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Anne of Cleves – If by land or by sea

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Thank you so much to our regular contributor, Heather R. Darsie, for writing this article on Anne of Cleves for us. Heather is working on a biography of Anne at the moment and is researching her using the German archives.

Anna von Kleve, known to English speakers as Anne of Cleves, left her homeland in December 1539 to join her new husband, Henry VIII of England. The two had been married by proxy a couple of months earlier, in October. After Henry successfully negotiated the marriage alliance with Anna’s younger brother Wilhelm, Duke of Cleves since early 1538, there was the simple matter of getting Anna to England. But which way to take, a sea route or over land? Both options would take Anna through Imperial and French territory, which was no small matter at the time.
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Anne of Cleves Quiz

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Today’s quiz is on Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII’s fourth wife – good luck!
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22 September 1515 – Birth of Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII’s fourth wife

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in history, 22nd September 1515, Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg, or Anne of Cleves as we know her, was born near Düsseldorf. She was the second daughter of John III, Duke of Jülich, Cleves and Berg, an important German ruler, and his wife, Maria of Jülich-Berg.
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Anne of Cleves Quiz

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of Anne of Cleves on 16th July 1557, so I thought it would be good to mark the occasion with an Anne of Cleves themed quiz. How much do you know about this Tudor queen consort? Test yourself with this fun quiz.
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Amalia of Cleves, sister of Anne of Cleves, by Heather R. Darsie

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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After just over six months of marriage, on 9 July 1540, Anna von Kleve, more commonly known as Anne of Cleves, was divorced from Henry VIII of England. As part of her reward for acquiescing so easily to Henry’s request, she would forever after be known in England as the Daughter of Cleves and Henry’s sister, though she signed letters to her brother as “Anna, born Duchess of Cleves,” or a variation thereof.

Anna was gifted many properties, including Chelsea and Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. Anna maintained a relationship not only with Henry but also with his daughters Mary and Elizabeth. Anna would go on to live the rest of her life in England before dying at the age of 41. She never returned to the Holy Roman Empire, parts of which comprised most of what we know today as Germany.
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Anne of Cleves video – Was she ugly?

8 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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In today’s Claire Chats I look at the evidence regarding Henry VIII’s claims that Anne of Cleves was unattractive and the origin of the “Flanders Mare” label.
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The Annes of Cleves, Part II: 1541 to 1632 by Heather R. Darsie

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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For Part II of the Annes of Cleves, we’ll learn a little bit more about Henry VIII’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves; her niece, Anna of Cleves; and Anna, Duchess of Cleves. Throughout the article, I will address them as Anne, Anna of Cleves, and the Duchess, so as to help in understanding who is who.

Anne of Cleves, born in 1515 in Germanic territories of the Holy Roman Empire, married Henry VIII of England in 1540. Her marriage to the King lasted only about six months before he divorced her. Due to Anne’s congeniality, Henry settled a good income and several properties on Anne. She remained in England until her death in 1557, where she enjoyed a relationship with Mary I of England, who was only six months Anne’s junior, and with Elizabeth I of England. Elizabeth and Anne rode together in the chariot just after Mary I’s during Mary’s triumphant ride through London as the new queen. Sadly, Anne passed away just over a year before her other stepdaughter, Elizabeth I, become queen.
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The Annes of Cleves: Part I, 1435 to 1540 by Heather R. Darsie

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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The name “Anne of Cleves” conjures up thoughts of Henry VIII’s allegedly unattractive, unfashionable fourth wife. However, over the span of almost 200 years, there were five women known as “Anne of Cleves”. First, we will meet Anne of Burgundy, who by marriage became an Anne of Cleves. For purposes of this article, we will refer to her as “van Kleef.” Next, we will meet the daughter of Johann II of Cleves, aunt to the famous Henry VIII’s fourth wife. We will call her “von Cleve” throughout this article. Finally, we will quickly look into the early life of Anne of Cleves, the most well-known to the English-speaking world.
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February 20 – Anne Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, wife of Black Will Herbert and sister of Catherine Parr

1 year ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in Tudor history, 20th February 1552, Anne Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, died at Baynard’s Castle in London.

Anne was the younger sister of Queen Catherine Parr and served Queens Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard.

Let me give you a few facts about this Tudor countess…
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Owen Emmerson – The Two Annes of Hever Castle – Expert Talk

2 years ago Author: ADMIN Tim
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This month our guest expert is Dr Owen Emmerson, the castle historian at Hever Castle in Kent. Owen has given us a real treat with his video.
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16 July – Anne Askew’s courageous end

4 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in Tudor history, 16th July 1546, in the reign of King Henry VIII, Protestant martyrs Anne Askew, John Lascelles, John Adams and Nicholas Belenian were burned at the stake at Smithfield in London for heresy.

Poor Anne had been illegally racked, so special provision had to be made for her execution.

In today’s talk, I share an account of the ends of these courageous people, along with some trivia about one of them.
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Anne Boleyn Experience 2019 – Day 3

4 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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I started Day 3 of the Anne Boleyn Experience 2019 off well with a Full Hever Breakfast – yum! And then it was time to head off to nearby Penshurst Place, home of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, before it was seized by the crown after his execution and its keepership granted to Thomas Boleyn. In Edward VI’s reign, it was granted to the Sidney family and has been in that family ever since.
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Anne Parr, Countess of Pembroke (1515-1552)

5 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Anne Parr was born on 15th June 1515, in the early years of Henry VIII’s reign. Her parents were Sir Thomas Parr and Maud Green. Thomas was an English knight, courtier, and Lord of the Manor of Kendal in Westmorland (current day Cumbria). Perhaps more famously known in contemporary historiography as the younger sister of Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII, Anne Parr has remained a particularly elusive character in terms of research, when compared to her fashionable contemporaries. However, she led an equally interesting and eventful life. Despite the Parr daughters having a northern-born father, they grew up in the south of England. Their father’s seat at Kendal castle was, during their childhood, falling into disrepair, and living in the south was more practical in terms of their father’s role at court; Westmorland simply being too far from the centre of government and monarchy. In a manner more cosmopolitan, the Parr family resided at their modest house in Blackfriars, where Anne and Katherine were likely born and raised. This relative closeness to the court was convenient for Maud Parr, who was one of Queen Catherine of Aragon’s primary ladies in waiting.
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Anne Boleyn and the Famine of 1527

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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hank you to regular contributor Heather R. Darsie for this article on the famine of 1527 and how the common people may have seen it.

In the Tudor period, life was very much governed by the church, and people in England generally, at least outwardly, were religious and God-fearing. Witchcraft was thought to exist, and God could express his pleasure or displeasure, or otherwise send signs through any number of mediums. Did God try to warn Henry VIII, or even Anne Boleyn, that their courtship was ultimately doomed? By 1527, it was no secret that Henry VIII harboured an affection for Anne Boleyn. In May of that year, Henry was explaining to Cardinal Wolsey why he felt he was living in sin by having married his deceased brother’s wife. Cardinal Wolsey had been made legatus a legere, putting him in the position of the most powerful religious figure in England. Henry relied on a passage from the Christian bible, namely Leviticus 20:21, which states, “And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.” Henry, of course, had his daughter Mary with Catherine, but no male heir and several stillbirths or infants who only lived for a few weeks. But this was not enough to ensure the Tudor dynasty.
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The Cousins of Cleves by Heather R. Darsie

7 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Anna von Kleve, from the line of von der Marck (Germanic) or LaMarck (Francophone), fourth wife of Henry VIII and most commonly known as Anne of Cleves, is known to have shared the lineage of King Edward I of England with Henry’s other five wives. While an interesting anecdote, Edward I, or Edward Longshanks, Hammer of the Scots, died in 1307. In 1539, when Anna came to England to be Henry’s queen, she had many well-known powerful relations, distant though they were. Below, we will go through the genealogy of some of Anna’s royal connections.
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Sibylle, the Other Daughter of Cleves by Heather R. Darsie

8 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Sibylle von Kleve was born on 17 January 1512 and eventually became older sister to Anna von Kleve, more commonly known as Anne of Cleves or Henry VIII’s fourth wife, in 1515. Sibylle, the eldest of Maria von Julich-Berg’s children with Duke Johann von Kleve, was elevated to the station of Electress Consort through her marriage to Johann Friedrich I, the Elector of Saxony, in 1527.

As Electress of Saxony, Sibylle enjoyed a fruitful marriage with Johann Friedrich and had four sons, three of whom survived to adulthood. Sibylle was known as a great beauty, as can be seen from her engagement portrait by Lucas Cranach the Elder from 1526 (left hand portrait). Her long, golden-brown hair is loose and flowing about her shoulders. Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop would go on to produce many portraits of Sibylle and her family, including one finished in 1531, when Sibylle was 29. In the 1531 portrait of Sibylle (right hand portrait), we see that she likely plucked back her hairline, as was fashionable in the period as a high forehead showed that a woman was of noble bearing and intelligent.
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Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset, by Conor Byrne

9 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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An article on the much maligned Anne Seymour (nee Stanhope), Duchess of Somerset.
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#OTD in Tudor History – 3 January

2 months ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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What happened on this day in Tudor history? Let me share with you some events from 3rd January during the reigns of the Tudor monarchs…

1521 – Pope Leo X issued the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem excommunicating reformer, German priest and professor of theology Martin Luther from the Catholic Church. See below.
1540 – Official reception of Anne of Cleves at Greenwich Palace. See below.
1541 – Anne of Cleves visited Hampton Court Palace to greet her former husband, Henry VIII, and his new wife, Catherine Howard, and to exchange New Year’s gifts.
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August 16 – Sir Christopher More

7 months ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in Tudor history, 16th August 1549, in the reign of King Edward VI, landowner and administrator Sir Christopher More died. He was buried in St Nicholas’s Church, Guildford, in the Loseley Chapel.

More was a Justice of the Peace and sheriff during the reign of Henry VIII and was appointed to the guard of honour prepared for Anne of Cleves in late 1539.

Here are some facts about Sir Christopher More:

Sir Christopher More was born in around 1483 and was the son of fishmonger John More and his wife, Elizabeth.
By 1504, More was married to Margaret Mugge, who came from Guildford, and the couple had 12 children together. By 1535, Margaret had died and More had married Constance Sackville, widow of William Heneage.
In 1505, in the reign of King Henry VII, More was made a clerk of the exchequer, and More also purchased the office of alnager, i.e. an inspector of the quality and measurement of woollen cloth, in Surrey and Sussex.
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26 April – Catherine Carey, daughter of Mary Boleyn, marries Francis Knollys

11 months ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in Tudor history, 26th April 1540, in the reign of King Henry VIII, sixteen year-old Catherine Carey married Francis Knollys.

Catherine was the daughter of William Carey and Mary Boleyn, and the niece of Queen Anne Boleyn. Although some believe that she was Henry VIII’s daughter, there is no evidence for this.

Catherine served as a maid of honour to Anne of Cleves, and went into exile with her family in Mary I’s reign.

Catherine was appointed to her cousin Elizabeth I’s bedchamber in 1559. She served there until her death in 1569.
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Hever Castle – still worth a visit? by Tim Ridgway

11 months ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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A few weeks ago, my father and I were able to get away for a morning to visit Hever Castle in Kent. It’s somewhere that you may have been to before, and it’s a castle that is very close to our hearts – we LOVE the way the grounds are kept and how the castle evokes the history of the Boleyn family, the time Anne of Cleves spent there AND, more recently, how the Astor family lived and renovated the whole area.

For a long time, Hever castle was quite static in its displays – not much changed, which was fine if you’d never visited before, but since we had visited so many times, it was rare to see anything new. That’s no longer the case.
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April 26 – Catherine Carey marries and Shakespeare is baptised

1 year ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in Tudor history, 26th April 1540, Catherine Carey, daughter of Mary Boleyn and a maid of honour to Queen Anne of Cleves, married Francis Knollys.

The marriage was happy and successful, and resulted in at least 14 children…
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4 September – Another marriage is arranged for Henry VIII and the death of Robert Dudley

2 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in Tudor history, 4th September 1539, William, Duke of Cleves, signed the marriage treaty promising his sister, Anne of Cleves, in marriage to King Henry VIII.

Anne would of course become Henry VIII’s fourth wife.

Find out all about the marriage agreement and its terms, and what happened next…
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28 April – A man involved in the falls of two queens

3 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in Tudor history, 28th April 1548 (some sources say 6 May), courtier, diplomat, soldier and Keeper of Oatlands Palace, Sir Anthony Browne, died at Byfleet in Surrey. He had been one of Henry VIII’s most important and richest courtiers and was also involved in the falls of two queens: Anne Boleyn and Anne of Cleves.

Find out more about this man and how he was involved in the falls of the two Annes in today’s talk.
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Six Wives – True or False Quiz Part 2

4 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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This week’s Sunday fun is a true or false quiz testing your knowledge on Henry VIII’s six wives. Part 2 focuses on Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.

Good luck!
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22 November – Sir William Butts, royal physician and confidant

4 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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On this day in Tudor history, 22nd November 1545, Henry VIII’s trusted physician and confidant, Sir William Butts, died after suffering from a “dooble febre quartanz”, a form of malaria.

Sir William Butts was the doctor who was sent to treat Anne Boleyn, when she was ill with sweating sickness, and also advised on Princess Mary’s sickness, and was the man King Henry VIII confided in about his problems consummating his marriage to Anne of Cleves. He was obviously a man the king could trust.

Find out more about this Tudor physician in today’s talk, with help from Teasel the dog.
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6 January

5 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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Happy Epiphany! In today’s “on this day in Tudor history” video, I talk about the wedding of Anne of Cleves and Henry VIII, an event that took place on this day in 1540.
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3 January

5 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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In today’s “on this day in Tudor history” video, Claire looks at 3rd January 1540 and 1541 and examines how different they were for Anne of Cleves.
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This week in history 16 – 22 July

5 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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16th July:

1517 – Birth of Frances Grey (née Brandon), Duchess of Suffolk, at Hatfield. She was born on St Francis’s Day and was the eldest daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and Mary Tudor, widow of Louis XII and sister of Henry VIII. Click here to read all about her.
1546 – Protestant martyrs Anne Askew, John Lascelles, John Adams and Nicholas Belenian were burned at the stake at Smithfield in London for heresy. Click here to read more about Anne.
1556 – Burnings of Julins Palmer, John Gwyn, and Thomas Robyns [some sources say Askew or Askin] in the old sandpits in Enborne Road, Newbury, after they were found guilty of sedition and heresy. They are known as the Newbury Martyrs.
1557 – Death of Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of Henry VIII, at Chelsea Old Manor after a few months of illness. On the same day, her body was embalmed and placed in a coffin covered with a cloth bearing her arms. Tapers were lit around her coffin and prayers said on a daily basis. She was buried in Westminster Abbey on 4th August.
1574 – Death of John Hart, scholar, phonetician and Chester Herald, in London.
1600 – Death of George Cranmer, scholar, administrator and nephew of Thomas Cranmer, the late Archbishop of Canterbury, in a skirmish with Irish rebels at Carlingford. He was in Ireland serving Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, as Secretary during a military campaign.
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This week in history 9 – 15 July

5 years ago Author: Claire Ridgway
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9th July:

1539 – Execution of Sir Adrian Fortescue, courtier and landowner, on Tower Hill. He was condemned for treason by act of attainder, but it is not known what he had done to deserve this. He was beatified in 1895 as a martyr, but historian Richard Rex points out that he is unlikely to have opposed Henry VIII’s supremacy because he was a cousin of Anne Boleyn.
1540 – It was declared that the marriage of King Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves was null and void, and that both parties were free to marry again. The couple had only been married six months.
1553 – Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, preached at St Paul’s Cross denouncing Henry VIII’s daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, as bastards. The congregation were “sore annoyed with his words”.
1553 – The Duke of Northumberland officially informed Lady Jane Grey of Edward VI’s death in front of the Council and nobles, going on to explain the terms of Edward’s will which named Lady Jane Grey as the heir to the throne. Lady Jane Grey accepted that she was Queen.
1553 – Mary (future Mary I) wrote to the Privy Council stating her claim to the throne and demanding their allegiance. Click here to read more.
While Mary was writing this letter, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, was informing his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, of Edward VI’s death and informing her that the King had nominated her as his successor. Jane collapsed weeping and declared “The crown is not my right and pleases me not. The Lady Mary is the rightful heir.” Northumberland and Jane’s parents then explained Edward’s wishes to the distressed Jane, and she accepted the crown as her duty.
1575 (9th-27th) – Elizabeth I was entertained at Kenilworth Castle by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. It was a special visit in that it lasted nineteen days and was the longest stay at a courtier’s house in any of her royal progresses.
1586 – Death of Edward Sutton, 4th Baron Dudley, soldier and landowner, at Westminster. He was buried in St Margaret’s, Westminster. Sutton served as a soldier in Henry VIII’s reign in Ireland and Boulogne, and in Edward VI’s reign against the Scots. He was made a Knight of the Bath at Mary I’s coronation, and then given Lordship of Dudley Castle, where he entertained Elizabeth I in 1575.
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