The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-22
4OOTH ANNIVERSARY
 OF ANNE OF CLEEVES,
 ssUGLIESE QUEEN

The matrimonial alliances and do- mestic dif1culties of Henry VIII. con- stftute subject of perennial interest, and, while the average casual student of English history may be able to re- call little about Henry's career as
 monarch, he is almost certain to re-. member that Henry had half a dozen spouses. Today is. the 400th anniver-
 sary of the birth of Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Gloves, who, if not as ! famous as that other Anne. daughter
 of Sir Thomas Bo1eyn, at least had the dubious distinction of being the
 eugIiest of England's queens.''e It is ungallant to so characterize the lady. but history has attached that stigma to her name, and it is certain that
 Henry VIII, while not g sticklers for
 comeliness in his spouses, was not long able to tolerate the honely Anne as the wife of his bosom.
 Anne of Gloves was born Sept. 22, t1515, the daughter Of John III. of, Cleves, a duehy in northeastern Ger
 many, and now a part of Prussia. She
 was 24 years the junior of her future lord and master, the nluch-narried
 Henry, who, when she was born, had already taken as his rst spouse Cath crime of Aragon, widow of Henry's elder brother. Only five months after
 the birth of Henry fourth wife, his first SD oi1se gave him a daughter, who afterward reigned over England as Mary I.
 while Anne of. Gloves was develop ing intoan awkward. ugly girl, Henry
 was seeking to divoTce Catherine of Aragon. Henry's first venture on the trubled sea Of matrimony was fruit less, for, although Catherine gave birth to three sons, one was born dead and the other two survived only a few hours. Aside from this, Henry was infatuated with Anne Bo1eyn, in hor q 7afn l rlination to sustain no relationship with him other than that of his legal
 married wife In spite of the threats of the pope and the clergy, Henry di-
 vorced Catherine and took Anne Bo- leyn to wife in 1888. Three months later his second wife gave birth to Eliza beth, whose subsequent reign shed so much glory on England In
 1536. shortly after the death of Cath crime, the fickle Henry turned against his second wife, and she was charged
 with misconduct before a commission Eof peers, who condemned her to death, with three gentlemen and a musician who were alleged to have | shared her guilt. She was beheaded at the Tower, and on the following
 day Henry married AJane Seymour, kdaughter of Sir John Seymour, who 1 had been a maid of honor to the exes | Icuted queen. The following year | Queen Jane died after giving birth to l the prince WHO d4I011 tIG1SiAS0 e1S Edward VI.
 Then came the turn of Anne of
 CIeves. who became the bride. of
 Henry in 154O, when she was q years o1dza the King nearly twice her age.
 The marriage between the English l monarch and the German princess
 was negotiated Sby Thomas Cromwell,
 Earl of Essex, who hoped thus to
 unite the Protestants of England and Germany Henry consented to this l project to please the Protestant party, 1 but the lady's unprepossessing ap- l pearancef was more than the King could tolerate. He ungallantly de- l clared that to look at her made him
 sick at his royal tummy. To revenge
 hirnseeIf upon the promoter of this unhappy marraige, Henry had Crom-
 well thrown into the Tower, and he l was afterward beheaded. Anne of
 Cleaves occupied Henry's palace only
 six months, when he divorced her and i settled upon her an annuity of $15, 900 1 a year A few weeks later Henry
 married Catherine Howard, buk she i soon shared the fate of Anne Boleyn,
 and Henry then married Catherine
 Parr, who survived him. Anne of
 Gloves died in 1537, being the last to dia If Innrv's six SpOuSeS