Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn (1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) Having no male heir by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII wanted to get a Papal annulment so he could marry the flirtatious Anne Boleyn. Unable to do so the English king was forced to break from Rome and the pope ( thus creating the Church of England) in order to divorce Catherine and wed the now pregnant Anne. The new English queen was sympathetic towards the new Bible based Protestantism and Martin Luther viewed her rise to the throne as a positive sign.
Anne gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I in 1533, but was unable to produce a male heir to the throne, and three years later was accused of adultery and incest with her half-brother (a charge invented by Thomas Cromwell), and sent to the Tower of London. She was declared guilty, and was beheaded on 19 May 1536 at Tower Green, her last words being “Christ have mercy on my soul.”