Anne’s marriage had originally been scheduled for 4 January
1540, the day after her reception at Greenwich. However, Henry VIII was
determined not to go through with the ceremony unless he absolutely had to.
In the morning of 4 January, Thomas Cromwell went to wait
upon the king at court. Cromwell was hopeful, based on Henry’s show of chivalry
towards Anne, that his master’s feelings had changed. The king, however, was adamant,
declaring to Cromwell ‘my lord is it not as I told you? Say what they will, she
is nothing so fair as hath been reported, howbeit she is well and seemly’.
Cromwell jumped upon Henry’s slight praise for Anne, agreeing ‘By my faith Sir
ye say truth’ before adding that she had a queenly manner. Cromwell was,
however, forced to admit that the princess was not the beauty that Henry had
been promised.
Henry had already instructed Cromwell to gather his council
in order to attempt to find a way out of the marriage and they met the night of
Anne’s reception. As a child, Anne had been betrothed to Francis of Lorraine
and this was jumped upon by the councillors, who summoned the two ambassadors
from Cleves, demanding that they produce documents to show that the betrothal
had been correctly brought to an end. The ambassadors, who had witnessed Anne’s
joyous reception only hours earlier, were baffled, but asked to be given until
the next morning to make their answer.
The request for proof of Anne’s broken betrothal was an
unusual one. The time to make such enquiries was during the negotiations, not
on the eve of the wedding itself. However, the ambassadors returned early the
next day. Although appearing ‘as men much perplexed’, they were adamant that ‘a
revocation was made, and that they were but spousals’. Both Anne and Francis
had been children at the time that their betrothal was made and when it was
broken, something which meant that it was not binding on the parties. It had,
in fact, been dropped so long ago that the necessary documents no longer
existed, although the ambassadors were prepared to swear to remain as hostages
in England until sufficient proof could be brought from Cleves.
The ambassadors’ oaths almost closed the door to Henry’s
escape route and Cromwell rushed to speak to the king, using the backstairs of
the palace to avoid being seen. As the minister would have predicted, Henry was
furious, declaring ‘I am not well handled’, before ranting that, if it were not
‘that she is come so far into my realm and the great preparations that my
states and people hath made for her and for feat of making a ruffle in the
world that is the mean to drive her brother into the hands of the emperor and
the French king’ he would refuse to marry her.
Henry was not quite ready to entirely admit defeat,
summoning his council again after dinner. They deliberated for some time, aware
that their master was desperate to avoid the match. Finally, the Archbishop of
Canterbury and the Bishop of Durham agreed that, in the event that Anne and
Francis had been betrothed, a renunciation from either party was required to
break the engagement legally. This was Henry’s last hope and he stalked out of
the council chamber ordering his ministers to ask Anne to give a verbal
renunciation of any betrothal before notaries.
He cannot have had high hopes that she would refuse, and he
was right. Confused, but anxious to please, Anne swore her renunciation. This
time trembling, Cromwell brought the news to Henry, who answered furiously ‘is
there none other remedy but that I must needs against my will put my neck in
the yoke’. The minister, usually so self-assured and composed, had nothing to
say, quietly leaving the king alone to fret about his impending marriage to
Anne of Cleves.
Thomas Cromwell. Unfortunately for him, he was widely considered to be 'a special counsellor of the match'
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