Anne of Cleves
Anne of Cleves also known as "The Flanders Mare" was the fourth
queen consort of
Henry VIII of England from January 6, 1540 to July 9, 1540.
Anne was born on September 22, 1515, at Dsseldorf, the daughter of John III, ruler of the duchy of Cleves, who died in 1538. Then her brother Wilhelm IV was Duke of Jlich-Cleves-Berg, bearing the promising epithet "the Rich". Her elder sister Sybille was married to
John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, head of the Protestant Confederation of Germany, the "Champion of the Reformation".
Encyclopedia
Anne of Cleves also known as "The Flanders Mare" was the fourth
queen consort of
Henry VIII of England from January 6, 1540 to July 9, 1540.
Anne was born on September 22, 1515, at
Düsseldorf, the daughter of John III, ruler of the duchy of Cleves, who died in 1538. Then her brother
Wilhelm IV was Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, bearing the promising epithet "the Rich". Her elder sister Sybille was married to
John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, head of the Protestant Confederation of Germany, the "Champion of the Reformation". William was a Catholic personally, but the family politics made them suitable allies for Henry in the aftermath of the
Reformation, and the match was urged on the king by his chancellor,
Thomas Cromwell. The artist
Hans Holbein the Younger was dispatched to paint a portrait of Anne, and Henry was pleased with the result. It was usual for court painters to be flattering in their portrayal of important people, and it is likely that Holbein covered up the evidence of Anne's
smallpox scars. The portrait is currently displayed in the Louvre. Anne and Henry were 7th cousins twice removed.
Negotiations with the Cleves court were in full swing by March 1539. Cromwell oversaw the talks and marriage treaty was signed on October 4th of the same year. Anne’s major fault was her lack of a proper education. Instead of being taught to sing or play an instrument she was skilled in needlework and learned to read and write in German only. However, Anne was thought to be gentle, virtuous, and docile, qualities that made her a realistic candidate for Henry.
This image of Anne being "the ugly queen" was prevalent amongst traditional historians. However, more recent viewpoints suggest that it is more likely she found Henry to be the ugly one and purposely made him dislike her.
Another theory suggests that they agreed that they just did not get along well with each other — Anne had been raised in the small provincial court at Düsseldorf and shared none of the musical and humanistic literary tastes of Henry's court — and they split on amicable terms. This theory is supported by the good settlement she received.
Henry, impatient to finally see his future bride, journeyed to Rochester on New Year’s Day and walked in on Anne unannounced. Henry took an immediate disliking to Anne, reporting back to Cromwell that she was nothing like her glowing reports. Henry urged Cromwell to find a legal way to avoid the marriage. However, at this point evading the marriage was impossible without causing an angry reaction.
The two were married on January 6 at the royal
Palace of Placentia in
Greenwich, London by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, despite any misgivings by either party. The phrase “God send me well to keep” was engraved around Anne’s wedding ring. The marriage was annulled on July 9, 1540, on the grounds that it had never been consummated, with Henry claiming that he found his bride so unattractive that he could not bear to sleep with her.
Anne was commanded to leave the court on June 24th and on the sixth of July she was informed of her husband's decision to reconsider the marriage. In a short time Anne was asked for her consent to a divorce to which she agreed, receiving a generous settlement, including
Hever Castle, home of Henry's former in-laws the Boleyns. Made a Princess of England and called "sister" by her former husband, Anne remained in England for the rest of her life. She was the last of Henry's six wives to die, in
London, on July 16, 1557, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. By that time she had converted to Roman Catholicism, and remained on good terms with one-time stepdaughter
Princess Mary Tudor.
In film
Elsa Lanchester appeared as Queen Anne in the 1933 film
The Private Life of Henry VIII opposite
Charles Laughton as Henry VIII. In this fanciful comedy of manners, Anne deliberately portrays herself as unattractive and naïve in order to persuade Henry to divorce her, thus enabling her to find love elsewhere.
In 1970, as part of the series
The Six Wives of Henry VIII was a series of six plays produced by the BBC [i] and first transmitted ...
, actress Elvi Hale played the title role in the 90-minute BBC television drama "Anne of Cleves" opposite Keith Michell's Henry VIII.
Mollie Sugden played Anne's German lady-in-waiting. In this, relatively accurate piece, Anne comes to England full of youthful naïveté and joyous hope, only to be horrified upon meeting her future husband. She quickly befriends her young stepdaughter, the
Princess Elizabeth .
Jenny Bos played Anne in the 1972 film
Henry VIII and his Six Wives. Catherine Siggins portrayed Anne in David Starkey's documentrary on the wives in 2001. In 2003, Pia Girard played Anne of Cleves in the mini-series
Henry VIII through she does not even speak — appearing only once in bed awaiting Henry and once, glowing with quiet joy, at the king's funeral seven years later).
Historiography
It was Sir
Horace Walpole, writing in the 18th-century, who resurrected the myth which described Anne as "The Flanders Mare" — a monument to ugliness. This view persisted, and it is still a popular stereotype. Most historians, however, disagree with it.
External links
- , including a very good portrait gallery
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