The Marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn: The Controversy and Conception

Hello All,
I recently had a discussion with a fellow history enthusiast who was under the impression that Anne and Henry only married after she became pregnant and that the marriage was solely to deter any questions of legitimacy regarding Anne's future children. This has been a long debated question in Tudor history; when is the actual wedding date of Henry and Anne? Some historians believe it to be November 1532 while other argue it is January 1533. So when were the King and his lady-love married and why is this such a pressing question?

First of all, we must dispell the rumor that Henry only married Anne because she was pregnant. He had applied for a Papal dispensation in order to marry a woman whom he had had sexual relations with her close affinity. Of Henry's known mistresses, this dispensation could only apply to Anne, because Henry had a relationship with her sister Mary. This dispensation was filed for well before Anne's pregnancy. Secondly, during a planned trip to France Henry presented Anne as his betrothed. This was also before her pregnancy.

So then, let us discuss the two proposed marriage dates for Henry and Anne. Did the nuptials take place when the couple landed in Kent in November after visiting France or back in London in January? Historian Alison Weir writes that the couple was married on the 25th of January in the King's private chapel at Whitehall Palace and that this ceremony was their first and only marriage. Eric Ives, widely lauded as the Anne Boleyn expert of our times, however disagrees. He believes that the King and Anne were married in November and had already consummated their union. He bases his claim on the notations of the Tudor chronicler Edward Hall who wrote that the King and Anne were actually married on November 14, 1532 St. Erkenwald's Day in Kent and celebrated a sort of "vow renewal" in January.

So why the two wedding saga? We may never know for sure, but my theory is this; the couple was legally married in Kent in November. I base my assertion on the fact that Anne has maintained her virginity for so many years that she would not likely have given up her maidenhead when a wedding was so close. This first wedding was to assure Anne that her position as intended Queen was secure, hence she got what she wanted and Henry got what he had been waiting nearly seven years for. The second wedding had to take place in order to assure Henry's subjects that he was indeed married since the first ceremony had been very secretive. The second wedding would also have coincided with the discovery that Anne was pregnant with the couple's first child. Rumors of when the couple married became rampant during Elizabeth's reign, with people saying that they had never been legally married which would put Elizabeth's right to rule in question.

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