Bullen Anne Boleyn, or Bouleyne, queen of England, one of the wives of Henry VIII., beheaded May 19, 1536. The date of her birth is uncertain, some authorities placing it as early as 1500, others as late as 1507. She was a daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, afterward created Viscount Rochford and earl of Ormond and Wiltshire, and was one of the ladies selected to accompany the princess Mary to France at the time of her marriage with Louis XII. in 1514. When Mary returned after Louis's death, Anne remained behind attached to the household of Claude, the queen of Francis I. She was recalled to England in 1522 (or according to Froude in 1527), and admitted to the household of Catharine of Aragon. Here she seems to have been circumspect in her behavior, witty, vivacious, and accomplished. The stories of her questionable conduct at the French court rest upon insufficient testimony. It was not long before she attracted the attention of Henry, who obliged Wolsey to interfere and break off a proposed marriage between Anne and Lord Percy, son of the earl of Northumberland. Anne grew in favor precisely as the royal scruples about the validity of the marriage with Catharine increased.

It was in the latter part of 1527 that Henry openly declared to Wolsey his intention to marry Anne as soon as the divorce could be obtained. The cardinal's opposition soon gave way before Henry's violent will, but Anne always looked upon Wolsey as her rival, and could not rest until she had persuaded the king to disgrace him. At last, after five years1 agitation of the divorce, Anne was married to the king at Whitehall, Jan. 25, 1533, by Dr. Lee, one of the royal chaplains. She had already for three years resided in the palace and been Henry's constant companion, and a few months before the wedding had been created marchioness of Pembroke. The divorce question was now brought into the ecclesiastical court of Canterbury, where Cranmer had been created archbishop on purpose to decide it. In May he pronounced the marriage with Catharine null from the beginning, and Anne the lawful wife of-his majesty; and on June 1 her coronation was performed with great pomp. Three months later was born the princess Elizabeth, whose subsequent reign shed so much splendor upon English history.

The life of the court while Anne shared the throne was gay and easy; a ad when Henry began to tire of her and find stronger attractions in Jane Seymour, it was not difficult to convict Anne of improprieties, to say no worse. A committee, including with other lords her own father, appointed to inquire into her conduct (April, 1530), reported her incontinent with Brereton, Norris, and Weston of the privy chamber, Smeaton, the king's musician, and even her own brother, Lord Rochford. All the accused were sent at once to the tower. Anne was tried by a commission of peers under the presidency of her uncle, the duke of Norfolk, and found guilty, partly on the confession of Smeaton, though she herself and the other prisoners protested innocence to the last. Cranmer was compelled to pronounce her marriage with Henry null and void, as he had formerly pronounced Catharine's. Her prison hours were spent in alternations of composure and excitement; but on the scaffold she conducted herself with queenly dignity.

Smeaton was hanged, and the other four accused were beheaded.