| Anne of Cleves | |
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| Portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1539. Oil and Tempera on Parchment mounted on canvas, Louvre, Paris. | |
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| Tenure | 6 January 1540 – 9 July 1540 |
| Spouse | Henry VIII of England |
| House | House of La Marck |
| Father | John III, Duke of Cleves |
| Mother | Maria of Jülich-Berg |
| Born | 22 September 1515 Düsseldorf, Duchy of Berg, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 16 July 1557 (aged 41) Chelsea Manor, England |
| Signature | |
| Religion | Roman Catholic, then Anglican and finally again Roman Catholic |
Anne of Cleves (German: Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg, Dutch: Anna van Kleef) (22 September 1515[1] – 16 July 1557) was a German noblewoman and the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England and as such she was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. The marriage was never consummated, and 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 Mary I of England, outlasting the rest of Henry's wives.
Anne was the subject of two portraits by Hans Holbein who painted her in 1539.
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Anne was born in 1515 in Düsseldorf,[2] the second daughter of John III of the House of La Marck, Duke of Jülich jure uxoris, Cleves, Berg jure uxoris, Count of Mark aka 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 Sybille 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 12 (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."[3] 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 chancellor, Thomas Cromwell.
The artist Hans Holbein the Younger was dispatched to paint portraits of Anne and her younger sister, Amalia, both 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 Louvre in Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. 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.
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 made her 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".[4] She was dark haired, with a rather swarthy complexion, appeared solemn by English standards, and looked old for her age. Holbein painted her with high forehead, heavy-lidded eyes and a pointed chin.[5]
| The Six Wives of Henry VIII |
|---|
| Catherine of Aragon |
| Anne Boleyn |
| Jane Seymour |
| Anne of Cleves |
| Catherine Howard |
| Catherine Parr |
Anne first travelled to Calais where a large number of English noblemen and women had been ordered to attend her in a magnificent pageant. Henry planned to meet her at Greenwich Palace,[6] However, the King was impatient to see his future bride and went to meet her at Rochester on her journey from Dover. According to the sworn testimony of his companions, he was promptly disappointed with her appearance, although there are many documents from the time which describe how Henry and some of his courtiers sneaked into the room where Anne was watching bull-fighting, wearing masks and cloaks, when Henry boldly kissed her. Henry, being of tall stature and well-built in his youth, had been instantly recognised by his past wives when acting out this courtly-love tradition, although Anne had never met her husband-to-be before, and pushed him away startled, cursing in German. Henry did then reveal his true identity to Anne, although he is said to have been put-off the marriage from then on. Most historians believe that he later used her 'bad' appearance and incapability in bed 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.[7] 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.
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.[8] The couple's first night as husband and wife was not a happy 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".[9]
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.[10] Shortly afterwards, Anne was asked for her consent to an annulment, to which she agreed. 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 doctor, Dr Butts stated that after the wedding night Henry said he was not impotent since he experienced "duas pollutiones nocturnas in somno".[11][12]
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.[8]
After Catherine Howard was beheaded, Anne and her brother, the Duke of Cleves, pressed the king to remarry her. Henry quickly refused to do so.[14] 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.[15]
In 1553, when Henry's daughters Mary and Elizabeth rode into London with Mary as the new monarch, Anne was there to greet them.[8] She was also present at Mary I's coronation at Westminster.[8] That was her last public appearance. As the new Queen was a strict Catholic, Anne yet again converted her religion, now becoming a Roman Catholic.
A few months later, Anne wrote to Mary I to congratulate her on her marriage to Philip of Spain.[8] Nevertheless, Anne rarely visited the Court during Mary's reign and enjoyed managing her own estates.[8] Since her arrival as the King's bride, Anne had never left England: both of her parents had died by the time her marriage was annulled and her brother, a strict Lutheran, did not approve of her adherence to Anglicanism.[8]
When Anne's health began to fail, Mary I 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 Norfolk and the Countess of Arundel.[8] She left some money to her servants and asked Mary and Elizabeth to employ them in their households.[8]
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.[16] 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.
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 and Anne was only 41.
It is widely believed that Henry VIII often spoke to Anne as a friend, and that she advised him on many matters during their friendship and his reign, especially where matters of trust were raised amongst his council. This coincides with the extensive wealth Anne was given upon the ending of their short lived marriage and her title as beloved sister, someone he loved but not for a wife.
Anne is the subject of two biographies: Elizabeth Norton's Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII's Discarded Bride and Mary Saaler's Anne of Cleves. Retha Warnicke has written a study on Anne's marriage called The Marrying of Anne of Cleves.
Anne of Cleves appears as a character in many historical novels about Henry's reign. For example, about a third of The Boleyn Inheritance 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 of Cleves is the main character of My Lady of Cleves by Margaret Campbell Barnes.
| English royalty | ||
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| 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 |