye at one point so they went from being Henry's loved and pampered wife and daughter to being Teresa's abominably by the king because they defied him they didn't do what he wanted them to do people who let Henry down or defied him in any way went from being favored and loved to being haters to being executed to being banished from court to being threatened to being treated very very badly now we can't know what happened behind closed doors in Henry and Anne's marriage we do know that it was a marriage based on love not diplomacy it was based on love and attraction and that this led to an being worried and jealous when her husband showed an interest in another woman at court understandably so because if he'd fallen in love with her and put Catherine to one side he could potentially do it again and we know that Henry was obsessed with having a surviving male heir and how did dude Anne's jealousy annoy the King did her failure to live up to his expectations and provide him with a living son and heir make him feel let down by her did he begin to believe that the marriage was wrong and against God's laws and you know God wasn't blessing the marriage with children so therefore it must be wrong like his marriage to Catherine of Aragon was wrong did their relationship become more storms than sunshine did it all become too much of a stress and effort for Henry did he come to believe that he'd made a huge mistake turning the country upside down and making enemies while doing so so that he could marry Ann I can't answer those questions it's impossible to say but it is easy to understand how those stresses could undermine Henry's love for his second wife that hate is a strong feeling dislike is obviously not a very strong opinion but hate is a strong feeling just as love is a strong feeling and I had a think that we can only truly hate someone if we have truly loved them to begin with they're two extremes of course that's not just my view you might not agree with that now historians are not in agreement about who was ultimately responsible for ambulance fall and obviously her execution in 1536 whether Henry the eighth ordered Thomas Cromwell to remove and at any cost including killing her or whether Thomas Cromwell was behind it all and he manipulated the king and made him believe that Anne had been unfaithful now if you've read my book the fall of Anne Boleyn account done you'll know that I'm in the Henry's to blame account that I see him as being ultimately responsible for him but either way whichever view you go with I believe that the the man the lover who penned that distraught letter when Anne became sick in June 15 28 that the man who had loved this woman enough to turn the country upside down to risk excommunication to May so many enemies that that man came to hate his wife Henry came to hate on his love that he once had gradually turned to hate and that he lets her be executed on the 19th of May 1536 I don't believe that her execution is evidence that Henry the eighth could never have loved her back to me it doesn't make sense but I would love to hear your views you might agree with me entirely you might agree with me a bit she might completely disagree with me please please leave comments below and let's let's start some discussion here anyway I hope you've enjoyed today's video I'm going to be answering other questions about Amblin in due course you can subscribe to these videos in this channel by hitting subscribe below anyway I'm Claire Ridgeway and thank you for viewing this video take care [Music]

Channel: The Anne Boleyn Files and Tudor Society

Views: 141,304

Rating: 4.89011 out of 5

Keywords: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Boleyn, Tudor, The Tudors, Monarch, Catherine Howard, Six Wives, Catherine of Aragon, Mary I, Elizabeth I

Id: CedlPPOO-_E

Length: 37min 53sec (2273 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 17 2019