The Marriages of Henry VIII

Three queens in four years

Anne Boleyn was crowned on 1 June 1533 and beheaded on 19 May 1536. Eleven days after her death Henry married Jane Seymour, who gave him the son he had broken with Rome to get and died twelve days after the birth. Two years of widowhood later he married a German princess he had never met, and had the marriage annulled within six months. One question ran through all three marriages: who would inherit the throne? And behind two of the three stood Thomas Cromwell, who built the case that destroyed the first queen and negotiated the treaty that produced the third. The third marriage destroyed him. The exam asks for reasons: why Anne fell, why Jane was chosen, why Cleves. This module gives you the dated evidence for each, then the question shapes those reasons are written for.

Five words the examiners use

Each definition ends with the moment it mattered, because a definition on its own earns nothing in a 12-mark answer.

Seven years, in order

Put these six events in the order they happened.

• Anne Boleyn is crowned at Westminster Abbey
• Anne gives birth to a daughter, Elizabeth
• Catherine of Aragon dies, and three weeks later Anne miscarries a boy
• Anne is beheaded within the Tower by a swordsman brought from Calais
• Jane Seymour gives birth to Edward at Hampton Court and dies twelve days later
• The marriage to Anne of Cleves is annulled

January 1536

On 7 January 1536 Catherine of Aragon died. On 29 January, the day of her funeral, Anne miscarried a male child. Within four months Anne was dead. Which explanation best links the two January events to her fall?

• With Catherine dead, Henry could take a new wife without reopening the argument with Rome, and the miscarriage convinced him that Anne would never give him a son. That made her removable, and Cromwell removed her.
• Anne was blamed for the death of Catherine and put on trial for poisoning her.
• The miscarriage proved under Church law that the marriage was invalid.
• Henry needed Anne out of the way in order to return England to the Pope.

Two queens, chosen for opposite reasons

Henry chose his third wife to be everything his second was not. Set them side by side and the reasons for both marriages fall out.

Why a German bride?

Six things happened between the death of Jane and the wedding at Greenwich. Tap the TWO that describe the threat which made a foreign alliance urgent.

• In June 1538 Francis I of France and the Emperor Charles V signed the Truce of Nice, ending their war and leaving England without a friend on the continent.
• In December 1538 the Pope at last published the bull excommunicating Henry, which freed Catholic rulers to move against him.
• In the summer of 1539 Hans Holbein painted Anne, and Henry liked the portrait.
• The marriage treaty with the Duke of Cleves was signed on 4 October 1539.
• Anne landed at Deal on 27 December 1539 and was married at Greenwich on 6 January 1540.

The hand of Cromwell

Select the THREE things Cromwell actually did in the story of the marriages.

• Assembled the charges of adultery and treason against Anne in the spring of 1536, from the arrest of the musician Mark Smeaton on 30 April to the trials of 15 May.
• Once Catherine was dead, opened talks for an understanding with the Emperor Charles V, which Anne opposed.
• Negotiated the Cleves marriage treaty of October 1539 to bring the Protestant princes of Germany onto the side of England.
• Chose Jane Seymour as the next queen and arranged the wedding as her guardian.
• Pleaded with Henry to spare the life of Anne.
• Picked Catherine Howard to replace Anne of Cleves.

Reasons, not stories

Every question on this bullet asks for reasons, and a reason earns marks only when it is tied to dated evidence. One line for each marriage: 1. Why Anne fell: no son after three years, a rival faction with a candidate ready, a minister who needed her gone, and a king who wanted to be free. Evidence: the miscarriage of 29 January 1536, the arrests from 30 April, the annulment of 17 May, the execution of 19 May. 2. Why Jane: the son, above all, and a queen who would not argue. Evidence: the betrothal on 20 May 1536, Edward on 12 October 1537, the second Act of Succession settling the crown on her children. 3. Why Cleves: isolation. Evidence: the Truce of Nice in June 1538, the excommunication published that December, the treaty of 4 October 1539. And the consequence: once Francis and Charles fell out again in 1540 the alliance was pointless, the marriage was annulled on 9 July, and Cromwell, arrested on 10 June, was executed on 28 July, the day Henry married Catherine Howard. Examiners see the story told well and given no marks every year. Lead with the reason, then prove it.

Advising the king, 1536 to 1540

You are Thomas Cromwell. Four moments where the marriages of the king decided your own fate. Choose as Cromwell chose, and notice what each choice bought him and what it cost.

• April 1536. The queen has miscarried a son, she has attacked you in public over the monastery money, and the king is courting Jane Seymour. What do you do?
• October 1537. Jane has given the king a son and died twelve days later. The king is grieving and Edward is a baby. What do you advise?
• Early 1539. France and the Emperor have made peace, the Pope has published the excommunication, and there is talk of invasion. Which marriage do you propose?
• New Year 1540. The king has met Anne at Rochester and tells you he likes her not. The treaty is signed and her escort is waiting. What do you advise?

From cause to consequence

Because Catherine died in January _____, a new marriage could no longer be attacked from Rome as bigamy, which removed the last reason to keep Anne. Because Jane produced _____ in October 1537, the succession was settled by statute on her children. Because the Truce of _____ left England isolated, Cromwell looked to the German princes and found a bride in _____. And because that alliance stopped mattering within months, the minister who had made the match was executed in July _____.

From execution to wedding

Anne Boleyn was executed on 19 May 1536. Henry married Jane Seymour on 30 May 1536. How many days later was the wedding?

The 4-mark question

Question (a) might read: Describe two features of the marriage of Henry VIII to Anne of Cleves. It is marked feature plus supporting detail, twice. Which answer scores all four marks?

• One feature was that it was an alliance marriage: the treaty of October 1539 was meant to bring the Protestant princes of Germany onto the side of England after the Truce of Nice. Another was that it was short: married on 6 January 1540, Henry had it annulled on 9 July on the grounds that it had never been consummated.
• It was an alliance. It was annulled.
• Henry saw her at Rochester and did not like her, so he married her anyway and then got rid of her, and then Cromwell was executed because it was his fault.
• Henry married Anne of Cleves because after the Truce of Nice of 1538 England had no allies, and Cromwell believed a marriage into Cleves would frighten the Emperor.

A 12-mark paragraph, marked

Question (b): Explain why Anne Boleyn fell from power in 1536. One reason for the fall of Anne Boleyn was the part played by Thomas Cromwell. By the spring of 1536 the queen and the minister were enemies: she wanted the wealth of the dissolved monasteries spent on schools and the poor, he wanted it for the crown, and in April her chaplain preached a sermon against him at court. Anne also favoured France, while Cromwell, now that Catherine was dead, was negotiating with the ambassador of Charles V. This meant that Cromwell had a motive to remove her as well as the means: between the arrest of Mark Smeaton on 30 April and the trials of 15 May he assembled charges of adultery with five men and of plotting the death of the king. The charges were almost certainly false, but they were enough. Cromwell later told the Imperial ambassador that he had planned the whole affair, which shows how far her fall was his work rather than an accident of the king. What earned the marks: a cause named in the first sentence; four pieces of specific support (the monastery quarrel, the sermon, the Imperial talks, the dates of the arrests and trials); the link phrase this meant that, turning evidence into explanation; and a final sentence that returns to the question. Two more paragraphs like it, on the son and on the Seymour faction, and the answer reaches the top level.

Write the 12-mark answer

Explain why Henry VIII married Anne of Cleves in 1540. You may use the following in your answer: the Truce of Nice (1538); the death of Jane Seymour. You must also use information of your own.

• Support that counts: a date, a name, a treaty or a document
• Causes of your own: the excommunication of December 1538, the German Protestant princes, the portrait, or the role of Cromwell

The 16-mark judgement

Question (c) might read: "The main reason for the fall of Anne Boleyn was her failure to give Henry a son." How far do you agree? A student has written the case FOR. Which is the strongest point to set AGAINST it?

• Cromwell had reasons of his own: Anne opposed his plans for the monastery wealth and for an understanding with the Emperor, so he had a motive to remove her and the skill to build a capital case in under three weeks. Without him the lack of a son might have ended in an annulment, not a scaffold.
• Anne was a Protestant and Henry was not, so the marriage could never have lasted.
• Jane Seymour was already expecting a child, so Henry had to marry her quickly.
• The Pope demanded her execution as the price of lifting the excommunication.