Anne of cleves children

For other people named Anne of Cleves, see Anne of Cleves (disambiguation).

Queen of England in

Anne of Cleves (German: Anna von Kleve; – 16 July ) was Queen of England from 6 January to 12 July as the fourth wife of Henry VIII. Little is known about Anne before , when she became betrothed to Francis, Duke of Bar, son and heir of Antoine, Duke of Lorraine, although their marriage did not proceed.

In March , negotiations for Anne's marriage to Henry began. Henry believed he needed to form a political alliance with her brother, William, a leader of the Protestants of Western Germany, to strengthen his position against potential attacks from Catholic France and the Holy Roman Empire.^[3] Anne arrived in England in December and married Henry a week later, but the marriage was declared unconsummated after six months and Anne was not crowned queen consort.

Following the annulment, Henry gave her a generous settlement and Anne was thereafter known as the King's Beloved Sister.

Anne of cleves portrait marriage license cost Also Read: Catherine Howard Facts. London: Methuen. Archaeologia: or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity. Anne of Cleves' tomb housed in Westminster Abbey Thus, on 9 July , just six months into the marriage, Henry had it annulled on the grounds that it had not been consummated.

Remaining in England, she lived to see the reigns of Henry's children Edward VI and Mary I and attended Mary's coronation in Anne outlived the rest of Henry's wives.

Early life

Anne was born in , on either 22 September or 28 June.^[a] She was born in Düsseldorf, Duchy of Berg, the second daughter of John III of the House of La Marck, Duke of Jülichjure uxoris, Cleves, Berg jure uxoris, Count of Mark, also known as de la Marck and Ravensbergjure uxoris (often referred to as Duke of Cleves) who died in , and his wife Maria, Duchess of Jülich-Berg (–).

She grew up in Schloss Burg on the edge of Solingen.

Anne's father was influenced by Erasmus and followed a moderate path within the Reformation. He decided to side with the Schmalkaldic League and opposed Emperor Charles V. After John's death, Anne's brother William became Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, bearing the promising epithet "The Rich".

In , her elder sister Sibylle was married to John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, head of the Protestant Confederation of Germany and considered the "Champion of the Reformation."

In , at the age of 11, Anne was betrothed to Francis, the 9-year-old son and heir of Antoine, Duke of Lorraine. But because Francis was under the age of consent (10 years old) at the time of the arrangement, the betrothal was considered unofficial and was cancelled in Her brother William was a Lutheran but the family was unaligned religiously, with her mother, the Duchess Maria, described as a "strict Catholic".

Anne of cleves portrait marriage license photos London: Methuen. A belief or opinion that goes against the official Church doctrine The set of beliefs upheld by a religion or political party. Anne, very wisely, accepted the annulment. Shortly afterwards, Anne was asked for her consent to an annulment, to which she agreed.

Her father's ongoing dispute over the Duchy of Guelders with Charles V made the family suitable allies for England's King Henry VIII in the wake of the Truce of Nice. The match with Anne was urged on the King by his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell.

Wedding preparations

The artist Hans Holbein the Younger was dispatched to Düren to paint portraits of Anne and her younger sister, Amalia, each of whom Henry VIII was considering as his fourth wife.

Henry required the artist to be as accurate as possible, not to flatter the sisters. The portraits are now located in the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Another portrait, by the school of Barthel Bruyn the Elder, is in the collection of Trinity College, Cambridge.^[11]

Negotiations to arrange the marriage were in full swing by March Thomas Cromwell oversaw the talks and a marriage treaty was signed on 4 October of that year.

Henry valued education and cultural sophistication in women (e.g., Anne Boleyn), but Anne lacked these traits. She had received no formal education but was skilled in needlework and liked playing card games. She could read and write, but only in German. Nevertheless, Anne was considered gentle, virtuous and docile, which is why she was recommended as a suitable candidate for Henry.

Anne was described by French ambassador Charles de Marillac as tall and slim, "of medium beauty, and of very assured and resolute countenance." She was fair-haired and was said to have had a lovely face. In the words of the chronicler Edward Hall, "Her hair hanging down, which was fair, yellow and long&#; she was apparelled after the English fashion, with a French hood, which so set forth her beauty and good visage, that every creature rejoiced to behold her." She appeared rather solemn by English standards, and looked old for her age.

Holbein painted her with a high forehead, heavy-lidded eyes and a pointed chin.

Anne was initially to travel to England alone with her cortège – the death of her father prevented her brother and mother from travelling – but there were concerns about a beautiful, sheltered young woman who had never traveled by sea making such a journey, especially during the winter.

She traveled from Düsseldorf to Cleves, and then to Antwerp where she was received by fifty English merchants.

Henry met her privately on New Year's Day at Rochester Abbey in Rochester on her journey from Dover. Henry and some of his courtiers, following a courtly-love tradition, went disguised into the room where Anne was staying.

The chronicler Charles Wriothesley reported:

[The King] so went up into the chamber where the said Lady Anne was looking out of a window to see the bull-baiting which was going on in the courtyard, and suddenly he embraced and kissed her, and showed her a token which the king had sent her for New Year's gift, and she being abashed and not knowing who it was thanked him, and so he spoke with her.

But she regarded him little, but always looked out the window&#; and when the king saw that she took so little notice of his coming he went into another chamber and took off his cloak and came in again in a coat of purple velvet. And when the lords and knights saw his grace they did him reverence.

According to the testimony of Henry's companions, he was disappointed with Anne, feeling that she was not as described.

Although Anne "regarded him little", it is unknown whether she knew this was the King. Henry then revealed his true identity to Anne, and although he is said to have been put off, the marriage preparations proceeded. Henry and Anne then met officially on 3 January on Blackheath outside the gates of Greenwich Park, where a grand reception was laid out.

Most historians believe that Henry's misgivings about the marriage were because of Anne's unsatisfactory appearance, which did not inspire him to consummate the marriage.

Anne of cleves portrait marriage license ArtConservation Tudor HansHolbein pic. A complex of territories in central Europe, covering at various times modern-day Germany Switzerland, Austria, the Low Countries, and parts of northern Italy and the Czech Republic. Amberley Pub. Another house associated with Anne of Cleves, and given to her in the divorce settlement, is what is now known as Anne of Cleves House in Lewes.

He felt that he had been misled after his advisors had praised Anne's beauty: "She is nothing so fair as she hath been reported", he complained. He went even further to tell others in his court that if "it were not that she had come so far into my realm, and the great preparations and state that my people have made for her, and for fear of making a ruffle in the world and of driving her brother into the arms of the Emperor and the French King, I would not now marry her.

But now it is too far gone, wherefore I am sorry."^[b]

Cromwell received some blame for the Holbein portrait, which Henry believed had not been an accurate representation of Anne, and for some of the exaggerated reports of her beauty.^[23] Henry urged Cromwell to find a legal way to avoid the marriage but, by this point, doing so was impossible without endangering the vital alliance with the Germans.

In his anger and frustration, the King turned on Cromwell, to his subsequent regret.

Marriage

Despite Henry's very vocal misgivings, the two were married on 6 January at the royal Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London, by ArchbishopThomas Cranmer. The phrase "God send me well to keep" was engraved around Anne's wedding ring.

According to Edward Hall, she wore a "gowne of ryche cloth of gold set full of large flowers of great and Orient pearl, made after the Duche fassion rownde".

Queen anne of cleves portrait Most historians believe that Henry's misgivings about the marriage were because of Anne's unsatisfactory appearance, which did not inspire him to consummate the marriage. Given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behaviour, or given to whimsy and fanciful notions. She enjoyed relative freedom and independence, living a quiet and private life away from the political intrigues of the English court. Hans Holbein the Younger - German painter known as one of the best portrait artists of the 16th century.

A round gown had no train. On the Sunday after the wedding there were jousts, Anne dressed in the English fashion, with a French hood.

Immediately after arriving in England, Anne conformed to the Catholic form of worship which Henry had retained after his break with Rome. The couple's first night as husband and wife was not a successful one. Henry confided to Cromwell that he had not consummated the marriage, saying, "I liked her before not well, but now I like her much worse".

In February , speaking to the Countess of Rutland, Anne praised the King as a kind husband, saying: "When he comes to bed he kisseth me, and he taketh me by the hand, and biddeth me 'Good night, sweetheart'; and in the morning kisseth me and biddeth 'Farewell, darling.'" Lady Rutland responded: "Madam, there must be more than this, or it will be long ere we have a duke of York, which all this realm most desireth."

Anne was commanded to leave the Court on 24 June, and on 6 July she was informed of her husband's decision to reconsider the marriage.

Witness statements were taken from a number of courtiers and two physicians which register the King's disappointment at her appearance. Henry had also commented to Thomas Heneage and Anthony Denny that he could not believe she was a virgin.

Shortly afterwards, Anne was asked for her consent to an annulment, to which she agreed.

Cromwell, the moving force behind the marriage, was attainted for treason. The marriage was annulled on 12 July , on the grounds of non-consummation and her pre-contract to Francis of Lorraine. Henry VIII's physician stated that, after the wedding night, Henry said he was not impotent because he experienced "duas pollutiones nocturnas in somno" (two nocturnal pollutions while in sleep).^[34]

After the annulment

Anne had been given dower lands in January to fund her household, including manors in Hampshire formerly owned by Breamore Priory and Southwick Priory.^[36] As former queen, she received a generous settlement, including Richmond Palace, and Hever Castle, home of Henry's former in-laws, the Boleyns.

Anne of Cleves House, in Lewes, East Sussex, is just one of many properties she owned, though she never lived there. Henry and Anne became friendly—she was an honorary member of the King's family and was referred to as "the King's Beloved Sister". She was invited to court often and, out of gratitude for her not contesting the annulment, Henry decreed that she would be given precedence over all women in England save his own wife and daughters.

After Catherine Howard was beheaded, Anne and her brother, William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, pressed the King to remarry Anne.

Henry quickly refused to do so. She seems to have disliked Catherine Parr, and reportedly reacted to the news of Henry's sixth marriage with the remark "Madam Parr is taking a great burden on herself."

In March , Edward VI's Privy Council asked her to move out of Bletchingley Palace, her usual residence, to Penshurst Place to make way for Thomas Cawarden, Master of Revels.

They pointed out that Penshurst was nearer to Hever and the move had been Henry VIII's will.

Catherine parr portrait: Anne of Cleves is perhaps most famously known for the portrait painted by the renowned artist Hans Holbein the Younger. Cromwell, the moving force behind the marriage, was attainted for treason. Thus, on 9 July , just six months into the marriage, Henry had it annulled on the grounds that it had not been consummated. Sources [ edit ].

On 4 August , Anne wrote to Mary I to congratulate her on her marriage to Philip of Spain. On 28 September , when Mary left St James's Palace for Whitehall, she was accompanied by her sister Elizabeth and Anne of Cleves. Anne also took part in Mary I's coronation procession, and may have been present at her coronation at Westminster Abbey.^[c] These seem to have been her last public appearances,^[48] although there is an account of Anne at Westminster Abbey in August after the wedding of Mary and Philip.

As the new queen was a strict Catholic, Anne yet again changed religion, now becoming a Roman Catholic.

After a brief return to prominence, she lost royal favour in , following Wyatt's rebellion. According to Simon Renard, the Imperial ambassador, Anne's close association with Elizabeth had convinced the Queen that "the Lady [Anne] of Cleves was of the plot and intrigued with the Duke of Cleves to obtain help for Elizabeth: matters in which the king of France was the prime mover".

There is no evidence that Anne was invited back to court after She was compelled to live a quiet and obscure life on her estates. After her arrival as the King's bride, Anne never left England. Despite occasional feelings of homesickness, Anne was generally content in England and was described by Raphael Holinshed as "a ladie of right commendable regards, courteous, gentle, a good housekeeper and verie bountifull to her servants."

In the summer of , Anne's brother, William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, complained about some of her servants.

He had heard that Otto Wylick, Jasper Brockhausen, and his wife, Gertrude, made difficulties in Anne's household. Gertrude was said to have beguiled Anne with impostures and incantations. The matter came before Queen Mary and the English council of Philip II, and in September Brockhausen and Wylick were expelled.^[56]

Death

When Anne's health began to fail, Mary allowed her to live at Chelsea Old Manor, where Henry's last wife, Catherine Parr, had lived after her remarriage.

Here, in the middle of July , Anne dictated her last will. In it, she mentions her brother, sister, and sister-in-law, as well as the future Queen Elizabeth, the Duchess of Suffolk, and the Countess of Arundel. She left some money to her servants and asked Mary and Elizabeth to employ them in their households. She was remembered by everyone who served her as a particularly generous and easy-going mistress.

Anne died at Chelsea Old Manor on 16 July The most likely cause of her death was cancer.

She was buried in Westminster Abbey, on 3&#;August, in what has been described as a "somewhat hard-to-find tomb" on the opposite side of Edward the Confessor's shrine and slightly above eye level for a person of average height.

Anne's epitaph in Westminster Abbey, which is in English, reads simply:^[60]

ANNE OF CLEVES

QUEEN OF ENGLAND

BORN • DIED

She was the last of Henry VIII's wives to die.

Fictional portrayals

The role of Anne of Cleves was played by:

Notes

References