Lead: Anne Boleyn refused to be Henry VIII's mistress.

Tag: "A Moment in Time" with Dan Roberts.

Content: She was not particularly beautiful, although she had dark hair, fine eyes, a long neck which gave her a certain graceful authority, and a vivacious personality. Her sister Mary had been the king's mistress. The teen aged Anne followed her to court. From 1519 to 1522 she was educated and received a measure of social polish in the household of the Queen of France. At the outbreak of war between the two countries Anne returned from France and came back to court. Sometime in the next three years she caught the attention of Henry and he joined a not inconsiderable number of males at court vying for the girl's affection. By 1525 the competition dropped by the wayside and their relationship had become somewhat more than a royal dalliance.

Ordinarily Anne would simply have become one of Henry's long line of mistresses. She would have been taken, used, and thrown away, but she refused to become the flavor of the month, and the more she pushed him away, the more Henry had to have her.

England might have been spared the great dispute that followed had this affair simply been the lust of a middle-aged man for a young girl. But the subsequent struggle over the king's divorce was occasioned by dynastic urgency. Henry was convinced that if he didn't have a male heir social and political unrest would follow in the wake of his death. His wife Catherine of Aragon had not produced any but a single female child, though she had a number of children who died at birth. Ignoring the possibility that he might be the source of the reproductive dysfunction, Henry settled upon a plan to secure a son to rule the kingdom at his death.

The King's frustration with Catherine perfectly coincided with his fascination with the exciting, vigorous young woman who held him at bay. It was a dangerous game, playing with the royal affections. She might meet the same fate as her predecessor if a boy was not forthcoming, but in those heady days of courtship, Anne Bolyn determined her course: she would surrender to him only if he would give himself completely to her.

Resources

Dowling, Maria. "A Woman's Place? Learning in the Wives of Henry VIII," History Today. (Great Britain), 1991 41 (June): 38-42.

Fraiser, Antonia. The Wives of Henry VIII. New York: Knopf Publishing Company, 1992.

Mattingly, Garrett. Catherine of Aragon. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1941.

Scarisbrick, J.J. Henry VIII. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968.

Copyright 1994 by Daniel M. Roberts, Jr.