The last letter (18), which makes mention of the illness of the legate as the cause of the delay in the affair of the divorce, shows that this correspondence ended in May, 1529, at which time the court of legates was open for the final decision of that point.
Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, subsequently created Earl of Wiltshire, after passing many years at the court of Claude, queen of Francis I of France, returned to England about the end of the year 1525, at the age of eighteen. Here she was soon appointed maid of honour to Queen Katherine, and attracted the particular attentions of Henry VIII, who was then engaged in soliciting a divorce from the Pope. The marked preference shown by the king for Anne Boleyn raised so much jealousy and slander that it was thought advisable by her family to remove the new favourite from the court; and it was during this retirement at Hever, a seat of her father’s in Kent, that these letters were addressed to her by her royal lover. It was no doubt to render them the more agreeable that he wrote some of them in French. They breathe a fondness and an ardour which could scarcely leave room to doubt the sincerity of his love.
¶
We have reprinted Mr. Halliwell Phillips to call attention to the change in order in this edition. A very little study of the letters themselves showed that the old order was impossible. The first six fall into a group by themselves, the 6th being the first to which we gave a nearly approximate date (July, 1527), before Anne’s return to court. Henry’s passion must date therefore from 1526. The 7th is fixed by references in other correspondence to February, 1528, and the 8th to June before she left the court. The 9th, 10th and 11th relate to the sweating sickness (end of June, order fixed by incidental references), and the 12th is after July 5th; the 13th and 14th are before her return. The reference to his book in No. 15 fixes the date as August, and No. 16 is fixed for August 20th, by Wolsey’s finding a lodging for Anne. No. 17 is fixed for September (16th?) by Campeggio’s arrival at Paris (September 14, 1528), and No. 18 by his illness as towards the end of October. The scheme had been partly worked out when the editor observed that Mr. Brewer had already arranged them in his Calendar of State Papers, and to him therefore this order is due.
The old arrangement was 4, 6, 10, 1, 5, 17, 16, 2, 11, 3, 13, 9, 12, 7, 14, 15, 18, 8.
Page [x]. Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn. Written July, 1527. “Aut illic, aut nullibi.” Either there, or nowhere.
The signature means “H. seeks no other (heart). R.”
[xiii]. Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn. This letter was written in July, 1527.
[xvi]. Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn. Written February, 1528. “Ultra posse non est esse.” One can’t do more than the possible.
[xviii]. Anne Boleyn to Cardinal Wolsey. MS. Cott. Vitellius, B. xii. f. 4. Written June 11, 1528. Printed by Ellis as from Katherine of Arragon. There is another letter from Anne to Wolsey, thanking him for a present. It is very similar to this, and is found in MS. Cott. Otho. c. x. f. 218 (printed in Burnet, i, 104, and in Ellis, Original Letters, vol. i).