Anne of Cleves

Anne of Cleves
Portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1539. Oil and Tempera on Parchment mounted on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Queen consort of England
Tenure	6 January 1540 – 9 July 1540
Born	(1515-09-22)22 September 1515 Düsseldorf, Duchy of Berg, Holy Roman Empire
Died	Chelsea Manor, England
Burial	3 August 1557 Westminster Abbey
Spouse	Henry VIII of England (m. 6 Jan–9 Jul 1540; ann.)
House	House of La Marck
Father	John III, Duke of Cleves
Mother	Maria of Jülich-Berg
Religion	Roman Catholic, then Anglican, then Roman Catholic
Signature

Anne of Cleves (German: Anna; 22 September 1515 – 16 July 1557) was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540 as the fourth wife of King Henry VIII. The marriage was declared never consummated and, as a result, she was not crowned queen consort. Following the annulment of their marriage, Anne was given a generous settlement by the King, and thereafter referred to as the King's Beloved Sister. She lived to see the coronation of Queen Mary I, outliving the rest of Henry's wives.

Early life

Anne was born on 22 September 1515 in Düsseldorf, the second daughter of John III of the House of La Marck, Duke of Jülich jure uxoris, Cleves, Berg jure uxoris, Count of Mark, also known as de la Marck and Ravensberg jure uxoris (often referred to as Duke of Cleves) who died in 1538, and his wife Maria, Duchess of Julich-Berg (1491–1543). She grew up living in Schloss Burg on the edge of Solingen. Anne's father was influenced by Erasmus and followed a moderate path within the Reformation. He sided with the Schmalkaldic League and opposed Emperor Charles V. After John's death, Anne's brother William became Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, bearing the promising epithet "The Rich". In 1526, her elder sister Sibylle was married to John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, head of the Protestant Confederation of Germany and considered the "Champion of the Reformation".

At the age of 11 (1527), Anne was betrothed to Francis, son and heir of the Duke of Lorraine while he was only 10. Thus the betrothal was considered unofficial and was cancelled in 1535. Her brother William was a Lutheran but the family was unaligned religiously, with her mother, the Duchess Maria, described as a "strict Catholic". The Duke's ongoing dispute over Gelderland with Emperor Charles V made them suitable allies for England's King Henry VIII in the wake of the Truce of Nice. The match with Anne was urged on the King by his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell.

Wedding preparations

The artist Hans Holbein the Younger was dispatched to paint portraits of Anne and her younger sister, Amalia, each of whom Henry was considering as his fourth wife. Henry required the artist to be as accurate as possible, not to flatter the sisters. The two versions of Holbein's portrait are in the Musée du Louvre in Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Another 1539 portrait, by the school of Barthel Bruyn the Elder, is in the collection of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Negotiations with Cleves were in full swing by March 1539. Cromwell oversaw the talks, and a marriage treaty was signed on 4 October of that year.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII
Catherine of Aragon
Anne Boleyn
Jane Seymour
Anne of Cleves
Catherine Howard
Catherine Parr

Portrait of Anne in the 1540s by Bartholomäus Bruyn the elder

Henry valued education and cultural sophistication in women, but Anne lacked these: She had received no formal education but was skilled in needlework and liked playing card games. She could read and write, but only in German. Nevertheless, Anne was considered gentle, virtuous, and docile, qualities that recommended her as a suitable candidate for Henry.

Anne was described by the French ambassador, Charles de Marillac, as tall and slim, "of middling beauty, and of very assured and resolute countenance". She was fair haired and was said to have had a lovely face. In the words of the chronicler Edward Hall, "Her hair hanging down, which was fair, yellow and long ... she was apparelled after the English fashion, with a French hood, which so set forth her beauty and good visage, that every creature rejoiced to behold her". She appeared rather solemn by English standards, and looked old for her age. Holbein painted her with high forehead, heavy-lidded eyes and a pointed chin.

Henry met her privately on New Year's Day 1540 at Rochester on her journey from Dover. Henry and some of his courtiers, following a courtly-love tradition, went disguised into the room where Anne was staying, and Henry boldly kissed her. According to the testimony of his companions, he was disappointed with Anne, feeling she was not as described. According to the chronicler Charles Wriothesley, Anne "regarded him little", though it is unknown if she knew if this was the king or not. Henry did then reveal his true identity to Anne, although he is said to have been put off the marriage from then on. Henry and Anne then met officially on 3 January on Blackheath outside the gates of Greenwich Park, where a grand reception was laid out.

Most historians believe that he later used Anne's alleged 'bad' appearance and failure to inspire him to consummate the marriage as excuses, saying how he felt he had been misled, for everyone had praised Anne's attractions: "She is nothing so fair as she hath been reported," he complained. Henry urged Cromwell to find a legal way to avoid the marriage but, by this point, doing so was impossible without endangering the vital alliance with the Germans. In his anger and frustration the King finally turned on Cromwell, to his subsequent regret. Cromwell's enemies, who had long waited for him to make his first false step, began to close in.

A doomed marriage

Anne of Cleves's arms as queen consort

Despite Henry's very vocal misgivings, the two were married on 6 January 1540 at the royal Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. The phrase "God send me well to keep" was engraved around Anne’s wedding ring. Immediately after arriving in England, Anne conformed to the Anglican form of worship, which Henry expected. The couple's first night as husband and wife was not a successful one. Henry confided to Cromwell that he had not consummated the marriage, saying, "I liked her before not well, but now I like her much worse." He described her as having unpleasant body odour and sagging breasts, among other complaints. In February 1540, Anne praised the King as a kind husband to the Countess of Rutland, saying: "When he comes to bed he kisseth me, and he taketh me by the hand, and biddeth me 'Good night, sweetheart'; and in the morning kisseth me and biddeth 'Farewell, darling.'" Lady Rutland responded: "Madam, there must be more than this, or it will be long ere we have a duke of York, which all this realm most desireth."

Anne was commanded to leave the Court on 24 June, and on 6 July she was informed of her husband's decision to reconsider the marriage. Witness statements were taken from a number of courtiers and two physicians which register the king's disappointment at her appearance. Henry had also commented to Thomas Heneage and Anthony Denny that he could not believe she was a virgin. Shortly afterwards, Anne was asked for her consent to an annulment, to which she agreed. Cromwell, the moving force behind the marriage, was attainted for treason. The marriage was annulled on 9 July 1540, on the grounds of non-consummation and her pre-contract to Francis of Lorraine. Henry VIII's physician stated that after the wedding night, Henry said he was not impotent because he experienced "duas pollutiones nocturnas in somno" (two nocturnal pollutions while in sleep; i.e., two wet dreams). On 28 July Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard: on the same day Thomas Cromwell was executed, in theory for treason, but in practice as a scapegoat for the doomed German marriage.

After the annulment

The former queen received a generous settlement, including Richmond Palace, and Hever Castle, home of Henry's former in-laws, the Boleyns. Anne of Cleves House, in Lewes, Sussex, is just one of many properties she owned; she never lived there. Henry and Anne became good friends—she was an honorary member of the King's family and was referred to as "the King's Beloved Sister". She was invited to court often and, out of gratitude for her not contesting the annulment, Henry decreed that she would be given precedence over all women in England save his own wife and daughters.

After Catherine Howard was beheaded, Anne and her brother, the Duke of Cleves, pressed the king to remarry Anne. Henry quickly refused to do so. She seems to have disliked Catherine Parr, and reportedly reacted to the news of Henry's sixth marriage with the remark "Madam Parr is taking a great burden on herself."

In March 1547, Edward VI's Privy Council asked her to move out of Bletchingley Palace, her usual residence, to Penshurst Place to make way for Thomas Cawarden, Master of Revels. They pointed out that Penshurst was nearer to Hever and the move had been Henry VIII's will.

On 4 August 1553, Anne wrote to Mary to congratulate her on her marriage to Philip of Spain. On 28 September 1553, when Mary left St James's Palace for Whitehall, she was accompanied by her sister Elizabeth and Anne of Cleves. Anne also took part in Mary I's coronation procession, and may have been present at her coronation at Westminster Abbey. These were her last public appearances. As the new Queen was a strict Catholic, Anne yet again changed religion, now becoming a Roman Catholic.

After a brief return to prominence, she lost royal favour in 1554, following Wyatt's rebellion. According to Simon Renard, the imperial ambassador, Anne's close association with Elizabeth had convinced the Queen that "the Lady [Anne] of Cleves was of the plot and intrigued with the Duke of Cleves to obtain help for Elizabeth: matters in which the king of France was the prime mover". There is no evidence that Anne was invited back to court after 1554. She was compelled to live a quiet and obscure life on her estates. After her arrival as the King's bride, Anne never left England. Despite occasional feelings of homesickness, Anne was generally content in England and was described by Holinshed as "a ladie of right commendable regards, courteous, gentle, a good housekeeper and verie bountifull to hir seruants."

Death

When Anne's health began to fail, Mary allowed her to live at Chelsea Old Manor, where Henry's last wife, Catherine Parr, had lived after her remarriage. Here, in the middle of July 1557, Anne dictated her last will. In it, she mentions her brother, sister, and sister-in-law, as well as the future Queen Elizabeth, the Duchess of Suffolk, and the Countess of Arundel. She left some money to her servants and asked Mary and Elizabeth to employ them in their households. She was remembered by everyone who served her as a particularly generous and easy-going mistress.

Anne died at Chelsea Old Manor on 16 July 1557, eight weeks before her forty-second birthday. The cause of her death was most likely to have been cancer. She was buried in Westminster Abbey, on 3 August, in what has been described as a "somewhat hard to find tomb" on the opposite side of Edward the Confessor's shrine and slightly above eye level for a person of average height. She is the only wife of Henry VIII to be buried in the Abbey.

Anne's epitaph in Westminster Abbey, which is in English, reads simply:

ANNE OF CLEVES QUEEN OF ENGLAND BORN 1515 * DIED 1557

She also has the distinction of being the last of Henry VIII's wives to die (she outlived Henry's last wife, Catherine Parr, by 9 years). She was not the longest-lived, however, since Catherine of Aragon was 50 at the time of her death.

Literature

Anne is the subject of three biographies: Julia Hamilton's Anne of Cleves (1972), and Mary Saaler's Anne of Cleves: Fourth Wife of Henry VIII (1995), and Elizabeth Norton's Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII's Discarded Bride (2009). Retha Warnicke has written an academic study on Anne's marriage called The Marrying of Anne of Cleves. Royal Protocol in Early Modern England (2000).

Anne of Cleves appears as a character in many historical novels about Henry's reign. In The Fifth Queen (1906) by Ford Madox Ford she is portrayed as a sensible, practical woman who happily settles for annulment in return for the material benefits. Anne of Cleves is the main character of My Lady of Cleves (1946) by Margaret Campbell Barnes. About a third of The Boleyn Inheritance (2006) by Philippa Gregory is recounted from Anne's point of view, covering the period of Henry VIII's marriages to her and to her successor Catherine Howard. The book concludes with Anne living away from court, and avoiding the execution ceremonies of Howard and of Jane Boleyn, sister-in-law to one of Henry's queens and lady-in-waiting to all the others, including Anne. Gregory includes Anne in a non-fictional review of the period at the end of the book.

Anne and her Holbein portrait in the Louvre are the focus of the novel Amenable Women (2009) by Mavis Cheek. Anne and Catherine Howard are the subject of The Queen's Mistake by Diane Haeger (2009), while Anne and Jane Seymour are covered in Volume 3 of Dixie Atkins's tetralogy A Golden Sorrow (2010).

In popular media

• The role of Anne of Cleves was played by Elsa Lanchester in The Private Life of Henry VIII, which was released in 1933. Lanchester's husband Charles Laughton played Henry VIII and won an Academy Award for his portrayal. The film received a Best Picture nomination; the first for a picture made outside the U.S.
• Rick Wakeman recorded the piece "Anne of Cleves" for his 1973 album, The Six Wives of Henry VIII
• Anne of Cleves was played by Elvi Hale in the episode Anne of Cleves in the television series The Six Wives of Henry VIII. This series portrays Anne as a personally naive yet politically clever woman who convinces Henry against consummating the union so that he can get out of his alliance with the Germans should the need arise. When Anne's predictions prove true, it is she who suggests becoming "the King's beloved sister".
• The role of Anne of Cleves was played by actress and singer Joss Stone in the Showtime cable television series The Tudors. The series downplays Anne's naiveté and exaggerates her popularity so as to provide a foil for the immature, unpopular Catherine Howard. The series also has an anachronistically svelte Henry engaging in an affair with Anne after his marriage to Catherine Howard, realizing too late that he "like[s] her after all."
• In The Simpsons episode "Father Knows Worst", when Homer falls asleep while building a balsa wood model of Westminster Abbey, he has a vision of the ghost of Anne of Cleves played by Pamela Hayden. In the episode "Margical History Tour", Anne is portrayed by Otto Mann during Marge's retelling of Henry's reign. Henry (portrayed by Homer) quickly orders Anne's beheading after realizing she is a he.
• Kate Beaton authored a comic strip "Anne of Cleves Gables" on the webcomic "Hark a Vagrant"
• D. Lawrence-Young authored a biographical novel "Anne of Cleves - Henry's Luckiest Wife" published by GMTA/Celestial Press. N.C. USA, 2013.

Ancestry

Family of Anne of Cleves

16. Adolph I, Duke of Cleves               8. John I, Duke of Cleves                       17. Marie of Burgundy               4. John II, Duke of Cleves                             18. John II, Count of Nevers               9. Elizabeth of Nevers                       19. Jacqueline d'Ailly               2. John III, Duke of Cleves                                   20. Louis I, Landgrave of Hesse               10. Henry III, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg                       21. Anna of Saxony               5. Mathilde of Hesse                             22. Philip I, Count of Katzenelnbogen               11. Anna of Katzenelnbogen                       23. Anna of Württemberg               1. Anne of Cleves                                         24. William VIII of Jülich, Count of Ravensberg               12. Gerhard VII, Duke of Jülich-Berg                       25. Adelheid of Tecklenburg               6. William IV, Duke of Jülich-Berg                             26. Bernard II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg               13. Sophie of Saxe-Lauenburg                       27. Adelheid of Pomerania               3. Maria of Jülich-Berg                                   28. Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg               14. Albert III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg                       29. Elisabeth of Bavaria-Landshut               7. Sibylle of Brandenburg                             30. Frederick II, Elector of Saxony               15. Anna of Saxony                       31. Margarete of Austria

External links

• Find A Grave
• A quick overview of Anne's life, including a very good portrait gallery
• A more in-depth examination of Anne's political career
• More information on Anne's life after her annulment
• A Google Earth biography tour of the Six Wives of Henry VIII on the Google Earth Community
• Flickr.com, Anne of Cleves

English royalty
Vacant Title last held by Jane Seymour	Queen consort of England Lady of Ireland 6 January–9 July 1540	Vacant Title next held by Catherine Howard