[1] Vasily Golitsuin's expedition under the regency of Sophia was the
first Crimean War (1687-89).
ANNE OF BRITTANY (1477-1514), daughter of Francis II., duke of Brittany,
and Marguerite de Foix. She was scarcely twelve years old when she
succeeded her father as duchess on the 9th of September 1488. Charles
VIII. aimed at establishing his authority over her; Alain d'Albret
wished to marry her; Jean de Rohan claimed the duchy; and her guardian,
the marshal de Rieux, was soon in open revolt against his sovereign. In
1489 the French army invaded Brittany. In order to protect her
independence, Anne concluded an alliance with Maximilian of Austria, and
soon married him by proxy (December 1489). But Maximilian was incapable
of defending her, and in 1491 the young duchess found herself compelled
to treat with Charles VIII. and to marry him. The two sovereigns made a
reciprocal arrangement as to their rights and pretensions to the crown
of Brittany, but in the event of Charles predeceasing her, Anne
undertook to marry the heir to the throne. Nevertheless, in 1492, after
the conspiracy of Jean de Rohan, who had endeavoured to hand over the
duchy to the king of England, Charles VIII. confirmed the privileges of
Brittany, and in particular guaranteed to the Bretons the right of
paying only those taxes to which the assembly of estates consented,
After the death of Charles VIII. in 1498, without any children, Anne
exercised the sovereignty in Brittany, and in January 1499 she married
Louis XII., who had just repudiated Joan of France. The marriage
contract was ostensibly directed in favour of the independence of
Brittany, for it declared that Brittany should revert to the second son
or to the eldest daughter of the two sovereigns, and, failing issue, to
the natural heirs of the duchess. Until her death Anne occupied herself
personally with the administration of the duchy. In 1504 she caused the
treaty of Blois to be concluded, which assured the hand of her daughter,
Claude of France, to Charles of Austria (the future emperor, Charles
V.), and promised him the possession of Brittany, Burgundy and the
county of Blois. But this unpopular treaty was broken, and the queen had
to consent to the betrothal of Claude to Francis of Angouleme, who in
1515 became king of France as Francis I. Thus the definitive reunion of
Brittany and France was prepared.
See A. de la Borderie, _Choix de documents inedits sur le regne de la
duchesse Anne en Bretagne_ (Rennes, 1866 and 1902)--extracts from the
_Memoires de la Societe Archeologique du departement
d'Ille-et-Vilaine_, vols. iv. and vi. (1866 and 1868); Leroux de
Lincy, _Vie de la reine Anne de Bretagne_ (1860-1861); A. Dupuy, _La
Reunion de la Bretagne a la France_ (1880); A. de la Borderie, _La
Bretagne aux derniers siecles du may en age_ (1893), and _La Bretagne
aux temps modernes_ (1894). (H. Se.)
ANNE OF CLEVES (1515-1557), fourth wife of Henry VIII., king of England,
daughter of John, duke of Cleves, and Mary, only daughter of William,
duke of Juliers, was born on the 22nd of September 1515. Her father was
the leader of the German Protestants, and the princess, after the death
of Jane Seymour, was regarded by Cromwell as a suitable wife for Henry
VIII. She had been brought up in a narrow retirement, could speak no
language but her own, had no looks, no accomplishments and no dowry, her
only recommendations being her proficiency in needlework, and her meek
and gentle temper. Nevertheless her picture, painted by Holbein by the
king's command (now in the Louvre, a modern copy at Windsor), pleased
Henry and the marriage was arranged, the treaty being signed on the 24th
of September 1539. The princess landed at Deal on the 27th of December;
Henry met her at Rochester on the 1st of January 1540, and was so much
abashed at her appearance as to forget to present the gift he had
brought for her, but nevertheless controlled himself sufficiently to
treat her with courtesy. The next day he expressed openly his
dissatisfaction at her looks; "she was no better than a Flanders mare."
The attempt to prove a pre-contract with the son of the duke of Lorraine
broke down, and Henry was forced to resign himself to the sacrifice. On
the wedding morning, however, the 6th of January 1540, he declared that
no earthly thing would have induced him to marry her but the fear of
driving the duke of Cleves into the arms of the emperor. Shortly
afterwards Henry had reason to regret the policy which had identified
him so closely with the German Protestantism, and denied reconciliation
with the emperor. Cromwell's fall was the result, and the chief obstacle
to the repudiation of his wife being thus removed, Henry declared the
marriage had not been and could not be consummated; and did not scruple
to cast doubts on his wife's honour. On the 9th of July the marriage was
declared null and void by convocation, and an act of parliament to the
same effect was passed immediately. Henry soon afterwards married
Catherine Howard. On first hearing of the king's intentions, Anne
swooned away, but on recovering, while declaring her case a very hard
and sorrowful one from the great love which she bore to the king,
acquiesced quietly in the arrangements made for her by Henry, by which
she received lands to the value of L4000 a year, renounced the title of
queen for that of the king's sister, and undertook not to leave the
kingdom. In a letter to her brother, drawn up by Gardiner by the king's
direction, she acknowledged the unreality of the marriage and the king's
kindness and generosity. Anne spent the rest of her life happily in
England at Richmond or Bletchingley, occasionally visiting the court,
and being described as joyous as ever, and wearing new dresses every
day! An attempt to procure her reinstalment on the disgrace of Catherine
Howard failed, and there was no foundation for the report that she had
given birth to a child of which Henry was the reputed father. She was
present at the marriage of Henry with Catherine Parr and at the
coronation of Mary. She died on the 28th of July 1557 at Chelsea, and
was buried in Westminster Abbey.
See _Lives of the Queens of England_, by A. Strickland, iii. (1851);
_The Wives of Henry VIII_., by M. Hume (1905); _Henry VIII_., by A.F.
Pollard (1905); _Four Original Documents relating to the Marriage of
Henry VIII. to Anne of Cleves_, ed. by E. and G. Goldsmid (1886); for
the pseudo Anne of Cleves see _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, i.
467. (P. C. Y.)
ANNE OF DENMARK (1574-1619), queen of James I. of England and VI. of
Scotland, daughter of King Frederick II. of Denmark and Norway and of
Sophia, daughter of Ulric III., duke of Mecklenburg, was born on the
12th of December 1574. On the 20th of August 1589, in spite of Queen
Elizabeth's opposition, she was married by proxy to King James, without
dower, the alliance, however, settling definitely the Scottish claims to
the Orkney and Shetland Islands. Her voyage to Scotland was interrupted
by a violent storm--for the raising of which several Danish and Scottish
witches were burned or executed--which drove her on the coast of Norway,
whither the impatient James came to meet her, the marriage taking place
at Opslo (now Christiania) on the 23rd of November. The royal couple,
after visiting Denmark, arrived in Scotland in May 1590. The position of
queen consort to a Scottish king was a difficult and perilous one, and
Anne was attacked in connexion with various scandals and deeds of
violence, her share in which, however, is supported by no evidence. The
birth of an heir to the throne (Prince Henry) in 1504 strengthened her
position and influence; but the young prince, much to her indignation,
was immediately withdrawn from her care and entrusted to the keeping of
the earl and countess of Mar at Stirling Castle; in 1595 James gave a
written command, forbidding them in case of his death to give up the
prince to the queen till he reached the age of eighteen. The king's
intention was, no doubt, to secure himself and the prince against the
unruly nobles, though the queen's Roman Catholic tendencies were
probably another reason for his decision. Brought up a Lutheran, and
fond of pleasure, she had shown no liking for Scottish Calvinism, and
soon incurred rebukes on account of her religion, "vanity," absence from
church, "night waking and balling." She had become secretly inclined to
Roman Catholicism, and attended mass with the king's connivance. On the
death of Queen Elizabeth, on the 24th of March 1603, James preceded her
to London. Anne took advantage of his absence to demand possession of
the prince, 'and, on the "flat refusal" of the countess of Mar, fell
into a passion, the violence of which occasioned a miscarriage and
endangered her life. In June she followed the king to England (after
distributing all her effects in Edinburgh among her ladies) with the
prince and the coffin containing the body of her dead infant, and
reached Windsor on the 2nd of July, where amidst other forms of good
fortune she entered into the possession of Queen Elizabeth's 6000
dresses.
On the 24th of July Anne was crowned with the king, when her refusal to
take the sacrament according to the Anglican use created some sensation.
She communicated on one occasion subsequently and attended Anglican
service occasionally; but she received consecrated objects from Pope
Clement VIII., continued to hear mass, and, according to Galluzzi,
supported the schemes for the conversion of the prince of Wales and of
England, and for the prince's marriage with a Roman Catholic princess,
which collapsed on his death in 1612. She was claimed as a convert by
the Jesuits.[1] Nevertheless on her deathbed, when she was attended by
the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of London, she used
expressions which were construed as a declaration of Protestantism.
Notwithstanding religious differences she lived in great harmony and
affection with the king, latterly, however, residing mostly apart. She
helped to raise Buckingham to power in the place of Somerset, maintained
friendly relations with him, and approved of his guidance and control of
the king. In spite of her birth and family she was at first favourably
inclined to Spain, disapproved of her daughter Elizabeth's marriage with
the elector palatine, and supported the Spanish marriages for her sons,
but subsequently veered round towards France. She used all her influence
in favour of the unfortunate Raleigh, answering his petition to her for
protection with a personal letter of appeal to Buckingham to save his
life. "She carrieth no sway in state matters," however, it was said of
her in 1605, "and, _praeter rem uxoriam_, hath no great reach in other
affairs." "She does not mix herself up in affairs, though the king tells
her anything she chooses to ask, and loves and esteems her."[2] Her
interest in state matters was only occasional, and secondary to the
pre-occupations of court festivities, masks, progresses, dresses,
jewels, which she much enjoyed; the court being, says Wilson--whose
severity cannot entirely suppress his admiration--"a continued
maskarado, where she and her ladies, like so many nymphs or Nereides,
appeared ... to the ravishment of the beholders," and "made the night
more glorious than the day." Occasionally she even joined in the king's
sports, though here her only recorded exploit was her accidental
shooting of James's "most principal and special hound," Jewel. Her
extravagant expenditure, returned by Salisbury in 1605 at more than
L50,000 and by Chamberlain at her death at more than L84,000, was
unfavourably contrasted with the economy of Queen Elizabeth; in spite of
large allowances and grants of estates which included Oatlands,
Greenwich House and Nonsuch, it greatly exceeded her income, her debts
in 1616 being reckoned at nearly L10,000, while her jewelry and her
plate were valued at her death at nearly half a million. Anne died after
a long illness on the 2nd of March 1619, and was buried in Westminster
Abbey. She was generally regretted. The severe Wilson, while rebuking
her gaieties, allows that she was "a good woman," and that her character
would stand the most prying investigation. She was intelligent and
tactful, a faithful wife, a devoted mother and a staunch friend. Besides
several children who died in infancy she had Henry, prince of Wales, who
died in 1612, Charles, afterwards King Charles I., and Elizabeth,
electress palatine and queen of Bohemia.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--See Dr A.W. Ward's article in the _Dict, of Nat.
Biography_, with authorities; _Lives of the Queens of England_, by A.
Strickland (1844), vii.; "Life and Reign of King James I.," by A.
Wilson, in _History of England_ (1706); _Istoria del Granducato di
Toscana_, by R. Galluzzi (1781), lib. vi. cap. ii.; _Cal. of State
Papers--Domestic and Venetian_; _Hist. MSS. Comm. Series, MSS, of
Marq. of Salisbury_, iii. 420, 438, 454, ix. 54; _Harleian MSS._ 5176,
art. 22, 293, art. 106. Also see bibliography to the article on JAMES
I. (P. C. Y.)