英国皇室历史：Anne Boleyn

　　英国王室(英文常简称Er)是现存最古老的王室之一，每代君主的加冕仪式都严格奉行完全一样的传统，这使得英国王室的加冕典礼成为现存的、依然举行的最古老的仪式。英国是君主立宪制国家，英国王室只作为凝聚国家力量的象征，并不具备实质性权力。英国国王只是形式上的最高统治者和三军总司令，政府的实际领导人是首相，通过民选产生。首相可就重大事项与国王磋商，决定权由议会和首相做出，最终在国王的认可下生效。英国前后各王朝或多或少都有血统和法理上的传承，仅仅因为没有合法的男性继承人，而改朝换代，更换王朝名称。

　　英国皇室历史：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.

　　随着与西班牙关系的恶化，亨利八世对于自己的婚姻问题日益不满。到1527年，他的王后阿拉贡的凯瑟琳已年逾40，只有一个女儿玛丽而无男嗣，都铎王朝的王统面临断绝的危险。这时亨利八世爱上了在法国宫廷受过教育，倾向宗教改革的贵妇安娜·波琳，便决心离婚再娶。按教会法规，国王的婚姻问题必须由罗马教皇批准，方为合法，亨利八世便向罗马教皇克雷芒七世提出请求。但教皇此时完全受制于查理五世，阿拉贡的凯瑟琳是查理五世的姨母，所以教皇使用各种手段，拒不批准亨利八世的离婚。国内的旧贵族和教会人士也对离婚案持反对态度。指靠罗马教廷和教俗旧贵族解决这个问题，显已全然无望。在此关头，亨利八世毅然改弦易辙，转向全国要求改革的乡绅与资产阶级等阶层寻求支持，于1529年10月罢免了民愤极大的沃尔西，并在11月召开议会，开始实行宗教改革。亨利八世于1533年由英国教会法庭批准，与阿拉贡的凯瑟琳离婚，并与安娜·波琳结婚，同年诞生女儿伊丽莎白。由国会法案确认了这项婚姻及其后裔继承权的合法性。由于夺取教会财产，王室财政收入增加了两倍左右，使亨利八世成为英国空前富有的国王。正由于这些好处，亨利八世对于上述议会法案的制定与通过，一直采取赞同、鼓励以至促进的态度。改革前进之远，恐怕并非他的初衷，但是任何措施只要于王权有利，亨利八世还是表现得勇于决断，设有犹豫顾忌之态的。

　　安妮·博林(Anne Boleyn)王后 (1533年1月25日结婚;1536年5月19日被处死)

　　伊丽莎白一世 1533年9月7日 1603年3月24日 没有结婚

　　亨利·都铎 1534年 1534年 历史学家们不确定这个孩子到底是出生不久就死亡了，还是被流产了。因为这件事情被隐瞒，这个孩子的性别都未能确定。

　　爱德华·都铎 1536年1月29日 1536年1月29日 死产

　　电影“千日安妮”(Anne of the Thousand Days)，1969年。扮演亨利的理查·伯顿和扮演安妮·博林的珍妮薇芙·褒祖德(Geneviève Bujold)分别获得奥斯卡最佳男主角奖和奥斯卡最佳女主角奖的提名。