Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn (c. 1501 or 1507–1536) was the second wife of Henry VIII and queen of England in 1533–1536; her rise and fall helped start the English Reformation. After serving at courts abroad, she returned to England as maid of honour to Catherine of Aragon.

From 1526 Henry pursued her, but she refused to become his mistress; his wish to annul the marriage led him to break the Church's power in England. They married secretly; Cranmer declared the marriage to Catherine void, Anne was crowned in June, and that September gave birth to the future Elizabeth I.

After three miscarriages, Henry was courting Jane Seymour by March 1536. Tried at the Tower, she was convicted of adultery, incest and plotting the king's death, charges most historians dispute, and was beheaded with a single stroke on 19 May 1536. Her daughter's reign after 1558 made her a Protestant martyr.