Between Two Kings Read Online Free PDF Page A

feelings for her nobly and chivalrously, writing numerous sensitive words and love poems.
    Furthermore, Henry often left the court for the seclusion at the Hever Castle where he and Anne, surrounded by nature, talked about art, literature, politics, and the problems of England. The more time they spent together, the more interested Anne became in Henry.
    Henry was so persistent and so passionate for so long that Anne didn’t notice that she had fallen in love with him. She ignored her father and her uncle’s warnings that she shouldn’t have fallen in love with Henry. She didn’t think about her sister Mary who had also once fallen in love with the king and was later discarded, along with many other women who once were the king’s mistresses.
    All Anne knew was that she loved Henry and only him. Everything seemed to be perfect because their amorous feelings were reciprocal. When Anne realized she loved Henry with all her heart, she thought that their love was deep, sincere, passionate, and even obsessive at times. She was sure that they owned each others’ bodies, hearts, and souls. She dreamt that their love had been a feeling of a lifetime; an eternal love such as the celebrated troubadours of Languedoc had glorified throughout the ages.
    The idea of an annulment of the marriage to Catherine of Aragon was suggested to King Henry by the supporters of the Boleyns and the Howards, and motivated by the king’s desire for a male heir to secure the future of the Tudors as a ruling royal dynasty in England. Before Henry’s father, King Henry VII of England, ascended the throne, there was complete chaos in England for many years; a civil war over the claims to the throne from the House of York and the House of Lancaster.
    Henry desperately wanted to avoid the similar uncertainty over succession after his death, and the Boleyns played on that. Anne used that moment as well because she loved Henry and wanted to be the Queen of England. She was an ambitious and cunning woman, but she also loved the king and didn’t just fake her feelings for Henry. Anne and Henry assumed that an annulment could be obtained within several months, but they were mistaken.
    Once Henry suggested to Catherine that she should have quietly retired to a nunnery, but she opposed him, saying that she was the king’s only true and legitimate wife and that her place was at his side. The matter of an annulment was put into the hands of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who did all he could to secure a decision in Henry’s favor. However, the Pope had no intention of allowing a decision to be made in England and recalled his legate back to Rome.
    Months and years were passing, but no annulment or divorce happened. Catherine also had great support from her nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who advised the Pope against an annulment. Not hoping to receive an annulment officially from the Pope, Henry finally broke with the Catholic Church and was promulgated the Supreme Head of the Church of England. When the old Archbishop of Canterbury, William Warham, died, Thomas Cranmer, the supporter of the Boleyn family and the Reformation in England, was appointed to the vacant position. Cranmer later annulled Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and the king was finally free to marry Anne. The deal of an annulment of Henry’s marriage to Catherine became euphemistically known as the “The King’s Great Matter.”
    When King Henry and Anne met King François I of France in Calais in October 1532, they fell into temptation and made love. When they returned to England, Anne soon discovered that she had become pregnant by Henry. They were happy and hoped that she carried Henry’s son. After an annulment of his marriage to Catherine, Henry secretly married Anne. She was crowned the Queen of England but there was a silence in the streets because people hated her and pitied Catherine whom they considered the only true Queen of England.
    Anne didn’t care that she