Anne of Cleves: Survivor Queen

Schutte, Valerie

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-95197-9_7

Anne of Cleves: Survivor Queen

Valerie Schutte⁸

Chapter
First Online: 21 July 2022

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Part of the book series: Queenship and Power ((QAP))

Abstract

Anne of Cleves was the second international bride of Henry VIII. She was only queen for six months, yet she was able to amicably divorce her husband and maintain a household and several properties. She also remained friendly with Henry, his subsequent wives, and his two daughters. She learned English quickly and adapted to her new country, eventually considering it her home. Anne became one of the wealthiest women in England courtesy of her divorce settlement and managed to live out her life in England as the King’s “beloved sister.” Anne was eventually buried in Westminster Abbey, the final resting place of some of England’s most important kings and queens. Far from being simply Henry’s second divorced wife, she survived her marriage, outlived Henry and his other five wives, and maintained a position of prestige within England. Anne was nothing short of the survivor queen.

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Notes

1.
Heather Darsie has suggested that Anne’s birthday was actually 28 June 1515, based on an entry in a German chronicle. The date of 22 September can only be confirmed as far back as the eighteenth century. Heather Darsie, Anna, Duchess of Cleves: The King’s “Beloved Sister” (Stroud: Amberley, 2019), 17–19.
2.
James Kelsey McConica, English Humanists and Reformation Politics Under Henry VIII and Edward VI (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965), 175.
3.
Sarah-Beth Watkins, Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII’s Unwanted Wife (Winchester: Chronos Books, 2018), 8; McConica, English Humanists, 175.
4.
Correspondance Politique de MM. De Castillon et De Marillac Ambassadeurs de France En Angleterre (1537–1542), ed. Jean Kaulek (Paris, 1885), 23. Castillon reported to Francis that Henry told him of his displeasure that Francis was giving Mary in marriage to James, whom Henry calls his enemy.
5.
J.S. Brewer, James Gairdner, and R.H. Brodie, eds., Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, 21 vols. (London: HMSO, 1862–1932), 14.1:191 (no. 489).
6.
L&P, 14.1:389–390 (no. 834).
7.
L&P, 14.2:8–9 (no. 33). Henry preferred Anne, but would have considered Amelia if Anne’s pre-contract was still valid.
8.
L&P, 14.2:38 (no. 127).
9.
There is much more than can be included in this brief biography. The two main issues from January to October 1539 were securing accurate images of both Anne and Amelia, verbal and portrait, and finalising the termination of Anne’s betrothal to Francis. Both of these issues took time and caused frustration in both England and Cleves.
10.
L&P, 14.2:96–97 (no. 258).
11.
L&P, 14.2:108–109 (no. 286).
12.
L&P, 14.2:108 (no. 285).
13.
L&P, 14.2:108 (no. 286). This arrangement was finalised within the marriage treaty.
14.
TNA SP 3/7, fol. 144 (L&P, 14.2:126 [no. 356]).
15.
Watkins, Anne of Cleves, 36.
16.
Calendar of State Papers, Spain, ed. G.A. Bergenroth, Pascual de Gayangos, Martin A.S. Hume, Royall Tyler, and Garrett Mattingly, 13 vols. (London: HMSO, 1862–1954), 6.1:200 (no. 91).
17.
Retha Warnicke, The Marrying of Anne of Cleves: Royal Protocol in Tudor England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 114.
18.
TNA SP 1/155, fol. 85 (L&P, 14.2:231–232 [no. 634]).
19.
L&P, 14.2:180–181 (no. 508). Marillac also reported that Henry had already gone to Hampton Court to await Anne’s arrival.
20.
TNA SP 1/155, fol. 108 (L&P, 14.2:246–247 [no. 677]).
21.
Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1991), 396.
22.
Hall’s Chronicle: Containing The History of England, During The Reign of Henry the Fourth, and the Succeeding Monarchs, to the End of the Reign of Henry the Eighth (New York: AMS Press, 1965), 837.
23.
Watkins, Anne of Cleves, 56–57.
24.
Watkins, Anne of Cleves, 56.
25.
L&P, 15:27 (no. 79).
26.
TNA SP 1/157, fol. 60 (L&P, 15:29 [no. 91]).
27.
Kaulek, Correspondance Politique, 173 (L&P, 15:156 [no. 401]).
28.
L&P, 15:295 (no. 613).
29.
L&P, 15:300 (no. 617).
30.
TNA SP 1/160, fol. 140 (L&P, 15:362–363 [no. 765]).
31.
L&P, 15:365–366 (no. 776).
32.
L&P, 15:387–388 (no. 821).
33.
Kaulek, Correspondance Politique, 198 (L&P, 15:418 [no. 848]).
34.
L&P, 15:417 (no. 845).
35.
Henry Ellis, ed., Original Letters, Illustrative of English History, 4 vols. (London, 1827), 2:158–159.
36.
“Pronuncietur et confirmetur.” State Papers Published Under the Authority of His Majesty’s Commission, 11 vols (London, 1830–1852), 1:629–635.
37.
“Anne of Cleves, Queen of England, to Henry VIII, 11 July 1540,” in Letters of the Queens of England, 1100–1547, ed. Anne Crawford (Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1994), 203–204.
38.
L&P, 15:457 (no. 925). This all comes second hand from the Duke of Suffolk, after the fact.
39.
TNA SP 1/16,1 fol. 120r (L&P, 15:446 [no. 899]).
40.
Kaulek, Correspondance Politique, 208 (L&P, 15:484 [no. 953]).
41.
CSP Spain, 6.1:305 (no. 149).
42.
CSP Spain, 6.1:484 (no. 239).
43.
CSP Spain, 6.2:278 (no. 115).
44.
Chris Skidmore, Edward VI: The Lost King of England (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007), 71.
45.
Acts of the Privy Council of England, Volume 2: 1547–1550, ed. John Roche Dasent (London, 1890), 82–83.
46.
CSP Spain, 9:490. Letter dated 19 December 1549.
47.
CSP Spain, 10:282. Advices sent by Jehan Scheyfve.
48.
TNA 10/15, fol. 97r.
49.
CSP Spain, 11:300. Letter by Renard to the Emperor, 15 October 1553.
50.
CSP Spain, 12:94. Letter from Renard to the Emperor, 12 February 1554.
51.
Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of England, 12 vols. (London, 1840–1848), 4:361–362.
52.
Details can be found in: The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London, 1550–1563, ed. J.G. Nichols (London, 1848).

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Beaver Falls, PA, USA
Valerie Schutte

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Valerie Schutte
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University Campus North Lincolnshire, England, UK
Aidan Norrie
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Carolyn Harris
University of Reading, Reading, UK
J. L. Laynesmith
York, UK
Danna R. Messer
University of Winchester, Winchester, UK
Elena Woodacre

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Schutte, V. (2022). Anne of Cleves: Survivor Queen. In: Norrie, A., Harris, C., Laynesmith, J.L., Messer, D.R., Woodacre, E. (eds) Tudor and Stuart Consorts. Queenship and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95197-9_7

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95197-9_7
Published: 21 July 2022
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-95196-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-95197-9
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