Perhaps the most famous of England's King Henry VII's six wives, Anne Boleyn is unfortunately remembered most frequently for having been beheaded by her husband for being accused of promiscuous behavior (which supposedly led to her demise), and as the mother of England's Queen Elizabeth I.

The roles of victim and harlot hardly suit the historical Boleyn, however. She was intelligent, well-educated, well-versed in contemporary discourse, cultured, and shrewd. Unfortunately, due to the ambitions of her male family members and their ability to use Anne's personal appeal and sexuality to forward their own political agenda, she may also be viewed historically as a pawn and even as a human brood mare.

Little is known of Anne Boleyn's early life; not even her year of birth is firmly established. Most historians assign either 1500-01 or 1507 as the year of her birth. As stated earlier, her family had political ambitions, since they descended from the Plantaganets, who were usurped by the Tudors. Anne was one of three children, though historians are also unsure of her place in the birth order of the siblings. She had a sister, Mary, and a brother George, . When she was around twelve years old, Anne was sent to serve as a "fille d'honneur;" or, a child/young lady of honor, to the Austrian Archduchess Margaret.

Soon after, she was transferred to the household of Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, who was married to Louis XII of France. While in France, Anne was educated in the French language and culture, music, fashion, and dance. She learned many social graces which she would later apply to her guarded pursuit of the English king. She remained in France for possibly up to seven years, and therefore it is possible that she was in attendance at the Field of Cloth of Gold, a famous meeting between Henry VIII and Francois I.

While her later enemies would claim she possessed a number of physical defects, including huge moles, goiters, six fingers, and other deformities, contemporary accounts record Anne Boleyn as olive-skinned, with thick, long, dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes, which often appeared black. Her fine eyes are her most often mentioned quality. She was average in stature, small-busted, and had a long, elegant neck. While history may never know if she and Henry met in France initially, what is known is that she returned to England in about 1521, with plans to marry a nobleman and to serve as a lady in waiting to Queen Catherine. Her engagement fell through and she began a relationship with another rich nobleman. Tradition and some evidence suggest that Henry VIII ordered Cardinal Wolsey to break up the relationship, since the kind had his eye on Anne. He also had his eye on her sister, Mary, who had an affair with the king and bore him a son.

Shrewd Anne was determined not to suffer a similar fate and rebuffed the king's advances. It is known that Henry had fallen in love with Anne, as a number of his love letters to her survive. This is particularly interesting since very little of Henry's correspondence survived, yet his love letters to Anne remain. In about 1528 Anne began to express great interest in religious reform. Scholars today believe that she likely introduced Henry to some of the latest ideas in theology, encouraging him to enact reforms. Unfortunately, she also made many enemies as a result. Of course, part of her insistence upon reform had to do with her impatience with her growing relationship with the king. Famous for her temper, she lashed out against the Catholic divorce restriction and loudly argued with Henry in front of the entire court.

Neither the court nor the people liked Anne and resented her usurpation of Queen Catherine's place at court and in the king's heart. In September 1532 she was created Marquess of Pembroke, a title she held in her own right. This may have been what finally allowed her to consummate her relationship with the king, and by December of that same year she was pregnant. That winter they were secretly married. By that date Henry had asserted his rights as head of the new Church of England. Anne was crowned queen on June 1, 1533, and then began to await the birth of what the couple expected to be Henry's long awaited, legitimate son. A daughter was born on September 7, a baby who would grow up and give her name to an entire age.

While the parents were disappointed, Anne continued to become pregnant, but always miscarried. This placed Anne in a very perilous situation. Henry had given up a great deal, politically and otherwise, to place Anne so highly. Almost three years after Elizabeth's birth there was still no needed heir to the throne, Anne's enemies had only increased, and the couple constantly fought. Her enemies plotted successfully to have charges brought against her for adultery with various men, including her court musician and even her own brother. By this time, Henry was enamored with one of Anne's ladies in waiting, Jane Seymour, and so he observed great advantage in supporting the efforts of his wife's enemies. A number of Anne's supposed lovers were denied a trial and simply executed. In May of 1536, Anne and her brother were put on trial, with around two thousand people in attendance. Anne was recorded as remaining calm and dignified. She denied all the charges against her, but it was too little, too late. She and her brother were sentenced to death.

Henry honored her request to have a French swordsman executioner, rather than the brutish English ax. As her time drew near, she became frantic and near-hysterical, laughing one moment, sobbing the next. She made her famous comment about how the executioner would not have a hard job, since she had "such a little neck." The executioner lived up to his professional reputation, and caught Anne unaware, as she turned her head he reached for the sword, hidden under straw, and cut off her head in one smooth stroke. Anne was placed into a chest and buried in an unmarked grave in the Tower chapel. During the Victorian period the chapel was renovated and a number of graves were identified, including that of Anne's. She was reburied under the chapel floor, this time with a marker embedded in the marble floor.