Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn was the queen of England from the year 1533 to 1536 (McFarnon, par.4). Her life was overwhelmed with conspiracy and that was asserted to lead to her execution in 1536. Anne was educated in France but enthused to England at 22. Her failed marriage to Thomas Boleyn, her cousin, settled her in King Henry VIII’s courts as a maid of honor to his wife Catherine of Arogan. From mid-1526, Henry VIII started seeking Anne for sexual relations. She declined his interests severally by decreeing to be a mistress to the king in line with her sister Mary. However, the king wanted to nullify his marriage to Catherine as a way to create a good reason to marry Anne. The king divorced Catherine and seeded to marry Anne, who was at the time pregnant. Though the pope initially nullified the marriage, it was validated later in May 1533. As a result, Anne Boleyn became the second wife and the Queen of England from first June 1533. Anne gave the king a descendant, Monarch Elizabeth I.

Anne’s birth to a daughter disappointed the king greatly (McFarnon, par.11). For many years, the king had been looking for a son, the heir to his kingdom and leadership. Anne has three consecutive miscarriages and as such by 1536 she was unable to provide the king with a son. The situation has created a stable basis for her criminal accusations. The king had her investigated for treason, incest, and adultery. The investigation led to her execution on charges of conspiracy against the king, adultery with four men, abuse against her brother and witchcraft. The alleged accusation are believed to be false. Historians have developed theories that explain the criminal charges against Anne Boleyn.

First, the accusation have been asserted to be framed case by Thomas Cromwell (Lehmberg). He was perceived and cruel in his entire life. As well, he was loyal to the king and as such executed all the king’s wills without paying attention to humanity. Historians have established a concrete argument that Thomas had many disagreements with Anne in her last times. Cromwell led the investigations and drafted the accusations against Anne. As such, the historians who agree to the conspired execution agree that the king motivated Thomas actions, and he did such ‘things’ as a way of pleasing the king. The conspiracy accusation as well could only be formulated and affirmed by those who believed in it. Both Cromwell and Henry VIII believed in the phenomenon and felt threatened by its presence in the land. As such, it is most likely Anne was framed for the executions accusations.

According to Mottram (2007), the king, Henry VIII was in a tireless search for a son. He was looking for an heir. The reason he divorced Catherine, the first wife, was to create a room for another woman who would bear him a son. The king had a trail of elimination strategies in his life. He sacrificed his first wife for Anne as an effort to have a son. Anne’s inability to bare a son in the first three years of marriage must have been a great disappointment to the king. As such, it is possible he plotted her murder as a way of eliminating her. The king had many mistresses, an accusation set against Anne. Before Henry VIII married Anne, he was having her and other four maids of honor as mistresses. The king was the adulterer. Again, at the time of her criminal accusation, the king was said to be having an affair with Jane Seymour. Collectively, the king could have enacted or supported her accusation as a method of terminating their marriage. Termination of the wedding would favor his efforts in the search of a son.

In a different dimension, the events resulting Anne’s death by execution happened so fast (Sigmund). Her marriage, for instance, was against the church provisions, and the pope even declined and nullified it on 23rd April 1533. Five days later, the same church leader validated the marriage. The event is a perfect representation of conspiracy. As well, Anne’s investigation for adultery, conspiracy, witchcraft and incest started after she was unable to deliver a son for the son. Conventionally, we can argue that the king grew impatient with her continuous miscarriages. As such, her death was a product of framed criminalized acts and not real and evidence of the actual act.

However, the theory of King Henry VII’s uncontrollable ambitions in search for a son fits the situation perfectly (McFarnon, par.15). As a king, lacking an heir is a form of the disgrace of curse based on the England culture. As such, he had to tirelessly and at all cost advance his efforts to have a son as an heir. Again, his historical mischief behavior could have repeated itself, ‘history repeats itself.’ At the end of his kingdom, he had six wives, one at a time. As such, framing the second wife for a son was part of his typical way of life. Conventionally, it is possible that Anne Boleyn met unordinary death by framed accusation that led to her execution.

Anne Boleyn created impact in history irrespective of her painful and shameful death (Mottram). Her death occurred during the Renaissance time and marked her as among the top renaissance women of the time. She provided an outstanding courage for women in the country. She was the first England Queen to be executed. Before she met her death, though afraid, she wrote poems reflecting her position as a woman in the society. She explored the actual dignity of woman in the society by death by the blade. Besides her beauty, she was educated and proclaimed an outstanding personal profile. She was able to capture the eye and audience of the king even when she was working in the courts.

She as well played a role in religion reformation. Her marriage to Henry VIII was contradicted by Pope Clement VIII (McFarnon, par.9). The event led to Reformation and split of the Catholic Church. The event was propelled by Anne’s marriage to Henry VIII. Though the wedding does not justify the split, it formed the foundational contributions to its split. Anne Boleyn as well contributed heavily in history by being the biological mother to Elizabeth I. Elizabeth I took the face of her disguised mother by her success. Though her mother was disgraced, and nobody talked about her, she reinstated the position of a woman in the society by becoming the Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 at the age of twenty-five years. She was a successful, respected and a reputable virgin leader.

Works Cited

Lehmberg, Stanford E. “Anne Boleyn: A Biography.” History: Reviews of New Books (2013): 53. Print.

McFarnon, Emma. “Why Did Anne Boleyn Have to Die?” History Extra. BBC History Magazine, 27 July 2015. Web. 27 July 2015. <http://www.historyextra.com/feature/tudors/why-did-anne-boleyn-have-die>.

Mottram, Stewart. “Royal Supremacy and the Rhetoric of Empire: Anne Boleyn’s 1533 Entry.” Empire and Nation in Early English Renaissance Literature (2007): 67-102. Print.

Sigmund, Wilens. “Queen Anne Boleyn.” Wicked Women of Tudor England (2012). Print.