Anne Boleyn: a beheaded pregnant woman?

[umigon]

Thinking about it again, just a curious remark, to spice a bit the thread: maybe he said he never slept with Elizabeth Howard because he knew there was a chance of Anne being his daughter but as his obsession for her and his determination of marrying Anne were so strong that maybe he just wanted to cover it up...


Well, still I see it highly unlikely...

[Kimberly]

I was always crap at maths but,Henry, born 1491.Anne- historians tend toward her year of birth being 1501.If he was Anne's father, that would make him 10 years old or there abouts when she was conceived. Well they say he was precocious, but I think thats stretching it a bit. (what a shame) I enjoy a bit of spice.

[umigon]

Well, Anne's date of birth is estimated. I also read that modern historians were starting to give the last days of May 1507 as her date of birth... can't remember the reasons why the last days, why May, why 1507, but still, if she was born in May 1507, that would make Henry a fifteen year old father: that is precocious enough!

[Kimberly]

I agree, the date of Anne's birth is still a contentious issue but 1507 would have made Anne about 6 years old in 1513, when she entered the service of Margaret of Austria- which is very, very young. If her date of birth was 1501, that would make her 12 or 13. Then she would have been about 20 when she returned to England.

[umigon]

True, but then it would have made of her a woman of 24 when Henry started flirting with her. And I doubt a girl of such a powerful faimly as the Howards was not married at that age if she was not going to be made a nun... although it is possible, I still doubt it.


You see, now we're discussing Anne's date of birth! I love this threads!

[Kimberly]

Yes and we are all good friends too
They started discussing Anne's marriage whilst she was still in France. In 1520 the marriage between Anne and James Butler was proposed. Negotiations continued until late 1522, when they were abandoned.(Anne would have been 19-21 years old during this period)By now she was back in the English court and the romance between her and Henry Percy began (hejoined the Cardinal's household in 1522). This romance ended in 1523 when Percy married Lady Mary Talbot. Anne is now 22 years old. So any time after this Henry VIII would have started his "pursuit"of her. This is going on the 1501 birthdate. At her death she was described as a "thin old woman"
but who wouldn't be stressed with that for a husband!

[Arianwen]

I agree, the date of Anne's birth is still a contentious issue but 1507 would have made Anne about 6 years old in 1513, when she entered the service of Margaret of Austria- which is very, very young. If her date of birth was 1501, that would make her 12 or 13. Then she would have been about 20 when she returned to England.

How about somewhere in the middle? I always thought 1501 was pushing it a bit, and 1507 probably made her too young. 1503 always sounded most plausible in my mind...

Regards,
Arianwen

[Prince_Lieven]

What year was Anne going to marry Henry Percy? Because, if she was born in 1501 and was going to marry in, say, the mid 1520s, this would mean she was about 24-27 - quite old to be getting married in those days.

[umigon]

That is what I was suggesting, 1501 is very early for her birth. I am with Arianwen, but I still think 1503 is very early!

[Arianwen]

I'm moving this over to a new thread I've created, so we can keep it going there, and reserve this for the original topic.

Regards,
Arianwen

[Silja]

True, but then it would have made of her a woman of 24 when Henry started flirting with her. And I doubt a girl of such a powerful faimly as the Howards was not married at that age if she was not going to be made a nun

Jane Seymour was around 25 when Henry fell in lvoe with her, and she, too, was still unmarried.

All the circumstantial evidence points to 1500/1501 as Anne's year of birth (see Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 2004).

[Prince_Lieven]

This topic has its own thread, Silja - Anne Boleyn's birth year, I think, is the name.

[Lorelei_Lee]

Alison Weir theorizes that Anne was pregnant in her book about Henry VIII and his court.  I don't recall her mentioning it in her bio of the wives, though.  

It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure I'm convinced.  I don't think Henry really believed Anne was guilty of adultery, and I don't think he would have allowed Cromwell to proceed against her while she was pregnant with a child he believed was his.  He might not have liked her much by early May 1536, but I don't think he was so desperate to get rid of her that he would have foregone the possibility of a male heir.  

Of course you never know with Henry.  That man could convince himself of just about anything, I think!

[Prince_Lieven]

Alison Weir theorizes that Anne was pregnant in her book about Henry VIII and his court.  I don't recall her mentioning it in her bio of the wives, though.  

It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure I'm convinced.  I don't think Henry really believed Anne was guilty of adultery, and I don't think he would have allowed Cromwell to proceed against her while she was pregnant with a child he believed was his.  He might not have liked her much by early May 1536, but I don't think he was so desperate to get rid of her that he would have foregone the possibility of a male heir.  

Of course you never know with Henry.  That man could convince himself of just about anything, I think!

I agree Lorelei. Also, I don't think pregnant women of any circumstances were executed until after the birth.

[Lorelei_Lee]

Right you are.  And it's hard to believe that if Anne were pregnant, she'd have kept quiet about it during her early days in the Tower.  The poor woman seems to have been semi-hysterical, chattering indiscreetly about Weston and Norris and all the flirtatious goings-on in her apartments when she would have done better to keep her mouth shut.