A FATEEUL WOMAN.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5289, 20 June 1928, Page 4

A FATEEUL WOMAN.

AN HISTORICAL MYSTERY. ANNE OF CLEVES. Of all the wives of King Henry VIII none was so mysterious both in herself and in the circumstances of her marriage as. was Anne of Cleves. Her match was designed by Thomas Cromwell as the climax of that campaign against the Roman Catholic Church which had caused the final breach with the Papacy. Henry him' self was always a little hesitant, and the Duchess’s nephew, the Elector John Frederick of Saxony, disliked the project because, as he put it. “Luther never spoke well of Henry.” When the Protestant Duchess landed at Dover on the last day of 1533 to journey Londonwards along the old road through Canterbury, Rochester, and Blackheath, Henry discovered that her, features were “harsh and awkward” and her whole person “anything but elegant and distinguished.” As the good old lady only spoke Dutch she herself did not understand when her future spouse referred to her. as “that great Flanders mare”; but Cromwell had to bear a great many things which could hardly have been pleasant to him. For better or worse, and it proved very much for worse, the Royal, pair were married by Cranmer on January 6, 1540, writes “Pasquiuo” in the “Graphic.” Within a month the wedding was repudiated by the King, and the Queen was removed to the Palace on Richmond Green. In July of the same year Cromwell, was beheaded. Thus, within seven months, these amazing nuptials were brought to an end, causing the death of one of the most powerful and unscrupulous Ministers in Europe. Exactly what became of this fateful woman has never, been satisfactorily cleared up. At any rate, it is generally assumed that she died at Richmond in July of 1557, after having lived practically a prisoner for nearly seventeen years. Mary Tudor’s Court went into mourning (rather a striking tribute from a Catholic to a divorced Protestant queen) and the foreign ambassadors were ostentatiously notified. It would seem that Queen Mary was anxious to convince everybody that Queen Anne had definitely died. In the following year the Elector John. Frederick received two somewhat cryptic letters, sigped by a mysterious person calling herself “Anne of Aghalen, widow of Duke Henry of Shyprus, in, Ireland,” entreating him to “hear certain important matters relating to hi ! s aunt, Queen Anne of England.” As it was the middle of December, severe time for travelling on the frosty German cart tracks, the Elector prolonged the correspondence, which struck Him aS rather curious. Ann, however, persisted in saying that her story was for Johp Frederick alone, whereupon the Elector, sent his secretary, John Rudolf, to visit'her.

To this gentleman she told a most remarkable story, she had, she sa,id, just made her escape by a kh’otted rope from a London prison and had found sanctuary on .a Hanse boat, Danzig bound. On board she had met Anne of Cleves, who had escaped from the convent where Queen Mary had confined her. Now, there is a. ririg o± likelihood in this story. Mary was just the woman to act in that way towards a convinced Protestant like Anne, and if the story were true it wouilid go far to explain the great stir which had attended the announcement of the sup. posed death.

The lady, having landed at Danzig, obtained a, safe conduct, she said, from the King of Poland, but being unfortunate enough to find herself at Warsaw when, that .town was besiege ! by Tofzky, had made her escape clad only in her smock and a gold chain. Her only companion was an English, man named William von Zieritz (this sounds ssomewhat unlikely!), whose Wij’st was severed by the blow of an axe, while her steward (apparently an unjust one) had made oft to Posen with all her. valuables, she herself had reached Thuringia on foot; but she knew that Queen Anne was still alive, am) that her treasure was at Augsburg in the strong rooms of one Reffhausen, a representative of the Fuggers. The treasure— and here the story would appear highly fantast/caili—consisted of “the Crown of England, the orb and sceptre, a diamond necklace with-a carbuncle, six barrels of gold, seven dresses embroidered with fine pearls, fourteen, gold chains, with as many girdles and waist belts, with twelve head-dresses of fine pearls.” As a token of her high station “Anne of Aghalen” gave Rudolf her. signet ring and asked him to gfive it to Ms master, requesting him to send her “good stock of game .and Rhenish wine.”

John Frederick had never seen his aunt; but he knew her features from a family miniature, and he remembered that she bore upon her forehead a peculiarly shaped scar caused by a blow from a pair of tailor’s shears. The scar, was there. So aFo was that hereditary deformity of the House of Cleves.—a, big toe bent inwards and paralysed. He doubted not that he was face to face with the luckless wife of King Henry. Thus the spripg went by. At her earnest request a messenger was dispatched to Nuremburg to .fetch “a barrel of gold,” which she said she had left there ; but somewhat to the Electorate’s surprise he returned to -ay that there was no such, treasure in the city. Meanwhile repeated warnings were conveyed to John Frederick that his aunt had died in London and that he was harbouring a dangerous imposter. By July he grew uneasy, and when the reigning Duke of Juiiers Cleve demanded her arrest and examination he gave a very reluctant consent.

“Anne” was examined before the Ducal Councillor (Dr. Stephen Cloctius). Dr. John Luther, and the colector of taxes for the city of Gotha. As she maintained her original story she .was removed to the Castle Tennenburg, where-, under close pressure, she broke down and- made a confes' sion. Unfortunately, however, she made several confessions. The only

thing tha.t they had in commop was the quality cf being far. more unlikely than her original story. She was Countess of East Friesland, and had been taken to London, where she met Anne. There she heard about the jewels (which, of course, she could never possibly have heard anywhere). After tha,t she came back to her own country, rode across East Friesland cn a horse, dressed as a man, and so got to Danzig, after, which she had behaved as she said at first. Next she wa.s the daughter of the Countess of East Friesland, hac] married Count von Rietberg, who had been to England, and told her the story. Finally, at the seventh examination, she said she was the natural daughter, by an Essen pun, of John Duke of Cleves, and had run away to Poland with an Englishman called Vonl Zieritz, who there abandoned her for another woma.n. Then she broke down and said that the arch-flend had forbidden her to tell the truth. At this stage the executioner, was called in, and in front of the rack she was asked the question which has baffled posterity ever since : “ What is your object in inventing all these follies ?” As she c]id not answer she was racked, when it was found “that her arms were covered with spots by the fiend,” and also that she had lost the use of her limbs and could n'ot be tortured without endangering her life. She began to babble about her mother being a. Countess von Dafurth, about marrying and having two children, about meeting Zieritz at Liege and going with him to England, and about her landlady, Mistress Manning, introducing her to Queen Anne. She w aS removed begging for “a priest, some ointment, a ba.rber to dres® her wounlds, .a piece of bread, and some watchers to protect her against the field.” The Duke of Jailers Cleve declineil to own her as in any way connected with his House ; but the Elector bf Saxony could never, make up his mind. She was kept in Tennenburg, where she was badly treated during the week, but regaled on Sundays with “roast meat and wine and books.” She finally died there. Although no satisfactory solution to the mystery lias been found, there were many theories both at the time and. since. The generally-accepted idea in Saxony was presented by John von Froemont in an official report to the town council of Nuremburg. She was, he said, a courtesan, who had gone to England! as woinan; of the bedchamber to Anne of Cleves.