Anne of Bohemia
(1366-1394)
BIRTH
May 11, 1366
PLACE
Prague, Czech Republic
DEATH
June 7, 1394
PLACE
Richmond, England
FAMILY
HOMES
NICKNAMES
Good Queen Anne
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
RELIGION NOT DOCUMENTED
DENOMINATION NOT DOCUMENTED
MEMBERSHIPS
AWARDS
Anne of Bohemia (1366–1394), daughter of Emperor Charles IV, married Richard II of England at Westminster in 1382. Their marriage produced no children, but Richard remained deeply attached to her. When she died at Sheen in 1394, his grief led him to order the palace demolished. Their joint tomb in Westminster Abbey survives, with bronze effigies originally designed to hold hands. The preserved commission offers unusually direct evidence of the memorial he arranged for her.
EARLY LIFE
Anne was born on May 11, 1366, in Prague, the eldest daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Bohemia, by his fourth wife, Elizabeth of Pomerania. She grew up in Prague, which her father had made one of the great cities of Europe, and she was well educated, reportedly reading in several languages. Her brother Wenceslaus became king of Bohemia and king of the Romans. During the Western Schism, England and the Empire both supported the Roman pope, and an alliance was arranged through her marriage to the young Richard II of England. She arrived in England in December 1381 after a difficult journey.
Anne married Richard II at Westminster Abbey on January 20, 1382, and she was crowned queen two days later. She was said to have pleaded for pardons for rebels after the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.
The couple were devoted to each other, though they had no children. During the crisis of 1388, when the Lords Appellant purged Richard's court in the Merciless Parliament, Anne is said to have begged in vain for the life of Sir Simon Burley.
Anne died, probably of plague, at Sheen Palace on June 7, 1394. Grief-stricken, Richard ordered the palace demolished. She was buried in Westminster Abbey, where Richard later joined her in a double tomb.
CAREER
DEATH
Their marriage produced no children, but Richard remained deeply attached to her. Their joint tomb in Westminster Abbey survives, with bronze effigies originally designed to hold hands. When she died at Sheen in 1394, his grief led him to order the palace demolished. Anne married Richard II at Westminster Abbey on January 20, 1382, and she was crowned queen two days later. She was said to have pleaded for pardons for rebels after the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The couple were devoted to each other, though they had no children. During the crisis of 1388, when the Lords Appellant purged Richard's court in the Merciless Parliament, Anne is said to have begged in vain for the life of Sir Simon Burley. Anne died, probably of plague, at Sheen Palace on June 7, 1394. Grief-stricken, Richard ordered the palace demolished. She was buried in Westminster Abbey, where Richard later joined her in a double tomb. The available biographical account does not describe a continuous final medical course. It gives no dependable sequence of treatment and last symptoms from which to reconstruct a more detailed bedside narrative.
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
Anne of Bohemia (1366–1394), Richard II’s first queen. Geaman is dedicated political biography; Thomas’s books study her cultural and literary setting. Five dedicated biographies were not identified. These editorial selections include biographies where available, with personal writings, collective biography, reference works and related studies clearly labelled.
1. Anne of Bohemia — Kristen L. Geaman. Find on Amazon
2. Anne’s Bohemia: Czech Literature and Society, 1310–1420 — Alfred Thomas. [Cultural and biographical study] Find on Amazon
3. Reading Women in Late Medieval Europe: Anne of Bohemia and Chaucer’s Female Audience — Alfred Thomas. [Literary, cultural and biographical study] Find on Amazon
4. Queens of the Age of Chivalry — Alison Weir. [Collective biography] Find on Amazon
5. Richard II — Nigel Saul. [Related biography of her husband] Find on Amazon
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