Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn, 1st Marchioness of Pembroke (c.1507 – May 19, 1536) was the second wife and queen consort of Henry VIII and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and marriage to Anne was part of the complex beginning of the considerable political and religious upheaval which was the English Reformation, with Anne herself actively promoting the cause of Church Reform. She is probably best known for her premature death when she was beheaded on false charges of adultery and treason. Her life has been the subject of numerous biographies, novels, motion pictures, plays and operas.

The Birth Controversy

Historians cannot agree precisely when Anne Boleyn was born. An Italian historian, writing in 1600, suggested that she had been born in 1499; whilst Sir Thomas More?s son-in-law suggested a much later date ? 1512. Nowadays the debate centers around two key dates ? 1501 and 1507. Two great authorities on the period ? Eric Ives and Retha Warnicke ? both of whom have written biographies of Anne disagree. Ives promotes the 1501 date, whilst Warnicke believes the later 1507 is correct. The evidence supporting the later date is slightly stronger, given that a friend of Anne?s stepdaughter later claimed that Anne had been approaching her twenty-ninth birthday at the time of her death in 1536 and an Elizabethan writer, William Camden, stated firmly that Anne had been born in ?MDVII? (1507). It is also extremely unlikely that Anne would have been over thirty at the time of her marriage, because such an age was considered unhealthy for a first-time mother. There is, however, a letter from Anne in about 1514 which some people believe suggest she was a teenager when she wrote it. This is hardly conclusive and a full examination of the letter is still required, as both sides currently claim it as supporting evidence. The debate may never be fully solved since parish records chronicling precise dates of birth were not kept until the time of Elizabeth I. Some other writers, like Paul Friedmann, Norah Lofts and Hester W. Chapman, all suggested that a birthday somewhere between 1501 and 1507 might be the safest guess ? such as 1505.

Related Topics:
1600 - 1499 - Thomas More - 1512 - 1501 - 1507 - Eric Ives - Retha Warnicke - Stepdaughter - 1536 - 1514 - Elizabeth I - 1505

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