Thursday, January 6, 2011

On This Day in Tudor History


On January 6, 1540, King Henry VIII married Anna of Cleves. The marriage was never consummated, and she was not crowned queen consort.

Hans Holbein the Younger was dispatched to paint portraits of Anne and her younger sister, Amalia, both of whom Henry was considering as his fourth wife. Henry required the artist to be as accurate as possible, not to flatter the sisters. Sir Thomas Cromwell pushed for the union and oversaw the negotiations.

Henry valued education and cultural sophistication in women, but Anne lacked these. She could read and write, but only in German. Anne was dark haired, with a rather swarthy complexion, appeared solemn by English standards, and looked old for her age. Holbein painted her with high forehead, heavy-lidded eyes and a pointed chin.

Henry was not pleased with his fiancee, railing that she was nothing that was described to him and that he "Likes her not!"

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. Despite Henry's very vocal misgivings, the two were married on January 6, 1540 at the royal Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. The couple's first night as husband and wife was not a happy 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".

Anna was commanded to leave the court on June 24th and the marriage was annulled on July 9, 1540 on the grounds of non-consummation and her pre-contract to Francis of Lorraine.

For not fighting the arrangement, Henry gave Anna a generous settlement which included the Palace at Richmond, Anne Boleyn's family home at Hever, and the title: "the King's Beloved Sister."

6 comments:

  1. Thank you for bringing such nice posts. Thanks for sharing this.

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  2. If only we had more, much more, and accurate portraits of the Tudors! But I'm sure this drives all Tudors fans nuts all the time, as well as me!

    I wonder what Anne of Cleves really looked like, as Holbein was said to have made alterations to the picture. Was she really as awful in appearance as Henry said?

    But then--we have precious little to go by to know what even Anne Boleyn looked like...

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  3. Anne of Cleves really looked like, as Holbein was said to have made alterations to the picture.Henry gave Anna a generous settlement which included the Palace at Richmond, Anne Boleyn's family home at Hever, and the title:

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  4. The couple's first night as husband and wife was not a happy 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".

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  5. The couple's first night as husband and wife was not a happy 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".

    ReplyDelete
  6. You have a healthy interest in the Tudors and a strong writing ability.

    Would you consider contributing an article (or more than one) to the Henry VIII issue of Audacious Magazine?

    Please visit the website for further information

    http://audaciousmagazine.webs.com/submissions.html

    Many thanks


    Audacious Magazine

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