Anne Boleyn - A queen who inspired a revolution.

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Anne Boleyn:

A queen who inspired a revolution.

In the three years that Anne Boleyn stood along side Henry VIII as his Queen, she managed to shake the foundations of the country’s culture and religion. She was a major influence in the reformation of the English church and had the ability to use her personal strengths to achieve political success. Her ideas and position of power often caused disturbance within political groups, she introduced and sometimes enforced her own revolutionary ideas and the fact that she was not of Royal Blood increased her struggle to take the position of queen in the eyes of the nation. While not deliberately inciting a revolution, the consequence of Anne’s personal and selfish actions led to the England reformation. However, the passion and determination that she displayed both in the Royal Court and in her personal affairs would eventually bring about her downfall.

Although not born into Royalty, Anne’s whole upbringing had been designed to prepare her to become, at worst a lady of standing, at best a Queen. Her father Thomas Boleyn was a powerful and established diplomat; he served the king and was often directly involved with the royal family. As a result, both him and his family were prominent courtiers; his children were raised in the world of politics with a keen sense of loyalty towards their family and faction. Non so much as Anne: Thomas Boleyn, after travelling Europe when dealing with foreign matters, decided that it would be vital to Anne’s development as a lady and political player to spend the majority of her early life in Brussels and Paris. At the age of 12, Anne was sent from her family home to the continent and there she embraced the overwhelming sense of culture that surrounded these two great cities. When Anne returned after nine years, at the age of 21, The hopes of her father were fulfilled. Anne re-entered the court with continental sophistication, a quality that many at the court lacked.

As Anne took her place at court, she soon became the subject of much admiration and attracted many suitors- amongst them, the King. With her personal charm and political acumen, it was no surprise that eventually Anne became Henry’s mistress and second wife. She was immediately recognised as an important figure. She spoke French, the language of the traditional aristocracy, to perfection. She danced and was musical, but what outshone any of these qualities was the fact that Anne was incredibly charismatic and intelligent. Anne was perfectly capable of applying these qualities to the advantage of her family and faction. In conclusion, from the very start Anne entered the royal court a star..

The long-standing marriage between Catherine of Aragon and Henry was now only a marriage of name, there was no real relationship between the two. With a number of unsuccessful pregnancies, Henry in desperation entered a period of reflection, spending much of his time reading the Bible. In doing this, many questions arose that made Henry begin to question the legitimacy of his marriage to Catherine.

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Through the eyes of Henry it was urgent that he secure the succession and Catherine’s failure to provide a male heir, Henry turned to Anne, Henry was now looking for ways to annul his marriage to Catherine after nearly 25 years. In confidence, Henry asked Cardinal Wolsey, a representative of the Pope, to consider the basis of this annulment.  In order to reach a verdict on whether the contract between Catherine and Henry should be breached, Wolsey called an assembly of the ecclesiastical court. However, the situation that Wolsey was placed in was not this simple. As leading advisor to ...

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