Devil Doc
When Death smiles, Corpsmen smile back
It was on this day in 1536 that Anne Boleyn was beheaded for the charge of adultery, only a few years after she had inspired King Henry VIII to found the Church in England just so that he could marry her.
When she met Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn was an 18-year-old girl who had plenty of admirers. She was beautiful, but she was also the smartest woman most men at the time had ever met. She could debate theology and discuss literature with the finest intellectuals of the era. When Henry met her, the thing he admired most was that she could talk to him like an equal. She might have just been another of the king's mistresses, but she was an extremely ambitious young woman. And so she told the king that she couldn't give herself to him unless they were married.
So Henry decided to break with his wife of more than 20 years, and he asked the pope for an annulment of his first marriage. The pope refused, and so Henry declared himself the head of the new Church in England and granted himself an annulment in his own matrimonial suit.
Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn in 1533. It was only the second time in English history that a king had married for love. And yet, that marriage didn't last long. Within a few years, Henry had decided that he didn't like being married to an intellectual equal. He also didn't like that their first child was a girl. The one thing that might have saved Anne would have been a male child. She got pregnant for the second time in 1535, and after nine tense months of waiting, she did give birth to a son, but he was stillborn. A few months later, she was arrested on charges of adultery. Most historians believe the charges were false.
She was imprisoned in the Tower of London for a little more than two weeks, and then she was beheaded. After her death, all original portraits of her were discarded; not one is known to exist. Most of her books and correspondence were also destroyed, along with poems and songs she wrote. Her rivals spread rumors and made up stories about her, to defame her reputation in the history books, claiming that she'd been ugly and deformed, with a sixth finger on one hand and a huge hump on her neck. But despite all that, her daughter Elizabeth, the daughter that had so disappointed Henry VIII, grew up to become one of the most influential queens in British history.
And so, I present History's Babe for May, 2007.
Doc.
When she met Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn was an 18-year-old girl who had plenty of admirers. She was beautiful, but she was also the smartest woman most men at the time had ever met. She could debate theology and discuss literature with the finest intellectuals of the era. When Henry met her, the thing he admired most was that she could talk to him like an equal. She might have just been another of the king's mistresses, but she was an extremely ambitious young woman. And so she told the king that she couldn't give herself to him unless they were married.
So Henry decided to break with his wife of more than 20 years, and he asked the pope for an annulment of his first marriage. The pope refused, and so Henry declared himself the head of the new Church in England and granted himself an annulment in his own matrimonial suit.
Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn in 1533. It was only the second time in English history that a king had married for love. And yet, that marriage didn't last long. Within a few years, Henry had decided that he didn't like being married to an intellectual equal. He also didn't like that their first child was a girl. The one thing that might have saved Anne would have been a male child. She got pregnant for the second time in 1535, and after nine tense months of waiting, she did give birth to a son, but he was stillborn. A few months later, she was arrested on charges of adultery. Most historians believe the charges were false.
She was imprisoned in the Tower of London for a little more than two weeks, and then she was beheaded. After her death, all original portraits of her were discarded; not one is known to exist. Most of her books and correspondence were also destroyed, along with poems and songs she wrote. Her rivals spread rumors and made up stories about her, to defame her reputation in the history books, claiming that she'd been ugly and deformed, with a sixth finger on one hand and a huge hump on her neck. But despite all that, her daughter Elizabeth, the daughter that had so disappointed Henry VIII, grew up to become one of the most influential queens in British history.
And so, I present History's Babe for May, 2007.
Doc.
