Coordinates: 51°47′N 6°8′E / 51.783°N 6.133°E / 51.783; 6.133

(County) Duchy of Cleves (Grafschaft) Herzogtum Kleve (de) (Graafschap) Hertogdom Kleef (nl)
State of the Holy Roman Empire
← Image missing 1092–1795 →
Coat of arms
Map of the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle around 1560, Duchy of Cleves highlighted in red
Capital	Cleves
Government	Principality
Historical era	Middle Ages
- Dietrich I first     Count of Cleves	1092
- United with Mark	1368
- Raised to duchy	1417
- United with Jülich     and Berg	→ 1521
- To Brandenburg	1614
- Annexed by France	1795
- Province of     Jülich-Cleves-Berg	1815

The Duchy of Cleves (German: Herzogtum Kleve; Dutch: Hertogdom Kleef) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was situated in the northern Rhineland on both sides of the Lower Rhine, around its capital Cleves and the town of Wesel, bordering the lands of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster in the east and the Duchy of Brabant in the west. Its history is closely related to that of its southern neighbours: the Duchies of Jülich and Berg, as well as Guelders and the Westphalian county of Mark.

The duchy's territory roughly covered the present-day German districts of Cleves (northern part), Wesel and the city of Duisburg, as well as adjacent parts of the Limburg, North Brabant and Gelderland provinces in the Netherlands.

History[link]

In the early 11th century Emperor Henry II entrusted the administration of the Klever Reichswald, a large forested area around the Kaiserpfalz at Nijmegen directly subordinate to the Imperial rule, to local Lower Lorrainian nobles at Geldern and Kleve. A County of Cleves (German: Grafschaft Kleve; Dutch: Graafschap Kleef) was first mentioned in the 11th century. In 1417, the county became a duchy. Upon the death of Count Johann in 1368, the fief was inherited by his nephew Adolf III of the Marck. Cleves and Mark were finally ruled in personal union by the House of La Marck after Adolf's elder brother Count Engelbert III had died without issue in 1391. King Sigismund of Germany raised Count Adolph I to the status of a duke and a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1417.

Schwanenburg Castle, Cleves

The Cleves-Mark territories became one of the most significant estates of the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle in 1500, rivaled by the Prince-Bishops of Münster. In 1511 John III of La Marck, son of Duke John II of Cleves, by his marriage with Maria inherited the fiefs of Jülich and Berge upon the death of his father-in-law Duke William IV. When John III succeeded his father as Duke of Cleves in 1521, the states of Jülich, Berge, Cleves and Mark formed the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. His daughter Anne of Cleves (1515–57) even became Queen Consort of England for a few months in 1540, as her brother William, duke since 1539, quarelled with Emperor Charles V over the possession of Guelders and sought support from King Henry VIII.

When the last duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berge died issueless in 1609, the War of the Jülich succession broke out. The lands were finally divided between the Wittelsbach dukes of Palatinate-Neuburg (Jülich and Berge) and the Margraviate of Brandenburg, who gained Cleves with Mark and Ravensberg according to the 1614 Treaty of Xanten. The Hohenzollern margraves thereby got a first foothold in the Rhineland, however, large parts of the Duchy of Cleves were occupied by the United Provinces until the Franco-Dutch War in 1672. Finally incorporated into Brandenburg-Prussia by the Great Elector Frederick William I of Brandenburg in 1666 and part of the Kingdom of Prussia after 1701, Cleves was occupied by French forces in the Seven Years' War (1757–62).

In 1795 the Duchy of Cleves west of the Rhine and Wesel was occupied by France, and became part of the French département of the Roer. The rest of the duchy was occupied between 1803 and 1805, and became part of the département of Yssel-Supérieur and the puppet-state Grand Duchy of Berge (after 1811, the département of Lippe). In 1815, after the defeat of Napoleon, the duchy became part of the Prussian Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, which merged in the Prussian Rhine Province in 1822. The cities Gennep, Zevenaar, and Huissen became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands as a result of the 1815 Congress of Vienna.

Rulers of Cleves[link]

map of the Duchy of Cleves and Ravenstein domain from Theater of the World, or a New Atlas of Maps and Representations of All Regions, edited by Willem and Joan Blaeu, 1645

House of Cleves[link]

Counts of Cleves[link]

• 1092–1119 Dietrich I
• 1119–1147 Arnold I
• 1147–1172 Dietrich II
• 1172–1188 Dietrich III
• 1188–1198 Dietrich IV
• 1198–1201 Arnold II
• 1201–1260 Dietrich V
• 1260–1275 Dietrich VI
• 1275–1305 Dietrich VII of Meissen
• 1305–1310 Otto
• 1310–1347 Dietrich VIII
• 1347–1368 Johann

House of La Marck[link]

Counts of Cleves[link]

• 1368–1394 Adolf III
• 1394–1448 Adolph II

Dukes of Cleves[link]

• 1394–1448 Adolph II, since 1417 Duke of Cleves as Adolph I
• 1448–1481 John I, father of Engelbert, Count of Nevers
• 1481–1521 John II the Pious
• 1521–1539 John III the Peaceful after 1511 Duke of Jülich, Berg and Count of Ravensberg
• 1539–1592 William the Rich after 1528 Lord of Ravenstein
• 1592–1609 John William

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Duchy of Cleves

• Edicts of Jülich, Cleves, Berg, Grand Duchy Berg, 1475–1815 (Coll. Scotti) online
• Settlement of Dortmund between Brandenburg and Palatinate-Neuburg and the conflict of succession in Jülich, in full text
• Map of the Duchy of Cleves in 1789

v t e Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle (1500–1806) of the Holy Roman Empire Ecclesiastical Cambrai (until 1678) Corvey1 Liège Minden2 Münster Stavelot–Malmedy1 Osnabrück Paderborn Utrecht (until 1548) Verden (until 1648) The Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle (color) within the Holy Roman Empire (white) Prelates Corvey2 Essen Herford Kornelimünster Stavelot–Malmedy2 Thorn Werden Secular Cleves with Mark East Frisia1 Jülich–Berg Guelders (until 1548) Minden1 Moers1 Nassau-Dillenburg1 Verden1 Counts and lords from 1500 Bentheim Bronkhorst (until 1719) Diepholz East Frisia (until 1667) Horne3 (until 1614) Hoya Lingen3 Lippe Manderscheid (until 1546) Moers (until 1541) Nassau (Diez Hadamar Dillenburg (until 1664)) Oldenburg (until 1777) Pyrmont Ravensberg3 Reichenstein Rietberg Salm-Reifferscheid Sayn Schaumburg Tecklenburg Virneburg Wied Winneburg and Beilstein Zimerauff? from 1792 Anholt Blankenheim and Gerolstein Gemen Gimborn Gronsfeld Hallermund Holzappel Kerpen-Lommersum Myllendonk Reckheim Schleiden Wickrath Wittem status uncertain Delmenhorst Fagnolle Schaumburg (Hesse Lippe) Spiegelberg Steinfurt Cities Aachen Cologne Dortmund Duisburg? Herford? Verden (until 1648) Warburg? 1 from 1792 2 until 1792 3 without Reichstag seat ? status uncertain.

Anne of Cleves
Portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1539. Oil and Tempera on Parchment mounted on canvas, Louvre, Paris.
Queen consort of England
Tenure	6 January 1540 – 9 July 1540
Spouse	Henry VIII of England
House	House of La Marck (by birth) House of Tudor (by marriage)
Father	John III, Duke of Cleves
Mother	Maria of Jülich-Berg
Born	(1515-09-22)22 September 1515 Düsseldorf, Duchy of Berg, Holy Roman Empire
Died	16 July 1557(1557-07-16) (aged 41) Chelsea Manor, England
Signature
Religion	Roman Catholic, then Anglican and finally again Roman Catholic

Anne of Cleves (German: Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg, Dutch: Anna van Kleef) (22 September 1515^[1] – 16 July 1557) was a German noblewoman and the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England and as such she was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. The marriage was never consummated, and she was not crowned queen consort. Following the annulment of their marriage, Anne was given a generous settlement by the King, and thereafter referred to as the King's Beloved Sister. She lived to see the coronation of Mary I of England, outlasting the rest of Henry's wives.

Anne was the subject of two portraits by Hans Holbein who painted her in 1539.

Early life[link]

Anne was born in 1515 in Düsseldorf,^[2] the second daughter of John III of the House of La Marck, Duke of Jülich jure uxoris, Cleves, Berg jure uxoris, Count of Mark aka de la Marck and Ravensberg jure uxoris (often referred to as Duke of Cleves) who died in 1538, and his wife Maria, Duchess of Julich-Berg (1491–1543). She grew up living in Schloss Burg on the edge of Solingen. Anne's father was influenced by Erasmus and followed a moderate path within the Reformation. He sided with the Schmalkaldic League and opposed Emperor Charles V. After John's death, Anne's brother William became Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, bearing the promising epithet "The Rich." In 1526, her elder sister Sybille was married to John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, head of the Protestant Confederation of Germany and considered the "Champion of the Reformation."

At the age of 12 (1527), Anne was betrothed to Francis, son and heir of the Duke of Lorraine while he was only 10. Thus the betrothal was considered 'unofficial' and was cancelled in 1535. Her brother William was a Lutheran but the family was unaligned religiously, with her mother, the Duchess Maria described as a "strict Catholic."^[3] The Duke's ongoing dispute over Gelderland with Emperor Charles V made them suitable allies for England's King Henry VIII in the wake of the Truce of Nice. The match with Anne was urged on the King by his chancellor, Thomas Cromwell.

Wedding preparations[link]

The artist Hans Holbein the Younger was dispatched to paint portraits of Anne and her younger sister, Amalia, both of whom Henry was considering as his fourth wife. Henry required the artist to be as accurate as possible, not to flatter the sisters. The two versions of Holbein's portrait are in the Louvre in Paris and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Negotiations with Cleves were in full swing by March 1539. Cromwell oversaw the talks, and a marriage treaty was signed on 4 October of that year.

Henry valued education and cultural sophistication in women, but Anne lacked these: she had received no formal education but was skilled in needlework and liked playing card games. She could read and write, but only in German. Nevertheless, Anne was considered gentle, virtuous, and docile, qualities that made her a suitable candidate for Henry.

Anne was described by the French ambassador, Charles de Marillac, as tall and slim, "of middling beauty, and of very assured and resolute countenance".^[4] She was dark haired, with a rather swarthy complexion, appeared solemn by English standards, and looked old for her age. Holbein painted her with high forehead, heavy-lidded eyes and a pointed chin.^[5]

The Six Wives of Henry VIII
Catherine of Aragon
Anne Boleyn
Jane Seymour
Anne of Cleves
Catherine Howard
Catherine Parr

Henry first went to meet her at Rochester on her journey from Dover. According to the sworn testimony of his companions, he was promptly disappointed with her appearance, although there are many documents from the time which describe how Henry and some of his courtiers sneaked into the room where Anne was watching bull-fighting, wearing masks and cloaks, when Henry boldly kissed her. Henry, being of tall stature and well-built in his youth, had been instantly recognised by his past wives when acting out this courtly-love tradition, although Anne had never met her husband-to-be before, and pushed him away startled, cursing in German. Henry did then reveal his true identity to Anne, although he is said to have been put-off the marriage from then on. Most historians believe that he later used her 'bad' appearance and incapability in bed as excuses, saying how he felt he had been misled, for everyone had praised Anne's attractions: "She is nothing so fair as she hath been reported," he complained.^[6] Henry urged Cromwell to find a legal way to avoid the marriage but, by this point, doing so was impossible without endangering the vital alliance with the Germans.

A doomed marriage[link]

Despite Henry's very vocal misgivings, the two were married on 6 January 1540 at the royal Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, London by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. The phrase "God send me well to keep" was engraved around Anne’s wedding ring. Immediately after arriving in England, Anne conformed to the Anglican form of worship, which Henry expected.^[7] The couple's first night as husband and wife was not a happy one. Henry confided to Cromwell that he had not consummated the marriage, saying, "I liked her before not well, but now I like her much worse".^[8]

Anne was commanded to leave the Court on 24 June, and on 6 July she was informed of her husband's decision to reconsider the marriage. Witness statements were taken from a number of courtiers and two physicians which register the king's disappointment at her appearance. Henry had also commented to Thomas Heneage and Anthony Denny that he could not believe she was a virgin,^[9] probably because he believed that her flabby belly and breasts indicated a loss of maidenhead. Shortly afterwards, Anne was asked for her consent to an annulment, to which she agreed. The marriage was annulled on 9 July 1540, on the grounds of non-consummation and her pre-contract to Francis of Lorraine. Henry VIII's doctor, Dr Butts stated that after the wedding night Henry said he was not impotent since he experienced "duas pollutiones nocturnas in somno" (two nocturnal emissions in dreams; i.e., two wet dreams).^[10][11]

After the annulment[link]

Anne of Cleves' arms as queen consort^[12]

The former queen received a generous settlement, including Richmond Palace, and Hever Castle, home of Henry's former in-laws, the Boleyns. Anne of Cleves House, in Lewes, Sussex, is just one of many properties she owned; she never lived there. Henry and Anne became good friends—she was an honorary member of the King's family and was referred to as "the King's Beloved Sister". She was invited to court often and, out of gratitude for her not contesting the annulment, Henry decreed that she would be given precedence over all women in England save his own wife and daughters.^[7]

After Catherine Howard was beheaded, Anne and her brother, the Duke of Cleves, pressed the king to remarry her. Henry quickly refused to do so.^[13] She seems to have disliked Catherine Parr, and reportedly reacted to the news of Henry's sixth marriage with the unkind joke "Madam Parr is taking a great burden on herself." In March 1547, Edward VI's Privy Council asked her to move out of Bletchingley Palace, her usual residence, to Penshurst Place to make way for Thomas Cawarden, Master of Revels. They pointed out that Penshurst was nearer to Hever and the move had been Henry VIII's will.^[14]

In 1553, when Henry's daughters Mary and Elizabeth rode into London with Mary as the new monarch, Anne was there to greet them.^[7] She was also present at Mary I's coronation at Westminster.^[7] That was her last public appearance. As the new Queen was a strict Catholic, Anne yet again converted her religion, now becoming a Roman Catholic.

A few months later, Anne wrote to Mary I to congratulate her on her marriage to Philip of Spain.^[7] Nevertheless, Anne rarely visited the Court during Mary's reign and enjoyed managing her own estates.^[7] Since her arrival as the King's bride, Anne had never left England: both of her parents had died by the time her marriage was annulled and her brother, a strict Lutheran, did not approve of her adherence to Anglicanism.^[7] Despite occasional feelings of homesickness, Anne was generally content in England.

Death[link]

When Anne's health began to fail, Mary I allowed her to live at Chelsea Old Manor, where Henry's last wife, Catherine Parr, had lived after her remarriage. Here, in the middle of July 1557, Anne dictated her last will. In it, she mentions her brother, sister and sister-in-law, as well as the future Queen Elizabeth, the Duchess of Norfolk and the Countess of Arundel.^[7] She left some money to her servants and asked Mary and Elizabeth to employ them in their households.^[7] She was remembered by everyone who served her as a particularly generous and easy-going mistress.

Anne died at Chelsea Old Manor on 16 July 1557, eight weeks before her forty-second birthday. The cause of her death was most likely to have been cancer.^[15] She was buried in Westminster Abbey, on 3 August, in what has been described as a "somewhat hard to find tomb" - on the opposite side of Edward the Confessor's shrine and slightly above eye level for a person of average height. She is the only wife of Henry VIII to be buried in the Abbey.

She also has the distinction of being the last of Henry VIII's wives to die (she outlived Henry's last wife, Catherine Parr, by 9 years). She was not the longest-lived, however, since Catherine of Aragon was 50 at the time of her death and Anne was only 41.

It is widely believed that Henry VIII often spoke to Anne as a friend, and that she advised him on many matters during their friendship and his reign, especially where matters of trust were raised amongst his council. This coincides with the extensive wealth Anne was given upon the ending of their short lived marriage and her title as beloved sister, someone he loved but not for a wife.

Non-fiction and fiction[link]

Anne is the subject of two biographies: Elizabeth Norton's Anne of Cleves: Henry VIII's Discarded Bride and Mary Saaler's Anne of Cleves. Retha Warnicke has written a study on Anne's marriage called The Marrying of Anne of Cleves.

Anne of Cleves appears as a character in many historical novels about Henry's reign. For example, about a third of The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory is recounted from Anne's point of view, covering the period of Henry VIII's marriages to her and to her successor Catherine Howard. The book concludes with Anne living away from Court, and avoiding the execution ceremonies of Howard and of Jane Boleyn, sister-in-law to one of Henry's queens and lady-in-waiting to all the others, including Anne. Gregory includes Anne in a non-fictional review of the period at the end of the book.

Anne of Cleves is the main character of My Lady of Cleves by Margaret Campbell Barnes. She is also the subject of the novel Amenable Women (2009) by Mavis Cheek.^[16]

In The Fifth Queen by Ford Madox Ford Anne is portrayed as a sensible, practical woman who happily settles for divorce in return for material benefits.

In popular media[link]

• Rick Wakeman recorded the piece "Anne of Cleves" for his 1973 album, The Six Wives of Henry VIII
• Anne of Cleves was played by Elvi Hale in the episode Anne of Cleves in the television series The Six Wives of Henry VIII
• The role of Anne of Cleves was played by actress and singer Joss Stone in the Showtime cable television series The Tudors.
• In The Simpsons episode "Father Knows Worst", when Homer falls asleep while building a balsa wood model of Westminster Abbey, he has a vision of the ghost of Anne of Cleves played by Pamela Hayden. In the episode "Margical History Tour," Anne is portrayed by Otto Mann during Marge's retelling of Henry's reign. Henry (portrayed by Homer) quickly orders Anne's beheading after realizing she is a he.
• The role of Anne of Cleves was played by Elsa Lanchester in The Private Life of Henry VIII, which was released in 1933. Lanchester's husband Charles Laughton played Henry VIII and won an Academy Award for his portrayal. The film received a best picture nomination; the first for a picture made outside the U.S..

Titles and styles[link]

• 22 September 1515 – 6 January 1540: Her Highness Duchess Anne of Cleves (Jülich and Berg, Countess of Mark and Ravensberg, Lady of Ravenstein)
• 6 January 1540 – 9 July 1540: Her Majesty The Queen of England
• 9 July 1540 – 16 July 1557: Her Highness Duchess Anne of Cleves, the King's Beloved Sister

Ancestry[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Anne of Cleves.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anne of Cleves

• Find A Grave
• A quick overview of Anne's life, including a very good portrait gallery
• A more in-depth examination of Anne's political career
• More information on Anne's life after her annulment
• A Google Earth biography tour of the Six Wives of Henry VIII on the Google Earth Community
• A biography on her life (Archived 2009-10-25)
• Flickr.com, Anne Of Cleves

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2012)

Marie Eleonore of Cleves
Marie Eleonore with her mother Maria of Austria
Spouse(s)	Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia
Noble family	House of Berg
Father	William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg
Mother	Archduchess Maria of Austria
Born	(1550-06-16)16 June 1550 Cleves
Died	1 June 1608(1608-06-01) (aged 57) Königsberg

Marie Eleonore of Cleves (1550–1608) was a Duchess consort of Prussia as the wife of Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia. She was the eldest child of William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg and Maria of Austria.

Family[link]

Her mother was the daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. Her brother was John William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. Her paternal aunts were Anne of Cleves who was the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England, and Sybille of Cleves who married John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony. Marie Eleonore had many maternal aunts and uncles such as Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and Johanna of Austria. Among her cousins were Anna of Austria, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, Eleonora de' Medici and Marie de' Medici.

Marriage[link]

In 1573 Marie Eleonore married Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia the son of Albert of Prussia, they were the parents of seven children,

• Anna of Prussia (3 July 1576 – 30 August 1625). Married John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg.
• Marie of Prussia (23 January 1579 – 21 February 1649). Married Christian, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth.
• Albert Frederick of Prussia (1 June – 8 October 1580).
• Sofie of Prussia (31 March 1582 – 4 December 1610). Married Wilhelm Kettler of Courland.
• Eleonore of Prussia (22 August 1583 – 31 March/9 April 1607). Married Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg.
• Wilhelm of Prussia (23 June 1585 – 18 January 1586).
• Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia (31 December 1586 – 22 February 1659). Married John George I, Elector of Saxony.

Ancestors[link]

References[link]

Catherine
Duchess of Guise Countess of Eu
Spouse	Henri de Lorraine, Duke of Guise
Detail Issue
Charles, Duke of Guise Louis III, Cardinal of Guise Claude, Duke of Chevreuse François Alexandre, Knight of the Order of Malta Renée, Abbess of St. Pierre Jeanne, Abbess of Jouarre Louise Marguerite, Princess of Conti
Full name
French: Catherine de Clèves English: Catherine of Cleves
Father	François de Clèves, Duke of Nevers
Mother	Marguerite de Bourbon
Born	1548
Died	11 May 1633 Château d'Eu, France

Catherine de Clèves (or de Nevers) (1548 – 11 May 1633) was the wife of Henry, Duke of Guise, and matriarch of the numerous and influential House of Guise. By marriage she was Duchess of Guise from 1570 to 1588, and Dowager Duchess of Guise thereafter. She was Countess of Eu in her own right from 1564.

Biography[link]

Catherine was the second daughter of François de Clèves, Duke of Nevers and Marguerite de Bourbon, elder sister of Antoine de Bourbon.

She was the first cousin of Henry of Navarre, sister-in-law of Henri de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, and great aunt of Ludwika Maria Gonzaga, Queen of Poland.

At the age of twelve, Catherine married Antoine de Croÿ, Prince de Porcien (or Porcean), who died seven years later. After the conventional three years of mourning, on 4 October 1570, she married Henri de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, who was two years her junior.

They had fourteen children, including Charles, Duke of Guise and Louis III, Cardinal of Guise. She had a widely publicised affair with a young nobleman, Saint-Mégrin, who was killed by her husband. The event is dramatised in the Alexandre Dumas play Henri III et sa cour (1829).

Henry of Guise was the leader of the fervently Catholic faction in the French Wars of Religion. From 1584, the conflict among factions led by Henry of Guise, Henry of Navarre, and Henry III of France was known as the War of the Three Henrys. In 1588, Henry of Guise was assassinated on the orders of King Henry III.

Catherine never forgave Henry III of France (who kept taunting her as "la maîtresse de Saint Megrin") for his part in the assassination of her husband. She took a keen interest in the intrigues of the Catholic League and encouraged Henry's assassination in 1589. At the conclusion of the War of the Three Henrys she was mindful of the interests of her large family and supported her son Charles as a candidate for the French throne.

Catherine's reconciliation with her cousin, Henry IV, was not effected until his conversion to Catholicism. She immediately moved to Paris and obtained a very honorable position in the retinue of his wife, Marie de' Medici. The Guises continued to support the Queen throughout the regency, and Catherine followed Marie into exile in Blois after Louis XIII assumed the reins of government.

After returning to the Louvre, the Dowager Duchess - anxious to promote the interests of the House of Guise - resumed plotting against Cardinal Richelieu. The death of her youngest daughter, the princesse de Conti (who had been implicated in the Day of the Dupes conspiracy), proved a blow to her spirits.

She retired to her château d'Eu, where she died aged 85. She was buried at the château next to her husband's ornate tomb.

Issue[link]

She married on October 4, 1570 in Paris to Henri de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, by whom she had fourteen children:

1. Charles, Duke of Guise (1571–1640), who succeeded him
2. Henri (June 30, 1572, Paris – August 13, 1574)
3. Catherine (November 3, 1573) (died at birth)
4. Louis III, Cardinal of Guise (1575–1621), Archbishop of Reims
5. Charles (January 1, 1576, Paris) (died at birth)
6. Marie (June 1, 1577–1582)
7. Claude, Duke of Chevreuse (1578–1657) married Marie de Rohan, daughter of Hercule de Rohan, duc de Montbazon
8. Catherine (b. May 29, 1579), d. young
9. Christine (January 21, 1580) (died at birth)
10. François (May 14, 1581 – September 29, 1582)
11. Renée (1585 – June 13, 1626, Reims), Abbess of St. Pierre
12. Jeanne (July 31, 1586 – October 8, 1638, Jouarre), Abbess of Jouarre
13. Louise Marguerite, (1588 – April 30, 1631, Château d'Eu), married at the Château de Meudon on July 24, 1605 François, Prince of Conti
14. François Alexandre (February 7, 1589 – June 1, 1614, Château des Baux), a Knight of the Order of Malta

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Catherine of Cleves

• Forneron, Henri. Les ducs de Guise et leur époque: étude historique sur la seizième siècle. Paris, 1877.
• Réné de Bouillé. Histoire de ducs de Guise. Amyot, 1850.

Henry VIII, in a portrait made c. 1520, during his nearly 24 year marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

The wives of Henry VIII were the six queens consort married to Henry VIII of England between 1509 and 1547.

The six women to hold the title 'queens consort' of King Henry VIII were, in order:

• Catherine of Aragon (divorced),
• Anne Boleyn (executed),
• Jane Seymour (died days after giving birth, widely believed to be following birth complications),
• Anne of Cleves (annulled)
• Catherine Howard (executed),
• Catherine Parr (survived).

A common device to remember the fates of his consorts is "annulled, beheaded, died, annulled, beheaded, survived" or “divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived”. It is often noted that Catherine Parr "survived him"; in fact Anne of Cleves also survived the king and was the last of his queens to die. Of the six queens, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour each gave Henry one child who survived infancy—two daughters and one son, all three of whom would eventually ascend to the throne. They were Queen Mary I, Queen Elizabeth I, and King Edward VI, respectively.

Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn, Henry's two queens who were beheaded, were first cousins. Several of his wives worked in at least one of his other wives' service [Ex ladies in waiting]. Anne Boleyn worked in Catherine of Aragon's service; Jane Seymour worked in Catherine of Aragon's and Anne Boleyn's service; and Catherine Howard worked in Anne of Cleves's.

Legally speaking, four of these marriages (Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, and Catherine Howard) never occurred as they were annulled, so under a legal interpretation, Henry VIII actually had only two wives (Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr) despite having six weddings.

Henry was distantly related to all six of his wives through their common ancestor, King Edward I of England.^[1]

There is a rhyme which also helps to remember his wives:

King Henry the Eighth, to six wives he was wedded. One died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded.

However, this rhyme is somewhat invalid, because he didn't divorce two wives; he had the marriages annulled.

Henry and at least four of his wives (Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour and Catherine Parr) have been characters in opera (for details, see List of historical opera characters).

Catherine of Aragon[link]

Catherine of Aragon

Catherine of Aragon (16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536; Spanish: Catalina de Aragón) was Henry's first wife.^[2] After the death of Arthur, her first husband and Henry's brother, a papal dispensation was obtained to enable her to marry Henry, though the marriage did not take place until after he came to the throne in 1509. Prospects were looking good when Catherine became pregnant in 1510, just 4 months after their marriage, but the girl was stillborn. Catherine became pregnant again in 1511, and gave birth to a boy who died two months later. In 1512, Catherine gave birth to a stillborn boy, and then a stillborn girl in 1513. Finally, Catherine bore him a healthy daughter in 1516, Mary. It took her two years to conceive again. This pregnancy also ended with a stillborn girl. It is said that Henry truly loved Catherine of Aragon, he himself professed it many a time in song, letters, inscriptions, public declarations etc.

Henry, at the time a Roman Catholic, sought the Pope's approval for an annulment on the grounds that his marriage was invalid because Catherine had first been his brother's wife. Henry had begun an affair with Anne Boleyn, who is said to have refused to become his mistress (Henry had already consummated an affair with and then dismissed Anne's sister, Mary Boleyn, and most historians believe that Anne wanted to avoid the same treatment)^{[citation needed]}. Despite the pope's refusal, Henry separated from Catherine in 1531. In the face of the Pope's continuing refusal to annul his marriage to Catherine, Henry ordered the highest church official in England, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, to convene a court to rule on the status of his marriage to Catherine. On 23 May 1533^[3] Cranmer ruled the marriage to Catherine null and void. On 28 May 1533 he pronounced the King legally married to Anne (with whom Henry had already secretly exchanged wedding vows, probably in late January 1533). This led to the break from the Roman Catholic Church and the later establishment of the Church of England.

Shakespeare called Catherine "The Queen of Earthly Queens".

Marriage to Henry VIII: 11 June 1509 – 23 May 1533 (23 years, 11 months, 11 days), Annulled

Anne Boleyn[link]

Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn (c.1501/1507–19 May 1536) was the second wife of Henry VIII of England and the mother of Elizabeth I of England. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the start of the English Reformation. The daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Boleyn (born Lady Elizabeth Howard), Anne was of nobler birth than Jane Seymour, Henry's later wife. She was dark-haired, with beautiful features and lively manners; she was educated in Europe, largely as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Claude of France.

Anne resisted the King's attempts to seduce her in 1526 and she refused to become his mistress, as her sister, Mary Boleyn, had been. It soon became the one absorbing object of the King's desires to secure a divorce from his wife, Catherine of Aragon, so he could marry Anne. When it became clear that Pope Clement VII was unlikely to give the king an annulment, the breaking of the power of the Roman Catholic Church in England began.

Henry had Thomas Wolsey dismissed from public office and later had the Boleyn family's chaplain, Thomas Cranmer, appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1533, Henry and Anne went through a secret wedding service.^[4] She soon became pregnant and there was a second, public wedding service, which took place in London on 25 January 1533. On 23 May 1533, Cranmer declared the marriage of Henry and Catherine null and void. Five days later, Cranmer declared the marriage of Henry and Anne to be good and valid. Soon after, the Pope launched sentences of excommunication against the King and the Archbishop. As a result of Anne's marriage to the King, the Church of England was forced to break with Rome and was brought under the king's control.^[4] Anne was crowned Queen Consort of England on 1 June 1533. Later that year, on 7 September, Anne gave birth to another daughter, Elizabeth. When Anne failed to quickly produce a male heir, her only son being stillborn, the King grew tired of her and a plot was hatched by Thomas Cromwell to execute her.

Although the evidence against her was unconvincing, Anne was beheaded on charges of adultery, incest, and high treason on 19 May 1536. Following her daughter Elizabeth's coronation as queen, Anne was venerated as a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation, particularly through the works of John Foxe. Over the centuries, Anne has inspired or been mentioned in numerous artistic and cultural works. Due to this fact, she has remained in the popular memory and Anne has been called "the most influential and important queen consort England has ever had."^{[citation needed]}

Marriage to Henry VIII: 28 May 1533 – 19 May 1536 (2 years, 11 months, 21 days), annulled then beheaded^[5]

Jane Seymour[link]

Jane Seymour

Jane Seymour (c.roughly 1508– 24 October 1537) was Henry's third wife. She served Catherine of Aragon and was one of Anne Boleyn's ladies-in-waiting.^[6] It is strongly believed that she is the mistress that disposed of Anne, who was executed just 10–11 days before Jane's marriage to the king. She was of lower birth than most of Henry's wives, as the daughter of a knight. Finally, a year later, Jane gave birth to a healthy, legitimate male heir, Edward, but Seymour died twelve days later, seemingly because of post-natal complications. This apparently caused her husband genuine grief, as she was the only queen to receive a proper Queen's burial; when the King died in 1547, he was buried next to her.

Marriage to Henry VIII: 30 May 1536 – 24 October 1537 (1 year, 4 months, 24 days), death from complications of childbirth.

Anne of Cleves[link]

Anne of Cleves

Anne of Cleves (22 September 1515 – 16 July 1557) was Henry's fourth wife, for only six months in 1540, from 6 January to 9 July. Anne of Cleves was a German princess.^[7] It has been incorrectly stated that Henry referred to her as "A Flanders Mare" The label has stuck with Anne.^[8] Her pre-contract of marriage with Francis I, Duke of Lorraine, was cited as grounds for an annulment. Anne agreed to this, claiming that the marriage had not been consummated, and because she hadn't resisted the annulment, was given a generous settlement, including Hever Castle, former home of Henry's former in-laws, the Boleyns. She was given the name "The King's Sister", and became a friend to him and his children until his death. She outlived both the King and his last two wives, making her the last of the six wives to die.

Marriage to Henry VIII: 6 January 1540 – 9 July 1540 (6 months, 3 days), Annulled.

Catherine Howard[link]

Catherine Howard

Catherine Howard (c.1521 – 13 February 1542) was Henry's fifth wife between 1540–1542, sometimes known as "the rose without a thorn". Henry was informed of her alleged adultery with Thomas Culpepper on 1 November 1541.^[9]

Marriage to Henry VIII: 28 July 1540 – 13 February 1542 (1 year, 6 months, 18 days), Beheaded.

Catherine Parr[link]

Catherine Parr

Catherine Parr (1512 – 7 September 1548), also spelled Kateryn, was the sixth and last wife of Henry VIII 1543–1547. She was the daughter of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal and his wife Maud Green. Through her father, Catherine was a direct descendant of King Edward III of England (House of Plantagenet) and Philippa of Hainault, Queen Consort of England through their son Prince John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster Plantagenet and his mistress, later wife, Katherine Swynford née Roët. Through John of Gaunt's daughter Lady Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmoreland (the maternal great-great grandmother of Henry) Catherine was a 3rd cousin, once removed, of her husband, Henry VIII. By Henry's paternal descent from John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, another child of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford, the two were also fourth cousins, once removed.^[10]

Catherine showed herself to be the restorer of Henry's court as a family home for his children. Catherine was determined to present the royal household as a close-knit one in order to demonstrate strength through unity to Henry's opposers.^{[citation needed]} Perhaps Catherine's most significant achievement was Henry's passing of an act that confirmed both Mary's and Elizabeth's line in succession for the throne, despite the fact that they had both been made illegitimate by divorce or remarriage. Such was Henry's trust in Catherine that he chose her to rule as Regent while he was attending to the War in France and in the unlikely event of the loss of his life, she was to rule as Regent until six year old Edward came of age.

Catherine also has a special place in history as she was the most married queen of England, having had four husbands in all; Henry was her third. She had been widowed twice before marrying Henry. After Henry's death, she married Thomas Seymour, uncle of Edward VI, to whom she had formed an attachment prior to her marriage with Henry. She had one child by Seymour, Mary, and died shortly after childbirth. Mary's history is unknown, but she is believed to have died as a toddler.

Marriage to Henry VIII: 12 July 1543 – 28 January 1547 (3 years, 6 months, 16 days), His death

References[link]