Anne Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry VIII. ... She spent her adolescence at the French court but returned home to England in 1522. As the daughter of an ambitious courtier and niece of the duke of Norfolk, she was invited to serve at court as lady-in-waiting to Katharine of Aragon. It was here that she caught the attention of King Henry. Anne, however, had fallen in love with Lord Henry Percy, heir to the earl of Northumberland. They were secretly engaged and planned to marry. As Cavendish's account makes plain, Henry ordered Cardinal Wolsey to end the engagement. .. Henry's 'secret love' for Anne was highly controversial, and not merely because he was already married. Kings did, after all, have mistresses. But he had already had an open affair (and possibly a son) with her sister, Mary. His relationship with Anne, however, was far more serious. In love and desperate for a legitimate male heir, Henry planned to annul his marriage to Katharine of Aragon and marry Anne. The pope's refusal to help eventually led Henry to break with the church of Rome and declare himself supreme head of a new English church.
¶ … reputable or not necessitates that all aspects of that writing be considered including the author's background, his reason for writing the piece, and people who may have been involved with his writing the piece.
According to the document written by George Cavendish, Cardinal Wolsey's gentleman-usher, Ann Boleyn had a romance for Henry Percy, heir to the earl of Northumberland, which was aborted by Henry VIII, via the agency of the Cardinal Wolsely, in order that he himself could marry her.
As the website at English history.net describes:
Anne Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry VIII. ... She spent her adolescence at the French court but returned home to England in 1522. As the daughter of an ambitious courtier and niece of the duke of Norfolk, she was invited to serve at court as lady-in-waiting to Katharine of Aragon. It was here that she caught the attention of King Henry. Anne, however, had fallen in love with Lord Henry Percy, heir to the earl of Northumberland. They were secretly engaged and planned to marry. As Cavendish's account makes plain, Henry ordered Cardinal Wolsey to end the engagement. ..
Henry's 'secret love' for Anne was highly controversial, and not merely because he was already married. Kings did, after all, have mistresses. But he had already had an open affair (and possibly a son) with her sister, Mary. His relationship with Anne, however, was far more serious. In love and desperate for a legitimate male heir, Henry planned to annul his marriage to Katharine of Aragon and marry Anne. The pope's refusal to help eventually led Henry to break with the church of Rome and declare himself supreme head of a new English church.
It was all for naught. Anne did not give Henry a surviving son and she was executed on 19 May 1536.
It is not so clear, however that Cavendish's account is accurate in the sense that he may possibly have been biased. On the one hand there is plenty of evidence to show that such an event did occur, on the other hand, Cavendish was Cardinal Wolsey's gentleman-usher and Cardinal Wolsey was, after all, himself interested in the relationship between Anne and Henry Percy before Anne "officially" caught the eye of the king. Taking this into consideration would help us better evaluate the objectivity of this piece of writing.
On the one hand, all historical research of the content of Cavendish's letter seem to point to the fact that some sort of relationship was existent between Percy and Anne. It seems as though Anne's relationship with Percy began in th spring of 1523 whilst Henry was actually trying to arrange Anne's marriage to James Butler, the heir to the earldom of Ormond (Loades, 2001). All plans to that effect had to be abandoned apparently due to Anne's conduct -- although what that meant is unclear.
There are also all the dates of Henry's relationship with Anne that accord and perfectly concur with the details in Cavendish letter:
According to Ives (2004, pp.169-188), the dates of Henry's evolving courtship with Anne were the following:
n1524 -- Henry stops sleeping with Catherine
n 1525, Summer -- Henry attempts to build up Henry Fitzroy, the Duke of Richmond and his illegitimate son, as an alternative heir n 1526, Shrovetide -- Henry begins to court Anne
n 1526, Autumn -- Henry writes his first love letter to Anne
n 1526, sometime after October -- Henry warns Thomas Wyatt off Anne
n 1526, December -- Catherine is isolated at court n 1527, April -- Henry consults about annulling his marriage to Catherine
n 1527, Easter -- Henry urges Anne to become his "maitresse-en-titre," his official mistress n 1527, May -- Secret preliminary hearing of the annulment n 1527, June -- Henry informs Catherine of his plans to annul their marriage n 1527, Summer -- Henry and Anne agree that they will marry n 1527, August -- the decision is made to ask the Pope for a dispensation so that Henry can marry Anne
n All of this seems to fit the context of Cavendish's letter, particularity since Henry showered Anne with jewels in the summer of 1527 which was the summer that they had agreed to marry.
The fact that Percy's engagement with Anne was broken off has also been substantiated. According to Starkey (2003), Percy's engagement with Anne was repealed and he married Mary Talbot, the daughter of earl of Shrewsbury in the August of 1525 or 26. The marriage failed. Mary demanded a divorce accusing Percy of a "pre-contract betrothal" to Anne. Anne was subsequently put on trial. Since this occurred during Henry's period of dissatisfaction with her, it was efficacious to Henry in that it resulted allegation of her adultery and in her execution.
Then again, there are also sources showing that the King had urged Cardinal Wolsey to end the engagement. All of these corroborate Cavendish's account and we may therefore decide to accept his statements as fact and as primarily, if not totally, objective.
On the other hand, we may decide to suspect the objectivity of the writer based on the following observations:
Firstly, facts are mingled with opinions. For instance, Cavendish's document relates that had Percy asked permission from his father and the king to marry Anne, the king may have relented. This opinion may well come from Cavendish's connections with Wolsely. It may be that the Cardinal felt regret for having ended their relationship in the way that he did, particularly so when the indirect and ultimate outcome ended in Anne's execution. (the Cardinal, too, was later held to blame for the collapse of the relationship). Wolsley may have rationalised his actions by having provided the preceding excuse. The truth in reality was, however, - as studies and research shows -- that the king was already in love with Anne (Weir, p.160) and would likely not have agreed to the engagement even had he been approached for consent. Besides which, people of the royal court often married each other without soliciting the King for consent. Cavendish's assertion on this point makes us suspect that this opinion comes from the Cardinal and that his perception of the entire case is flawed.
There are other indications of hearsay too. Cavendish goes on to relate that Percy's father was disappointed with his son but this may be another rationalization on Wolsley's part inserted in Cavendish's memoir as fact. No authoritative source is brought to support this allegation. Cavendish -- serving Wolsely is subjective and likely repeating his master's edition of the event . The truth may be that Percy's father may have been upset that his son had not consulted him. There is no basis, however, for saying that the Earl distrusted the girl.
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