A Funeral and a Miscarriage: January 29, 1536

In one of those incredible juxtapositions of history, Henry VIII's first wife Katherine of Aragon was buried in Peterborough Cathedral (correction!) and his second wife Anne Boleyn suffered a miscarriage on the same day, January 29, 1536.

Henry VIII refused at the end to acknowledge the validity of his marriage to Katherine and had her buried as the Princess Dowager of Wales, but it was a duly elaborate funeral. This blog, profusely illustrated, provides the detail from the state papers:

First, 16 priests or clergymen in surplices went on horseback, without saying a word, having a gilded laten cross borne before them; after them several gentlemen, of whom there were only two of the house, et le demeurant estoient tous emprouvez, and after them followed the maître d’hotel and chamberlain, with their rods of office in their hands; and, to keep them in order, went by their sides 9 or 10 heralds, with mourning hoods and wearing their coats of arms; after them followed 50 servants of the aforesaid gentlemen, bearing torches and bâtons allumés, which lasted but a short time, and in the middle of them was drawn a wagon, upon which the body was drawn by six horses all covered with black cloth to the ground.

The said wagon was covered with black velvet, in the midst of which was a great silver cross; and within, as one looked upon the corpse, was stretched a cloth of gold frieze with a cross of crimson velvet, and before and behind the said wagon stood two gentlemen ushers with mourning hoods looking into the wagon, round which the said four banners were carried by four heralds and the standards with the representations by four gentlemen.

Then followed seven ladies, as chief mourners, upon hackneys, that of the first being harnessed with black velvet and the others with black cloth. After which ladies followed the wagon of the Queen’s gentlemen; and after them, on hackneys, came nine ladies, wives of knights. Then followed the wagon of the Queen’s chambermaids; then her maids to the number of 36, and in their wake followed certain servants on horseback.

Meanwhile, back at Court, Anne Boleyn suffered a catastrophic miscarriage that may have contributed to her fall and execution. Henry VIII had pursued her and married her, divided England from Christendom, abandoned his first wife and daughter all because he expected Anne Boleyn to deliver a healthy baby boy who would survive infancy, and she failed again. This blog describes the repercussions of that miscarriage, as recounted by Eustace Chapuys, the Holy Roman Emperor's ambassador:

On the day of the interment the Concubine had an abortion which seemed to be a male child which she had not borne 3½ months, at which the King has shown great distress. The said concubine wished to lay the blame on the duke of Norfolk, whom she hates, saying he frightened her by bringing the news of the fall the King had six days before. But it is well known that is not the cause, for it was told her in a way that she should not be alarmed or attach much importance to it. Some think it was owing to her own incapacity to bear children, others to a fear that the King would treat her like the late Queen, especially considering the treatment shown to a lady of the Court, named Mistress Semel, to whom, as many say, he has lately made great presents.

I think that Katherine of Aragon would have felt grief for the loss of another little baby, as she had lost several herself to miscarriage, stillbirth or death during infancy.

Mistress Semel was Jane Seymour, who would be Henry VIII's third wife. Sic transit gloria mundi.

Jane Seymour, Henry's Rose without a Thorn

Henry VIII's "Rose without a thorn" and Edward VI's mother died in Hampton Court Palace on October 24, 1537--more here.

Henry VIII Marries AGAIN!

On May 30, 1536, Henry VIII married his third wife, Jane Seymour, eleven days after the execution of Anne Boleyn. (Since Cranmer had determined that marriage null and void, perhaps this was just his second marriage, after all! No, this would really be his first marriage, since Cranmer had declared Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon null and void too!) They had been betrothed the day after Anne's beheading after Henry had removed Jane from Court so he wouldn't so obviously be involved with her while his second queen was in the Tower of London.

When Cromwell announced the marriage to Parliament, he used terms indicating Henry's reluctance to marry again--yet for the good of the country, he would do so, hoping to provide the legitimate male heir so earnestly desired.

Since Jane fulfilled these desires with the birth of Edward on October 12, 1537, she was Henry's favorite wife. When she died on October 23, she was also his only wife to be buried as a Queen of England, even though she had never been crowned.

David Starkey analyzed Henry's reasons for marrying Jane on his BBC/PBS show, The Six Wives of Henry VIII:

It's not surprising that Henry, tired of the belligerent Queen Anne, would fall for the 27-year-old Jane Seymour. In contrast to Anne, Jane was amiable, gentle and quiet. It also helped that Jane's mother had given birth to six sons -- a sign that Jane would be capable of producing heirs. Jane had already been in court for six years as maid-of honor to Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn when the king began to court her. When it became evident that Henry had fallen for Jane, the anti-Boleyn faction, led by Nicholas Carew, rushed to her side to help her further captivate the king. With coaching from Carew, Jane used the same tactics -- to remain chaste while welcoming his advances -- that Anne had used to capture the king. Henry once again fell for it. In one instance, Henry gave Jane a present of gold coins. Jane had accepted other gifts from Henry before but she refused the money and begged the king to remember that she was an honorable woman. She would "rather die a thousand times" than tarnish her honor. Henry was impressed, "She has behaved in this matter very modestly."

At first, the king had no intentions of making Jane more than his mistress -- after all, his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was still alive and to divorce Anne, his second wife and marry another woman would make him the laughingstock of Europe. But Catherine's death in 1536 made Henry, a widower -- since his only wife in the eyes of the Church had died. Anne Boleyn's miscarriage in 1536 and the king's conclusion that she could not bear him sons further convinced him to get rid of his second wife to marry Jane.

Anyone who favors Anne Boleyn among Henry VIII's wives waxes wroth at Jane Seymour. Viz this paragraph from the Luminarium biography:

Jane, being a woman of consummate art, and having already advanced to the very threshold of the throne, despised the threats, and disregarded the orders of her angry mistress. Aware that her star was in the ascendant, she scrupled not to obtain her elevation by the destruction of Anne and five unfortunate noblemen. Our historians laud her discretion, her modesty, and her virtue; but on what principles of morality it is difficult to conceive. She accepted the addresses of the husband of her mistress, knowing him to be such; and scrupled not to walk over the corpse of Anne to the throne. True, she retired to her maternal home, at Wolf Hall, whilst the tragedy which consummated the destruction of Anne was played out; but it was only to prepare the gay attire and the sumptuous banquet to celebrate her marriage with the ruthless King, whilst the blood was yet warm in the lifeless form of the ill-fated Anne.

Henry VIII doesn't come off that well, either:

On the morning of Anne's execution, Henry attired for the chase, and attended by his huntsmen, waited in the neighbourhood of Epping or Richmond—tradition points to both these places—and immediately he heard the boom of the signal gun, which was to assure him that she breathed no more, exclaimed in exultation, "Uncouple the hounds, and away!" and paying no regard to the direction taken by the game, galloped off with his courtiers at full speed to Wolf Hall, which he reached at night-fall. Early the next morning, Saturday, May the twentieth, 1536, and attired in the gay robes of a bridegroom, he conducted Jane Seymour to the altar of Tottenham church, Wilts, and in the presence of Sir John Russell, and other members of his obsequious privy council, made her his bride. From Wolf Hall, the wedding party proceeded through Winchester, by an easy journey, to London; where on the twenty-ninth of May, a great court was held, at which Jane was introduced as Queen. Feasts, jousts, and other entertainments in honour of the royal nuptials followed; and Sir Edward Seymour was created Viscount Beauchamp, and Sir Walter Hungerford received the title of Lord Hungerford.

Queen Jane evidently pleaded with Henry at some point to spare the monasteries, and she might have been a Catholic, which at this time in England could mean that although she accepted the king's supremacy in the Church she still believed in Catholic doctrines on salvation, the Sacraments, etc. Certainly her brothers adopted more Reformed religious ideas, for Edward Seymour would lead England in a more radical reformation as Edward VI's Lord Protector.

Henry VIII's Rose Without a Thorn Dies; Jane Seymour, RIP

Henry VIII's "Rose without a thorn" and Edward VI's mother died in Hampton Court Palace on October 24, 1537.

Jane Seymour is the most enigmatic of Henry VIII's wives. She fulfilled her husband's great desire for a son and then died. Some authors cast her as a pawn of her family; some as an unsympathetic character who took advantage of her mistress' (Anne Boleyn's) fall. Although her brother Edward Seymour, as Lord Protector Somerset during her son's youthful reign would legislate a definitely Calvinist Reformation, she seems to have been sympathetic to Catholicism. Jane spoke up to Henry VIII about the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the Pilgrimage of Grace but then was silenced by Henry's threatening warning about the fate of her predecessor who dabbled in his religious policy.

Jane did restore the Princess Mary to the King's household--at the cost of the most terrible oaths Mary was forced to swear, denying her parents marriage's validity and accepting her own bastardy. Jane was never crowned Queen of England--perhaps after the outcome of the lavish coronation of Anne Boleyn, Henry wanted to wait and see how this wife would work out--but she was the one wife buried with him, in the St. George Chapel at Windsor Castle.

She died probably as the result of an infection after her difficult delivery of her son, who was baptized and proclaimed heir immediately. Princess Mary was the chief mourner at her funeral.

Earlier this year, a popular blog posted an re-examination of Jane Seymour's life and character. For all my interest in the Tudor dynasty, I have not championed one queen against another. I admit I favor Queen Katherine of Aragon's rights to defend her valid sacramental marriage and her daughter's rights to succeed to the throne, but more than anything, I am sympathetic to all Henry VIII's wives. They lived with a tyrant, after all!

At Last! It's a Boy!

Edward, the Duke of Cornwall, Henry VIII's longed-for son and heir, was born on October 12, 1537 at Greenwich. His mother, Jane Seymour would unfortunately not survive the childbed. When Henry VIII died in 1547, Edward VI was only nine years old and he did not live to reach his majority. He was crowned on February 20, 1547 and died on July 6, 1553. His father left provisions for a council of noblemen as regents, but two men dominated his reign: Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset (1547-49) and John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland (1550-1553).

Regarding himself as a second Josiah, the young king of Judah who restored true worship and the scriptures in the Old Testament, young Edward VI approved of the religious changes that Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury was making. Cranmer composed The Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine/Forty-Two Articles of the Church of England, while Calvinist reformers from the Continent came to England, (Peter Martyr Vermigli and John a Lasco/Jan Laski) influenced his religious theories. Parliament then imposed these new forms of worship and prayer on the English people, and the Prayer Book Rebellion was the result.

As Edward's latest biographer, Chris Skidmore notes: "Edward's reign became a time of intrigue, deceit, plotting and treason, nearly plunging the country into civil war." At the end of his life, Edward tried to remove his half-sister Mary from the succession after his death, once again almost plunging the country into civil war. The people supported her, however, and his attempt failed.

"Anna Bolena", Donizetti's Version of History

The Metropolitan Opera is presenting Anna Netrebko as Donizetti's Anna Bolena. Heidi Waleson reviews the production and performance for the Wall Street Journal:

In this fictionalized Tudor tale, librettist Felice Romani kept the focus on the personal rather than the political: Henry VIII of England wants to get rid of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, so that he can marry her lady-in-waiting, Jane Seymour. He brings Lord Richard Percy, Anne's first love, back from exile so that he can find an excuse to accuse her of adultery. With the unwitting aid of Smeaton, a court musician, and Lord Rochefort, Anne's brother, the trap is easily sprung.

Read the rest of the review here. Ms. Netrebko's performance is not well-received.

An interesting feature of this opera is the pants role--Mark Smeaton, "Smeton" is sung by a contralto. Anna is a bel canto, mad-scene soprano and Jane Seymour is a mezzo. Henry VIII is a bass and Percy is the tenor.

In the 1970's Beverly Sills sang all three Donizetti queens (the title roles in Maria Stuarda and Anna Bolena, and Elizabeth I in Roberto Devereux) at the New York City Opera. You can hear Sills and Shirley Verrett singing the Anna and Giovanna duet, "Sul suo capo aggravi un Dio" here--or can see the diva of the day with helpful German subtitles. Jane warns Anne that Henry wants to replace her with a new wife, and Anne doesn't take the news well--and the tension increases when she finds out Jane is her rival--"fuggi, fuggi" she keeps telling Jane. But Jane can't leave: she has more to sing! It's opera and it's complicated. Jane says at one point, "I love Henry and I am ashamed." Anne replies, "The King alone is guilty." At least it ends with a high C.

According to this website, there is one complete recording, with Elena Souliotis as Anna; Marilyn Horne as Giovanna, and Janet Baker at Smeton with Placido Domingo as Percy! What a cast!