the Wyatt rebellion and the imprisonment of Princess Elizabeth.

The Wyatt rebellion was a popular protestant uprising in England, named after Thomas Wyatt, the rebellion broke out over protest on Queen Mary I’s marriage to Phillip of Spain, as many English feared of England converting back to Catholicism The rebellion was led by nobles, the most notable ones being Sir Thomas Wyatt from Kent, sir peter Carew from Devon, Sir James Croft from Herefordshire and the duke of Suffolk.

The nobles planned to remove Mary as monarch, instate Elizabeth as queen and arrange for Elizabeth to marry Edward Courtenay.

The protest failed terribly. The ‘uprisings’ in the Midlands and the West Country were the most humiliating failure as almost nobody there gave Carew and the Duke of Suffolk the support they needed for success. Although the people shared the same concern about Mary marrying a foreign power, they stayed loyal to their queen. Those in the Midlands feared committing treason, while many in the West were Catholic.

 The Imperial Ambassador, Simon Renard, had heard rumours about the revolt and informed the Lord Chancellor, Stephen Gardner, of his worries. Gardner brought in Courtenay for questioning as Renard had mentioned his name. Gardner’s interrogation was apparently uncompromising and Courtenay was intimidated by this. Edward Courtenay told Gardner all that he knew about the plot against the queen, so that the government knew about the conspiracy, and what they planned to do, even before it had begun.

 Due to this, the princess Elizabeth was imprisoned at the tower of London, on the 18th of March 1554 on charge of treason.

 On the 17th March, 1554, two of Mary I’s Councillors, Winchester and Sussex, arrived at Elizabeth’s household to take her to prison by water. This was when Elizabeth wrote, perhaps the most famous letter in history, the ‘Tide Letter’. The letter is called such because as Elizabeth wrote this letter to her sister the tide turned, making it impossible to take Elizabeth to the Tower that day. Elizabeth’s letter gave her just a little extra time at home but the letter didn’t budge her most stubborn sister, the queen.

The following day Elizabeth was taken from Whitehall to the Tower of London by boat, along the Thames. Elizabeth was taken to the Tower Wharf, as the tides were too low to go through the traitor’s gate. Elizabeth was imprisoned in the royal palace in the inner ward of the Tower of London, the same place her mother was imprisoned in May of 1536.

Due to a lack of evidence and extreme support for the young princess, Elizabeth was released on the 19th of May, 1554, exactly 18 years after her mother’s death.

ೃ༄

click here for more tudor history

The life of Anne Boleyn Before the King

Anne Boleyn was the second child of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire and Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire (born lady Elizabeth Howard). Anne was one of three surviving children, her elder sister Mary Boleyn and her brother George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford (whether he was younger than Anne or older is not known). She had two other brothers, Henry and Thomas, who sadly died in childhood.

It's common myth that Anne Boleyn was born a commoner, but this is far from the case. Anne was a descendant of Edward I, Through both of her parents. Due to her royal blood and her fathers rise to power at the court of Henry VII, Anne lived a life of luxury in her childhood residence at Heaver Castle.

The year that Anne Boleyn was born is greatly argued, although it is most likely that she was born between 1501-1505. A letter from Thomas Boleyn to Thomas Cromwell (Henry VIII’s chief minister) in 1536 states that his wife, Elizabeth Boleyn, “brought me every year a child”, if we believe that Elizabeth and Thomas Wed in the late 1490s it can be almost certain that all five of their children were born before 1505. This also means that by the year 1536— the year of Anne's execution— Anne was already middle aged by Tudor-standards and out of child-bearing years, which explains Anne’s haste execution and Henry’s swift replacement.

During may of 1512, Thomas Boleyn was sent to the court of Margaret of Austria as an ambassador for the English. Thomas Boleyn, ambitious and charismatic, seemed to of made an impact on Margaret. By April of the same year they were reported to have gotten very close, Margaret playfully telling Thomas that, her father, the emperor, would allow them to settle their negotiations within ten days. 

Due to Thomas and Margaret's close relations, in the summer of 1513 Anne was sent to the court of  Margaret of Austria.

In a letter written by Margaret to Thomas, shortly after Anne’s arrival she wrote:

“I have received your letter by the Esquire Bouton who has presented your daughter to me, who is very welcome, and I am confident of being able to deal with her in a way which will give you satisfaction, so that on your return the two of us will need no intermediary than she. I find her so bright and pleasant for her young age that I am more beholden to you for sending her to me than you are to me.”

Margaret’s court is where Anne was educated, there, Anne learnt french, deportment, conversation, dance and music. It’s also where Anne most likely developed her love for the arts. Margaret’s court was known for its collection of masterpieces, tapestry’s and masses of talented composers.

Despite Anne being adored in the court of  Margaret of Austria, she only stayed there for 15 months, as in August of 1514, Anne was to famously accompany Mary Tudor to her journey in France, in preparation of her marriage to Louis XII.

When Louis died just a mere three months after his marriage to Mary, Mary Tudor was to be sent back to England. Despite this, Anne stayed in France to serve the new Queen consort, Queen Claude. Claude and Anne were close in age, which could of been the reason Anne was requested to stay in France, as they could relate on certain topics. Anne served Claude for around seven years. 

Although we don't know that much about this period of Anne’s life, it is largely speculated that in France is where Anne developed her personality, as written accounts from the era describe Anne as 'being that of a french woman, not a native-born English.'

When Anne Boleyn returned to England in 1522, she quickly fell into a romance with a fellow courtier, Henry Percy. Cardinal Wolsey’s gentlemen-usher (A high-ranking servant responsible for overseeing the work of other servants), wrote in his biography of Wolsey “that there grew such a secret love between them (Percy and Anne) that, at length, they were ensured together, intending to marry.”

Wolsey's gentlemen-usher also reported that Percy “would then resort for his pastime unto the queen’s chamber, and there would fall in dalliance (a casual romantic or sexual relationship) among the queen’s ladies, being at the last more conversant with Mistress Anne Boleyn than with any other.”

Although it was true that The young couple were intending to marry, it is unlikely that they did 'fall into a dalliance', as Anne was influenced by two pious women, Queen Claude of France and Margret of Austria. And Anne's later refusal to engage in any marital duties with Henry viii, without actually being married, surely also applied to a lower-class noble man.

The blossoming romance was soon squashed, as cardinal Wolsey quickly intervened at request of the king, who was apparently “much offended” because of his own “secret affection” to Anne Boleyn. Wolsey reportedly explained to Percy that the King would have found him a better match “according to your estate and honour”, despite Percy's initial refusal, he married Mary Talbot in early 1524, Allowing Henry VIII to actively pursue Anne.

Although this biography is a contemporary source, it is unlikely that the romance was intervened by Cardinal Wolsey due to the kings “secret affection”, but instead so the marriage plans between Anne and James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond and 2nd Earl of Ossory could take place. The plans for Anne and James to marry were proposed to settle a dispute over the Ormond inheritance and title.

ೃ༄