Had the Queen Lived: Read online

  Had the Queen Lived:

  An Alternative History of Anne Boleyn

  Raven A. Nuckols

  AuthorHouse™

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  Bloomington, IN 47403

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  © 2011 by Raven A. Nuckols. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

  First published by AuthorHouse 10/07/2011

  ISBN: 978-1-4634-4580-5 (sc)

  ISBN: 978-1-4634-4581-2 (hc)

  ISBN: 978-1-4634-4582-9 (ebk)

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2011914152

  Printed in the United States of America

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  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Epigraph

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  References

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  This book is dedicated to the many historians who have spent countless hours tirelessly researching the history of the Tudor period, and to their contribution to the understanding of so controversial and influential an epoch in English history; an era whose effects still reverberate to this day. Their works have inspired this alternative history, which takes a new perspective on the story of Anne Boleyn by exploring the ramifications if certain events had not occurred, and postulating the effects of other events that could have occurred, but did not.

  As a personal note of thanks I would like especially to recognize the work of Professor Eric Ives, historians Allison Weir, David Starkey, and Derek Wilson, and many others who inspired this story. I also would like to thank my family and friends for all their encouragement in making this book a reality. I dedicate this book to Jose, for without his love and support this might not have been possible.

  Epigraph

  “Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful Prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul.”

  —Anne Boleyn, May 19th, 1536

  Introduction

  The tragic love story of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn continues to captivate audiences around the world nearly five hundred years after its end. The years they spent together and what they accomplished revolutionized not only England, but the rest of the world. As a result of their legacy, the Anglican Church is still headed by the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II of England, and the groundwork was laid for the foundations of a British Empire and Commonwealth that would last for centuries, and whose impact continues to reverberate.

  On her own, Anne Boleyn remains one of the most controversial figures in British history, revered by some, reviled by others. Henry’s second wife, she defied the standards of her time and was truly a powerful force in her own right. Her life has been well chronicled over the years since her tragic end—executed for treason on the grounds of the Tower of London—however, this book is an imagining of an alternative history that might have come to pass. This book examines what might have happened had Anne given birth to the longed-for son she miscarried in the winter of January 1536; both the rewards for her, and the consequences for the whole of England.

  Chapter 1

  Prologue: 1525-1536

  England in the 1520’s was undergoing a significant religious reformation towards Protestantism. Up until the 16th century, the country had been faithful to Catholicism, and the faithful answered to the patriarch of the church, the Pope. The Pope was God’s messenger on Earth, a lifetime appointee to the throne of St. Peter, elected by the Catholic Church conclave, a group of high ranking Cardinals representing each region of the world. At that time, with Catholicism the dominant form of Christianity and the masses of Europe so heavily influenced, even directed, by their Catholic clergy, the Pope held enormous sway over the Kings and Emperors of Christian Europe.

  It was widely believed in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance that Kings received their mandate to rule directly from God, and that gave the Pope—as God’s emissary on Earth—tremendous influence over the secular rulers of Europe. Popes had the power to call for war, as in the Crusades, and vast European armies were often at Rome’s beck and call. Within countries they commanded vast bureaucracies through networks of churches, monasteries, abbeys and so on, providing services to the people, collecting revenues from both the clergy and the laity, and often these systems were far more organized than the civil authorities. These bureaucracies were jealously protected by Rome, with ecclesiastical courts demanding authority over clergy charged with crimes, and freedom from interference (including taxation) from the state. Kings often resented this rival power’s interference in their kingdom’s affairs, but none had attempted to break free from Rome’s control so directly as would Henry VIII of England.

  King Henry VIII had come to power in 1509 and swiftly sought to make an impact. To serve any other faith but Catholicism was socially and politically dangerous. Nevertheless, for centuries discontent with the Roman Church had been quietly brewing and a new generation of reformers lay just beneath the surface of outward obedience to the existing order. To disclose publicly one’s true feelings—if they differed from the dogma of the Church—was to risk denouncement as a heretic, imprisonment, and even death. The government was prone to using torture and execution to dispose of its enemies, whether a threat were real or merely perceived. As the reformist movement went from a simmer to a boil, religious exchanges among countrymen became ever more fervent.

  Under the feudal system that had persisted until the early Renaissance, the still strengthening civil states allowed the authority of the church to remain almost unrivaled. Popes knew well how to manage such egomaniacal personalities as Kings and, when it suited them, the Church also manipulated Kings into doing its bidding, thus maintaining Rome’s stronghold.

  Under the pre-Reformation system, the Pope and his convocation of Bishops were responsible for determining holy doctrine, advising countries on how to spread Christ’s true word and for serving as the intermediaries through which the Kings of Europe could seek God’s favor. Kings paid for these services heavily, not only in fees,
but also in diplomatic favors like supporting the Holy Wars declared by Rome. For instance, if a country was starting to stray from the faith, the Pope would ask another country to cut off the offending country’s their economic supply chain to force it back into the fold. If that failed to work, he would call for military action against the offending country. By so easily manipulating all of Europe, it could be argued that the Vatican was the preeminent European power in the Middle Ages, with influence over both life and death on a mass scale. The Pope would also at times call for Holy Wars, in Christ’s name, to ensure the successful spread of Catholicism and add territory, resources, and widen the base for financial support to the Vatican.

  Religion offered up answers to life’s difficult questions, explaining the higher power of God, rules for behavior such as the duties owed by the common people to the state, and how by following such edicts the poor could hope to win salvation for their immortal souls in the afterlife. The church controlled the people by making them fear the eternal consequences of disobedience. In the Middle Ages, sermons that interpreted the meaning of Biblical text were often preached in Latin to teach that disobeying God’s true word (as passed through the clergy, of course) would lead to a soul’s eternal damnation. This was a brilliant public relations campaign, using the dual tactics of stoking both fear and hope, threats of damnation or the promise of salvation, to beholden the Church’s followers to the existing order.

  The church also relied on its ability to describe what it called the immense power of Christ to reward the faithful; both by promising an eternity in heaven in the afterlife, and even in saying the most faithful (i.e. obedient and repentant) might see their Earthly burdens lessened by a forgiving God. When circumstances in one’s world went out of control, one could turn to prayer, confession, fasting, and supporting the church. Priests and clergy reassured laymen that God would answer all prayers and that, while it may take just a little time, God would come through to support his children, so long as they believed in Him and His Church. They provided an outlet of hope, support, and a listening ear when desperate commoners needed it most. Those who could afford it—such as the monarchy and most of the nobility—maintained a private chaplain on retainer at all times, for just such spiritual emergencies.

  Rome’s ability to channel both the positive message of Christ and exploit the fear of Satan allowed it to maintain control of a massive bureaucracy that European kings both resented and envied, making the Reformation such a pivotal turning point in history. Never before had Rome been so boldly and blatantly challenged. For centuries, people had genuinely believed from birth that both their lives and eternal fates were in God’s hands alone, and that they owed God, through His Holy Church, their devotion and their money, to secure favor and ensure eventual salvation. The church’s massive operating organization included maintaining lavish buildings, retaining a large staff of clergy and servants, and of course requiring significant financial support for daily upkeep. Rome had several means of raising these funds, including the selling of indulgences, imposing high vestment and ordinance fees, and requiring high tithes each year from parishioners. For centuries this was the status quo. No one had dared challenge the Catholic Church. It was this opulence—even more than the meddling in affairs of secular government—that would spark the coming revolution from within.

  Martin Luther was a devout monk who for years piously practiced his ministry in contentment, until he was extended a formal invitation to visit the Vatican to further his theological education. During this visit, he came to disagree with key papal applications of scripture, but far worse, he witnessed such abuses by his beloved Church that he would start the process of reevaluating whether the institution he had sworn to uphold was deserving of his loyalty.

  Upon his return to Germany he penned the document known to us today as the Ninety-five Theses. The formal name for this work was The Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences. These theses outlined the corruptions of the Church and detailed exactly how it was building excessive wealth with fees it charged to Christendom, such as charging both commoners and the nobility alike for blessings. Enraging Luther the most was the selling of indulgences, which held the promise of minimizing or forsaking time in purgatory—or even guaranteeing a soul’s passage directly into heaven—by paying the church. Purgatory was the place souls went after their human lives had passed to reflect upon and be punished for their worldly misdeeds until they emerged purged and purified from sin and deserving of entry into heaven; depending upon the grievousness of those sins, a person’s soul could remain in this torment for quite some time (never quite clear, but implicitly a very long while). The Catholic Church commonly used threats of purgatory to keep followers in line.

  The selling of indulgences basically meant that the rich could afford to buy their way out of purgatory and go straight from the afterlife to heaven with no atonement for their sins, all so that the Vatican could continue to buy opulent tapestries, artwork, sculptures, and adorn its buildings’ walls with magnificent frescoes. Luther was disgusted, for he truly believed in all that the faith had taught him of equality before God and the corruptions of wealth; to hear that the rich could simply buy their way out of doing penance for their sins was more than he could take.

  The thesis he wrote also challenged commonly accepted practices such as baptisms, the very doctrine of purgatory, interpretation of various rites based on passages in both the Old and New Testaments, and the Church’s take on how to guarantee the salvation of souls. Luther’s anger over these practices led him to post his theses on the door of the All Saints Church in Wittenberg, a common practice known at the time for inviting formal academic debate.

  When the theses were distributed, they rocked Europe to its core. After centuries of buildup of frustration over clerical abuse, here was a pious monk who was brave enough to stand up alone against the powerful institution of the Catholic Church. Luther, although at first calling chiefly for reforms to existing practices, had sparked the start of the Protestant movement that would permanently divide Christianity. To understand how truly significant this call for reform was in the context of the figures in this book, each of the factors applying to how it took shape in England must be reviewed. In so examining these factors, it is possible to see how the politics, theology, sociology, and history of the country under the period of Tudor rule created the perfect climate for reform.

  The Tudor dynasty began with the end of the Wars of the Roses, during which the noble houses of Lancaster and York fought out their claims to the throne of England for thirty years between 1455 through 1485. Both lines claimed entitlement to the throne based on complicated lines of marriage and descent tracing back through to the Conquest in 1066 that had won England for the Norman and Plantagenet monarchs for centuries. These houses ended their long rivalry at the Battle of Bosworth in August 1485, when Henry Tudor (descending from the House of Lancaster) seized power on the battlefield from Richard III (the last monarch of the House of York). Tudor became King Henry VII and officially founded the House that would bear his name. The new King would have several children, and groomed his eldest, Prince Arthur, as the heir apparent. He had arranged for his son to marry Princess Katherine of Aragon from Spain, the daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, the monarchs who would drive the Muslim Caliphate from Spain, unify their country, fund the discovery of the New World and build a Spanish Empire.

  Arthur and Katherine married in November 1501, when he was only fifteen years old. The marital alliance with ascendant Spain re-established England as a serious diplomatic player in European affairs. Unfortunately, the Prince suffered from a poor immune system and was known for bouts of repeated and lengthy illness. The Prince died only a few months after marriage, in April 1502, leaving Katherine a foreign widow claiming they had never consummated the marriage. She in fact swore this in confession. As a result of her declaration, and the English King
not wanting to lose her rather large dowry; Henry VII amended the marriage contract to have Princess Katherine of Spain wed the next son in line, Henry.

  Henry was only 12 when his father pre-contracted him to his former sister-in-law, who was five years his elder. To accomplish this, a special dispensation from the Pope had to be obtained, due to a passage in the Old Testament in the Book of Leviticus stating it the sin of incest to have relations with your brother’s wife if she had been known carnally to him, and that the couple would be childless. The entire dispensation rested on the sole testimony of Katherine, who continued to adamantly claim her virginity and deny that she and Arthur had consummated their union due to the Prince’s failing health. This claim would prove critical in the years to come. Due mainly to Katherine’s adamant claims of virginity, Pope Julius II easily granted the dispensation and the marriage ceremony to Prince Henry was conducted in June 1509 at Westminster Abbey.

  Henry VII reigned for twenty-three mostly peaceful years and was a fiscally conservative king who left his family (mostly his heir) a large fortune. The king died April 21st, 1509. Prince Henry was decreed King Henry VIII later the same day. Henry and Katherine were married two months later and the young couple seemed genuinely happy. The people were hopeful at the prospect of a youthful and vibrant King and the change he could bring. Henry was handsome, tall, kind, and passionately loved learning. He was fluent in several languages including Latin, composed poetry and several music ballads. He also was athletic, known for his love of hunting and sport. The people lovingly nicknamed him, “The Renaissance King.”