15 Questions: Anne Boleyn Multiple Choice Quiz | People

Answer: True

Henry VIII, an appallingly insensitive man, saw nothing odd about forcing Katherine to spend time with her rival.

Answer: False

Anne was not a part of the Spanish court, but she was famous for her fashion elegance at both the French and English courts.

Answer: Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard

George Boleyn and Jane Parker were Anne's brother and sister-in-law, William Boleyn and Margaret Butler were her grandparents, and I made up the names Richard Boleyn and Mary Smeaton.

Answer: true

Mary seems to have been several years older than Anne, and much less discreet. The French King, Francis I, boasted of having slept with her, and she was rumoured to be very active at the English court as well, prior to becoming involved with the King. Henry tired of her very quickly, but not before he named a ship in his fleet in honour of Mary Boleyn.

Answer: They were stolen and taken to Rome

They were stolen by a servant of Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio in 1529, and are still in the Vatican archives. Her letters to him have not survived.

Answer: Cardinal Wolsey

Anne hated Wolsey because when she was very young he thwarted her plans to marry Henry Percy, and called her a "foolish girl". Anne never forgave him for this, and swore at the time that if it was ever in her power, she would have revenge on him. She almost succeeded in having him executed, but he died before he could be brought to London for trial. Anne settled for throwing a "Going to Hell of Cardinal Wolsey" party, but this did not please Henry.

Answer: False

Mary Tudor was appalled by Henry's behaviour and refused to acknowledge Anne or even come to court if she was there. Very good friends with Katherine of Aragon, she loudly proclaimed her cause and publicly called Anne an upstart whore. Because she was Henry's favourite sister Mary was the only person who might have been able to reason with him. Unfortunately she died suddenly, taking her support of Katherine with her (her husband Charles Brandon remarried very quickly and proclaimed his support of Henry's divorce).

Answer: True

I used the word "reputed" because while some historians swear up and down that he did in fact write "Greensleeves" others rabidly deny it. The truth of the matter will probably never be known.

Answer: true

This was with the future Elizabeth I. Anne and Henry were so certain that she was going to have a boy that they had all the announcements to foreign courts pre-printed, and then had to change them to reflect the birth of a princess. An astrologer who contradicted the prevailing opinion was scheduled to be punished for predicting a girl, but was released after Elizabeth's birth.

Answer: Yes

She had two or possibly three other pregnancies, but they all miscarried or were stillbirths. At least one of them was thought to have been a boy. Between her terrible temper tantrums, incessant nagging to give up his mistresses (among other things) and the fact the she (apparently) was unable to have more children, Henry decided to get rid of her.

Answer: Her brother George Boleyn

George Boleyn was accused of having incest with Anne, the case for the prosecution backed up by his jealous (and probably very unstable) wife Jane. Mary Boleyn continued to live quietly in the country, avoiding the scandal. Thomas Boleyn was sent home in disgrace after the trial, where he died a broken man, about 18 months later. Thomas Howard distanced himself from the Boleyn's and took part in the trial on the side of the prosecution.

Answer: A court musician

Mark Smeaton was a talented musician and though a commoner, he worked for the Royal family. While Henry's men were building a case against Anne they arrested Mark Smeaton and tortured him until he told them what they kept telling him to say - that he had carnal knowledge of the Queen. Five people were arrested altogether, and two others were tortured to confess as well.

When Anne was told Smeaton was manacled in irons she showed no compassion for him, saying only he "was a person of mean birth, and the others were all gentlemen." Charming woman.

Answer: Four Months

Ironically, Anne's position was probably fairly safe as long as Katherine was alive because Henry would have faced overwhelming pressure to take back his first wife if he had divorced or executed Anne while Katherine still lived - it would have forced him to admit that his second marriage was not valid, meaning his first one was - and he wasn't having that.

Answer: She was either to be burnt at the stake or beheaded

Interestingly, there was a prophecy that a Queen of England would be burned at the stake in the first half of the 16th century, and Anne was terrified after her arrest that this prophecy was coming true. However, rather than carrying out the burning death of the woman he once loved, Henry "graciously" allowed her to be beheaded "humanely" by a skilled executioner brought from France.

Answer: False

While no coffin was provided for Anne, her ladies did place her body in an empty arrow case with her head tucked under her arm (because the case was too short for it to be in its proper place) which was later buried under the floor of the nearby chappel within the Tower of London - St. Peter ad Vincula.

Interestingly, reports of her ghost walking the Tower precincts usually include her carrying her head under one arm.