Anne Boleyn VS Jane Grey
These two women are remarkably similar even though they never met and Anne was executed one year before Jane was even born, and Jane was probably named after Anne's usurper. Anne and Jane were both very well educated, much more than was normal at the time. They were both extremely religious, Jane was raised a protestant and she firmly believed in it. Jane believed so much that she refused to convert even if it saved her life. Anne had ushered in the English reformation and honestly believed in it. Both women also had cold, calculating, ambitious, families which contributed to both of their downfalls.
Its believed by historians that Anne's family pushed her into Henry viii’s path in hopes that she would become his mistress like her older sister Mary had. Jane on the other hand was forced not only into marriage but onto a throne. While it is widely believed that her father in law, the Duke of Northumberland had always intended to use her in some form or another. There’s no evidence that Northumberland pressured or coaching King Edward VI into naming Jane his heir but he wasted no time in taking advantage of it.
Anne’s father and her uncle the Duke of Norfolk had set out to manipulate the king's favor, by setting Anne in his way and ordering her to seduce him. Anne was a woman ahead of her time. She understood that she had no choice in their plot. When Henry VIII took a liking to her, she had even littler choice that she had before. So she decided that she would play the game on her own terms.
Jane decided the same. The men around her had made choices for her that completely altered her life and would ultimately cost both them and her, their lives. Jane intended to rules in her own authority, she had refused to name her husband king instead she would name him a duke and nothing else. Jane wanted to better her country not be a greedy dukes puppet.
Anne was playing the game but she refused to be a mistress, even to a king. So she flirted and toed the line until Henry offered her the crown in return she would give him a son. Once Anne was crowned queen she fought for the common people. She wanted schools built, hospitals built. She in her three years as queen gave out more money to the poor than Catherine of Aragon did during her twenty year reign.
The English people held little love for either woman. Anne was hated by most of the English people despite her work for the poor. She would always be considered as the witch who seduced the king away from his good and loving wife Catherine. Jane was viewed as a usurper. The people didn't care that Edward named her his heir, they wanted Mary. they wanted someone of Henry viii’s blood. Not a once removed cousin, who they thought was being controlled by her father in law.
Mary did what her father thought was impossible, she raise an English army and took back her birthright. Jane was immediately placed under arrest and named a traitor. Anne had miscarried her third child, some historians think this was her end. I'm not so sure that i believe that. There is some evidence that Henry was disappointed by the miscarriage but he was still in love with her. That is until master Cromwell brought him proof that Anne had betrayed him and slept with multiple other men. To the eyes of today, the evidence against Anne is weak and circumstantial at best, but during her time it was enough to convict her.
Mary had not wanted to execute Jane, she wanted to forgive her cousin however Jane's father staged another rebellion in Jane's name. It failed and instead of freeing his daughter, he cost her, her life. Afterwards, Mary had no choice, her council was pressuring her and Spain her choice of husband was unwilling to marry her until Jane was dead.
Mary gave Jane one last chance to save her life. If Jane would renounce Protestantism and convert to Catholicism in writing and before witnesses than Mary would spare her life. Jane refused, she would not betray her beliefs. So Jane and her husband were convicted and sent to the block. Jane became a footnote in history, less than a footnote. Not a lot of people know who Jane is today, she is not considered a reigning queen to many historians or to history itself.
Anne was convicted a traitor, her marriage was declared invalid and her daughter was a bastard. Unlike Jane, Anne is still remembered today. Sometimes she is not remembered well, there is and will always be misconceptions surrounding Anne, her life, her queen ship, the road there, her daughter, and her death. I think that is it very unfair to her memory. I have seen some evidence that Henry did not believe in her guilt long after her death. After Anne's execution, Henry married Jane Seymour only eleven days later. He also ordered that everything Anne wear and was pictured in was to be destroyed.
Many of her jewels, portraits and her carved initials on the ceilings with Henry’s were being destroyed. That is until Henry put a sudden unexplained stop to it. If you visit the remaining castles today, there are still a surprising amount of H & A ceiling cravings still in place. Also Henry in his will, listed Anne as the late queen when no other wife not even Jane is mentioned like that. That can only leave me to believe that Henry did not believed in Anne's guilt. I think that he believed it at first, he ordered her death believing it but afterwards, once the heat settled, the anger faded and his new found love for Jane cooled. He might have looked at the evidence against Anne and saw that it was every weak and it failed to convince him. Henry stopped the destruction of her memory and let it stay. I wish this was a more known theory and was believed, if it was maybe Anne's memory would be looked at better.
Anne and Jane were women that never met and were so different but also so similar. They both believed in their religion to a fault. They were both considered to be the most learned women of their time. They were both controlled by their powerful families but chose to do things their own way. They both died as gracefully as they lived. They were both innocent trailers.
