ANNE OF CLEVES, 

FOURTH QUEEN OF HENRY VIII. 

From: http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924087994137/cu31924087994137_djvu.txt

Henry the Eighth's difficulties in finding a fourth wife — Motives for choosing 
Anne of Clevea — Her birth and family — Want of accomplishments — Beauty 
exaggerated— Her virtues — Portrait by Hans Holbein^ — Marriage-treaty con- 
cluded — Anne called queen of England — Progress thither — Detained at Calais 
— Sails for England — King's incognito visit at Rochester — His disappoint- 
ment — His New-year's gift — Reluctance to the marriage — Anne's public 
meeting with him — Her dress and person — Discontent of the king — Nuptials of 
Henry VIII. and Anne — Her costly dresses — Bridal pageants — Injurious 
conduct of the king — Agitates a divorce— Queen Anne sent to Richmond — 
Cranmer dissolves her marriage — Interview with privy council — She consents 
to divorce — King Henry visits her — Reports of Anne's restoration as queen 
— Scandals investigated by council — Life of retirement — Informed of the 
king's death — Friendship with his children — Death of her brother — Her letter 
to queen Mary — Her housekeeping — Death — Will — Funeral — Her tomb in 
Westminster abbey — An impostor assumes her name. 

If the name of this ill-treated princess has not always 
excited the sympathy to which her gentle virtues ought to 
have entitled her, it can only be attributed to the contempt 
which her coarse-minded consort expressed for her person. 
Henry VIII. had, as we have seen, disposed of three queens 
before he sought the hand of Anne of Cleves, and, though 
historians have said much of his devotion to the memory 
of Jane Seymour, she had not been dead a month ere he 
made a bold attempt to provide himself with another wife. 
Francis I., when Henry requested to be permitted to choose 
a lady of the royal blood of France for his queen, replied, 
" that there was not a damsel of any degree in his domin- 
ions who should not be at his disposal." Henry took this 
compliment so literally that he required the French mon- 
arch to bring the fairest ladies of his court to Calais, for 
him to take his choice. The gallantry of Francis was 
shocked at such an idea, and he replied, "that it was 
32 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 33 

Impossible to bring ladies of noble blood to market, as 
horses were trotted out at a fair." 

Chatillon, the French ambassador, gives Francis a lively 
account of the pertinacious manner in which Henry insisted 
on marrying the beautiful Marie of Lorraine, duchess-dow- 
ager of Longueville, who was the betrothed of his nephew, 
James V. of Scotland. " February 11, 1537. He is," says 
his excellency, " so in love with madame de Longueville, 
that he is always recurring to it. I have told him she 
is engaged to the king of Scotland, but he does not give 
credit to it. I asked him if he would marry the wife of 
another ? and he said, ' He knew that she had not passed 
her word yet, and that he will do twice as much for you as 
the king of Scots can.' He says, ' Tour daughter is too 
young ; and as to mademoiselle Vendome, he will not take 
the refusings of that king.' " ' Chatillon describes Henry as 
still harping on the fair Longueville some days after, but, 
at the same time, talking of four other marriages, in which 
he projected disposing of himself and his three children as 
follows : " himself to a daughter of Portugal, or the duchess jr 
of Milan ; h is s on, then four mon ths o ld, to the daughter • 
of the emperor '; The lady Mary to the mfent of Portugal ; 
and his youngest girl to the king of Hungary. In the suc- 
ceeding month he again importuned for madame Longue- 
ville." The ambassador proposed her handsome sister, or 
mademoiselle Vendome : Henry demanded that " they should 
be brought to Calais for his inspection." Chatillon said 
" that would not be possible, but his majesty could send some 
one to look at them." — " Pardie I" replied Henry, " how can 
I depend upon any one but myself?" ' He was also very 
desirous of hearing the ladies sing, and seeing how they 
looked while singing. " I must see them myself, and see 
them sing," he said. After alternately wheedling and bully- 
ing Chatillon for nearly a year on this subject," Henry 
reluctantly resigned his sultan-like idea of choosing a bride 
from the beauties of the French court, and turned his 
attention elsewhere. But as it was universally reported 
that his three queens had all come by their deaths unfairly, 

> D^pfiehes de Chatillon ; BibliothSque du Roi. ' Ibid. » Ibid. 



34 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

— Katharine of Arragon by poison, Anne Boleyn by the 
axe, and Jane Seymour for want of proper care in childbed, 
— he found himself so greatly at discount among such prin- 
cesses as he deemed worthy of the honor of his hand that, 
despairing of entering a fourth time into the wedded state, 
he concealed his mortification by assuming the airs of a 
disconsolate widower, and remained queenless and forlorn 
for upwards of two years. 

Eeasons of a political nature, combined with his earnest 
wish of obtaining a fair and gentle helpmate for his old age, 
induced him to lend an ear to Cromwell's flattering com- 
mendation of the princesses of the house of Cleves. The 
father of these ladies, John III., surnamed ' the Pacificator,' 
was duke of Cleves, count of Mark, and lord of Eavenstein. 
By his marriage with Marie, the heiress of William duke 
of Juliers, Berg, and Eavensburgh, he added those posses- 
sions to his patrimony when he succeeded to the dominions 
of his father, John the Clement, in 1521. Anne was the 
second daughter of this noble pair. She was born the 22d 
of September, 1516, and was brought up a Lutheran, her 
father having established those doctrines in his dominions.' 
The device of Anne, as princess of Cleves, was two white 
swans, emblems of candor and innocence. They were de- 
rived from the fairy legend celebrated in the lays of the 
Ehine, her native river, of ' the knight of the swan,' her 
immediate ancestor, who came and departed so mysteriously 
to the heiress of Cleves in a boat, guided down the noble 
river by two white swanp. From this legend the princely 
house of Cleves took the swans as supporters. Their family 
motto was Candida nostra fides, — ' our faith is spotless.' 

Anne's elder sister, Sybilla, was married in 1527 to John 
Frederick duke of Saxony, who became the head of the 
Protestant confederation in Germany, known in history by 
the term of ' the Smalcaldic league.' He was the champion 
of the Eeformation, and for his invincible adherence to his 
principles, and his courage in adversity, was surnamed ' the 
lion-hearted Elector.' Sybilla was in every respect worthy 

1 Anderaon's GenealogieB : table oooxlvii. p. 586. LArt de V^rifler les 
Bates, torn. iii. p. 165. 



ANNE OF CLEVE8. 35 

of her illustrious consort ; she was famed for her talents, 
virtues, and conjugal tenderness, as well as for her winning 
manners and great beauty, and was generally esteemed as 
one of the most distinguished ladies of the era in which she 
lived. Cromwell must have calculated on the probability 
of the younger sisters of Sybilla resembling her in their 
general characteristics, when he recommended those ladies 
to the attention of his fastidious sovereign. Much, indeed, 
might the influence of a queen like Sybilla have done for 
the infant Eeformation in England ; but never were two 
ladies of the same parentage so dissimilar as the beautiful 
and energetic electress of Saxony and her passive sister, 
Anne of Cleves. It was, however, mentioned as a peculiar 
recommendation for Anne and her younger sister, the lady 
Amelie, that they had both been educated by the same 
prudent and sensible mother who had formed the mind of 
Sybilla, and it was supposed their acquirements were of a 
solid kind, since accomplishments they had none, with the 
exception of needlework.' 

Henry commissioned Hans Holbein to paint the portraits 
of both Anne and Amelie for his consideration ; but though 
he determined to take his choice, Cromwell's agents at the 
courts of Cleves and Saxony had predisposed him in favor 
of Anne, by the reports they had written of her charms 
and amiable qualities. Christopher Mount, who was em- 
ployed to negotiate the treaty of alliance with the duke of 
Cleves, must have thought highly of Anne's personal attrac- 
tions, since he was urgent with the duke to employ his own 
painter to execute her portrait for Henry's inspection. The 
duke, it seems, knew better ; but here is what Cromwell 
states, in his letter to the king, to be Christopher Mount's 
report on the subject : — " The said Christopher instantly 
sueth every day that the picture may be sent. Whereunto 
the duke answered, ' that he should find some occasion to 
send it, but that his painter, Lucas, was left sick behind him 
at home.' Every man praiseth the beauty of the said lady, as 
well for her face as for her person, above all other ladies 
excellent. One among others said to them of late, that she 

• Ellis, Royal Letters. 



36 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

as far excelleth the duchess of Saxony as the golden sun 
excelleth the silver moon. Every man praiseth the good 
virtues, and honesty with shamefacedness, which plainly 
appeareth in the gravity [serenity] of her countenance." ^ 
The noble mind of John Frederick of Saxony revolted at 
the proposal of linking his amiable sister-in-law to a prince 
so notoriously deficient in conjugal virtue as Henry VIII. ; 
Christopher Mount, however, assured him " that the cause 
of Protestantism in Europe would be greatly advanced by 
the influence of a Lutheran queen of England, for Henry 
was so uxorious, that the best way of managing him was 
through his wives." The other princes of the Smalcaldic 
league looked only to political expediency, and the conscien- 
tious scruples of the heroic Saxon were disregarded. 

The death of the duke of Cleves, Anne's father, which 
occurred February 6, 1539,' occasioned a temporary delay 
in an early stage of the proceedings ; but her mother, as 
well as her brother duke William (who succeeded to the 
duchy), were eager to secure so powerful an ally to the 
Protestant cause as the king of England, and to see Anne 
elevated to the rank of a queen. According to Burnet, Dr. 
Barnes was the most active agent employed by Cromwell 
in the negotiations for the matrimonial treaty, and was 
never forgiven by Henry for the pains he took in conclud- 
ing the alliance. Henry's commissioner for the marriage, 
Nicholas "Wotton, gives his sovereign the following par- 
ticulars of Anne of Cleves. After stating the assurance of 
the council of the duke her brother, that she is not bounden 
by any contract made by her father to the duke of Lorraine, 
but perfectly free to marry where she will, he says : — 

" As for the ednoation of my said ladye, she hath from her childhood been 
like as the ladye SybiUe was till she married, and the ladye Amelye hath been 
and now is, brought up with the lady duchess her mother, and in manner never 
from her elbow, — the lady duchess being a very wise lady, and one that very 
straitly looketh to her children. AU the gentlemen of the court, and other that 
I have asked, report her to be of very lowly and gentle conditions, by which 
she hath so much won her mother's favor, that she is very loath to suffer her to 
depart from her. She oooupieth her time much with the needle. She can read 



> State-Papers, 606. ' L'Art de Vfirifier les Dates. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 37 

and write her own [language], but French and Latin, or other language she 
knoweth not, nor yet can sing or play on any instrument ; for they take it here 
in Germany for a rebuke and an occasion of lightness, that great ladies should 
be learned, or have any knowledge of musick. Her wit is so good, that no 
doubt she will in a short space learn the English tongue, whenever she putteth 
her mind to it. I could never hear that she is inclined to the good cheer of 
this country ; and marvel it were if she should, seeing that her brother, in 
whom it were somewhat more tolerable, doth so well abstain from it. Your 
grace's servant, Hans Holbein, hath taken the effigies of my ladye Anne and 
the ladye Amelye, and hath expressed their images very lively." 
(This letter is dated at Duren, the 11th of August, 1539.) > 

The grave maimer in which the matrimonial commissioner 
reports the favorable replies to his secret inquiries as to 
the gentle and amiable temper of the princess, and above 
all her sobriety, is sufficiently amusing. 

The choice of a queen for Henry had been the grand 
desideratum for which Catholics and Protestants had con- 
tended ever since the death of Jane Seymour. Cromwell, 
in matching his sovereign with the sister-in-law of Fred- 
erick of Saxony, appeared to have gained a mighty victory 
over Gardiner, Norfolk, and his other rivals in Henry's 
privy council. The magic pencil of Hans Holbein was 
the instrument by which Cromwell, for his own confu- 
sion, achieved this great political triumph. Marillac, the 
French ambassador, in his despatches to the king his mas- 
ter, notices the receipt of this portrait on the 1st of Sep- 
tember. He says, " King Henry had sent a painter, who is 
very excellent in his art, to Germany, to take a portrait to 
the life of the sister of the duke of Cleves ; to-day it ar- 
rived, and shortly after a courier with tidings to the said 
king, which are as yet secret, but the ambassadors on the 
part of the duke are come to treat with the king about this 
lady." " The miniature executed by Holbein was exquisite 
as a work of art, and the box in which it came over " worthy 
the jewel it contained :'' it was in the form of a white rose, 
delicately carved in ivory, which unscrewed, and showed 
the miniature at the bottom. This miniature with the box 
itself was, when Horace Walpole wrote,' stiU to be seen in 

■ MS. Cotton., Vitel., B zxi. fol. 186. 

' Despatches of Marillac, in the Koyal Library at Paris. 

' Anecdotes of Painters. 



38 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

perfect preservation in the cabinet of Mr. Barrett of Lee. 
The engraving which illustrates this biography is from a 
drawing made by Mr. Harding from this curious original. 
The colors are faded by the operation of time, but the 
features are regular, although the costume, a stiff German 
imitation of the prevalent mode, is unbecoming. The five- 
cornered hood of Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour has been 
modified into a heavy coif of white lawn or lace. The 
shoulders are deformed by hard triangular epaulettes, the 
waist is short, and the elbows loaded by drapery without 
form or taste. The face of the young lady, however, ap- 
peared suflB.ciently lovely to decide Henry on accepting her, 
and the negotiation was completed at Windsor early in the 
same month in which arrived Holbein's flattering portrait. 
The contract of marriage was signed at Dusseldorf, Sep- 
tember 4, 1539.' The chancellor of the duke of Cleves was 
the plenipotentiary on the part of the lady's brother, and as 
soon as the preliminaries were arranged, great preparations 
were made in anticipation of her coming.' Though the 
leaders of the Catholic party were greatly averse to Henry's 
marriage with a Lutheran princess, the idea of a Flemish 
queen was agreeable to the people in general, for the illus- 
trious Philippa of Hainault, the best and greatest of all 
the queens-consort of England, was still remembered. Ma- 
rillac ° gave his sovereign the following little sketch of what 
was going on in England at this crisis : — " On the 5th of No- 
vember the king told his lords ' that he expected the arri- 
val of his spouse in about twenty days, and that he pro- 
posed to go to Canterbury to receive her.' His admiral, 
with a great company of lords, departed on the first of the 
month for Calais, whither she ought to be conducted by 
those of the household of her brother, the duke of Cleves, 
to the number of four hundred horsemen, who have had 
the safe-conduct of the emperor for this purpose for some 

1 MSS. Cotton., Vespasian, P 6104. 2 Bxoerpta Historioa. 

' Marillao was ambassador from Trance to England in the years 1539 and 
1540 ; and the letters from whence these extracts are selected were written to 
Francis I., and to the constable Anne de Montmorenci, preserved in the Koyal 
Library at Paris, No. 8481. Marillac was afterwards bishop of Vienne, and 
minister of state in his own country, under both Francis I. and Henry II. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 39 

days. Prom Calais she will cross to Dover, where she will 
land in this realm, and several of the lords of the king's 
council will be there to receive her and to conduct her to 
Canterbury, where the king will meet her, and the mar- 
riage will be completed there. Then she will be carried to 
London, where she will be crowned in the month of Feb- 
ruary. November 14th. — The king has left this city for 
Hampton Court, where he will remain till certain news ar- 
rive of the arrival of the lady. Last day of November. — 
The courier, who had been sent to Oleves to learn the time 
of the new queen's departure, has arrived two days ago, and 
brings letters stating that on the eighth of next month the 
said lady will be at Calais, where the duke of Suifolk, the 
admiral, and many other lords of this court will go to re- 
ceive her. The duke of Norfolk and the lord Cromwell will 
follow in a little time, to attend her at Canterbury," Our 
diplomatic gossip then informs his court that all Henry's 
ministers wUl receive the royal bride, and conduct her to 
their lord at a place about two miles from ' Greenwigs' ' (Ma- 
rillac's way of spelling Greenwich), " and in this palace of 
Greenwigs," pursues he, " they will complete the marriage 
and keep the Christmas festivals. On the first day of the 
year they will make their entrance into the city of London, 
and thence conduct her to the king's royal house at Valse- 
maistre [Westminster], where (on the day of Our Lady of 
Candlemas) she will be crowned." At length all matters 
of state policy and royal ceremonials were arranged, and 
the bride-elect bade a long and, as it proved, a last farewell 
to her mother, her brother and sisters, by all of whom she 
was tenderly beloved. She quitted her native city of Dus- 
seldorf the first week in October, 1539, and, attended by a 
splendid train and escort, left the pleasant banks of the 
Ehine for the stranger-land of which she was now styled 
the queen. 

Among the unpublished records in the State-Paper ofiice 
there is a curious programme of the journey of the lady 
Anne of Cleves from Dusseldorf to Calais, by which we 
learn that her first day's journey was from Dusseldorf to 

1 This place, two miles from Greenwich, wafl probably Eltham palace. 



40 ANNE or CLEVES. 

Berg, about twenty English miles ; the next from Berg to 
Cleve, the same distance ; from Cleve to Eavenstein ; from 
thence to Bertingburg, and so through Tilburgh and Hog- 
genstrete to Antwerp. At Antwerp " many English mer- 
chants met her grace four miles without the town," says 
our MS., " in fifty velvet coats and chains of gold ; and at 
her entering into Antwerp she was received with twice four- 
score torches, beginning in the daylight, and so brought her 
to her English lodging, where she was honorably received, 
and they kept open household one day for her and her 
train." The next day the English merchants brought her 
on her way to Stetkyn, and gave her a gift, and so departed. 
She then proceeded at the same rate of twenty miles a day, 
through Tokyn, Bruges, Oldenburgh, Nieuport, and Dun- 
kirk, to Gravelines, where the captain received her honor- 
ably, and gave her ' a shot of guns.' The next day, being 
the 11th of December, she arrived in the English pale at 
Calais between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, so 
that she and her ladies must have quitted their pillows and 
commenced their journey long before it was light. 

She was received on the frontier by the lord Lisle, deputy 
of Calais, the lieutenant of the castle, the knight porter, and 
the marshal of Calais ; sir George Carew, captain of Eosbank, 
with the captain of the spears and the cavalry belonging to 
the garrison, all freshly and gallantly appointed for the occa- 
sion, and the men-at-arms with them in velvet coats and 
chains of gold, with all the king's archers ; and so was she 
brought towards Calais, one of the king's gentlemen-at-arms 
riding with one of those belonging to the queen. About a 
mile from the town she was met by the earl of Southampton, 
lord admiral of England, the lord William Howard, and 
many other lords and gentlemen. Gregory Cromwell (the 
brother-in-law of the late queen Jane Seymour) headed 
twenty-four gentlemen in coats of satin-damask and velvet, 
besides the aforesaid lords, who wore four colors of cloth of 
gold and purple velvet, with chains of gold of great value, 
and two hundred yeomen in the king's colors, red and blue 
cloth.' Among the gentlemen of the king's privy-chamber, 

1 State-Paper MS., 31st Henry VIII. 



ANNE OF CLBVES. 41 

Thomas Culpepper, -who was afterwards beheaded for a sus- 
pected intrigue with Henry's fifth queen, Katharine Howard, 
is named in this contemporary document. It is curious that 
In the train by whom Anne of Cleves was received at Calais 
there were kinsmen of five out of the six queens of Henry 
YIII. 

" The earl of Southampton, as the lord admiral of England, 
was dressed in a coat of purple velvet, cut on cloth of gold, 
and tied with great aiglettes and trefoils of gold to the num- 
ber of four hundred ; and haldrick-wise he wore a chain, at 
which hung a whistle of gold, set with rich stones of great 
value.' In this company were thirty gentlemen of the king's 
household, very richly apparelled, with great and massy 
chains ; sir Francis Bryan and sir Thomas Seymour's chains 
were of especial value and straunge fashion. The lord ad- 
miral had also a number of gentlemen in blue velvet and 
crimson satin, and his yeomen in damask of the same colors. 
The mariners of his ship wore satin of Bruges. The lord 
admiral with a low obeisance welcomed the royal bride, and 
brought her into Calais by the lantern-gate, where the ships 
lay in the haven garnished with their banners, pensils, and 
flags, pleasant to behold ; and at her entry was shot such a 
peal of guns that all her retinue were astonished." The 
town of Calais echoed the royal salute with a peal of ord- 
nance along the coast. " When she entered the lantern-gate 
she stayed to view the king's ships called the Lyon and the 
Sweepstakes, which were decked with one hundred banners 
of silk and gold, wherein were two master-gunners, mariners, 
and thirty-one trumpets, and a double drum, that was never 
seen in England before ; and so her grace entered into Calais, 
at whose entering there was 150 rounds of ordnance let out 
of the said ships, which made such a smoke that not one of 
her train could see the other. The soldiers in the king's 
livery of the retinue of Calais, the mayor of Calais with his 
brethren, with the commons of Calais, the merchants of the 
king's staple, stood in order, forming a line through which 

* This was the insignia of his office. It will be remembered that the valiant 
sir Edward Howard, when lord admiral of England, in his last engagement 
threw his whistle into the sea. 



42 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

she passed to her lodgings ; and so the mayor and his breth- 
ren came to her lodging, and gave her fifty sovereigns of 
gold, and the mayor of the staple gave her sixty sovereigns 
of gold ; ' and on the morrow after, she had a cannon shot, 
jousting, and all other royalty that could be devised in the 
king's garrison-royal, and kept open household there during 
the time that she did there remain, virhich was twenty days, 
and had daily the best pastim^es that could be devised." 

As the king had been a widower nearly three years, the 
anticipation of a new queen excited a great sensation in the 
court, and all the place-hunters were on the alert to obtain 
preferment, either for themselves or their relations, in the 
household of the royal bride. Anne^Basset, daughter of the 
viscountess Lisle, having been maid of honor to queen Jane 
Seymour, writes to her mother in high spirits, being certain 
of retaining her post when the new queen should arrive. 
" Howbeit," she says, " I trust to God that we shall have a 
mistress shortly ; and then I trust I shall see you here when 
she comes over, which I hope to God will not be long." 
Lady Lisle was very desirous to obtain a similar appoint- 
ment for her daughter Katharine, and not content with 
moving her influential friends at court with letters and 
presents to further her suit, she endeavored to propitiate 
bluif king Hal himself by an offering of sweetmeats. This 
gift, consisting of quince-marmalade and damson-cheese (bet- 
ter suited, one would think, to the tastes of his baby boy of 
three years old), was presented by the fair hand of the grace- 
ful maid of honor Anne Basset, and proved so acceptable to 
the royal epicure that he craved for more, — ay, and that 
soon. The young lady says : — 

" Madame : — 

" The king doth so well like the conserves you sent him last, that his grace 
commanded me to write unto you for more of the codiniae [quince-marmalade] 
of the clearest making, and of the conserve of damascenes ; and this as soon as 
may be." ^ 



1 MS. Journey of the lady Anne of Cleves, in State-Paper office. Hall says 
that the merchants of the staple presented her with one hundred marks of gold, 
in a rich purse, which she gratefully accepted. 

' Wood's Letters, from the Lisle Papers in the State-Paper ofBoe. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 43 

This letter in dated from York place (afterwards Whitehall), 
where the com-t w^s then sojourning, the Monday before 
Christmas-day, the very time when lady Lisle, as the wife 
of the constable of Calais,' was doing the honors of the 
government house to the royal bride elect, and therefore 
enjoyed an excellent opportunity of recommending her 
daughters personally to their future queen. Anne, having 
rashly' filled every appointment in her household, save those 
oflSces which the king had imperatively reserved for the 
great ladies of the court, his nieces and near relations, with 
her own countrywomen, of whom she was bringing a numer- 
ous and unwelcome importation, could not appoint any new 
English maids of honor at that juncture. ISTotwithstanding 
this unpopular arrangement, her deportment was such as to 
give general satisfaction to the English who waited upon 
her during her protracted stay at Calais. That lady Lisle 
herself had made a very pleasant report of Anne's manners 
and disposition to her daughter Anne Basset, is apparent 
from the following comment in the young lady's reply : — 

" I humbly thank your ladyship of the news you write me of her grace, that 
she is 80 good and gentle to serve and please. It shall be no little rejoicement 
to us her grace's servants here that shall attend daily upon her, and most com- 
fort to the king's majesty, whose highness is not a little desirous to have her 
grace here." ' 

Henry beguiled the days of suspense while impatiently 
awaiting the advent of his long-expected bride by the exe- 
cutions of the venerable abbot of Glastonbury, the abbot of 
Tendring, and two others,' — an ominous preparation for 
the reception of a consort whose religious opinions differed 
so materially from his own. Anne was detained by the 
perversity of winds and waves so long that she kept her 
Christmas festival perforce at Calais. On the 27th, being 
St. John's day, the weather changed : about noon she em- 
barked with her train, and, attended by a royal convoy of 

1 Arthur Plantagenet, viscount Lisle, was an illegitimate brother of king 
Henry's grandmother, Elizabeth of York, being the natural son of Edward IV. 
by lady Elizabeth Lucy. The Bassets were his lady's numerous and needy 
family by her first husband. 

2 Wood's Letters of Illustrious Ladies. 
* Marillac's Despatches. Lingard. 



44 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

fifty ships, sailed with a prosperous wind, and had so quick 
a passage that she landed at Deal the same day at five 
o'clock. She was honorably received by sir Thomas Chey- 
ney, lord warden of the port, and proceeded immediately 
to a castle newly built, supposed to be Walmer castle, where 
she changed her dress, and remained tiU the duke and 
duchess of Suffolk and the bishop of Chichester, with a 
great company of knights, esquires, and the flower of the 
ladies of Kent, came to welcome her to England ; by them 
she was conducted to Dover castle, and there she rested tiU 
the Monday,* which was a wintry and inclement day. But 
notwithstanding the storm that raged abroad, she obeyed 
the instructions that had been issued for the manner and 
order of her journey, and commenced her progress to Can- 
terbury. On Barham downs she was met by the archbishop 
of Canterbury, the bishops of Ely, St. Asaph, St. David's, 
and Dover, and a great company of gentlemen, who attended 
her to St. Augustine's without Canterbury, where she lodged 
that night, and on the 30th she came to Sittingbourne, where 
she slept. The next day, which was New-year's even, the 
duke of Norfolk, the lord Dacre of the south, the lord 
Mountjoy, and a great company of knights and esquires of 
Norfolk and Suffolk, with the barons of the Exchequer, all 
clad in coats of velvet, with chains of gold, met her at 
Eeynham, and, having made their devoir, conducted her to 
Eochester, where she remained in the bishop's palace all 
New-year's day.' 

Henry, who " sore desired to see her grace,'' told Crom- 
well " that he intended to visit her privily on the morrow, 
to nourish love." ' Accordingly, he, with eight gentlemen 
of his privy-chamber, aU dressed alike in coats of marble- 
color (some sort of gray), rode to Eochester incognito, ex- 
pecting, no doubt, that his highly-praised German bride 
would rival both the bright-eyed Boleyn and the fair Sey- 
mour, and fondly thought to commence a year of love and 
joy by stealing a look at her beauty. On his arrival, he 
despatched sir Anthony Browne, his master of the horse, 

1 HaU, p. 833. > Ibid. 

' Cromwell's letter. — See Burnet, vol. i. p. 182. 



ANNE OF CLEVEff. 45 

to inform Anne that " he had brought her a New-year's gift, 
if she would please to receive it." The knight afterwards 
declared, " that he was struck with consternation when he 
was shown the queen, and was never so much dismayed in 
his life as to see a lady so far unlike what had been repre- 
sented." ' He had, however, the discretion to conceal his 
impression, well knowing how greatly opinions vary ad to 
beauty, and left the king to judge for himself "When Henry, 
whose impatience could no longer be restrained, entered the 
presence of his betrothed, a glance sufficed to destroy the 
enchantment which Holbein's pencil had created : the goods 
were not equal to pattern, and he considered himself an in- 
jured man. He recoiled in bitter disappointment, and lord 
EusseU, who was present, testified " that he never saw his 
highness so marvellously astonished and abashed as on that 
occasion." ' 

It is possible that Anne was not a whit more charmed 
with Henrys appearance and deportment than he was with 
hers, especially as the burly tyrant was not in the most 
gracious of moods. But, although somewhat taken by sur- 
prise at the abrupt entrance of the formidable spouse to 
whom she had been consigned by the will of her country, 
she sank upon her knees at his approach, and did her best 
to offer him a loving greeting.' Evilly as Henry was dis- 
posed towards the luckless princess, he was touched with 
the meekness and deep humility of her behavior. He did 
violence to his feelings so far as to raise her up with some 
show of civility. Hall says, " He welcomed her with gracious 
words, and gently took her up, and kissed her." The same 
chronicler adds, " that the king remained with her all the 
afternoon, communing and devising with her, and supped 
with her in the evening." From the evidences in Strype's 
Memorials, we learn that the interview only lasted a few 
minutes, and that scarcely twenty words were exchanged. 

• Strype. Tytler. Losely MS. ' Tytler. Lingard. Losely MS. 

' This memorable interview is thus noticed in the contemporary record of 
queen Anne's journey : — " On the New-year's day her grace tarried at Rochester, 
on which day the king's highness, only with certain of his privy chamber, came 
to her and banqueted with her, and after departed to Greenwich again." — 
Unpublished MSS. in State-Paper office. 



46 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

Anne's mother-tongue, the German of the Ehine, familiarly 
called " high Dutch," was so displeasing to Henry's musical 
ears, that he would not make any attempts to converse with 
her by means of an interpreter ; yet he was previously aware 
that " his wife could speak no English, he no Dutch." The 
moment he quitted her presence he sent for the lords who had 
brought her over, and indignantly addressed the following 
queries to the lord admiral : — " How like you this woman ? 
Do you think her so personable, fair, and beautiful as report 
hath been made unto me ? I pray you tell me true." The 
admiral evasively rejoined, " I take her not for fair, but to 
be of a brown complexion." — " Alas !" said the king, " whom 
shall men trust ? I promise you I see no such thing as hath 
been shown me of her by pictures or report. I am ashamed 
that men have praised her as they have done, and I love 
her not." ' 

The Ifew-year's gift which he had provided for Anne wasr 
a partlet of sable skins to wear about her neck, and a mufflyi. 
furred ; that is to say, a muff and tippet of rich sables.' \ 
This he had intended to present with his own hand to her, { 
but not considering her handsome enough to be entitled to 
such an honor, he sent it to her the following morning by } 
sir Anthony Browne, with as cold a message as might be.' ^ 
He made bitter complaints of his hard fate to lord Eussell, 
sir Anthony Browne, and sir Anthony Denny.* The latter 
gentleman told his sovereign, "that persons of humble 
station had this great advantage over princes ; that they 
might go and choose their own wives, while great princes 
must take such as were brought them." This observation 
afforded no consolation to the dainty monarch, who had been 
so pertinaciously desirous of seeing with his own eyes the 
beauties of France who were proposed to his consideration. 
He returned to Greenwich very melancholy, and when he 
saw Cromwell, gave vent to a torrent of vituperation against 
those who had provided him with so unsuitable a consort, 
whom, with his characteristic brutality, he likened to a 

1 Stowe'a Annals, by Howes, p. 834. » Strype. Lingard. Losely MS. 

* Strype's Memorials, vol. i. p. ,?07. 

* Herbert. Burnet. Eapin. Guthrie. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 47 

" great Flanders mare." Cromwell endeavored to shift the 
blame from himself to the admiral, Fitzwilliam earl of 
Southampton, for whom he had no great kindness, by say 
ing, " that when that nobleman found the princess so different 
from the pictures and reports which had been made of her, 
he ought to have detained her at Calais till he had given the 
king notice that she was not so handsome as had been repre- 
sented." The admiral replied, bluntly, "that he was not 
invested with any such authority : his commission was to 
bring her to England, and he had obeyed his orders." Crom- 
well retorted upon him, " that he had spoken in his letters 
of the lady's beauty in terms of commendation, which had 
misled his highness and his council." The admiral, however, 
represented, " that as the princess was generally reported 
for a beauty, he had only repeated the opinions of others ; 
for which no one ought reasonably to blame him, especially 
as he supposed she would be his queen." ' 

This very original altercation was interrupted by the 
peremptory demand of the king, " that some means should 
be found for preventiug the necessity of his completing his 
engagement." A council was summoned in all haste, at 
which the precontract of the lady with Francis of Lorraine 
was objected by Henry's ministers as a legal impediment to 
her union with the king.' Anne, who had advanced as far 
as Dartford (with a heavy heart no doubt), was delayed in 
her progress, while Osliger and Hostoden, her brother's 
ambassadors, by whom she had been attended to England, 
were summoned to produce documentary evidence that the 
contract was dissolved. They had no legal proofs to show, 
but declared that the engagement between the lady Anne 
of Cleves and the marquess of Lorraine had been merely a 
conditional agreement between the parents of the parties 
when both in their minority; and that in the year 1535 it 
had been formally annulled. This they said was registered 
in the chancery of Cleves, from which they promised to 
produce an authentic extract within three months.' Such 
of the council as were willing to humor the king in his 

' Burnet's Hist. Reformation, toI. i. p. 260. Guthrie. 

2 Eurnet. Rapin. Strype. Guthrie. Lingard. ' Ibid. 



48 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

wish of being released from his engagement to Anne re- 
plied, "that this was not enough, as an illegal marriage 
might endanger the succession :" but Cranmer and the 
bishop of Durham were of opinion that no just impediment 
to the marriage existed.' Cromwell also represented to the 
king the impolicy of embroiling himself with the princes 
of the Smalcaldic league in such forcible terms that Henry 
at length passionately exclaimed, " Is there, then, no remedy, 
but that I must needs put my neck into the yoke ?" " Hav- 
ing, in these gracious words, signified his intention of pro- 
ceeding to the solemnization of his nuptials with the insulted 
lady, who awaited the notification of his pleasure at Dart- 
ford, he ordered the most splendid preparations to be made 
for his marriage. 

" Wednesday last," says Marillac,' " it was notified by a 
horseman, who made a public outcry in London, that all 
who loved their lord the king should proceed to Greenwigs 
on the morrow, to meet and make their devoir to my lady 
Anne of Cleves, who would shortly be their queen." If the 
sight-loving mania of the good people of London in the 
days of that king of pageants and processions, Henry VIII., 
any way resembled what it is now, we may imagine the 
alacrity with which the royal requisition was obeyed by 
the thousands and ten thousands who poured in an eager 
animated stream towards the courtly bowers of Greenwich, 
which had been prepared for the reception of Henry's 
fourth bride. Marillac records, that '- He and the ambassa- 
dor of the emperor were both invited to attend, in order to 
render the ceremonial the more honorable ; and when they 
arrived at Greenwich, they found five or six thousand horse- 
men assembled to form the procession, among whom, for so 
the king had directed, there was a marvellous silence, with- 
out either noise or confusion." 

Hall gives the following gorgeous details of the first pub- 
lic state-interview between Henry and his Flemish bride. 
" On the 3d day of January, being Saturday, on the fair 
plain of Blackheath, at the foot of Shooter's Hill, was 

1 Bornet. ' Lingard. Herbert. Loaely MSS. 

^ D6p6oh6B de Marillac; BibliothSijue du Roi. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 49 

pitched a rich tent of cloth of gold, and divers other tents and 
pavilions, in which were made fires, with perfumes, for her 
grace and her ladies," an arrangement which the coldness of 
the season and the bleak situation of the station rendered 
necessary. " From the tents to the park gate at Greenwich 
all the furze and bushes were cut down, and an ample space 
cleared for the view of all spectators. Next the park pales, 
on the east side stood the merchants of the Steel-yard, and 
on the west side stood the merchants of Genoa, Florence, 
Venice, and Spain, in coats of velvet. On both sides the 
way stood the merchants of the city of London, and the 
aldermen and council of the said city, to the number of 
one hundred and sixty, which were mixed with the esquires. 
Next the tents were knights, and fifty gentlemen pensioners 
in velvet, with chains of gold ; behind the gentlemen stood 
the serving men, well horsed and apparelled, that whosoever 
viewed them well might say that they, for tall and comely 
personages, and clean of limb and body, were able to give 
the greatest prince in Christendom a mortal breakfast, if 
he were the king's enemy. The gentlemen pertaining to 
the lord chancellor, lord privy-seal, lord admiral, and other 
nobles, besides their costly liveries, wore chains of gold. 
These, to the number of upwards of twelve hundred, were 
ranged in a double file from the park gates to the cross 
upon the heath, and there awaited the return of the king 
with her grace. About twelve o'clock her grace, with all 
the company that were of her own nation, to the number 
of one hundred horse, accompanied by the dukes of Nor- 
folk and Sufiblk, the archbishop of Canterbury, with the 
other bishops, lords, and knights who had conducted her 
from France, came down from Shooter's Hill towards the 
tents, and a good space from the tents she was met by the 
earl of Rutland, her lord chamberlain, sir Thomas Denny, 
her chancellor, with all her other officers of state and coun- 
cillors.'' Then Dr. Kaye, her almoner, presented to her, on 
the king's behalf, all the officers and servants of her house- 
hold, and addressed her in an eloquent Latin oration, of 
which the unlearned princess understood not a word ; but 
it was answered with all due solemnity in her name by her 



50 ANNE OP CLEVES. 

brother's secretary, who acted as her interpreter. " Then 
the king's nieces, the lady Margaret Douglas, daughter to 
the queen of Scots, and the marchioness of Dorset,' daugh- 
ter to the queen of France, with the duchess of Eichmond,* 
and the countesses of Eutland and Hertford, and other 
ladies, to the number of sixty-five, saluted and welcomed 
her grace." Anne alighted from the chariot in which she 
had performed her long journey, and with most goodly 
manner and loving countenance returned thanks, and kissed 
them all ; her officers and councillors kissed her hand, after 
which she, with all the ladies, entered the tents and warmed 
themselves.' 

Marillac, who made one of the royal cavalcade, says, 
" The king met them all at the foot of the mountain [mean- 
1 ing Shooter's Hill], attended by five or six thousand horse- 
\ men, partly of his household, and partly of the gentlemen 
of the country, besides those summoned from the city of 
London, who always assist at these English triumphs, wear- 
ing massy chains of gold." The ambassador does not give 
a flattering description of Anne, who, probably from the 
coldness of the day, and the painful frame of mind in which 
she must have been thrown by Henry's demurs, did not 
appear to advantage. " Prom what one may judge," he 
says, " she is about thirty years old [she was but twenty- 
four]. She is tall of stature, pitted with the s mall-po x, i 
and has little beauty. Her countenance is firm and deter- 
mined." * The circumstance of her being marked with the 
small-pox explains the mystery of why Holbein's portrait 
pleased the king so much better than the original. No 
artist copies the cruel traces of that malady in a lady's 
face ; therefore the picture was flattered, even if the feat- 
ures were faithfully delineated. " The said lady," proceeds ' 
Marillac, " has brought with her from her brother's country, 
for her companions, twelve or fifteen damsels,* who are 

• Frances Brandon, mother of lady Jane Gray. 

2 Widow of Henry's illegitimate son. s Hall's Chronicle, reprint, p. 834. 

* Marillac's Despatches. 

5 The names of the principal persons of distinction by whom Anne of Cleves 
was attended from her own country to England, together with a few other par- 
ticulars of ceremonial preparatory to her arrival, may be seen in a curious doo- 



ANNE OP CLEVES. 51 

even inferior in beauty to their mistress, and are, moreover, 
dressed after a fashion so heavy and tasteless that it -would 
make them appear frightful, even if they were belles." 
Anne being also dressed after the mode of her own country, 
which, from the evidence of her portrait, was tasteless as 
the costume of her maids of honor, the whole party must 
have appeared somewhat outlandish. A Frenchman, how- 
ever, is always hypercritical on such points. How much 
opinions differ on matters of the kind our readers wiU pres- 
ently see from the glowing details which Anne's stanch 
admirer, Hall, has given of her dress and appearance on 
this occasion. " "When the kiag knew that she was arrived 
in her tent, he with all diligence set out through the park. 
First came the king's trumpeter, then the king's officers of 
his council ; after them the gentlemen of the king s privy- 
chamber, some apparelled in coats of velvet embroidered, 
others had their coats guarded with chains of gold, very 
rich to behold; these were well mounted and trapped. 
After them came the barons, the youngest first ; and so sir 
William Hollys, the lord mayor, rode with the lord Parr,' 
being youngest baron. Then followed the bishops, ap- 
parelled in black satin, after them the earls ; then duke 
Philip of Bavaria, count palatine of the Ehine (who was 
the suitor of the princess Mary), richly apparelled, with 
the livery of the Toison or Golden Fleece about his neck ; 
then the ambassadors of the emperor and the king of 
France, the lord chancellor, with the other great state- 
of&cers, and Garter king-at-arms. These lords were, for the 
most part, arrayed in purple velvet, and the marquess of 
Dorset, in the same livery, bore the king's sword of state. 
After him, but at a good distance, came the king, mounted 
on a goodly courser, trapped in rich cloth of gold, traversed 
all over, lattice-wise, with gold embroidery, pearled on 
every side of the embroidery : the buckles and pendants 
were all of fine gold.'' The king was apparelled in a coat 

ument in the Harleian and Cottonian MSS., entitled " Reception of the Lady 
Anna of Cleyes at Calais," edited by John Gough Nichols, Esq., F.S.A. Printed 
with the Chronicle of Calais by the Camden Society. 

1 Katharine Parr's uncle. ' Hall's Chronicle, reprint, p. 834. 



52 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

of purple velvet, made somewliat like a jErock, all over em- 
broidered with flat gold of damask, with 8m.all lace mixed 
between, traverse-wise, so that little of the ground ap- 
peared ; about which garment was a rich guard, very curi- 
ously embroidered. The sleeves and breast were cut and 
lined with cloth of gold, and clasped with great buttons of 
diamonds, rubies, and orient pearls ; his sword and girdle 
adorned with stones and special emeralds, his cap garnished 
with stones, but his bonnet was so rich of jewels that few 
men could value them." The royal bridegroom must cer- 
tainly have intended to rival the king of diamonds in this 
gorgeous display. " Besides all this," continues Hall, whose 
loyal raptures increase with every additional jewel which 
he records as decorating bluff king Hal, — " besides all this, 
he wore a collar of such balas-rubies, and pearl, that few 
men ever saw the like ; and about his person ran ten foot- 
men, richly apparelled in goldsmiths' work. And notwith- 
standing that this rich apparel and precious jewels were 
pleasant to the nobles and all present to behold, yet his 
princely countenance, his goodly personage and royal ges- 
ture, so far exceeded all other creatures present, that, in 
comparison of his person, all his rich apparel was little 
esteemed. After him followed his lord chamberlain ; then 
came sir Anthony Browne, master of his horse, a goodly gen- 
tleman of comely personage, well mounted and richly ap- 
parelled, leading the king's horse of estate by a long rein 
of gold, which horse was trapped in manner like a barb, 
with crimson velvet and satin, all over embroidered with 
gold after an antique fashion, very curiously wrought. Then 
followed the pages of honor, in coats of rich tinsel and 
crimson velvet paled, riding on great coursers, all trapped 
in crimson velvet embroidered with new devices and knots 
of gold, which were both pleasant and comely to behold. 
Then follow edsir Anthony Wingfield, captain of the guard ; 
then the guard, well mounted and in rich coats. In this 
order the king rode to the last end of the rank, where the 
spears and pensioners stood, and there every person that 
came with the king placed himself on one side or the other 
the king standing in the midst. 



ANNE OP CLEVES. 63 

" When her grace was advertised of the king's coming, 
she issued out of her tent, being apparelled in a rich gown 
of cloth of gold raised, made round, without any train, 
after the Dutch fashion ; and on her head a caul, and over 
that a round bonnet or cap, set full of orient pearl, of very- 
proper fashion ; and before that, she had a cornet of black 
velvet, and about her neck she had a partlet set full of rich 
stone, which glistened all the field. At the door of the tent 
she mounted on a fair horse, richly trapped with goldsmiths' 
work ; and so were her footmen, who surrounded her, with 
the ' black Hon' ' embroidered, and on the shoulder a car- 
buncle set in gold ; and so she marched towards the king, 
who, perceiving her approach, came forward somewhat 
beyond the cross on the heath," and there paused a little in 
a fair place till she came nearer. Then he put off his ' 
bonnet, and came forward to her, and with most loving 
countenance and princely behavior saluted, welcomed, and 
embraced her, to the great rejoicing of the beholders ; and 
she likewise, not forgetting her duty, with most amiable 
aspect and womanly behavior, received his grace with many 
sweet words, thanks, and great praises given him. While 
they were thus communing, the pensioners and guards de- 
parted to furnish the court and hall at Greenwich," that is, 
to commence forming the state pageant there against the 
arrival of the king and his betrothed. 

When the king had conversed a little with the lady Anne, 
which must have been by means of an interpreter, " he put 
her on his right hand, and so with their footmen they rode 
as though they had been coupled together. Oh !" continues 
the enraptured chronicler, " what a sight was this, to see so 
goodly a prince and so noble a king to ride with so fair a 
lady, of so goodly a stature and so womanly a countenance, 
and, in especial, of so good qualities ! I think no creature 
could see them but his heart rejoiced." ' Few, perhaps, of 
the spectators of this brave show imagined how deceptive a 

^ The armorial bearing of Hainault. 

' This was the antique mound on Blackheath, once a Saxon tumulus, now 
crowned with a few stunted firs. The cross was there in the time of Charles II. 
' Hall's Chronicle, reprint, p. 835. 



54 ANNE OF CLEVE8. 

farce it was ; nor does Hall, who was an eye-witness of all 
he describes, appear to have been in the slightest degree 
aware how false a part his sovereign was acting, or how 
hard a trial it must have been to that gayly-deeorated victim, 
the bride, to smother all the struggling feelings of female ; 
pride and delicacy, to assume a sweet and loving demeanor 
towards the bloated tyrant by whom she had been so rudely 
scorned and depreciated. Certainly, Anne had the most 
' reasonable cause for dissatisfaction of the two, when we 
\ consider that, if she were not quite so handsome as Holbein 
j had represented her, she was a fine young woman of only 
i four-and-twenty, who had been much admired in her own 
f country. Henry was more than double her age, unwieldy 
(' and diseasQ^in person, with a countenance^^tamped with 
f all the "traces of ttB-sensual and cruel passions which de- 
formed his mind. Thoughts of the broken heart of his 
first queen, the bloody scaffold of his second, and the early 
grave of his third consort could scarcely fail to occur 
appallingly to his luckless bride, when she perceived that 
she was already despised by her formidable spouse. What 
woman but would have shuddered at finding herself in 
Anne of Cleves's predicament ? 

Hall thus resumes his rich narrative : — " When the king 
and the lady Anne had met, and both their companies 
joined, they returned through the ranks of knights and 
■squires which had remained stationary. First came her 
trumpets, twelve in number besides two kettle-drums, on 
horseback ; next followed the king's trumpets, then the 
liing's councillors, the gentlemen of the privy-chamber ; 
then the gentlemen of her grace's country, in coats of 
velvet, riding on great horses ; after them the mayor of 
London, in crimson velvet with a rich collar, coupled with 
the youngest baron ; then all the barons, followed by the 
fcishops ; then the earls, with whom rode the earls of Wal- 
«deck and Overstein, Anne's countrymen. Then came the 
dukes, the archbishop of Canterbury, and duke Philip of 
Bavaria, followed by the ambassadors, the lord privy-seal, 
and the lord chancellor ; then the lord marquess, with the 
king's sword. Next followed the kiag himself, riding with 



\ 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 55 

his fair lady ; behind him rode sir Anthony Browne, with 
the king's horse of estate ; behind her rode sir John Dudley, 
master of her horse, leading her spare palfrey, trapped in 
rich tissue down to the ground. After them followed the 
lady Margaret Douglas, the lady marquess Dorset, the duch- 
esses of Eichmond and Suffolk, the countesses of Eutland 
and Hertford, and other countesses; next followed her 
grace's chariot." ' This circumstance and the description 
of the equipage are worthy of attention with regard to the 
costume of the era. " The chariot was well carved and gilt, 
with the arms of her country curiously wrought and covered 
with cloth of gold : all the horses were trapped with black 
velvet, and on them rode pages of honor in coats of velvet ; 
in the chariot rode two ancient ladies of her country. After 
the chariot followed six ladies and gentlewomen of her 
country, all richly apparelled with caps set with pearls and 
great chains of divers fashions, after the custom of their 
country, and with them rode six ladies of England, well 
' beseen.' Then followed another chariot, gilt and furnished 
as the other was. Then came ten English ladies well ap- 
parelled. I^ext them another chariot, covered with black 
cloth ; in that were foxir gentlewomen, her grace's cham- 
berers : then followed all the remnant of the ladies, gentle- 
women, and maidens, in great number, which did wear that 
day French hoods. After them came Anne's three washer-, 
women, launderers as they are called [we should never have\ 
thought of their having a place in the procession], in a 
\ chariot all covered with black ; then a horse-litter, of cloth 

iof gold of crimson velvet paled [striped], with horses 
trapped accordingly, which was a present from the king. 
' Last of all came the serving-men of her train, all clothed 
in black, mounted on great Flemish horses.' 

" In this order they rode through tbe ranks into the park, 
and at the late Friars' wall ' all men alighted, save the king, 
the two masters of the horse, and the henchmen, which 
rode to the hall-door, and the ladies rode to the court-gate. 

1 Hall's Chronicle. ' Ibid., 836. 

' Supposed to be that of the convent of the Observant-friars at Greenwich, 
which was situated close to the palace. 



56 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

As they passed, they beheld from the wharf how the citi- 
zens of London were rowing up and down on the Thames, 
every craft in his barge garnished with banners, flags, 
streamers, pensils, and targets, some painted and blazoned 
with the king's arms, some with those of her grace, and 
some with the arms of their craft or mystery. Besides the 
barges of every craft or city company, there was a barge 
made like a ship, called the bachelors' bark, decked with 
pensils, and pennons of cloth of gold, and targets in great 
number, on which waited a foyst, that shot great pieces of 
artillery. In every barge were divers sorts of instruments, 
with men and children singing and playing in chorus as the 
king and the lady passed on the wharf, which sight and 
noises they much praised." 

A splendid scene it must have been, that gorgeous caval- 
cade, extending from Blackheath, through the park to the 
water's edge, and the broad-bosomed Thames so gayly dight 
with the flags and gilded barges of the queen of merchant- 
cities, and all the aquatic pageantry which wealth and loy- 
alty could devise to do honor to the sovereign's bride. But 
to return to her whose advent had given the citizens of 
London so proud a holiday, and filled the leafless bowers 
of Greenwich with unwonted animation at that wintry sea- 
son of the year. " As soon as she and the king had alighted 
from their horses in the inner court, the king lovingly em- 
braced her, and bade her ' welcome to her own ;' then led 
her by the left arm through the hall, which was furnished 
below the hearth with the king's guard, and above the 
hearth with the fifty pensioners with their battle-axes, and 
so brought her up to her privy-chamber,' which was richly 
prepared for her reception." There Henry, eager to be 
released from the irksome part of playing the loving bride- 
groom and gracious sovereign, left her, and retired to give 
vent to his discontent in his own. He was attended by his 
anxious premier Cromwell, to whom he exclaimed, " How 
say you, my lord ; is it not as I told you ? Say what they 

• Hall's Chronicle, 836. This etiquette of the stations of the royal guard 
is ouriouB. The hearth was evidently in the middle of the hall at Greenwich 
palace. '~~'-- 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 57 

will, she is nothing fair. Her person is well and seemly, 
but nothing else." The obsequious minister assented to 
the royal opinion, — nay, sware " by his faith, that his sover- 
eign said right ;" yet ventured to observe, by way of com- 
mendation, "that he thought she had a queenly manner 
withal." This Henry frankly allowed.* Cromwell lamented \ 
" that his grace was no better content," as well indeed he ) 
might, since his own ruin was decreed from that hour. -t^ 

Though Henry had committed himself "by his public recep- 
tion of the lady, he commanded Cromwell to summon the 
council, and devise with them some pretext whereby he 
might excuse himself from ftilfilling his engagement with 
Anne. The councU met, and Osliger and Hostoden, the en- 
voys of the duke of Cleves, just after assisting at the pomp- 
ous ceremonial of the king of England's public welcome of 
their princess as his bride elect, found themselves called 
upon a second time to answer to a formal inquiry, in the 
name of that prince, if the said lady were not already the 
affianced wife of another ? They appeared like men per- 
plexed, and deferred their replies till the next day.* 

Meantime, the crowd of spectators and the inferior actors 
in the state pageant dispersed, for which Hall tells us the 
signal was given by the mighty peal of guns that was shot 
from Greenwich tower when the king and queen entered 
the court together. Then all the horsemen broke their 
ranks, and had leave to depart to London, or to their lodg- 
ings. " To see how long it was or ever the horsemen could 
pass, and how late it was ere the footmen could get over 
London bridge," pursues he, " I assure you it was wondrous 
to behold." 

When the lord chamberlain inquired of the king, " What 
day his majesty would be pleased to name for the coronation 
of the queen ?" — " We will talk of that when I have made 
her my queen," was the ominous reply of the moody mon- 
arch.' The next morning, Sunday, Cromwell came by 
the private way to Henry's private chamber, and informed 

' King Henry's deposition of what passed between himself and Cromwell on 
the subject of the lady Anne of Cleves. — Haynes's State-Papers. 

' Cromwell's deposition, in Burnet's Hist, of Keformation. ^ Leti. 



/ 



58 ANNE OF CLBVES. 

him that the ambassadors of Cleves treated the idea of the 
pre-contract with contempt, and had offered to remain in 
prison as pledges for the arrival of the revocation of the 
spousalia. Henry was much annoyed at this intelligence, 
and exclaimed, " I am not well handled ;" ' adding, " if it 
were not that she is come so far into my realm, and the 
great preparations that my states and people have made for 
her, and for fear of making a ruflle in the world, and of 
driving her brother into the hands of the emperor and the 
French king, who are now together, I would not now marry 
her." After dinner, on the same Sunday, Henry sent for 
all his council, and repeated his favorite expression, "that 
he was not well handled about the contract with the prince 
of Lorraine," and required that Anne should make a solemn 
protestation that she was free from all pre-contracts. This 
she did in the presence of all his council and notaries. When 
Henry was informed by Cromwell that the lady had made 
the above protest in the most clear and positive terms, he , 
repeated his first ungracious exclamation, " Is there, then, 
none other remedy, but I must needs against my will put 
my neck into the yoke." Cromwell escaped from the royal \ 
presence as quickly as he could, leaving his master in what • 
he politely terms " a study or pensiveness ;" ' in other words, 
an access of sullen ill-humor, in which Henry remained till 
the Monday morning, when he declared " that it was his 
intention to go through with it," and directed that the nup- 
tials should be solemnized on the following day, January 
6th, being the Epiphany, or feast of kings, commonly called 
Twelfth-day, and set about preparing himself for the cere- 
monial. Short notice this for the bride, but her feelings had 
been outraged in every possible way. 

Next came the question, Who should lead her to the 
altar ? Two noblemen of her own court, the earl of Over- 
stein and the grand-master Hostoden, had come to England 
with her expressly for that purpose, and to superintend all 
the arrangements for her marriage. Henry chose to asso- 
ciate the earl of Essex with the earl of Overstein in the 
honor of leading her. Then, as if to render everything as 

' CromweU's letter; Burnet, vol. i. p. 183. 2 Ibid. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 59 

inconvenient as possible to the princess, he fixed the early- 
hour of eight in the morning for the solemnity. The earl 
of Essex was not punctual to the time, on which Henry- 
deputed Cromwell to take the oflSce of conducting the bride, 
and sent him to her chamber for that purpose ; but before 
Anne was ready Essex arrived. However reluctant the 
royal bridegroom was to fulfil his distasteful matrimonial 
engagement, he made his personal arrangements that morn- 
ing with much greater speed than the bride, and had donned 
his wedding-garments so long before she was ready, that he 
thought proper to exercise his conjugal privilege beforehand 
by grumbling at having to wait. His bridal costume is 
thus described by Hall : — " His grace was apparelled in a 
gown of cloth of gold, raised with great flowers of silver, 
and furred with black jennettes. His coat, crimson satin, 
slashed and embroidered, and clasped with great diamonds, 
and a rich collar about his neck." In this array he entered 
his presence-chamber, and calling Cromwell to him, said, 
" My lord, if it were not to satisfy the world and my realm, 
I would not do what I must do this day for any earthly 
thing." • Then one of the officers of the household informed 
him the queen was ready. On which he, with his lords and 
officers of state, advanced into the gallery next the closets 
and there paused, and, with some expressions of displeasure 
that she was so long in coming, sent the lords to fetch the 
queen. 

The tardy bride had endeavored, it should seem, to con- 
sole herself for Henry's insulting demurs and discourtesies 
by taking her own time, and making a very elaborate and 
splendid toilette. She was dressed in a gown of rich cloth 
of gold, embroidered very thickly with great flowers of 
large oriental pearls. It was made round and without a 
train, after the Dutch fashion, which, it appears, was not 
admired in England. She wore her long luxuriant yellow 
hair flowing down her shoulders, and on her head a coronal 
of gold fiill of costly gems and set about with sprigs of rose- 
mary, a herb of grace which was used by maidens both at 
weddings and funerals.' About her neck and waist she 

1 Cromwell's letter ; Burnet. ' For eouvenance ; Kempe's Losely MSB. 



60 ANNE OP CLEVES. 

wore jewels of great price.^ Thus arrayed, Anne of Cleves 
came forth from her closet between the earl of Overstein 
and the earl of Essex, and, according to Hall, " with most 
demure countenance and sad [composed] behavior passed 
through the king's chamber." The lords went before her 
in procession, and when they reached the gallery where 
the king was, she greeted him with three low obeisances 
and courtesies. Then the archbishop of Canterbury, Cran- 
mer, received them, and married them together. The earl 
of Overstein gave Anne away : round her wedding-ring was 
inscribed, — 

(®ob Mmii P^ Mtd to fewpe.' 

A more appropriate motto could scarcely have been chosen 
for a wife of Henry YIII. No doubt the ;poor queen had 
that prayer very often on her lips. When the nuptial rites 
were ended, the royal pair walked hand in hand into the 
king's closet, and there heard mass, and offered their tapers. 
After mass was over, they took wine and spices ; " then 
the king departed to his chamber, and all the ladies 
attended the queen to her chamber, the duke of Norfolk 
walking on her right hand, the duke of Suffolk on her 
left. 

Brief was the repose that was allowed her there, ere she 
was summoned to attend another mass ; for we find that 
" the king, in a gown of rich tissue, lined with crimson vel- 
vet, embroidered, came to his closet, and she, in the same 
dress in which she was married, came to her closet, with 
her sergeant-of-arms and all her oflS^cers before her, like a 
queen. And the king and she went openly in procession, 
and offered and dined together. After dinner," continues 
our authority, " the queen changed into a dress made like a 
man's gown, of tissue, with long sleeves, girt to her, and 
ftirred with rich sables. Her under sleeves were very costly. 
On her head she wore such a cap as on the preceding Satur- 
day, with a cornet of lawn, which cap was so rich of pearls 
and gems that it was judged to be of great value.* Her 
ladies and gentlemen were apparelled very richly, after her 

1 Hall. « Ibid., p. 836. s Ibid. * Ibid., p. 837. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 61 

fashion," which, from Marillac's report, we have seen was 
not the most becoming in the world. They were all deco- 
rated with rich chains. In the dress just described, our 
Lutheran queen Anne accompanied her lord to even-song, 
as she had in the morning to mass, and afterwards supped 
with him. " After supper were banquets, masks, and divers 
disports, till the time came that it pleased the king and her 
to take their rest." 

Henry's countenance bore a more portentous aspect on 
the morrow, and when his trembling premier, Cromwell, 
entered his presence to pay his duty, he received him with 
a frown, and angrily reproached him for having persuaded 
him to a marriage so repugnant to his taste. Solemn jousts 
were, nevertheless, kept in honor of the royal nuptials on 
the Sunday, which much pleased the foreigners. " On that 
day," continues Hall, " the queen 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." Not a word does the courtier-like chronicler 
relate of the king's Ul-humor, or of his contempt for his 
new queen. Another contemporary historian, who is evi- 
dently an admirer of Anne, quaintly observes, " "Well ; it 
pleased his highness to mislike her grace, but to me she 
always appeared a brave lady." The only allusion Henry 
was ever known to make to his beautiful and once idolized 
queen Anne Boleyn after her murder was in one of his 
bursts of contempt for her more homely namesake. The 
little princess Elizabeth having made suit by her governess 
to be allowed to come and pay the duty of a daughter to 
the new queen, whom she had the most ardent desire to 
see, " Tell her," was the reply, " that she had a mother so 
different from this woman, that she ought not to wish to 
see her." ' Elizabeth addressed a very pretty letter to her 
royal step-mother to excuse her absence. 

The reports of her contemporaries vary so greatly as to 
the personal characteristics of this queen, that an exact 
description of her appearance, from the original pencil- 
sketch among the Holbein heads in her majesty's collection 

1 Hall, p. 837. 



62 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

at Windsor, may not be uninteresting to the reader. The 
sketch was probably taken after her arrival in England, and, 
though unfinished, it is a very fine specimen of art. There 
is a moral and intellectual beauty in the expression of the 
face, though the nose and mouth are large and somewhat 
coarse in their formation. Her forehead is lofty, expansive, 
and serene, indicative of candor and talent. The eyes large, 
dark, and reflective. They are thickly fringed, both on the 
upper and lower lids, with long black lashes. Her eye- 
brows are black and finely marked. Her hair, which is 
also black,' is parted, and plainly folded on either side the 
face in bands, extending, as in the present fashion, below 
the ears, — a style that seems peculiarly suitable to the calm 
and dignified composure of her countenance. Nothing, 
however, can be more unbecoming than her dress, which 
is a close-fitting gown, with a stiff high collar like a man's 
coat, and tight sleeves. The bodice opens a little in front, 
and displays a chemisette, drawn up to the throat with a 
narrow ribbon, and ornamented on one side with a brooch 
in the form of a Katherine-wheel, placed very high. She 
wears a large Amazonian-looking hat, turned boldly up in 
front, not in the Spanish but the Dutch fashion, decorated 
with quatre-feuilles of gems. Such a head-dress would have 
been trying even to a soft and feminine style of beauty, but 
the effect on the large, decided features of this queen is very 
unfortunate. Anne of Cleves appears to have had the most 
splendid wardrobe of all Henry's queens, but the worst taste 
in dress. 

Anne was conducted, on the 4th of February, by the king 
and his ministers by water to the palace of Westminster, 
which had been magnificently prepared for her reception. 
They were attended on their voyage up the Thames by 
many peers and prelates in state barges, gayly emblazoned 
and adorned. The mayor and aldermen of London, in their 
scarlet robes, gave attendance;^ also with twelve of the 

' Hal), we have seen, describes her with yellow tresses, which were certainly 
false hair, and must haye been singularly unbecoming to a brunette. All her 
portraits represent her not only with black hair, but with very black eyes. 

' Hall, p. 837. 



ANNE OF CLBVE8. 63 

principal city companies, in barges, garnished with pen- 
nons, banners, and targets, with rich awnings and bands 
of music within, which, according to the chronicler, " was 
being replenished with minstrelsy." All the way up the 
river the ships saluted the royal barge as it passed, and 
a mighty peal was fired from the great Tower guns in 
goodly order, to greet and welcome the sovereign and his 
bride.' 

Henry VIII.'s whim of entwining his initials with those 
of a new wife is apparent even during the ephemeral queen- 
ship of Anne of Cleves. Several medallions are still re- 
maining in the ceiling of the chapel-royal in St. James's 
palace with the letters H A, garnished with the true-love 
knots which Anne Boleyn had found so false and evanescent 
when he invented that device to testify his devotion to her. f 
The date, 1540, within these medallions, identifies them as f 
having been enamelled during the brief reign of Anne of I 
Cleves. Similar medallions, with the same initials, appear! 
in the tapestried chamber at St. James's, in the carving over 
the chimney-piece. 

When the earl of Overstein, and other nobles and ladies 
who had attended Anne to England, had been honorably 
feasted and entertained by Henry and his magnates, they 
received handsome presents, both in money and plate, and 
returned to their own country. The earl of Waldeck, and 
some other gentlemen and ladies, with the Dutch maids of 
honor, remained with her till she became better acquainted 
with the English people and language. It is evident that 
mistress Lowe, the sage gouvernante of the Butch maids (as 
Anne's Flemish maids were styled), was regarded by the 
English courtiers as the channel through which all places 
and preferments in the household of the new queen were to 
flow. The countess of Rutland, to whom that painstaking 
matron, lady Lisle, sent the noble present of a pipe of Gas- 
con wine and two barrels of herrings, to purchase her good 
oflSces in obtaining her daughter Katharine Basset's appoint- 
ment as a maid of honor to the queen, gives her the following 
hints : — 

• Hall, p. 837. 



64 ANNE OP CLBVES. 

** And whereas you be very desirous to have your daughter, mistress Basset, 
to be one of the queen's grace's maids, and that you would that I should move 
her grace in that behalf; these shall be to let your ladyship know that I per- 
ceive right well the king's pleasure to be such, that no more maids shall be 
taken in until such time as some of them that be now with the queen's grace be 
preferred [meaning, till they were married]. Albeit, if you will make some 
means unto mother Lowe, who can do as much good in this matter as any one 
woman here, that she may make some means to get your said daughter with the 
queen's said grace ; and in so doing, I think you shall obtain your purpose in 
every behalf." ^ 

The same day the young candidate for this much-desired 
appointment, who was residing in lady Eutland's family, 
wrote herself to her mother a confidential letter on this 
subject, which we insert as affording a curious illustration 
of the manners, customs, and narrow means of some of the 
young ladies of the court of Henry VIII. 

"Madame: — 

" In my humble wise, my duty done to your ladyship, certifying your lady- 
ship that my lord of Rutland and my lady be in good health, and hath them 
heartily commended to your ladyship, thanking you for your wine and your 
herring that you sent them. Madame, my lady hath given me a gown of KaSa 
damask, of her own old wearing, and that she would in no wise that I should 
refuse it ; and I have spoken to Mr. Husse for a roll of buckram to new line it, 
and velvet to edge it withal. Madame, I humbly beseech your ladyship to be 
good lady and mother to me, for my lady of Rutland said that mother Lowe, 
the mother of the Dutch maida, may do much for my preferment with the 
queen's highness, so that your ladyship would send her my good token ^ that she 
may the better remember me, trusting that your ladyship would be good lady 
to me in this behalf. Madame, I have received of Ravenforde two crowns, for 
which I humbly thank your ladyship. I do lack a ketyll [suppose kirtle] for 
every day ; I beseech your ladyship that I may have it : and I desire your 
ladyship that I may be humbly recommended to my lord" and to my sisters. 
Madame, my brother George is in good health, and in the court with sir Francis 
Bryan. And thus the Holy Ghost have you in his keeping, who send your 
ladyship good life and length to his pleasure. Written at York place, the 17th 
day of February, by your humble daughter, 

"Katharine Basset. 
" To the right honorable and my very good Lady and Mother, 
my Lady Lisle, be this delivered at Calais." 

Anne Basset, the established maid of honor, who was a 
very fair, well-made, and graceful young gentlewoman, was 

1 Wood's Letters, from the Lisle Papers; State- Paper MSS. 

' In the shape of a present to mother Lowe, as the price of her good offices 
in obtaining the place of maid of honor. Katharine Basset was in the service 
of the countess of Rutland, a lady of the blood-royal. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 65 

certainly placed in a perilous position by the very incon- 
siderate manner in which her worldly-minded mother con- 
trived pretexts for throwing her in the king's way, by 
deputing her, when she presented her confections to him, 
to solicit gifts and preferments for her family. Perhaps 
lady Lisle flattered herself that fair mistress Anne Basseu ' 
was as likely to win Henry's fatal love as either Anne Boleyn 
or Jane Seymour, her predecessors in the dangerous office 
of maid of honor to an unbeloved queen-consort. That the 
young lady possessed infinitely more prudence and delicacy 
than her coarse, manoeuvring mother, the following passages 
in one of her letters affords interesting evidence : — 

" Madame : — 

" I have presented your codiniao [quince-marmalade] to the king's highness, 
and his grace does like it wondrous well, and gave your ladyship hearty thanks 
for it. And whereas I perceived by your ladyship's letter, * that when the king's 
highness had tasted of your codiniac, you would have me to move his grace for 
to send you some token of remembrance, that you might know the better that 
his grace doth like your codiniac,* by my troth, madame, I told his grace * that 
your ladyship was glad that you could make anything that his grace did like ;' 
and his grace made me answer, ' that he did thank you with all his heart ;' and 
his grace commanded me ' that Nicholas Byre should speak with my father 
Heneage afore he went.* Whether he will send your ladyship any token by him 
or no, I cannot tell ; for, madame, I durst not be so bold to move his grace for 
it no other wise, for fear lest how his grace would have taken it : therefore I 
beseech your ladyship be not discontented with me. And whereas you do write 
to me that I should remember my sister, I have spoken to the king*s highness 
for her j and his grace made me answer, ' that master Bryan and divers other 
hath spoken to his grace for their friends.* But he said, ' he would not grant mo 
nor them yet ;' for his grace said * that he would have them that should be fair, 
and as he thought meet for the room.* " 

What other qualifications, in addition to personal beauty, 
the Tudor sultan deemed indispensable for his queen's future 
maids of honor to possess are not explained in this epistle. 
Perhaps Anne Basset feared her sister Katharine might not 
pass muster, or there was something in the royal manner 
that deterred her from pressing her suit, for she says : — 

" Therefore, madame, I think if you did send to some of your friends that are 
about his grace to speak for her, or else I cannot tell what you t> best to do in 
it, for I have done as much as I can.' " 

Two other favors which my lady Lisle expected her daughter 
to ask and the king to grant, in return for her pots of mar- 



66 ANNE OF CLEVBS. 

malade, the poor girl humbly but positively declines naming 
to their royal master. She says to her mother, in reply to 
her requisition to that eifect : — 

" And whereas you do write to me that I should speak for my lord's matter, 
and for Bery's son, I beseech your ladyship to hold me excused in that, for I 
dare not be so bold to move the king's grace in no such matters, for fear how 
his grace would take it." ^ 

Our young maid of honor concludes with this naive confes- 
sion of her lack of penmanship : — 

"And whereas you do write to me that I do not write with mine own hand, 
the truth is that I cannot write nothing hut mine own name ; and as for that, 
when I had haste to go up to the queen's chamber, my man did write it which 
doth write my [this] letter." 2 

The fact that a letter full of family affairs, and relating to 
a matter of such extreme delicacy as a private conference 
between the fair inditer and her sovereign — that sovereign 
the ferocious tjrrant Henry VIII. — was written by an 
amanuensis of servile degree, affords a curious illustration 
of the manners of the times, as well as a proof of the de- 
fective system on which the education of young ladies of 
rank was conducted in the middle of the sixteenth century. 
Yet the same age and country could boast of those illustrious 
female scholars, the daughters of sir Thomas More, queen 
Katharine Parr, lady Jane Gray, and the royal Tudor sisters 
Mary and Elizabeth. The scholastic attainments of the 
above accomplished ladies have frequently been cited as 
evidence of the superior degree of cultivation bestowed upon 
the gentlewomen of England at that period, but their names 
should rather be mentioned as forming very remarkable 
exceptions to the general ignorance in which their fair con- 
temporaries were brought up. We shall have occasion, in 
the succeeding biography, to prove that Anne of Cleves was 
compelled to resign her nuptial ring and queenly dignity, to 
enable Henry VIII. to bestow those fatal distinctions on a 
young lady of noble birth,' who possessed not a whit more 
clerkly skill than the unlearned maid of honor who could 
write nothing more than her own name. 

1 Wood's Letters of Illustrious Ladies, vol. iii. p. 153. » Ibid. 

3 Queen Katharine Howard. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 67 

During the first few weeks after Henry's marriage with 
Anne of Cleves, he treated her with an outward show of 
civility on all public occasions ; and as long as they kept the 
same chamber, he was accustomed to say " Good-night, 
sweetheart !" and in the morning, when he left her apart- 
ment, " Farewell, darling I" These honeyed words, however, 
only covered increasing dislike, which, when he found there 
was no prospect of her bringing him a family, he openly 
expressed in the rudest terms. Even if Anne of Oleves 
had been gifted with those external charms requisite to 
please Henry's fastidious eye, her ignorance of the English 
language and of music, and, above all, her deficiency in that 
delicate tact which constitutes the real art of pleasing, 
would have prevented her from gaining on his affections. 
Henry had been used to the society of women of superior 
intellect and polished manners. Such had been Katharine 
of Arragon, such Anne Boleyn ; and Jane Seymour, if she 
lacked the mental dignity of the first, or the genius and 
wit of the second, made up for both in the insinuating soft- 
ness which was, no doubt, the true secret of her influence 
over Henry's mind. Anne of Cleves was no adept in the 
art of flattery, and, though really " of meek and gentle 
conditions," she did not humiliate herself meanly to the 
man from whom she had received so many unprovoked 
marks of contempt, and she ceased to behave with submis- 
sive complaisance. Henry then complained to Cromwell 
" that she waxed wilftil and stubborn with him." * 

Anne required advice, and sent often to Cromwell, re- 
questing a conference with him, but in vain. Cromwell 
knew he was in a perilous predicament, surrounded by 
spies and enemies, and, like the trembling vizier of some 
Eastern tyrant, who sees the fatal bowstring ready to be 
fitted to his neck, deemed that one false step would be his 
ruin : he positively refused to see the queen.'' While Anne 
was tormented and perplexed by the persecutions of her 
unreasonable husband, terror was stricken into every heart 
by the execution of two of his nearest kinsmen, whom he 
relentlessly sent to the block on the 3d of March. One was 

' Cromwell's letter ; Burnet. ' Ibid. 



68 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

the favorite companion of his youth, Courtenay marquess 
of Exeter, the son of his aunt Katharine Plantagenet ; the 
other was Henry Pole, lord Montague, the son of Margaret 
Plantagenet, countess of Salisbury.' The offence for which 
they suffered was correspondence with Eeginald Pole (after- 
wards the celebrated cardinal), whom Henry called his 
enemy. Anne's dower was settled according to the usual 
forms when parliament met, April 12th.' It seems remark- 
able that Henry, who from the first had declared " that he 
could not overcome his aversion to her sufSeiently to con- 
sider her as his wife,'' should have permitted this legislative 
recognition of her rights as queen-consort of England. 

On the 1st of May, and three succeeding days, a com- 
pany of the knightly gallants of the court, among whom 
sir Thomas Seymour, the brother of the late queen Jane, 
sir John Dudley, and sir George Carew were the most dis- 
tinguished, held jousts, tourney, and barrier at Durham 
house, all dressed in white velvet, in honor of the king's 
recent marriage with Anne of Cleves. Their majesties 
honored the pageant with their presence, and were honora- 
bly feasted and entertained by their bachelor hosts. This 
was the last time the king and queen appeared in public 
together. Wriothesley, the most unprincipled of the low- 
born parasites who rose to greatness by truckling to the 
lawless passions of the sovereign, prepared the way for the 
divorce by lamenting to the gentlemen of the privy-chamber 
and the council " the hard case in which the king's highness 
stood, in being bound to a wife whom he could not love," ' 
and went on to suggest the expediency of emancipating the 
king from a wedlock that was so little to his taste. A gen- 
tleman of honor and feeling would rather have regarded the 
case of the injured queen with compassion, but Wriothesley 
was devoid of every generous sympathy ; his conduct towards 
females in distress was always peculiarly cruel, as we shall 
have occasion to show in the memoirs of Katharine Howard 
and Katharine Parr. With ready instruments of wickedness 
like Wriothesley ever at hand, we almost cease to wonder at 
the atrocities that were perpetrated by Henry VIII. When 

» Hall. Burnet. » Tytler. Journals of Pari., 32d Henry VIII. » Strype. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 69 

the idea of a divorce had been once suggested to that law- 
less prince, the situation of his luckless queen was rendered 
insupportable to her. In addition to all his other causes of 
dissatisfaction, Henry now began to express scruples of 
conscience on the score of keeping a Lutheran for his wife.' 
Anne, who had been unremitting in her endeavors to con- 
form herself to his wishes, by studying the English lan- 
guage and all things that were likely to please him, became 
weary of the attempt, and was at length piqued into telling 
him, that " If she had not been compelled to marry him, 
she might have fulfilled her engagement with another, to 
whom she had promised her hand."* It is just possible 
that, under the provocations she had endured, she might 
add, ' a younger and more amiable prince, whom she would 
have preferred had she been left to her own choice.' Henry 
only waited for this ; for though he had lived with Anne 
between four and five months, he had never, as he shame- 
lessly acknowledged, intended to retain her permanently as 
his wife, especially as there was no prospect of her bringing 
him a family. It was the peculiar wickedness of Henry 
that he always added calumny to faithlessness when he de- 
signed to rid himself of a lawful wife. In the present in- 
stance, not contented with disparaging the person and 
manners of the ill-treated princess of Cleves, he basely 
impugned her honor, as if she had not been a virtuous 
woman when he received her hand.' Every one about him 
was aware of his motives in uttering these slanders, which 
were designed to terrify the queen into consenting to a dis- 
solution of her marriage. Her situation was rendered more 
wretched by the dismissal of her foreign attendants, whose 
places were supplied by English ladies appointed by the king. 
When the straunge maidens, as the Flemish maids of 
honor were called, were about to depart, and the queen's 
chamberlain applied to Cromwell for their safe-conduct, the 
cautious minister, who had carefully kept aloof from the 
slightest communication with Anne or her household, availed 
himself of this opportunity of sending a secret warning to 

1 Morerl. De Thoa. ' Moreri. Du Chesne. De Thou- 

' Burnet. Herbert. State-Papers. 



70 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

his royal mistress " of the expediency of doing her utmost 
to render herself more agreeable to the king." ' Anne acted 
upon the hint, but without any sort of judgment, for she 
altered her cold and reserved deportment into an appearance 
of fondness which, being altogether inconsistent with her 
feelings, was anything but attractive. Henry, knowing that 
it was impossible she could entertain affection for him, at- 
tributed the change in her manner to the representations 
of Cromwell, to whom he had confided his intentions of 
obtaining a divorce; and this suspicion aggravated the 
hatred he had conceived against him for having been the 
means of drawing him into the marriage. Henry had 
recently become deeply enamoured of the young and beauti- 
ful Katharine Howard, niece to the duke of JSTorfolk, and 
passionately desired to make her his wife. The leaders of 
the Eoman Catholic party were eager to secure the twofold 
triumphs of obtaining a queen of their own way of think- 
ing, and effecting the downfall of their great enemy, Crom- 
well. There is every reason to believe that the death of his 
unpopular favorite was decreed by Henry himself at the very 
time when, to mask his deadly purpose, he bestowed upon 
him the honors and estates of his deceased kinsman, Bour- 
chier earl of Essex. The fact was, he had a business to 
accomplish, for which he required a tool who would not be 
deterred by the nice feelings of a gentleman of honor from 
working his will. This was the attainder of two ladies allied, 
one by blood, the other by marriage, to the royal line of 
Plantagenet, — Gertrude marchioness of Exeter, the widow 
of one of his kindred victims, and Margaret countess of 
Salisbury, the mother of the other. 

Cromwell produced in the house of lords, May 10th, by 
way of evidence against the aged countess of Salisbury, a 
vestment of white silk that had been found in her wardrobe, 
embroidered in front with the arms of England, surrounded 
with a wreath of pansies and marigolds, and on the back 
the representation of the Host, with the five wounds of our 
Lord, and the name of Jesus written in the midst. The 
peers permitted the unprincipled minister to persuade them 

' Cromwell's letters ; Burnet. Eapiu. 



ANNE OF CLBVES. 

that this was a treasonable ensign ; and as the countess had 
corresponded with her absent son, she was, for no other, 
crime, attainted of high treason and condemned to death 
without the privilege of being heard in her own defence.' 
The marchioness of Exeter was also attainted and con- 
demned to death by the same violation of the laws of Eng- 
land. Both ladies were, meantime, confined in the Tower. 
The lords, indeed, hesitated, for the case was without pre- 
cedent ; but Cromwell sent for the judges to his own house, 
and asked them " whether the parliament had a power to 
condemn persons accused without a hearing?" The judges 
replied," " That it was a nice and dangerous question, for 
law and equity required that no one should be condemned 
unheard ; but the parliament being the highest court of the 
realm, its decisions could not be disputed." When Crom- 
well, by reporting this answer in the house, satisfied the 
peers that they had the power of committing a great iniq- 
uity if they chose to do so, they obliged the king by passing 
the bni, which established a precedent for all the other mur- 
ders that were perpetrated in this reign of terror. As an 
awful instance of retributive justice, be it recorded that 
Cromwell was himself the first person who was slain by the 
tremendous weapon of despotism with which, like a traitor 
to his country, he had famished the most merciless tyrant 
that ever wore the English crown. 

Exactly one month after this villany, Cromwell was ar- 
rested by the duke of N"orfolk at the council-board, and sent 
to the Tower by the command of the king; who, like a mas- 
ter-fiend, had waited till his slave had filled up the full 
measure of his guilt before he executed his vengeance upon 
him. Another victim, but a blameless one, was also selected 
by Henry to pay the penalty of his life for having been in- 
strumental in his marriage with Anne of Cleves ; this was 
the pious and learned Dr. Barnes, whomi the queen had 
greatly patronized, but was unable to preserve from the 
stake.' Her own reign was drawing to a close. A few days 

' Lingard. Tytler. Herbert. Burnet. Journals of Parliameot. 

' Parliamentary History, vol. iii. pp. 143, 144. Eapin. Lingard. Herbert. 

' Bapin. Burnet. Lingard. 



72 AUNE OF CLEVES. 

after Cromwell's arrest she was sent to Eiclimond, undei 
pretence that her health required change of air. Marillac, 
in a letter to Francis I., dated June 23d, thus alludes to the 
reports to which this circumstance had given rise : — " There 
is a talk of som^e diminution of love, and a new affection for 
another lady. The queen has been sent to Eichmond. This 
I know, that the king, who promised in two days to follow 
her, has not done so, and does not seem likely to do so, for 
the road of his progress does not lead that way. Now it is 
said in the court, that the said lady has left on account of 
the plague, which is in this city, which is not true ; for if 
there had been any suspicion of the kind, the king would 
not have remained on any business, however important, for 
he is the most timid person in the world in such cases." ' 
The removal of Anne was the preliminary step to the di- 
vorce, for which Henry was now impatient. The particu- 
lars of this transaction, as they appear on the journals of 
the house of lords, afford revolting proofs of the slavish and 
degrading manner in which Henry's privy council and prel- 
ates rendered themselves accomplices in his injustice and 
breach of faith to his wedded wife and their queen. The 
ignoble submission of the peers to the caprices of the lawless 
tyrant kept pace with the disgusting proceedings of his 
personal abettors in his iniquities. The commons only acted 
as the echo of the lords. As for that right-feeling and un- 
corrupted bodj'^ of his subjects, — the people, they had no 
means of information, and it pertained not to them to re- 
dress the injustice of their sovereign to his wives or daugh- 
ters. The lord chancellor, the archbishop of Canterbury, 
the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, the earl of Southampton, 
and the bishop of Durham, stated to the house, July 6th, " that 
they having doubts of the validity of the marriage between 
the king and queen, to which they had been instrumental, 
and as the succession to the crown was, or might be, affected, 
it was highly necessary that its legality should be investi- 
gated by a convocation of the clergy." A petition that the 
king would permit this to be done was instantly got up, and 
presented to the sovereign by both houses of parliament, 

1 Dfipfiohes de Ma.rillac ; Bibliothique du Roi. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 73 

Henry was graciously pleased to reply, " that he could re- 
fuse nothing to the estates of the realm, and was ready to 
answer any questions that might be put to him ; for he had 
no other object in view but the glory of God, the welfare 
of the realm, and the triumph of the truth." ' 

The matter was brought before the convocation on the 
following day, and the clergy referred it to a committee, 
consisting of the two archbishops, four bishops, and eight 
divines. The reasons alleged for releasing the sovereign 
from his matrimonial bonds with his queen were as follows : — 
" 1st, That she was precontracted to the prince of Lorraine. ' 
2dly, That the king, having espoused her against his will, 
had not given an inward consent to his marriage, which he 
had never completed ; and that the whole nation had a great 
interest in the king's having more issue, which they saw he 
could never have by this queen." ' Many witnesses were 
examined, as the lords in waiting, gentlemen of the king's 
chamber, and the queen's ladies. The countess of Eutland, 
lady Bdgecomb, and the infamous lady Eochford, bent on 
pleasing the king, deposed many things very unbecoming 
of ladies of their rank to say, which they affirmed the queen 
had told them, as evidence of the nullity of the contract. 
They had presumed, it seems, to ask many impertinent ques- 
tions of their royal mistress, and among others, " If she had 
acquainted mother Lowe, her confidential attendant and 
countrywoman, of the king's neglect ?" Anne replied in the 
negative, and said that " she received quite as much of his 
majesty's attention as she wished." * 

Henry encouraged the ladies of the bedchamber to mimic 
and ridicule their royal mistress for his amusement, although 
it was impossible for any one to conduct herself with greater 
dignity and forbearance under the trying circumstances 
than she did, while his unprincely follies were rendering 
him the laughing-stock of Europe. His greatest enemy 
would have found it difficult to place his conduct towards 
his fourth queen in a more unmanly and dishonorable light 
than the account he gives of it in his deposition, which he 

1 Journals of Parliament, 32d Henry VIII. 

' Burnet. Collier. Strype. ' Strype's Memorials. 



74 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

styles his " brief, true, and perfect declaration :" — " I had 
heard," says he, " much, both of her excellent beauty and 
virtuous conditions. But when I saw her at Eochester, it 
rejoiced my heart that I had kept me free from making any 
pact or bond with her till I saw her myself; for then, I adsure 
you, I liked her so ill, and so far contrary to that she was 
praised, that I was woe that ever she came to England, and 
deliberated with myself, that if it were possible to find means 
to break off, I would never enter yoke with her. Of which 
misliking the Flemish great master [Hostoden], the admiral 
that now is [Southampton], and the master of the horse can 
and will here record. Then, after my repair to Greenwich 
the next day after, I think, and doubt not, but that lord 
Essex [Cromwell], well examined, can and will, and hath 
declared, what I then said to him in that case ; for, as he is 
a person which knoweth himself condemned by act of par- 
liament, he will not damn his soul, but truly declare the 
truth, not only at the time spoken by me, but also contin- 
ually till the day of marriage, and also many times after, 
whereby my lack of consent, I doubt not, doth or shall well 
appear."^ The document^ from which this abstract is 
taken, is certainly in coarseness of expression without par- 
allel, and affords a characteristic specimen of the brutality 
of Henry's manners and language. 

The convocation of the clergy, without one dissentient 
voice, pronounced the marriage to be null and void, June 9th, 
and that both parties were free to marry again. The next 
day, archbishop Cranmer reported to the house of lords this 
sentence, in Latin and English, and delivered the documents 
attesting it, which were sent to the commons. A bill to in- 
validate the marriage was twice read, and passed unani- 
mously, July 13th, being only the eighth day from the 
commencement of the whole business.' Cranmer, who had 
pronounced the nuptial benediction, had the mortifying 

• The fallen favorite, to whom Henry appeals as a witness of the truth of his 
asseverations, gave a written confirmation of the sovereign's statement in a let- 
ter, in vrhioh he, with great truth, suhsoribes himself his " poor slave." 

' Burnet's History of the Reformation, vol. i. Records, 185. 

' Journals of Parliament. Burnet. Rapin. Herbert. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 75 

office of dissolving the marriage, — Anne of Cleves being the 
third queen from whom it had been hia hard lot to divorce 
the king in less than seven years. Well might one of the 
French ambassadors say of Henry, "He is a marvellous 
man, and has marvellous people about him." ' The queen, 
being a stranger to the English laws and customs, was 
spared the trouble of appearing before the convocation, 
either personally or by her advocates. 

When all things had been definitely arranged according 
to the king's pleasure, SuiFolk, Southampton, and Wriothes- 
ley were appointed by him to proceed to Eichmond, for the 
purpose of signifying his determination to the queen and 
obtaining her assent. Scarcely had the commissioners com- 
menced their explanation, when the terrified queen, fancy- 
ing, no doubt, that their errand was to conduct her to the 
Tower, gave instant acquiescence. So powerfully were the 
feminine terrors of the poor queen excited on this occasion, 
that she fainted and fell to the ground before the commis- 
sioners could explain the true purport of their errand.' 
When she was sufficiently recovered to attend to them, they 
soothed her with flattering professions of the king's gracious 
intention of adopting her for a sister if she would resign 
the title of queen ; promising the queen that she should have 
precedence before every lady in the court, except his daugh- 
ters and his future consort, and that she should be endowed 
with estates to the value of 3000Z. a year.' Anne was greatly 
relieved when she understood the real nature of the king's in- 
tention, and she expressed her willingness to resign her joy- 
less honors with an alacrity for which he was not prepared. 

The enduring constancy of the injured Katharine of 
Arragon, the only woman who ever loved him, had taught 
Henry to regard himself as a person so supremely precious, 
that he certainly did not expect his present queen to give 
him up without a struggle. Even when she, in compliance 
with the advice of the commissioners, wrote, or rather, we 
should say, subscribed a most obliging letter to him,* ex- 

1 In a letter to Francis I., in the BibliothSque du Roi. 

' Herbert. Lingard. State-Papers. ' Ibid. Burnet. Rapin. 

* The letter, which may be seen at full length in the collection of State-Paper* 



76 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

pressing her full acquiescence in his pleasure, he could not 
believe she really meant thus lightly to part from him. He 
next wrote to the members of his privy council, whose 
president was his brother-in-law, the duke of Suffolk, de- 
siring them to consider " whether they should further press 
the lady Anne to write to her brother or no." However, 
before he concludes the letter, he determines that point 
himself: — " "We have resolved that it is requisite ye should 
now, before your departure, procure both the writing of 
such a letter to her brother, and also the letter before 
written to us in English, subscribed with her hand, to be 
by her written in Dutch, to the intent that all things might 
more clearly appear to him. And," continues this gracious 
specimen of a royal husband, " concerning these letters to 
her brother, how well soever she speaketh now, with prom- 
ises to abandon the condition [caprices] of a woman and 
evermore to remain constant in her proceedings, we think 
good, nevertheless, rather by good ways and means to pre- 
vent that she should not play the woman (though she 
would), than to depend upon her promise. Nor after she 
hath felt, at our hand, all gratuity and kindness, and known 
our liberality towards her in what she requireth, to leave 
her at liberty, upon the receipt of her brother's letters, to 
gather more stomach and stubbornness than were expedient. 
So that if her brother, upon desperation of us, should write 
to her in such wise as she might fondly take to heart, and 
fancy to swerve from her conformity, all our gentle handling 
of her should, in such case, be frustrate, and only serve her 
for the maintenance of such conceit as she might take in 
that behalf, and that she should not play the woman though 
she would. Therefore our pleasure is, that ye travail with 
her to write a letter to her brother directly, with other 
sentences, agreeably to the minutes which we send you 

printed by authority of government, concludes in these words :— " Thus, most 
gracious prince, I beseech our Lord God to send your majesty long life and good 
health, to God's glory, your own honor, and the wealth of this noble realm. 
From Richmond, the 11th day of July, the 32d year of your majesty's most 
noble reign. 

"Your majesty's most humble sister and servant, 

"Anna, of Cletbs." 



ANNE OF CLBVES. 77 

herewith, as near as ye can. For persuading her thereto, 
ye may say, that considering she hath so honorably and 
virtuously proceeded hitherto, whereby she hath procured 
herself much love, favor, and reputation, it shall be well 
done if she advertises her brother of all things, as he may 
demean himself wisely, temperately, and moderately in the 
affair, not giving ear to tales and bruits [reports]. Unless 
these letters be obtained, all shall [will] remain uncertain 
upon a woman's promise, — viz., that she will be no woman, — 
the accomplishment whereof, on her behalf, is as difScult 
in the refraining of a woman's will, upon occasion, as in 
changing her womanish nature, which is impossible." ' 

And thus did this tyrannical self-deceiver, while in the 
very act of manifesting the most absurd caprice that any 
despot could perpetrate, reflect on the constancy of the 
female sex, — the most wayward and weak of whom could 
scarcely vie with him in fickleness and folly. " Te may say 
to her," he concludes, " for her comfort, that howsoever 
her brother may conduct himself, or her other friends, she 
(continuing in her uniformity) shall never fare the worse 
for their faults. Given under our signet, at our palace of 
Westminster, the 13th of July, the 32d year of our reign." 
In three days, Anne, or her advisers, addressed the follow- 
ing letter to Henry : — 

" Most excellent and noble Prince, and my most benign and good Brother, I 
do most humbly thank you for your great goodness, favor, and liberality, which 
as well by your majesty's own letters as by the report and declaration of your 
councillors, the lord great-master, the lord privy-seal, and your grace's secretary, 
I perceive it hath pleased you to determine towards me. Whereunto I have no 
more to answer, but that I shall ever remain your majesty's most humble sister 
and servant." ' 

The duke of Suffolk, Henry's ready tool in all his matri- 
monial tyrannies, and his coadjutors, lord Southampton 
and sir Thomas Wriothesley, the king's secretary, in their 
recital of what passed between themselves and the queen 
at Eichmond, take great credit to themselves for having 
prevailed on her to subscribe herself the king's sister in- 
stead of his wife. Part of their business was to deliver 

1 State-Papers. ' Ibid., vol. i. pp. 641, 642. 



78 ANNE OF CL.EVE8. 

to her five hundred marks in gold, as a token from the 
king, being, in fact, the first instalment of her retiring 
pension, as his unqueened consort and discharged wife. 
Anne, having been kept without money, thankfully and 
meekly received this supply without checking the morti- 
fying conditions on which it was proffered. She evidently 
esteemed herself a happy woman to escape from her pain- 
ful nuptial bonds with Henry without the loss of her head, 
and in token that she was quite as willing to be rid of him 
as he could be to cast her off, she cheerfully drew her wed- 
ding-ring from her finger and sent it back to him, together 
with a complaisant letter in German, the substance of which 
was explained by the commissioners to their royal master. 
The same persons came again to Richmond, July 17th, and 
executed the king's warrant for breaking up Anne's house- 
hold as queen of England, by discharging all the ladies and 
ofiicers of state who had been sworn to serve her as their 
queen, and introducing those who had been chosen by him- 
self to form her establishment as the lady Anne of Cleves, 
in her new character of his adopted sister. 

Anne submitted to everything with a good grace, and, 
according to the report of the royal commissioners, " she 
took her leave openly of such as departed, and welcomed 
very gently her new servants at that time presented to her 
by them," although she had not been allowed the privilege 
of selecting them for herself She was even so complaisant 
as to profess herself under great obligations to the king's 
majesty, and that she was determined to submit herself 
wholly to repose in his goodness, and this of her own free 
will, without any prompting from the commissioners, if we 
may venture to rely on the account dressed up by them to 
please the imprincipled despot, whose thirst for flattery was 
so imreasonable as to lead him to expect his victims to thank 
him very humbly for the injuries he was pleased to inflict 
upon them m the gratification of his selfish tyranny. The 
following expressions, which in their report are put into 
the queen's mouth, are certainly not her phraseology, but 
that of Henry's amiable secretary, Wriothesley, as a sort 
of approbative answer in her name to Henry's letter to 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 79 

the privy council, before quoted, touching the mutations 
and caprices of her sex ; for she is made to declare that 
" she would be found no woman by inconstancy and muta- 
bility, though all the world should move her to the con- 
trary, neither for her mother, brother, or none other person 
living ;'' adding, " that she would receive no letters nor mes- 
sage from her brother, her mother, nor none of her kin and 
friends, but she would send them to the king's majesty, and 
be guided by his determination." ' This was the part which 
Henry and his agents had endeavored to intimidate his first 
iU-treated consort, Katharine of Arragon, into playing, but j~- 
Anne of Cleves was placed in a very different position. She / 
had no child to compromise by her submission, no jealous 
affection for a husband to struggle with, after twenty years 
of faithful companionship ; neither had she a friend to sup- 
port or counsel her in so difficult a position. Her contempt 
for Henry's character must at least have equalled his dis- 
like of her person, and she apparently considered herself 
cheaply rid of a husband like him, even at the sacrifice of 
resigning the name and rank of his queen. 

Henry was so well pleased at the restoration of the nup- 
tial ring and the obliging demeanor of his discarded queen, 
that he despatched his commissioners to her again to present 
unto her " certain things of great value and richness which 
his grace then gave to her ; and also to show to her letters 
which his majesty bad received from the duke her brother, 
and also from the bishop of Bath, ambassador from England, 
then resident at the court of the duke of Cleves : which 
letters being opened and read, she gave most humble thanks 
to the king's majesty that it pleased him to communicate 
the same to her. And as, from a part of the English am- 
bassador's letter, there appeared as if doubts had arisen in 
the minds of the duke of Cleves and Osliger his minister as 
to whether the lady Anne were well treated, she wrote a 
letter to her brother in her own language; and had a 
nephew of Osliger' s, then in king Henry's service, called in, 
and told him, before the said duke, earl, and sir Thomas, to 
make her hearty comlhendations to her brother, and to 

1 Statc-Pftper Kecords, temp. Henry VIII. 



80 ANNE OP CLEVES. 

signify to him that she was merry [cheerful], and honorably 
treated, and had written her fuU and whole mind to him in 
all things. And this," continues our authority, " she did 
with such alacrity, pleasant gesture and countenance, as he 
[young Osliger] which saw it may well testify that he 
found her not miscontented." To the care of this Flemish 
youth was deputed the conveyance of Anne's letter to her 
brother, from which the following are extracts : — 

" My bear and well-beloved Brother : — 

" After my most hearty commendation : Whereas, by your letters of the 13th 
of this month, which I have seen, written to the king's majesty of England, my 
most dear and most kind brother, I do perceive you take the matter lately moved 
and determined between him and me somewhat to heai*t. Forasmuch as I had 
rather ye knew the truth by mine advertisement, than for want thereof ye should 
be deceived by vain reports, I thought mete to write these present letters to you ; 
by the which it shall please you to understand how the nobles and commons of 
this realm desired the king's highness to commit the examination of the matter 
of marriage between his majesty and me to the determination of the holy clergy 
of this realm. I did then willingly consent thereto ; and since their determina- 
tion made, have also, upon intimation of their proceedings, allowed, approved, 
and agreed to the same." 

She then explains, at some length, that she has consented 
to become the king's adopted sister, who has provided for 
her as such. She desires her good mother to be informed 
of the arrangement, and requests that no interruption may 
take place in the political alliance between England and her 
native country. Her concluding words are, " God willing, 
I purpose to lead my life in this realm. Anna, duchess 
born of Cleves, Gulick, Geldre, and Berg, and your loving 
sister." ' After she had dined, Anne further declared, " that 
she neither would, nor justly might, hereafter repute her- 
self as his grace's wife, or in anywise vary from what she 
had said and written ; and again declared she had returned 
his majesty the ring delivered to her at her pretenced mar- 
riage, with her most humble commendations." ' 

Another letter from Anne to her brother is preserved. 
It is without date, but evidently written at the same period 
as the preceding ; and, from the concluding sentence, it is 
easy to perceive she dreaded that the slightest interference 
from her continental friends would imperil her life : 

1 State-Papers, vol. i. p. 643. > Ibid. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 81 

" Brother : — 

" Because I had rather ye knew the truth by mine advertisement, than for 
want thereof be deceived by false reports, I write these present letters to you, by 
which ye shall understand that, being advertised how the nobles and commons 
of this realm desired the king's highness here to commit the examination of the 
matter of marriage between me and his majesty to the determination of the 
olergy, I did the more willingly consent thereto ; and since the determination 
mEule, have also allowed, approved, and agreed unto the same, wherein I have 
more respect (as becometh me) to truth and good pleasure, than any worldly 
affection that might move me to the contrary. 

'' I account God pleased with what is done, and know myself to have suffered 
no wrong or injury, my person being preserved in the integrity which I brought 
into this realm, and I truly discharged from all bond of consent. I find the 
king's highness, whom I cannot justly have as my husband, to be, nevertheless, 
a most kind, loving, and friendly father and brother, and to use me as honora- 
bly and with as much liberality as you, I myself, or any of our kin or allies 
could wish ; wherein 1 am, for mine own part, so well content and satisfied that 
I much desire my mother, you, and other mine allies, so to understand, accept, 
and take it, and so to use yourself towards this noble and virtuous prince, as he 
may have cause to continue his friendship towards you, which on his behalf 
shall nothing be impaired or altered in this matter ; for so it hath pleased hia 
highness to signify to me, that like as he will show to me always a most fatherly 
and brotherly kindness, and has so provided for me, so will he remain with you 
and other according to the knot of amity which between you hath been con- 
cluded (this matter notwithstanding), in such wise as neither I, ne you, nor 
any of our friends shall have just cause of miscontentment. 

*' Thus much I have thought necessary to write to you, lest, for want of true 
knowledge, ye might take this matter otherwise than ye ought, and in other 
sort care for me more than ye have cause. Only I require this of you, — that ye 
ao conduct yourself , as /or your untowardneas in this matter I fare not the worse, 
whereunto I trust you will have regard.^* 1 

Thus we see that Anne was, in effect, detained by Henry as 
a hostage for the conduct of her brother and his allies, for 
she plainly intimates that any hostility from them will be 
visited on her head. Marillac, in relating this transaction 
to the king his master, in a letter dated July 21st, says : — 
" The marriage has been dissolved, and the queen appears 
to make no objection. The only answer her brother's am- 
bassador can get from her is, ' that she wishes in all things 
to please the king, her lord,' bearing testimony of his good 
treatment of her, and desiring to remain in this country. 
This being reported to the king, makes him show her the 
greater respect. He gives her the palace of Eichmond and 
other places for life, with 12,000 crowns for her revenue ; 

1 State-Papers, vol. i. 



( 



82 ANNE or CLBVES. 

but has forbidden the vicars and ministers to call her queen 
any more, but only ' my lady Anne of Cleves,' which is cause 
of great regret to the people, whose love she had gained, 
and who esteemed her as one of the most sweet, gracious, 
and humane queens they have had, and they greatly desired 
her to continue with them as their queen. Now it is said 
that the king is going to marry a young lady of extraordi- 
nary beauty, a daughter of a deceased brother of the duke 
of Norfolk, — it is even reported that this marriage has 
already taken place, only it is kept secret: I cannot say 
if it is true. The queen takes it all in good part.'' This 
certainly was her best policy, as his excellency seems to 
think. In less than a fortnight after Henry had dissolved 
his marriage with Anne of Cleves, he sent Cromwell to the 
block and consigned Dr. Barnes to the flames in Smith- 
field.' The divorced queen had reason to congratulate her- 
self that she had escaped with life, when she saw what was 
the doom of the two principal agents in her late marriage. 
There are in Eymer's FcBdera' two patents subsequent to 
the divorce, which relate to this lady. The former, dated 
9th January, 1541, is a grant of naturalization in the usual 
form ; in the other, she is described as Anna of Cleve, etc., 
who had come into England on a treaty of marriage, which, 
although celebrated in the face of the church, yet never 
received a real consummation, because the conditions were 
not fulfilled in due time. That the marriage was therefore 
dissolved by mutual consent, and she being content to abide 
in this realm, and to yield to its laws, and to discharge her 
conscience of that pretended marriage, the king, of his 
especial favor, granted to her certain manors and estates 
in divers counties, lately forfeited by the attainder of the 
earl of Essex ' and sir Nicholas Carew, to be held, without 
rendering account, from the Lady-day foregoing the said 
grant, which was dated on the 20th of January, 1541. 
These estates were granted to her on condition that she 
should not pass beyond the sea during her life. Anne of 

• Burnet, vol. i. p. 188. « Vol. xiy. 709, 714. 

* Cromwell, whose spoils formed the principal fund for the maintenance of 
this princess. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 83 

Cleves possessed the manor of Denham hall, Essex, as part 
of her jointure or appanage, as appears from the court-roll, 
beginning " Cur' Serenissime Una . . . Anne de Cleve." It 
may be observed, the steward, not venturing to style her 
' queen' after the divorce, and not knowing what to call 
her, discreetly leaves a blank before Anne. 

The following is an extract from a contemporary record ' 
of the deeds of Henry VIII. during the few months of his 
marital union with his fourth consort, set down in brief 
business-like order, like entries in a tradesman's day-book, 
without one word either in excuse or censure, — facts that 
require no adjectives of indigaant reprobation to excite the 
horror of every right-minded person against the sanguinary 
tyrant : — 

"The iii*' day of Jenyver, Saturday, did the king and all the nobles of the 
realm, and the mayor and all the aldermen in their best array, and every craft 
in their best array, toent [go] down in their barges to Greenwich, and every 
barge as goodly drest aa they could devise, with streamers and banners. And 
there the king did receive and meet my lady Ann, the deukea doughter off ' 
Kleve, and made her queene of Inglande. ' 

" The xxviij day of July, Wednesday, was beheaded, at Tower hill, which ", 
that afore had been master of the Rolls ; and after that, the king's secretary ; 
and after that, vicar-general, knight of the Garter, earl of Essex, and lord \ 
chamberlain of Ireland. And my lord Hungerford was beheaded there that } 
same time too. 

" The XXX day of July, Friday, was there drawn from the Tower to Smith- 
field vi doctors : iij of them was burned, and the tother three was hanged and j 
quartered. They that were burned were doctor Barnes, doctor Garet, parson of i 
Honey lane, doctor Jerom, vicar of Stepney ; and their names t£at was qua^ • 
tered, doctor P(j¥eUe, clocfbr Abelle, and doctor Fethnrstone. And the heads ofj |j 
my lord SromwelTTlnd myTord Hungerford wer?'sef up on London bridge, and ! | 
their bodieTburTsa in the_ Tower! TbiS^ame year was queiQe An, tlie 3liwke3| i 
doughter of Kleve aforesaid, put aside." ~ \ 

During the six months that Anne of Cleves was Henry's 
queen some very important changes were effected, especially 
the dissolution of the monasteries, and the institution of 
the six bloody articles. As far as her little power went, she 
was at this time a friend to the Eeformation, yet soon after 
a convert to the church of Eome. Owen Oglethorpe owed 
his promotion as a bishop to her favor. Anne was so fond 

> A Brief Diary, temp. Henry VII. and Henry VIII. MS. Vespasian, A xxv. 
Printed by J. 0. Halliwell, Esq., in Reliquse Antiquas, No. viii. c. .SO. 



84 AlOIE OF CLEVES. 

of her step-daughter, the princes s Elizab eth, that the only 
favor she asked of Henry after the dissolution of their mar- 
riage was, that she might sometimes be permitted to see 
her ; a request which Henry was graciously pleased to grant, 
on condition that she should not be addressed by his daughter 
and her attendants by the style and title of queen, but simply 
as the lady Anne of Cleves.' 

After the divorce Anne continued to reside at her palace 
at Eichmond, and on the 6th of August Henry honored her 
with a visit. She received him with a pleasant countenance, 
and treated him with all due respect ; which put him into 
such high good humor that he supped with her merrily, 
and demeaned himself so lovingly, and with such singular 
graciousness, that some of the bystanders fancied he was 
going to take her for his queen again.' There is little doubt, 
however, that he was already married to her more attractive 
rival, Katharine Howard, whom two days afterwards he 
publicly introduced to his court as his queen. Perhaps he 
considered it prudent to pay a previous visit to Anne, to 
ascertain whether any objection would be raised on her part 
to his investing another with her lawful title. Anne wisely 
treated the affair with complacency. The duke of Cleves 
wept with bitter mortification when he received the account 
of his sister's wrongs, and found himself precluded from 
testifying the indignation they inspired : Anne, on the con- 
trary, manifested the most lively satisfaction at having re- 
gained her freedom. The yoke of which Henry complained 
had, certainly, been no silken bond to her ; and no sooner 
was she fairly released from it, than she exhibited a degree 
of vivacity she had never shown during her matrimonial 
probation. Marillac says, " This is marvellous prudence on 
her part, though some consider it stupidity." That which 
seemed to make the greatest impression on our diplomatic 
gossip was, that she every day put on a rich new dress, 
"each more wonderful than the last,"' which made two 
things very apparent : first, that she did not take the loss 

^ Leti, Vita di Elisabetta. 

' Despatches of Marillac : Biblioth^qae du Eoi. 

» Ibid. 



ANNE OF CLETES. 85 

of Henry very much to heart ; and secondly, that her bridal 
outfit was of a very magnificent description . Bad as Henry's 
conduct was to his rejected consort, one of the kings of 
France behaved still more dishonorably under similar cir- 
cumstances, for he not only sent his afBanced bride back 
with contempt, but detained her costly wardrobe and jewels 
for the use of a lady who had found more favor in his sight. 
Marillae tells his sovereign, September 3, 1540, "Madame 
of Cleves has a more joyous countenance than ever. She 
wears a great variety of di-esses, and passes all her time in 
sports and recreations." From his excellency's next report,t|, 
( of the 17th of the same month, we gather that the divorced \ 
j queen was said to be in a situation which would, if it had { 
! been really the case, have placed the king in a peculiar state | 
I of embarrassment between his passion for his new bride, \ 
/ Katharine Howard, and his frantic desire of increasing his i 
\ family. Anne passed her time very comfortably, meanwhile, ' 
at her Eichmond palace, or among the more sequestered 
bowers of Ham ; ^ and, in the exercise of all the gentle 
charities of life, pursued the even tenor of her way. " Of 
the repudiated queen," observes Marillae, in his despatch 
November 1st, " no more is said than if she were dead." 
The duke of Cleves manifested a lofty spirit of indepen- 
dence, and could never be induced to admit the invalidity of 
his sister's marriage. The bishop of Bath, who had been 
sent over to reconcile him, if possible, to the arrangement 
into which Anne had entered, could get no further declara- 
tion from him than the sarcastic observation, that " He was 
glad his sister had fared no worse." ' 

In the first steps of the divorce an option was given to 
Anne as to her residence, either in England or abroad, yet 
the liberty of choice was illusory ; the divorce-jointure of 
3000Z. per annum was made up of many detached grants of 
crown lands, among which the confiscated possessions of 
Cromwell stand conspicuous, but to all these grants the 

1 Some relics still remain at Ham house of this era, chiefly ornaments of the 
fireplaces, with the portcullis figured thereon, seen by the author in the summer 
of 1843. 

' Lord Herbert's Henry VIII., vol. ii. fol. 224. 



86 ANNE OF CLEYES. 

condition of ter residence in England was attached.' A 
prudent regard to her pecuniary interests, in all probability, 
withheld this much-injured princess from returning to her 
father-land and the fond arms of that mother who had re- 
luctantly resigned her to a royal husband so little worthy of 
possessing a wife of " lowly and gentle conditions." Meekly 
as Anne demeaned herself in her retirement, a jealous watch 
was kept, not only on her proceedings, but the correspond- 
ence of herself and household, by king Henry's ministers, 
as we find by the following entry in the privy council 
book of July 22, 1541 :— " William Sheffield, lately one of 
the retinue at Calais, was apprehended for having said he 
had letters from the lady Anne of Cleves to the duke of 
Norfolk, and was brought before the council and searched ; 
when it was found that his letters were only from one Ed- 
ward Bynings of Calais to Mrs. Howard, the old duchess of 
Norfolk's woman, to Mrs. Katharine Basset and Mrs. Symp- 
son, the lady Anne of Cleves's women, which were but letters 
of friendship from private individuals ; yet he was com- 
mitted for further examination."* The investigation came 
to nothing. The good sense and amiable temper of Anne 
preserved her from involving herself in any of the political 
intrigues of the times ; and she with truly queenly dignity 
avoided all appearance of claiming the sympathy of any 
class of Henry's subjects. But though she avoided the snares 
of party, she was not so much forgotten by the people of 
England as the French ambassador imagined. The friends 
of the Eeformation regarded her as the king's lawful wife, 
and vainly hoped the time would come when, cloyed with 
the charms of the youthful rival for whom he had discarded 
her, he would fling his idol from him, as he had done the 
once adored Anne Boleyn, and reinstate the injured Fleming 
in her rights. 

Within sixteen months after Anne of Cleves had been 
-compelled to resign the crown-matrimonial of England, the 
fall of her fair successor took place. When the news reached 
Anne's quiet little court at Eichmond of the events which 

^ See Manning's Surrey. 

' Sir Harris Nicolaa's Acts of Privy Council, vol. vii. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 87 

had filled the royal bowers of Hampton with confusion, and 
precipitated queen Katharine from a throne to a prison, the 
excitement among the ladies of Anne's household could not 
be restrained. The domestic troubles of the king were re- 
garded by them as an immediate visitation of retributive 
justice for the unfounded aspersions he had east upon their 
virtuous mistress ; the feelings of some of these ladies car- 
ried them so far beyond the bounds of prudence, that two 
of them, Jane Eatsey and Elizabeth Basset, were summoned 
before the council, and committed to prison, for having said, 
" "What I is God working his own work to make the lady 
Anne of Cleve queen again?" Jane Eatsey added many 
praises of the lady Anne, with disqualifying remarks on 
queen Katharine, and said, '• It was impossible that so sweet 
a queen as the lady Anne could be utterly put down :" to 
which Elizabeth Basset ' rejoined, " What a man the king is ! 
How many wives will he have?" The ladies were very 
sternly questioned by the council as to their motives in pre- 
suming to utter such audacious comments on the matri- 
monial affairs of the sovereign ; on which Elizabeth Basset, 
being greatly alarmed, endeavored to excuse herself by say- 
ing she was so greatly astounded at the tidings of queen 
Katharine's naughty behavior, that she must have lost her 
senses when she permitted herself to give utterance to the 
treasonable words, " What a man the king is ! How many 
more wives will he have ?" * 

Two days after, a more serious matter connected with' 
Anne was brought before the council, for it was confidently 
reported that she had been brought to bed of a " faire boye," 
of whom the king was the father, but that she had neither 
apprised him nor his cabinet of the fact.' This rumor 
threw both Henry and his council into great perplexity, es- 
pecially as the capricious monarch had honored his discarded 
consort with several private visits at her palace of Eichmond ; 
and it is, moreover, evident that Anne had actually passed 

1 This name, perhape, ought to be Katharine Basset, as we see above that 
Katharine's letters were intercepted. She was the same maid of honor whose 
curious letter to her mother is quoted p. 64 of this biography. 

» MSS. 33 Henry VIII., State-Paper office. * Ibid. 



88 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

some days at the royal residence of Hampton Court as the \ 
guest of Henry and his young queen, which seemed to give * 
a color to the tale. Henry expressed himself as highly dis- v 
pleased with the ladies and officers of state at Richmond, s 
for not having apprised him of the supposed situation of ^ 
the ex-queen. The aifair came to nothing, and proved to 5. 
be an unfounded scandal, which originated in some imper- f 
tinent busybody's comment on an illness that confined poor I 
Anne to her bed at this momentous period. The said'; 
scandal was traced by the council from one inveterate 
gossip to another, through no less than six persons, as we 
learn from the following minute of their proceedings, form- 
ing a curious interlude in the examinations touching Henry's 
other queen, Katharine Howard : — " We examined also, 
partly before dinner, and partly after, a new matter, being 
a report that the lady Anne of Cleves should be delivered 
of a fair boy ; and whose should it be but the king's maj- 
esty's! which is a most abominable slander, and for this 
time necessary to be met withal. This matter was told to 
Taverner, of the signet, more than a fortnight ago, both by 
his mother-in-law (Lambert's wife, the goldsmith) and by 
Taverner's own wife, who saith she heard it of Lilgrave's 
wife; and Lambert's wife heard it also of the old lady 
Carew. Taverner kept it [concealed it], but they [the 
women] with others have made it common matter of talk. 
Taverner never revealed it till Sunday night, at which time 
he told it to Dr. Cox,' to be further declared if he thought 
good, who immediately disclosed it to me the lord privy- 
seal. "We have committed Taverner to the custody of me 
the bishop of "Winchester ; likewise Lambert's wife (who 
seemeth to have been a dunce in it) to Mr. the chancellor 
of the Augmentations.'" Absurd as the report was, it 
made a wonderful impression on the mind of the king, who f 
occupied a ludicrous position in the eyes of Europe as the \ 
husband of two living wives, who were both the subjects of / 
a delicate investigation at the same moment. The attention \ 
of the privy council was distracted between the evidences on '< 

• Prince Edward's tutor. 

» Printed State-Papers, vol. i. pp. 697, 698. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 89 

the respective charges against the rival queens for nearly a 
fortnight, — a fact that has never been named in history. 

How obstinate Henry's suspicions of his ill-treated Flemish 
consort were may be seen by the following order to his coun- 
cil : — " His majesty thinketh it requisite to have it groundly 
[thoroughly] examined, and further ordered by your discre- 
tions, as the manner of the case requireth, to inquire dili- 
gently whether the said Anne of Cleves hath indeed had 
any child or no, as it is bruited [reported] ; for his majesty 
hath been informed that it is so indeed, in which part his 
majesty imputeth a great default in her officers for not 
advising his highness thereof, if it be true. ISTot doubting 
but your lordships will ' groundly' examine the same, and 
finding out the truth of the whole matter, will advise his 
majesty thereof accordingly." ^ Dorothy Wingfield, one of 
the lady Anne's bedchamber women, and the officers of her 
household, were subjected to a strict examination before the 
council, and it was not till the 30th of December that they 
came to the decision that Frances LUgrave," widow, having 
slandered the lady Anne of Cleves and touched also the 
king's person, she affirming to have heard the report of 
others whom she refused to name, should be for her punish- 
ment committed to the Tower, and Eichard Taverner, clerk 
of the signet, also, for concealing the same." ' 

No sooner was Anne cleared from this imputation than a 
great effi)rt was made by her brother, and the Protestant 
party, to effect a reunion between her and the king. The 
duke of Cleves evidently imagiaed that the disgrace of the 
new queen was neither more nor less than the first move of 
the king and his ministers towards a reconciliation with 
Anne. The duke's ambassadors opened the business to the 
earl of Southampton, to whom Osliger also wrote a pressing 
letter, urging the expediency of such a measure.* South- 
ampton communicated the particulars to the king of his in- 
terview with the ambassadors on the subject, and enclosed 

' Printed State-Papers, vol. i. p. 701. 

' The Lilgraves were the court embroiderera. — See Life of Aone Boleyn. 

' Register of the Privy Council ofBce, p. 288. 

* State-Papers, MSS. 294. 



90 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

Osliger's letter, but was certainly too well aware of Henry's 
opinion of the lady to venture to second the representations 
of the court of Cleves. The next attempt was made by the 
ambassadors on Cranmer, which is thus related by him in 
the following curious letter to the king : — ' 

" It may please your majesty to be advertised, that yesterday the ambassador 
of Cleve came to my house at Lambeth, and delivered to me letters from 
Osliger, vice-chancellor to the duke of Cleve, the purport whereof is nothing 
else but to commend to me the cause of the lady Anne of Cleve, vrhich, though 
he trusted I should do of myself, yet he saith the occasion is such, that he will 
not put spurs to a horse which runneth of his own courage. When I had read 
the letter and considered that no cause was expressed specially, but only in gen- 
eral that I should have commended the cause of the lady Anne of Cleve, after 
some demur the ambassador came to the point, and plainly asked me to effect 
the reconciliation. Whereunto I answered, ' that I thought it not a little strange 
that Osliger should think it meet for me to move a reconciliation of that matri- 
mony, of the which I, as much as any other person, knew most just causes of 
divorce.* [Cranmer then declared he could take no steps in the matter unless 
the king should command him.] * But,' continued he, * I shall signify the same 
to his highness, and thereupon you shall have an answer.' Now what shall be 
your majesty's pleasure that I shall do ? whether to make a general answer to 
Osliger by writing, or that I shall make a certain answer in this point to the 
ambassador by mouth? I most humbly beseech your majesty that I may be 
advertised, and according thereto I shall order myself, by the grace of God, 
whom I beseech daily to have your majesty evermore in his protection and 
governance. From my manor of Lambeth, this Tuesday the 13th of January. 
" Your grace's most bounded 

" chaplain and bedesman, 

" T. Cantuarien." 

Cranmer, warned by the fate of Cromwell, ventured not to 
urge the king to put his head a second time into the yoke 
with his discarded consort, and the negotiation came to 
nothing. Perhaps Anne herself was unwilling to risk her 
life by entering again into the perilous thraldom from 
which she had been once released. The tragic fate of her 
fair young rival must have taught her to rejoice that she 
had saved her own head by resigning a crown without a 
struggle. 

In June, 1543, Anne received a friendly visit from her 
step-daughter, the princess Mary, who stayed with her some 
days, and on her departure gave very liberal largesses to 
the officers of the household, from the gentlemen ushers 

1 State-Papers, 716, 717. 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 91 

down to the servants of the scullery department.' In the 
August of the same year Anne's mother, the widowed 
duchess of Cleves, died. Early in the following year Anne 
sent the princess Mary a present of Spanish sewing or em- 
broidery silk.* No event of any importance occurred to 
break the peaceful tenor of Anne's life till the death of 
Henry VIII. In the first letter of Edward Seymour (after- 
wards the duke of Somerset) to the council of regency, he 
gives the following directions : — ^' " If ye have not already 
advertised my lady Anne of Cleves of king Henry's death, 
it shall be well done if ye send some express person for the 
same." This event left the ill-treated princess at full liberty, 
had she wished to marry, or to return to her own country. 
But of marriage Anne had had an evil specimen ; and, with 
greater wisdom than Henry's other widow, Katharine Parr, she 
retained her independence by remaining in single blessedness. - 
Anne visited the court of her royal step-son Edward VI., 
June 26, 1550. Her affairs had got into some disorder at 
that period, so that she found herself under the necessity of 
applying to her brother the duke of Cleves for his assist- 
ance. That prince represented her distress to the English 
government, and with some difficulty obtained for her the 
munificent grant of four hundred pounds towards paying 
her debts. The pensions of such of her servants as were 
paid by the crown being in arrear, she petitioned the king 
for them to he liquidated ; but the official reply coolly stated, 
" that the king's highness being on his progress, could not 
he troubled at that time about payments." Anne had ac- 
quired the English language and English habits, and formed 
an intimate friendship with Henry's daughter, the princess 
Mary, who was a few months older than herself, as well as 
the young Elizabeth, to whom she appears to have behaved 
with great tenderness. England had therefore become her 
country, and it was natural that she should prefer a resi- 
dence where she was honored and loved by all to whom 
her excellent qualities were known to returning to her native 

' Sir F. Madden's Privy-purse Expenses ; Princess Mary. ' Ibid. 

' Tytler's Edward and Mary, vol. i. p. 18. 



92 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

land, after the public affronts that had been put upon her 
by the coarse-minded tyrant to whom she had been sacri- 
ficed by her family. Besides these cogent reasons, her prop- 
erty in England required her personal care, as it was sub- 
jected to some mutations by the new government, of which 
the records of the times afford proofs.' Among others, the 
following letter from Anne to her former step-daughter : — 

"Anne of Cleves to Phincess Mary. 
" Madame : — 

" After my most hearty commendations to your grace, being very desirous to 
hear of your prosperous health, wherein I very much rejoice, it may please you 
to be advertised that it hath pleased the king's majesty to have in exchange my 
manor and lands of Bisham, in the county of Berkshire, granting me in recom- 
pense the house of "Westropp [Westhorpe,] in Suffolk, with the two parks and 
certain manors thereunto adjoining; notwithstanding, if it had been his high- 
nesses pleasure, I was well contented to have continued without exchange. After 
which grant, for mine own assurance in that behalf I have travailed, to my 
great cost and charge, almost this twelve months; it hath passed the king's 
majesty's bill, signed, and the privy-seal, being now, as I am informed, stayed 
at the great seal, for that you, madame, be minded to have the same, not know- 
ing, as I suppose, of the said grant. I have also received at this Michaelmas 
last past, part of the rent of the aforesaid manors. Considering the premises, 
and for the amity which hath always been between us (of which I most heartily 
desire the continuance), that it may please you therefore to ascertain me by 
your letters or otherwise, as it shall stand with your pleasure. And thus, good 
madame, I commit you unto the ever-living God, to have you in merciful keep- 
ing. From my house of Bletohingly, the viii. day of January, anno M. V°LIII. 
" Tour assured loving friend to her little power to command, 

" Anna, the dowgkter of Cleves." 

The last public appearance of Anne of Cleves was at the 
coronation of queen Mary, where she had her place in the 
regal procession, and rode in the same carriage with the 
princess Elizabeth, with whom she was always on the most 
affectionate terms. That precedence which Henry VIII. 
insured to her she always enjoyed, nor did any of the ladies 

• Hearne's Sylloge; likewise a letter from Edward VI.'s council, 1547, signi- 
fies that the lady Anne of Cleves shall have the use of the house, deer, and 
woods of Penshurst, as she now has those of Bletchingly. The eagerness of the 
letter in setting forth the superior advantages of Penshurst to her present resi- 
dence, leads to the inference that the exchange was not voluntary on the part 
of Anne. Among the conveniences of Penshurst is mentioned its contiguity to 
Hever. The council adds, that her transfer from Bletchingly to Penshurst was 
the intention of the deceased king Henry, but they conclude with assertions that 
it is their wish in all things to please and gratify her grace. — Arohseologia. 



ANNE OF CLEVE8. 93 

of the royal family attempt to dispute it with her. But her 
happiness appears to have been in the retirement of do- 
mestic life. Two of her brothers, William duke of Cleves, 
and his succesBor, John "William, were subject to mental 
malady, and died insane ; but nothing appears to have ever 
ruflled the tranquil temperament of this amiable princess, 
who in the most difficult and trying situations conducted 
herself with great prudence. 

After the celebration of queen Mary's marriage with 
Philip of Spain, at Winchester, Anne of Cleves addressed j 
to the royal bride a congratulatory epistle, in which, being i 
evidently perplexed by the undefined dignity of queen- 
regnant, she rings the changes on the titles of " majesty," 
" highness," and " grace" in a singular manner : — 

" To THE Queen's Majesty : — 

" After my humble commendations unto your majesty, with thanka for your 
loving £a,Tor showed to me in my last suit, and praying of your highness your 
loving continuance, it may please your highness to understand that I am in- 
formed of your grace's return to London again ; and being desirous to do my 
duty to see your majesty and the king, if it may so stand with your highness'a 
pleasure, and that I may know when and where I shall wait on your majesty 
and his. Wishing you both much joy and felicity, with increase of children to 
God's glory, and to the preservation of your prosperous estates, long to continue 
with honor in all godly virtue. From my poor house at Hever, the 4th of 
August. 

" Tour highness's to command, 

" Ansa, the daughter of Cleves." 
Endorsed, " The Lady Anne of Cleves to 

the Queen's majesty, August 4, 1554." 

Anne retained property at Bletchingly after this ex- 
change, in proof whereof is her receipt, early in the reign 
of queen Mary, to sir Thomas Garden, who was master of 
the revels at the court of Henry VIII., his son, and daugh- 
ter. This document, signed by her own hand, is among the 
Losely MSS.,' dated the last day of December, first year 
of Philip and Mary (1553) :— 

" Received of sir Thomas Garden, knight, the day and year above written, 
for one quarter of a year's rent due unto us by the same sir Thomas Garden at 
this feast of Christmas, according to an indenture bearing date the second day 

1 Losely MSS., edited by A. J. Kempe, Esq., p. 10. 



94 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

of October in the year aforesaid, the sum of SI. 13s. 9rf., in full contentation, 
satisfaction, and payment of our rents at Bletchingly, and our lands there, and 
in clear discharge of the same rents to this present day before dated. We have 
to these letters, being our acquittance, subscribed our name for his discharge. 



iW 



Anne of Cleves spent much of her time at a residence 
she had at Dartford, being one of the suppressed abbeys 
which Henry VIII. had turned into a hunting-seat ; and 
Edward VI. had given it into the bargain, when the ex- 
change was made between Bletchingly and Penshurst. She 
was abiding at Dartford the year before her death, when 
sir Thomas Garden, her tenant at Bletchingly, who appears 
to have been likewise her man of business on all occasions, 
came to her at Dartford, and she begged him to get certain 
stores laid in at the Blackfriars for her residence against 
she came to London ; which request was made before the 
officers of her household, " for her grace lacked money to 
buy the needful furniture, and she promised payment to sir 
Thomas if he would make the purchases for her." But the 
amount was left unpaid at the death of Anne of Cleves, and 
it appears, from sir Thomas Garden's account, she was with- 
out money at the time she requested him to make the pur- 
chases. Of his outlay the Losely MSS. furnish items. 
Her cellar he furnishes with three hogsheads of Gaseoigne 
wine, at 3Z. each ; ten gallons of Malmsey, at 2SSd. per gallon ; 
eleven gallons of muscadel, at 2s. 2d. per gallon ; and sack, 
ten gallons, at \&d. per gallon. The spicery had a stock of 
three pounds of ginger, 3s. ; of cinnamon, three ounces, 
Vbd. ; cloves and mace, six ounces ; pepper, one pound, 2s. 
4d. ; raisins, two pounds, at 2d. per pound, while two pounds 
of prunes cost 3d. Three muttons at 7s. each ; twenty 
capons, and a dozen lower price, cost 6s. ; two dozen rabbits 
cost 3s. In the pastry department was laid in one bushel 



AJfNE OF CLEVKS. 95 

of fine wheat-flour, at the great price of 6s. per bushel 
Thirty loads of coals were laid in, at 16s. the load; a" vast 
many fagots and billets, and three dozen rushes for strew- 
ing the floors, at 20d. the dozen. In the chandry, sir 
Thomas Garden had provided thirty-five pounds of wax- 
lights, sixes and fours to the pound, and prickets, which 
last were stuck on a spike to be burnt ; these wax-candles 
were Is. per pound. Staff-torches were provided at Is. 4d. 
apiece, and white lights eighteen dozen, over and above 
sundry fair pots of pevrter by the said sir Thomas bought 
and provided to serve in the buttery for the lady Anne's 
household ; likewise brass, iron, and latten pots, pans, kettles, 
skillets, ladles, skimmers, spits, trays, and flaskets, with 
divers other utensils and properties furnished to the value 
of 91. 6s. 8d., some of which were broken, spoiled, and lost, 
and the rest remain at his house to his use, for which he 
asks no compensation. Likewise two dozen of fair new 
pewter candlesticks, delivered for her grace's chandry and 
chambers. The whole account finishes with a remark that 
he had provided sundry kinds of fresh fish, as carps, pikes, 
and tenches, at the request of her grace, which were pri- 
vately dressed in her grace's laundry for the trial of cookery, 
by which it has been surmised that Anne made private 
experiments in the noble culinary art. 

Anne possessed the placid domestic virtues which seem 
in a manner indigenous to German princesses. " She was," 
says Holinshed, who lived in her century, " a lady of right 
commendable regard, courteous, gentle, a good housekeeper, 
and very bountiful to her servants.'' She spent her time at 
the head of her own little court, which was a happy house- 
hold within itself, and we may presume well governed, for 
we hear neither of plots nor quarrels, tale-bearings nor 
mischievous intrigues, as rife in her home-circle. She was 
tenderly beloved by her domestics, and well attended by 
them in her last sickness. She died at the age of forty-one, 
of some declining illness, which she took calmly and pa- 
tiently. Her will is a very naive production, showing the 
most minute attention to all things that could benefit her 
own little domestic world. It was made but two days be- 



96 ANNE OF CLEVES, 

fore her death, being datek July 12 and 15, 1557 l it is, 
when divested of tautologies, as follows : — 

" We, Anna, daughter of John late duke of Cleves, and sister to the excellent 
prince William, now reigning duke of Cleves, &ulick (Juliers), and Barre, sick 
in body, but whole in mind and memory, thanks be to Almighty God, declare 
this to be our last will and testament : — Ist. We give and bequeath our soul to 
the holy Trinity, and our body to be buried where it shall please God. 2dly. 
We most heartily pray our executors undernamed to be humble suitors for us, 
and in our name, to the queen's most excellent majesty, that our debts may be 
truly contented and paid to every one of our creditors, and that they will see 
the same justly answered for our discharge.^ Beseeching, also, the queen's 
highness of her clemency to grant unto our executors the receipts of our land 
accustomed to be due at Michaelmas towards the payment of our creditors, for that 
is not the moiety of our revenues, nor payable wholly at that time, and not able 
to answer the charge of our household, especially this year,^ the price of all 
oattle and other aeata [purchases] exceeding the old rate. 3dly. We earnestly 
require our said executors to be good lords and masters to all our ■poor servants, 
to whom we give and bequeath, every one of them being in our check-roll, as 
well to our of&cers as others taking wages either from the queen's highness or 
from us, from the current month of July, one whole year's wages; also as much 
black oloth, at 13s. 4rf. per yard, as will make them each a gown and hood, and 
to every one of our gentlemen waiters and gentlewomen accordingly. And to 
our yeomen, grooms, and children of our household, two yards each of black 
cloth, at 98. the yard. Also, to every one of the gentlewomen of our privy- 
chamber, for their great pains taken with us, to Mrs. Wingfield, 1001. ; 201. to 
Susan Boughton, towards her marriage ; to Dorothy Curzon, towards her mar- 
riage, XOOl. ; to Mrs. Haymond, 20^ [To twelve other ladies, who seem of the 
like degree, she bequeaths various sums, from 10^. to 16/. each.] To our laun- 
dress, Elizabeth Eliot, 10?. j and to mother Lovell [this was the nurse of her 
sick-room], for her attendance upon us in this time of this our sickness, 101. 

" Item. We give and bequeath to every one of our gentlemen daily attend- 
ant on us, over and besides our former bequests [viz., wages and black cloth], 
10/. ; that is to say, to Thomas Blackgrove, 101., to John Wymbushe, 101. 
[eight gentlemen are enumerated] ; likewise to our yeomen and grooms lis. 
apiece, and to all the children of our house lOa. apiece. And we give to the 
duke of Cleves, our brother, a ring of gold with a fair diamond ; and to our 
sister the duchess of Cleves, his wife, a ring having therein a great rock ruby, 
the ring being black enamelled. Also, we give to our sister, the lady Emely, a 
ring of gold having thereon a fair pointed diamond ; and to the lady Katherine 
duchess of Suffolk,^ a ring of gold, having a fair table diamond, somewhat long ; 
and to the countess of Arundel a ring of gold having a fair table diamond. 



1 For the health of her soul, which, as a Catholic, she considered debts 
endangered. 

2 It was a time of famine : witness the enormous price of 6s. for a bushel of 
flour in the accounts of sir Thomas Carden. 

3 The heiress of Willoughby, fourth wife and widow to Charles Brandon 
duke of Suffolk. ' 



ANNE OF CLEVES. 97 

with an H and I of gold set under the atone. Moreover we give and bequeath 
to the lord Paget, lord privy-seal, a ring of gold, having therein a three- 
cornered diamond ; and to our cousin the lord Waldeok 1 a ring of gold, having 
therein a fair great hollow ruby. Moreover our mind and will is, that our plate, 
jewels, and robea be sold, with other of our goods and chattels, towards the pay- 
ment of our debts, funerals, and legacies. And we do further bequeath to Dr. 
Symonds, our phiaieon, towards his great pains, labors, and travails taken oft- 
times with us, 201. ; and to Alarde, our surgeon and servant, il. ; and to our 
servant John Guligh, over and above his wages, 101. ; and to every one of our 
alms-children, towards their education, 101. apiece, to be delivered according to 
the discretion of our executors. Also we will and bequeath to the poor of 
Richmond, Bletchingly, Hever, and Dartford, il. to each parish, to be paid to 
the churchwardens at the present, and to be laid out by the advice of our 
servants thereabouts dwelling. And to our chaplains, sir Otho Rampello, and to 
sir Bonis Xhoms, either of them to pray for us, bl. and a blaok gown. And to 
our poor servant James Powell, 10^., and to Elya Turpiu, our old laundress, to 
pray for us, il., and to our late servant, Otho Willicke, 201. ; and our will and 
pleasure is, that our servants, sir Otho Bampello, Arnold Kinglebury, John 
Guligh, John Solenbrough, Derrick Pasman, Arnold Holgins, and George 
Hagalas, being our countrymen, and minding to depart out of this realm of 
England, shall have towards their expenses, every one 101. And we bequeath 
to Thomas Perce, our cofferer, to Thomas Hawe, our clerk-comptroller, and to 
Michael Apsley, clerk of our kitchen, for their pains, taken with us sundry 
ways, over and besides their formal wages, 10^. each. And our will and pleas- 
ure is, that our said cofferer, who hath disbursed much for us for the mainte- 
nance of our estate and household, should be truly paid by our executors; 
likewise all other of our servants that hath disbursed any money for us at any 
time, if they have not been paid. The residue of all our goods, plate, jewels, 
robes, cattle, and debts, not given or bequeathed, after our funeral debts and 
legacies, we give and bequeath to the right honorable Nicholas Heathe, arch- 
bishop of York and lord chancellor of England, Henry earl of Arundel, sir 
Edmund Peckham, and sir Richard Preston, knights, whom we ordain and 
make our executors of this our last will and testament. And our most dearest 
and entirely beloved sovereign lady queen Mary we earnestly desire to be our 
overseer of our said last will, with most humble request to see the same per- 
formed as shall to her highness seem best for the health of our soul. And in 
token of the special trust and affiance which we have in her grace, we do 
give and bequeath to her most excellent majesty, for a remembrance, our best 
jewel, beseeching her highness that our poor servants may enjoy such small 
gifts and grants as we have made unto them in consideration of their long 
service done unto us, being appointed to wait on us at the first erection of our 
household by her majesty's late father, of most famous memory, king Henry 
VIII., for that his said majesty said then unto us, 'That he would account our 
servants his own, and their service done to us as if done to himself:' therefore 
we beseech the queen's majesty so to accept them in this time of their extreme 
need. Moreover we give and bequeath to the lady Elizabeth's grace [after- 
wards queen Elizabeth] my second best jewel, with our hearty request to accept 
and take into her service one of our poor maids, named Dorothy Curzon. And 



1 The count of Waldeck. 



98 ANNE OF CLEVES. 

we do likewise give and bequeath unto every one of our executors before named^ 
towards their pains, — viz., to the lord chancellor's grace a fair bowl of gold with 
a cover ; to the earl of Arundel, a maudlin standing-cup of gold with a cover ; 
to sir Edmund Peckham, a jug of gold with a cover, or else a crystal glass 
garnished with gold and set with stones ; to sir Richard Preston, our best gilt 
bowl with a cover, or else that piece of gold plate which sir Edmund leaveth 
(if it be his pleasure), most heartily beseeching them to pray for us, and to see 
our body buried according to the queen's will and pleasure ; and that we may 
have the suffrages of holy church according to the Catholic faith, wherein we 
end our life in this transitory world. 

"These being witnesses, Thomas Perce, our cofferer, Thomas Hawe, our 
comptroller, John Symonds, doctor in physic, etc. ; also Dorothy Wingfleld, 
widow, Susan Boughton, Dorothy Curzon^ jantlewomen of our privy-chamber 
[bedchamber], with many others ; and by me, Dionysius Thomow,* chaplain and 
confessor to the same most noble lady Anna of Cleves." 

Two days after the dictation of this will, the repudiated 
queen of England expired peacefully at the palace of Chel- 
sea. Her beneficent spirit was wholly occupied in deeds 
of mercy, caring for the happiness of her maidens and 
alms-children, and forgetting not any faithful servant how- 
ever lowly in degree. She was on amicable terms both 
with the Catholic Mary and the Protestant Elizabeth, and 
left both tokens of her kindness. Although she was a 
Lutheran when she came to this country, it is very evident 
from her will that she died a Catholic. 

Queen Mary appointed her place of burial in Westminster 
abbey, where her funeral was performed with some mag- 
nificence. A hearse was prepared at Westminster, " with 
seven grand palls ... as goodly a hearse as ever seen." — 
" The 3d of August my lady Anne of Cleves '' (sometime 
wife of Henry VIII.) came from Chelsea to burial unto 
Westminster, with all the children of Westminster (of the 
choir), with many priests and clerks, and the gray amice 
of St. Paul's, and three crosses, and the monks of West- 
minster. My lord bishop of London [Bonner] and my lord 

1 Thomas, or Tomeo, had been comptroller of Katharine of Arragon's house- 
hold at Bugden, and was transferred to that of the princess Elizabeth : he had 
perhaps since taken orders, for he is, under the name of Denis Thorns (p. 97), 
left a small legacy to pray for her soul ; thus, although the will is evidently 
transcribed by himself, he spells both Christian and surname differently in the 
course of it. 

' Cottonian, Vitellus, F. 7. Sir F. Madden has carefully restored from a 
half-burnt fragment this quaint detail of her burial. 



ANNE OF CLEVE8. 99 

abbot of "Westminster [reckenham] rode together next the 
monks. Then rode the two executors, sir Edmund Peckham 
and sir Eichard Preston ; and then my lord admiral and my 
lord Darcy, followed by many knights and gentlemen. After 
her banner of arms came her gentlemen of the household 
and her head officers, and the bier-chariot, with eight banners 
of arms and four banners of white taffeta, wrought with 
fine gold. Thus they passed St. James and on to Charing 
cross, where was met a hundred torches, her servants bear- 
ing them ; and the twelve bedesmen of Westminster had 
new black gowns, and they had twelve burning torches and 
four white branches ; then her ladies and gentlewomen, all 
in black, on their horses, and about the hearse sat eight 
heralds bearing white banners of arms." These white en- 
signs were to signify that Anne of Cleves had lived a 
maiden life. "At the abbey-door all did alight, and the 
bishop of London and my lord abbot, in their mitres and 
copes, received the good lady, censing her ; and their men 
did bear her under a canopy of black velvet with four black 
staves, and so brought her under the hearse, and there 
tarried dirge, and all the night with lights burning. The 
next day requiem was sung for my lady Anne daughter of 
Cleves, and then my lord of Westminster [abbot Fecken- 
ham] preached as goodly a sermon as ever was made, and 
the bishop of London sang mass in his mitre. And after 
mass, the lord bishop and lord abbot did cense the corpse ; 
and afterwards she was carried to her tomb, where she 
lies with a hearse and cloth of gold over her. Then all 
her head officers brake their staves, and all her ushers 
brake their rods, and cast them into her tomb, and all the 
gentlemen and ladies offered at mass. My lady of Win- 
chester was chief mourner, and my lord admiral and lord 
Darcy went on each side of her ; and thus they went in 
order to a great dinner, given by my lord of Winchester to 
all the mourners." 

Anne of Cleves is buried near the high altar of West- 
minster abbey, in a place of great honor, at the feet of king 
Sebert, the original founder.^ Her tomb is seldom recog- 

> Stowe, vol. ii. p. 603. 



100 AJliTNE OF CLEVBS. 

nized, — in fact, it looks like a long bench placed against the 
wall, on the right hand as the examiner stands facing the 
altar, near the oil portraits of Henry III. and king Sebert. 
On closer inspection, her initials A and C, interwoven in a 
monogram, will be observed on parts of the structure, which 
is rather a memorial than a monument, for it was never 
finished.' " Not one of Henry's wives, excepting Anne of 
Cleves, had a monument," observes Fuller, " and hers was 
but half a one." The hearse of the queen was stripped by 
some thieves of all its ornaments of gold cloth, velvet, and 
banners : it had, in consequence, to be taken dovsnu within a 
fortnight of its erection. The robbery was laid, by popular 
report, on the monks of Westminster ; ^ yet as the destruc- 
tion of funeral pomps under their care militated against 
their very tottering establishment in England, they may be 
acquitted of the imputation. 

It is evident that reports were spread throughout the 
courts of Germany that the residence of Anne of Cleves 
in England was a detention full of cruelty and restraint. 
These ideas gave credence to an impostor, who presented 
herself in a state of distress at the palace of John Frederic 
II., prince of Coburg, and pretended to be the princess of 
Cleves, repudiated by Henry YIII. She was a long time 
entertained by the hospitable prince as his kinswoman, but 
was finally proved to be a maniac, and died in confinement.' 

' Stowe, vol. ii. p. 603. ' Maohyn's Diary, p. 148 ; Camden Society. 

■* Feyjoo's Praise of Woman.