英國皇室歷史：Anne Boleyn

英國王室(英文常簡稱Er)是現存最古老的王室之一，每代君主的加冕儀式都嚴格奉行完全一樣的傳統，這使得英國王室的加冕典禮成爲現存的、依然舉行的最古老的儀式。英國是君主立憲制國家，英國王室只作爲凝聚國家力量的象徵，並不具備實質性權力。英國國王只是形式上的最高統治者和三軍總司令，政府的實際領導人是首相，通過民選產生。首相可就重大事項與國王磋商，決定權由議會和首相做出，最終在國王的認可下生效。英國前後各王朝或多或少都有血統和法理上的傳承，僅僅因爲沒有合法的男性繼承人，而改朝換代，更換王朝名稱。

英國皇室歷史：Anne Boleyn (d. 1536)

Early Life

Anne Boleyn was the the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, later created 1st Earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde, and his wife, Elizabeth Howard.

Controversy surrounds Anne's birth date, but it was probably late May-early June,1500 -1507 and was likely to have been at Blickling in Norfolk where she spent some of her childhood years. Anne had two siblings, a brother George, later created Viscount Rochford and an elder sister Mary Boleyn.

Anne's father's family, the Bullens, descended from merchant stock, her great-grandfather, Geoffrey Bullen, was a London mercer who rose to be Mayor of the city from 1457-8 and recieved a knighthood. Her mother was of much more illustrious origins, the daughter of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, she was descended from Edward I and a host of aristocratic families.

Thomas Boleyn was amongst a group of envoys assigned to the Regent of Netherlands court in 1512. While there, he formed a firm friendship with Margaret, Archduchess of Austria, which he used to secure a prestigious appointment for his daughter. Anne was educated in the household of the Archduchess Margaret of Austria in the Netherlands, and after the winter of 1514, in Paris. Anne proved to be proficient in her lessons, particularly at languages. She excelled in French and eventually came to speak it like a native.

Anne grew into an attractive woman with dark hair, olive complexion and beguiling French ways and fashions, with a vivacious personality, but her most striking feature was her eyes, which were large dark and lustrous. It was later asserted that Anne suffered from Polydactyly, having six fingers on her left hand but this has recently been questioned on the grounds that there is no contemporary evidence to support it.

Marriage to Henry VIII

Anne returned to England in 1521 and first appeared at the English court at a masquerade ball in March 1522, where she danced with several court ladies including the king's youngest sister, Mary. She was at the time romantically involved with the young Henry Percy, the son of the Earl of Northumberland but Percy's father refused to agree to an engagement. Anne had other admirers at court, including the poet Thomas Wyatt. Anne's sister Mary had been the mistress of Henry VIII and was later married to Sir William Carey, a wealthy courtier. Anne herself first seemed to have caught the eye of the king in around 1525.

Learning no doubt, from the example of her sister, who had been cast off and of no further use, she resisted the king's attempts to seduce her, which suceeded in inflaming inflame his ardour even more and he became infatuated with her. Henry VIII's passion for Anne Boleyn is evident in the famous love letters he wrote to her, seventeen of which still survive in the Vatican. The ambitious Anne refused to become his mistress and held out for marriage.

Henry's conscience, always a very pliable instrument, conveniently came into play. He claimed to be troubled by a verse in Leviticus stating it was sinful for a man to take his brother's wife and as punishment, any such transgressor would be childless. He persuaded himself that this was why God had denied him a male heir by his marriage to Catherine.

Lead on by the resolute Anne, now determined to become queen, Henry resolved that he would divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon. Catherine, however, refused to comply and acquired the considerable support of her powerful nephew, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. The Pope, caught in Charles' power, could not gratify Henry's desire for an annulment. Despite the strenuous efforts of Wolsey, "The Kings Great Matter" as it came to be referred to, dragged on for many years. Henry, characteristically furious and frustrated at not obtaining his own way, defied the Pope, setting himself up as head of the Church of England, a church that was Catholic in doctrine but divorced from the "Bishop of Rome".

Matters had now to proceed swiftly, as Anne had announced herself pregnant and Henry was determined that the child, whom he ardently convinced himself would be the longed for son, should be born in lawful matrimony. Henry and Anne went through a secret wedding service, a second wedding service was performed , which took place on 25 January 1533. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, a man of decidedly Protestant leanings, performed the marriage service.

Henry's marriage to Catherine was declared null and void. Catherine's daughter, the Lady Mary, suffered deprivations and the humiliation of being publicly declared a bastard, she was denied access to her mother, although they continued to correspond in secret. Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More were among many who suffered execution because they could not, in good conscience, subscribe to the Act of Supremacy.

More commented that Anne Boleyn might "spurn off our heads like footballs" but it would not be long before her head "would dance the like dance," and so it proved to be. Anne's baby, born in September 1533, to Henry's fury, was not the promised son and heir, but a daughter, named Elizabeth, after the King's mother who was to be the future Elizabeth I. The king made no efforts to conceal his displeasure at the birth of a girl. When Anne later miscarried of a son in 1536 her fate was sealed.

The fall of Anne Boleyn

Henry's affections, always volatile and unsteadfast, had strayed to one of Anne's ladies in waiting, Jane Seymour. Mistress Seymour, prim, quiet and subservient, was the very antithesis of Henry's argumentative, loud and strong-willed wife, and therein probably lay her attraction to the king. Anne had promised him a son, but annoyingly had failed to deliver what he wanted and he was weary of heated arguments with her. The recent death of Catherine of Aragon had rendered it possible for Henry to be rid of Anne without anticipating the prospect of again being tied to Catherine. Ironically, while Catherine had lived, Anne remained safe in her position, Anne herself had long recognised the fact, declaring "she is my death and I am hers".

Anne was arrested and tried on a trumped-up charge of treason, for adultery with five men including her own brother. It is unlikely that the charges against her had any basis in fact. After entering the Tower of London through Traitor's Gate, Anne was imprisoned in the Queen's House. Ironically, she had spent the night before her coronation there also, when at the peak of her power, such a short while ago. After her arrival at the Tower in April 1536, Anne's behaviour oscillated from a resigned calmness to occasional bouts of hysteria and depression. Sometimes laughing, the next weeping uncontrollably. Anne's trial took place in the medieval Great Hall. Despite her spirited defence of her reputation and rigorous denial of the charges brought against her, which included the ridiculous charge of incest with her own brother, she was sentenced, by a jury controlled by Henry, making it a predecided issue, to be burned or beheaded at the King's pleasure. Her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk presided over the jury, although her father, the self seeking Thomas Boleyn was excused his duty as a juror.

Disliked for her arrogant manner, there was no-one to defend Anne. She stoutly maintained her innocence of the charges throughout. Deserted by everyone, she went to the block with courage. Rather than the execution be carried out by a clumsy axe, Henry had considerately brought over an expert swordsman from France to execute his wife. She was beheaded privately in the Tower on 19th May, 1536, to enable the King to marry his new love, Jane Seymour.

She wore a "red petticoat under a loose, dark grey gown of damask trimmed in fur". Her dark hair was bound up and she wore her customary French headdress. After making a short and cryptic speech to the assembled crowd, Anne knelt and uttered a final prayer, her ladies removed the headdress and covered her eyes with a a blindfold. The execution was swift, consisting of a single stroke.

Anne's mangled corpse was hurriedly coffined in an arrow chest and buried in an unmarked grave in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula within the Tower. During the restoration of the Chapel, the pathetic coffins of many of the victims of Henry VIII's tyranny were exposed in the nave. Included amongst these were the skeleton of a woman of 'excessively delicate proportions' which is thought to be that of Anne Boleyn. Queen Victoria had a green and red marble memorial pavement laid in the sanctuary, which contains, amongst others, the names and coats of arms of Anne Boleyn.

隨着與西班牙關係的惡化，亨利八世對於自己的婚姻問題日益不滿。到1527年，他的王后阿拉貢的凱瑟琳已年逾40，只有一個女兒瑪麗而無男嗣，都鐸王朝的王統面臨斷絕的危險。這時亨利八世愛上了在法國宮廷受過教育，傾向宗教改革的貴婦安娜·波琳，便決心離婚再娶。按教會法規，國王的婚姻問題必須由羅馬教皇批准，方爲合法，亨利八世便向羅馬教皇克雷芒七世提出請求。但教皇此時完全受制於查理五世，阿拉貢的凱瑟琳是查理五世的姨母，所以教皇使用各種手段，拒不批准亨利八世的離婚。國內的舊貴族和教會人士也對離婚案持反對態度。指靠羅馬教廷和教俗舊貴族解決這個問題，顯已全然無望。在此關頭，亨利八世毅然改弦易轍，轉向全國要求改革的鄉紳與資產階級等階層尋求支持，於1529年10月罷免了民憤極大的沃爾西，並在11月召開議會，開始實行宗教改革。亨利八世於1533年由英國教會法庭批准，與阿拉貢的凱瑟琳離婚，並與安娜·波琳結婚，同年誕生女兒伊麗莎白。由國會法案確認了這項婚姻及其後裔繼承權的合法性。由於奪取教會財產，王室財政收入增加了兩倍左右，使亨利八世成爲英國空前富有的國王。正由於這些好處，亨利八世對於上述議會法案的制定與通過，一直採取贊同、鼓勵以至促進的態度。改革前進之遠，恐怕並非他的初衷，但是任何措施只要於王權有利，亨利八世還是表現得勇於決斷，設有猶豫顧忌之態的。

安妮·博林(Anne Boleyn)王后 (1533年1月25日結婚;1536年5月19日被處死)

伊麗莎白一世 1533年9月7日 1603年3月24日 沒有結婚

亨利·都鐸 1534年 1534年 歷史學家們不確定這個孩子到底是出生不久就死亡了，還是被流產了。因爲這件事情被隱瞞，這個孩子的性別都未能確定。

愛德華·都鐸 1536年1月29日 1536年1月29日 死產

電影“千日安妮”(Anne of the Thousand Days)，1969年。扮演亨利的理查·伯頓和扮演安妮·博林的珍妮薇芙·褒祖德(Geneviève Bujold)分別獲得奧斯卡最佳男主角獎和奧斯卡最佳女主角獎的提名。