The Background
Ann Boleyn is often seen as the uncharted rock which caused England under Henry VIII to break away from the Catholic Church. There were other reasons why the break might have happened eventually, but there is little doubt that the timing was related to Ann Boleyn’s pregnancy.
King Henry VIII was desperate to have a legitimate son.
Henry was the second son of Henry VII. The sickly first son. Arthur, married Katherine of Aragon. Apart from Katherine’s significant dowry the marriage brought with it alliance to the Holy Roman Empire incorporating Spain and much of Germany and Austria. As a counterbalance against France the alliance was very important to Henry VII.
After Arthur’s early death Henry VII could either pay back the dowry and lose the alliance, or marry Henry VIII to Katherine and save the dowry and the alliance. Katherine was significantly older than Henry but Henry and Katherine were very quickly genuinely in love.
It was believed at that time that sexual intercourse during pregnancy was harmful to the baby. During Katherine’s many pregnancies Henry VIII consoled himself with a number of other ladies.
Katherine at one point protested in public against Henry’s adultery. She was given the very blunt choices of remaining silent or being sent away from Court. As a childless or at least sonless wife she would have no influence at all, and very little importance if sent away from court. She shut up.
It became clear that Katherine would have no more children. The only living child was Mary, later Queen Mary.
Henry began negotiating with the Pope for a divorce. As Katherine had not misbehaved in any way a divorce was not possible. Henry’s best argument was for an annulment, to say that they had never lawfully married.
Leviticus
There are two passages in Leviticus which were thought to be relevant.
Leviticus 18:16
“Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.”
Leviticus 20:21
“If a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing…they shall be childless.”
These passages ought to have been an impediment to Henry’s marriage to Katherine, but the then Pope had been persuaded to grant a dispensation to permit the marriage to take place. So Henry had to argue that the Pope had no power to grant a dispensation because God’s law was clear.
The current Pope had several problems with this argument. It might be one thing to reverse an indulgence or dispensation granted by a previous Pope. It was quite another to concede that the Papacy had no power to grant such a dispensation or indulgence.
There was considerable doubt whether the marriage between Arthur and Katherine had been consummated, in which case there was no breach of canon law. And Katherine’s nephew had troops within a few miles of Rome.
While the argument dragged on, the nephew sacked Rome and took the Pope prisoner. The nephew simply forbade the Pope from giving the judgement that Henry wanted.
Henry had an additional problem. Henry had had an affair with Anne’s elder sister Mary, from whom he had a daughter. It was hushed up, and very few people knew of it. However, if Henry was arguing that Leviticus made Katherine’s marriage to Henry impossible, by the same logic Henry’s past relationship with Mary made the proposed marriage to Anne impossible.
To get round this the Pope agreed to say that Henry could, after the marriage with Katherine ended, marry anyone he wished regardless of consanguinity or any other normal impediment. So Henry having denied the authority of the Pope to issue the indulgence which permitted his first marriage now wanted a second, wider, indulgence so he could marry Anne!
Anne Is Pregnant!
Anne had seen that Mary had gained very little from allowing Henry VIII to have sex with her, or from her years as mistress to the King. Anne had every incentive to hold out for marriage. After some years she yielded to Henry’s desires and became pregnant by him.
Henry needed a son. Anne was pregnant. The Pope, a prisoner, could do nothing to help, even if he had wanted to.
Henry broke with Rome.
Henry did not attempt to frame Queen Katherine and execute her. Had he done so he would have risked war with the Holy Roman Empire. France might even join in against England.
And as Henry had no grounds for divorce he declared the annulment. This meant Princess Mary was a bastard and could not inherit.
So Henry married Anne Boleyn and declared her Queen. Sadly the child turned out to be a girl, the future Queen Elizabeth. Anne had a few more pregnancies but failed to deliver a live child. As was his custom, Henry consoled himself with other ladies including Jane Seymour.
Jane Is Pregnant!
Henry had given up on Anne. After at least four pregnancies only the first child Elizabeth had been born alive. Now Jane was pregnant.
Henry badly needed a legitimate son. Henry could not very well use the Leviticus argument against Anne, because all Europe would laugh at him. And he had obtained a Papal indulgence to cover the Anne problem.
Henry could hardly say that this second indulgence was not valid.
Anne and her family the Boleyns had made many enemies. No-one objected to Mary, but Anne and her brother George, Lord Rochford had been so greedy and sometimes vindictive that they had stored up trouble for themselves.
Anne was arrested and charged with adultery with five men including her brother George. The star witness was George’s wife Jane Lady Rochford, who testified to the incest. Anne Boleyn and Lord Rochford were executed.
Before their trial King Henry had legislation passed annulling the marriage to Anne and declaring Elizabeth a bastard.
There are many who believe the trial was a conspiracy against Anne, masterminded by Thomas Cromwell to resolve Henry’s problem.
What happened to Jane?
Having sex with the Queen was treason, so after George Lord Rochford’s execution all his property now belonged to the Crown.
Jane had been living in Court as the wife of the Queen’s brother. She now had to leave court as she no longer had any significant status.
But where to go? All her husband’s property, including her dowry lands, were forfeit to the Crown. She quite literally had nowhere to go and no income to live on.
Her natural family had no wish to take her in. She had already had a good dowry from the family when she married George. Anyone who took Jane in would be stuck with her, probably for the rest of her life.
Jane turned to her father in law. He was still a leading figure at court. His position had been rocked by the trial and execution of Anne and George. Here was the chief witness, Jane, asking him to take her in!
He refused.
The King eventually ordered him to take in Jane. So Jane was lodged grudgingly at Hever Castle where she would have dined daily with George’s mother and grandmother. Everyone else in the castle would have known and thought highly of Anne and George. Those mealtimes must have been difficult.
Quite soon Jane returned to court as a lady in waiting for the new queen, Jane Seymour. Queen Jane had the good grace to produce a boy. Giving birth killed her.
Lady Rochford then became Lady in Waiting to Anne of Cleves. Ann was so sexually unattractive that Henry refused to have sex with her. A divorce was quickly negotiated.
The next wife was Katherine Howard. Alas she really did commit adultery.
It seems that Jane. Lady Rochford knew of the adultery but did not denounce it. So she was executed for treason in keeping quiet about the adultery of Katherine Howard.
WHY DID JANE NOT TELL?
Jane as a loyal citizen should have denounced the adultery of Katherine Howard. Why didn’t she?
Jane’s reward for denouncing Anne and George had been poverty and humiliation. Should she denounce the current Queen she might again have poverty and humiliation.
Henry by now was gross and repellent. Any woman married to him might be forgiven for looking elsewhere. There was probably fun and excitement in helping the couple commit adultery by carrying messages and perhaps standing guard outside. And Jane seems to have been fundamentally stupid.
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