Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn, daughter of Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard, was educated in the Netherlands and France before returning to England in 1522 to serve as maid of honour to Catherine of Aragon. When Henry VIII began pursuing her in early 1526, she refused to become his mistress as her sister Mary had been, holding out for marriage. That refusal set in motion the annulment crisis: after Cardinal Wolsey and Pope Clement VII would not dissolve Henry's first marriage, the King and Thomas Cromwell broke the Church's power in England, closed the monasteries, and severed ties with Rome. Henry and Anne married secretly in November 1532, then formally in January 1533; Archbishop Cranmer declared the union valid in May, and Anne was crowned queen on 1 June. She gave birth to the future Elizabeth I that September - a daughter, not the son Henry wanted. After three miscarriages and Henry's interest in Jane Seymour, Anne was arrested in May 1536, tried for treason, adultery, and incest, and beheaded on 19 May before a jury that included her former betrothed and her own uncle.