BOLEYN (BOLENA), ANNA. — Second wife of Henry VIII of England, b. in 1504 (?), d. in 1536. Daughter of Tommaso B., an English gentleman of modest and recent nobility, she was, in her early youth, a lady-in-waiting at the court of Francesco I of France. Having returned permanently to England in 1526 and been received at court, she was immediately noticed by King Henry VIII, who fell madly in love with her. The events surrounding this love were the determining cause of the schism of England. The king was married to Caterina d’Aragona and had had several children by her, of whom only Maria survived; but, determined to marry Anna Bolena, he wanted his previous marriage annulled. Alleging as a pretext that Caterina had been the wife of his elder brother Arturo, although a dispensation from Pope Giulio II had been requested and obtained for the marriage to his sister-in-law, he demanded its annulment. The lengthy debate led to the king’s open rebellion against the Church and to his proclamation as head of the English Church. A group of rebel bishops pronounced the sentence annulling Henry’s marriage to Caterina and pretended to legalize the new marriage, which in fact had already been celebrated previously in secret, taking advantage of a priest’s good faith by making him believe that a regular annulment of the first marriage, pronounced by the Pontiff, had taken place.
A. B. thus became queen of England and was solemnly crowned by Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, who had adhered to the schism. A few months later she gave birth to a daughter, Elisabetta, whom Parliament declared the legitimate heir to the throne, excluding Maria, born of Henry’s marriage to Caterina d’Aragona, from the succession.
Subsequent events nullified this act of Parliament, because A. B.’s reign was brief. After vain hopes of another pregnancy, which Henry awaited anxiously in the hope of having a male heir, he became enamoured of a lady-in-waiting, Jane Seymour, and showed his evident weariness of A. B. Court intrigues and hostility arising against the Boleyns’ favourites led to the circulation of serious accusations of infidelity, and even the abominable accusation of incestuous relations with her brother. It cannot be said that proof of these accusations was obtained, since the only testimonies were extorted under torture. The king nevertheless believed them and, in a swift trial, condemned A. B. and her alleged accomplices to death. The queen was beheaded on 19 May 1536 in the courtyard of the Tower of London, facing death with great dignity.