Second wife of King Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I. While married to his first wife, Henry VIII made numerous attempts to seduce Boleyn, all of which she refused. The pope's refusal to allow Henry an annulment of his marriage with Catherine of Aragon in favor of marrying Anne Boleyn led to England's break from the Catholic church and the beginning of the English Reformation. After Boleyn was unsuccessful in bearing Henry a son, Henry sought to break from the marriage in favor of his mistress, Jane Seymore. Henry had Boleyn arrested for high treason, and she was beheaded four days later. Historians have largely dismissed the charges against her, including adultery, incest, and conspiring to kill her husband, as false.