Anne Boleyn: From Queen to History

Mistress Anne by Carolly Erickson
As Maureen Quilligan wrote in the New York Times Book Review of The First Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn "was a real victim of the sexual scandals her brilliant daughter escaped, and a subject Ms. Erickson's sensitivity to sexual and political nuance should well serve." Indeed, Carolly Erickson could have chosen no more fascinating and appropriate a subject. Alluring and profoundly enigmatic, Anne Boleyn has eluded the grasp of historians for centuries.
Through her extraordinarily vivid re-creation of this most tragic chapter in all Tudor History, Carrolly Erickson gives us unprecedented insight into the singuarlity of Anne Boleyn's life, the dark and overwhelming forces that shaped her errant destiny, and the rare, tumultuous times in which she lived.

I have to admit that from the very start I was severely disappointed with this book. The book starts off with Anne going to France accompany Mary Tudor on her future marriage to King Louis. There is no mention whatsoever about Anne’s early years; no discussion about the proposed dates for her birth or where she was brought up or lived. In fact the first few years of her life are completely omitted.

There are some serious mistakes within the pages of this book which I admit, as an avid admirer of Anne Boleyn made it extremely difficult to read. The ten main inaccuracies that sprung out of the pages to me were as follows:

1) Anne Boleyn having six fingers, an extra nail and a massive disfigured mole on her neck. This is an utter fabrication made up by those who disliked Anne as a way to discredit her. Anne and Henry courted for about six years before they were married, there would be an extremely slim chance that during this time Henry would have never seen Anne’s hands. In an age where disfigurement was often considered as a curse or act of witchcraft I severely doubt Henry would have married a woman with a sixth finger!

2) Going oversees for the first time with Mary Tudor where in fact she was sent to Europe by her father to study and learn under the Archduchess Margaret of Austria.

3) Mary Boleyn bore Henry VIII’s illegitimate son. Mary was Henry VIII’s mistress during the time when her son was conceived, BUT not once did Henry ever recognise the boy as his own. Bessie Blount, whom was previously Henry’s mistress, gave birth to a boy in 1519 called Henry whom Henry VIII did acknowledge as his own son. He gave the boy the last name Fitzroy as acknowledgement of who his father was. Henry VIII acknowledged this illegitimate son but not Mary’s? Why? Perhaps because Henry did not believe that the boy by Mary was his, but was infact the son of Mary’s legal husband.

4) Incorrectly states that Charles Brandon’s heir and oldest child, Henry Brandon died of the sweating sickness of 1528. From my research Henry Brandon died around 1522 but from what I am not sure. As an admirer of the Duke of Suffolk I find this inaccuracy gravely annoying as there is nothing at all about it that is even based on fact!

5) Erickson also states that Katherine of Aragon was to be called “Mistress Katherine” shortly before the annulment of her marriage and then continued to be called as such after her marriage to Henry was annulled. In fact she was not to be called “Mistress Katherine” but was to be referred to as “The Dowager Princess of Wales” as it was decreed her lawful husband had been Arthur Tudor, the late Prince of Wales. It is small inaccuracies such as these that I find, as a fan and person interested in Tudor history, find extremely irritating.

6) There is famous recording of Anne’s final plea to Henry for mercy. Record has it that she took Elizabeth and carried her to a garden where Henry was standing at a window above. Apparently they had a heated conversation, but the man whom was watching did not hear the actual words said. Erickson writes that Henry completely ignored Anne… this is just not true! If you read any history book about Anne it will tell you that Henry and Anne argued… but the actual conversation is lost to history.

7) Erickson claims that the reason Henry and Anne’s marriage was declared invalid and was annulled was because Henry had slept with Anne’s sister Mary before their marriage. Again this is just not true! Yes Henry did sleep with Mary Boleyn before he married Anne, but the reason for the annulment of his marriage to Anne was never stated. The marriage was annulled, but no reason was given as to why.

8) Anne Boleyn watched her brother and fellow accused die at the block. This is extremely inaccurate. All five men accused of adultery with Queen Anne were executed on Tower Hill. Anne Boleyn was kept in the Queen’s apartments which were on the other side of the White Tower on the River Thames side. The only way she could have seen their executions if she was released from her chambers and allowed to walk across the Tower Green… which history records that she did not.

9) Mark Smeaton and Francis Brereton’s bodies were cut into quarters before burial. There was no dismembering of the bodies. Smeaton, Brereton, Norris and Weston were all buried in two graves in the local cemetery.

10) After her execution Anne Boleyn’s head was held high to the crowd. There is most defiantly NO record of this ever happening. After her head fell to the straw on the scaffold one of Anne’s ladies in waiting covered it with a white linen cloth until it, along with her body, was moved to an empty arrow chest in which she was buried in.

These are obvious mistakes and if someone like myself, just an avid reader and passionate admirer about Anne Boleyn and Tudor history can spot these out – why could Erickson not? Why did a publisher not get the book proof read to check for historical accuracy? Why were these blatant mistakes included which a simple Tudor fan like myself could pick out and pull apart? The blatant inaccuracies really overshadowed the factual information within the book. While I agree that much of the information within the book is correct and accurate, as I read I could not help but keep thinking ‘what horrendous mistake will I read next?’ I felt this really laid down a bad precedence for the rest of the book and spoiled much of the enjoyment that could have been gained from reading these pages.

Erickson also talks about growing up in the French court. She goes into great detail about the sexuality of the court, how, as she makes it seem, was nothing but sex, sex, sex! Everyone from the King down to the Dukes and Earls and other noble men and woman were having sex whenever and wherever they could get it! Like court was a den for sexual activity. Men, women, sometimes women and women were having sex and even encouraged to do so by the King. While I would agree that there was a lot of sexual courting within the French Court, I doubt that it was almost like a brothel or house of ill repute like Erickson describes it as!

I also thought that Erickson took a lot of leeway assuming the way that Anne would have thought and felt. She writes as though she knew what Anne was thinking or how she was feeling during different events in her life. When it comes down to the facts no one can be sure exactly what Anne was thinking or feeling as very few of her personal letters and records survive. We can make logical and educated guesses as to how Anne may have felt, surmise at her thoughts and ideas on matters, but to assume is taking a great leap between fact and the unknown. I think it is a very dangerous path for an author to go down to start assuming thoughts and feelings of people who died almost five hundred years ago!

I was also extremely disappointed that the downfall and then death of Anne was only covered in twenty pages. This is a huge part of Anne Boleyn’s history and a part of her life which is very well documented. There are a lot of facts and lots of information and events which happened during the last six months of Anne’s life and yet I felt as though it was glossed over and important events were barely mentioned. I feel that to cover Anne’s downfall and death in only twenty pages is quite an injustice to the dramatic and tragic events that unfolded during 1535/1536.

Despite the rather obvious inaccuracies I will give Erickson credit for her use of language. She has a very beautiful writing style which is one of creating sumptuous images which when reading seem to take a life of their own within your mind. She does not just write about what it might have been like to cross the English channel, she takes you there with her words, building intricate and breathtaking images of the boats struggling against the water, of the detail within the boats etc etc. She does have a stunningly creative writing style; it is just a shame that her writing is riddled with inaccuracies.

Overall I found this to be an extremely negative book. There is little talk or praise of Anne’s virtuous qualities, her strengths, her courage, her skills, her intelligence. Yet Erickson takes great care to mention how everyone, her father included, hated Anne Boleyn. It seems as though almost every page there is a description of how greatly she was disliked by the members of court and the common people, how she was temperamental, angry, prone to fits of rage, loud, obnoxious, attention seeking, self righteous, haughty  etc. etc. etc. Yes I will agree that Anne had a negative side to her – as does everyone. Yes she was a very temperamental women with a violent temper and prone to outbursts of rage. But she was also an incredible strong, intelligent, brave and courageous woman who did care for the poor and hard done by. Who wanted money from the dissolutions of the monasteries to be distributed to the poor, the charities and the universities. This book talks nothing about that and the reader is left with a very negative and biased opinion against Anne.

I was severely disappointed with this book. There are so many inaccuracies that it is too difficult to just put them aside as small mistakes or differences of opinion. The inaccuracies are far too blatant and obvious to be overlooked. The whole book I felt was very negative towards Anne Boleyn. Be she a sinner or saint or a mixture of both I feel as though a good book will leave the final decision to the reader – this book seemed to be very biased against Anne emphasising strongly her negative qualities and over looking many of her good merits. Although I am a lover and great admirer of Anne Boleyn and would quickly suggest that anyone read anything about her life, I have to say that this book is most certainly one I would not recommend. It was a great disappointment and defiantly not worth the cost to buy or the time taken to read.

Recently Claire Ridgway wrote a really interesting article over at The Elizabeth Files wrote a really interesting article entitled Is Anne Boleyn’s Famous Portrait Really Elizabeth I?  In which she talks about the similarities between Elizabeth Tudor and her mother Anne Boleyn. She outlined a portrait of Elizabeth painted by Marcus Gheeraerts, the Younger. She compared this portrait with the one of Anne Boleyn that now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.

Claire then went on to superpose the portrait of Elizabeth over the one of Anne Boleyn (with some super computer skills!) Oh. My. Gosh. The similarities are absolutely mind blowing. If one did not know who these two women were I am sure they would think they were one and the same, the one portrait being painted in the woman’s younger years and the other in her later years. To know that these two portraits are in fact mother and daughter is incredible!




What made me smile about this article is that a few months ago I wrote my own little piece about this very same portrait of Elizabeth entitled Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth Tudor.  I spoke about how I thought the National Portrait Gallery portrait of Anne Boleyn looked very similar to that of Marcus Gheeraerts, the Younger’s portrait of Elizabeth I. I have to admit that it made me smile to think that I have the same thoughts and questions as one of my favourite writers!

My theory is a little different to that of Claire Ridgway’s, I believe that the National Portrait Gallery Portrait of Anne Boleyn is a very close likeness to what Anne looked like. I think that as she aged Elizabeth looked more and more like her mother.

If you are interested in what Anne Boleyn could have possibly looked like, I have written an article previously in my LJ. You can find it here:  The Many Faces of Anne Boleyn. 

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
Henry VIII is perhaps England’s most infamous monarch, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. He was married to six distinctly different women, and in this richly detailed and meticulously researched history, these remarkable, often misunderstood queens come to life once again: Katherine of Aragon, stubborn and devoutly Catholic; Anne Boleyn, proud and fiercely ambitious; Jane Seymour, deceptively strong-willed; Anne of Cleves, unappealing and uncomplaining; Katherine Howard, young and foolish; and finally, Katherine Parr, brave, practical and intelligent. Their full histories and personalities emerge at last, giving voices to the six extraordinary women who left their distinctive marks on the English thrown and thereby changed the course of British history.

Alison Weir’s book is just fantastic. Instead of applying today’s moral standards, today’s laws, rules, views etc. onto the events that happened almost five hundred years ago Weir, at the beginning of her book, gives such a detailed outline of what life was really like back then. She talks about the roles and responsibilities of women, the expectations of Queens and mistresses and of those at court who all played a role in some way or another in the life of Henry VIII. You get an idea of what life was like back then and why Henry and those around him did the things they did. By today’s standards the events that happened five hundred years ago might sound appalling – such as beheading a woman he believed had betrayed him. Or even ridiculous, by not accepting a great offer given by the King for a better life. But those were the morals and standards of the day and what was considered ‘normal’ by today’s standards was VERY different back then. 

What I instantly adored about this book is that Weir gives us a wonderful insight into the roles, responsibilities and loves of women of noble blood during the Reign of Henry VIII. We get to see how men of the day truly believed that women were of a lesser class then themselves and their main function in life was to produce heirs… mainly sons. Girls were accepted, but male issues were of extreme importance; and women were not just expected to have one or two children, they were expected to have many, many children! As though these poor women, even though they were from rich, well to do families, were expected to be nothing more than poor breeding machines.

As well as this it appears that in the Tudor period women were supposed to be seen and not heard. They were expected to dress in the highest fashion adorned with beautiful jewels, materials and furs, appearing nothing but clean and virtuous. There was not supposed to be a hint of slander against them, pure, innocent, honourable, moral and knowledgeable about issues related to women – needlework and the likes. They were not expected to have their own thoughts and views on matters. They were not allowed to speak out and say what they believed, and heaven forbid if they challenged a man. And yet on the complete opposite side of the coin, it appears that men, especially Henry Tudor were attracted to women who challenged them, who had their own thoughts, opinions and beliefs on matters. But as soon as they were married these poor women had better shut up and provide lots of babies! My heart breaks for the poor women struggling to be who they are while being everything they were expected to be by the social rules of the time.

Through Weir’s wonderful and detailed description of the expectations and pressures of women during Henry VIII’s reign it gives me even greater love for Anne Boleyn. This woman was not only bold, vivacious and intelligent, she was also a woman born hundreds of years before her time. I can only imagine all the remarkable things she could have achieved if she lived during today’s times.

Speaking of Anne Boleyn, Weir does not shy away from who Anne was. She does not try and paint her as some holy figure that supported Henry in the reformation – she tells the world what Anne Boleyn was really like. There is a LOT more to Anne Boleyn than just her fall and her involvement in the Reformation. To think that this was all that was her life is a grave underestimation. While she was a strong, vivacious, brave, intelligent woman she was also a woman prone to jealousy, fits of rage and anger, scorn and tremendous hatred. (I can see so much of myself in Anne Boleyn at times that it’s not funny!) Weir states the facts and I felt as though she let the reader decide their own views and opinions on Anne.

Everyone knows my feelings about Anne Boleyn; she is after all my favourite of Henry’s wives and for many reasons. Weir just summed up all the reasons why I admire and love Anne. Yes she most certainly had her faults and perhaps she should not have encouraged Henry to advance and follow his love for her, perhaps she should not set her sights upon the throne and becoming Queen – we see what a price Catherine had to pay for these ambitions. But I do believe that Anne had many good intentions. Weir notes that Anne wanted the money from the dissolution of the monasteries and Abby’s to be given to the poor, charities and to the advancement of the universities. Anne also truly believed that she could have given Henry a male heir. I love how Alison Weir gives both sides of the coin that is Anne Boleyn, the good and the bad. She dedicates a great section of the book to outlining the life and the facts about Anne and lets the reader make up their own mind about this woman. A woman who in the words of Cromwell had - intelligence, spirit and courage. 

While I Catherine of Aragon has never been my favourite wife, I did gain a powerful insight into the life of this incredible woman. I will never be a strong supporter of the women - personally I think when everything fell down with Anne Boleyn, the annulment of their marriage and the Reformation - I think Catherine should have accepted Henry’s offer to go to a nunnery. He offered her the same comforts and leisure’s that she currently had, including visiting and spending time with her daughter. Yet she chose to remain strong to her faith and her beliefs, which one has to give her admirable credit for. She certainly was a strong woman. It’s a shame that she was still madly in love with Henry and could not accept that he no longer loved her, nor was in love with her but had fallen madly in love with someone else. For the first time in his life Henry VIII was in love, it is just so very sad that Catherine of Aragon had to suffer for this new found love.

One of my favourite quotes: ‘when thwarted Henry could, and frequently did, become cruel.’ (Weir 1995, p. 228). I think this sums up Henry VIII to a tea. When Henry had his mind set on something he wanted it and nothing would stop him - heaven forbid anything that got in his way! Poor Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn are true testament to this.

I really enjoyed reading about Jane Seymour… which I know will shock many people as they know that I have very little love for the late Queen. What I found extremely interesting was that Weir did not try to portray the woman as completely virtuous and innocent… in fact she laid out some very good reasons why Jane was perhaps rather quite the opposite. Weir talks about how Jane could not have been completely blind to Anne Boleyn’s plight. After all, just as Anne had done to Katherine of Aragon, Jane was pushing her way into Henry VIII’s view as a possible love interest. She was trying to gain the King’s favour and take his attention away from his Queen just as Anne had done to Katherine. Perhaps she was pushed by her family who saw the prospects of Jane becoming the next Queen and perhaps there was a little of Jane’s own ambition and goals playing a role. Whatever the case, be it one way or the other… or in my opinion a mixture of both, there is no way to say that Jane was completely innocent. She obviously knew what she was doing – trying to bring down the fall of Henry and Anne’s marriage and put herself into the position as the next Queen. Innocent? I think not.

I think the major difference between Jane and Anne is that when Anne caught the King’s attention there was a LOT of political and religious happenings going on. Anne did NOT first bring the idea of divorce to Henry, he had, for some years previously, been thinking how he could distance himself from Katherine of Aragon so that he may have a male heir to the throne. He had grown dissatisfied with poor Katherine and had not visited her bed for years. He wanted a new wife and when he fell in love with Anne he wanted something to be done.

What came with Anne was the Reformation and she has been wrongly blamed for the single cause of the Reformation. Yes I do believe that Anne supported Henry, nudged him to the idea that he could be the soul head of the English Church, but she was not the only one to play a role in this, nor was she the single reason why Henry wanted a divorce. She did not plant this idea in Henry’s head, it had already been there, she simply helped to water the seed.

But the English people did not know this, nor did they see it this way. They saw a Queen whom they deeply loved being cast off for a woman who they thought of as nothing more than a common whore. Divorce in these times had not been seen before, especially by a King and they did not like it. There was much anger and hatred towards Anne and unfortunately this carried on throughout her life and ultimately played a huge role in her downfall.

With the English people hating Anne, it was not hard for them to see Jane as a new fresh start for the Kingdom. They welcomed her with open harms while they cheered for the fall of Anne Boleyn. It saddens me that they could not see past this and see Jane for who she really was – another woman, pushing out a Queen to take the role upon herself. I do not think Jane is innocent at all, nor will I ever. The evidence is just to damning against her. And let us not forget that Jane, when she was Queen, only wanted to surround herself with those of equal status and had little friendship her interaction with her ladies in waiting.

And now moving on from Jane and her role in Anne’s destruction and downfall, Alison Weir goes on to speak of Anne of Cleves, the German Princess who was perhaps the only wife who have great success and joy from annulment of her marriage to Henry VIII. I think Anne was one smart cookie – she was an incredibly intelligent woman and I give her full credit to the way she handled the annulment of her marriage. It was not her fault that Henry declared: “I like her not!” nor was it her fault he could not have sexual intercourse with her. Unfortunately she was just another pawn in political alliances and she could have paid a very high price… but not only managed to get away with her head, but was greatly rewarded for how she handled herself.

I really admired the way that Weir portrays Anne of Cleves and her writings only made me fall more in love with the ‘sister to the King’. Instead of going down the same path that Katherine of Aragon went, Anne chose to accept her fate and to hold her head high. She accepted what was happening and took it willingly, glad to be annulled of the marriage and be declared the King’s sister. For this, and her agreement in all matters, she was rewarded well, with three houses, lands and an annual salary from the King. She even decided not to return to Germany, but to stay in England. Although this I can see as a personal reason – after all now with a new life, money, land, servants all spread out before her Anne had a new found freedom and a love of life that she did not have under her brothers ever watchful eye. (And let us not forget that Anne changed her religion when she married Henry VIII – a difficult thing to do, but one in which she took on gladly and willingly.)

I also love that Anne took little Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry under her wing and took great care and favour for her. She could see that Mary was old enough to look after herself and that Prince Edward was being spoiled and doted upon – as rightly should be due to the fact that he would be the next King of England! But she saw how ill poor Elizabeth was being treated and wanted to remedy this. Weir states how Anne invited Elizabeth to her home on many occasions and showed her great love. This warms my heart.

 I think for me personally, if I was married to Henry and knew that he was dissatisfied with our marriage and wanted an annulment, I would have handled the matter the same way that Anne of Cleves did. I do not think she sacrificed any of her dignity by agreeing to the annulment – in fact the people of England continued to love her even after she was no longer Queen. I do see Anne as a very strong, intelligent woman.

Next came Katherine Howard – poor naive Kitty Howard. Every time I read about this girl I feel more and more sorry for her and reading Weir’s writings was no exception. I do not think that there is anyone that would say what she did was not wrong – she had an affair while she was married. The extent of that affair is up in question as Weir points out at first Culpeper denied having sexual intercourse with Katherine, but then later changed his not guilty plea to guilty. Kitty however always plead that she was innocent of sexual intercourse. Either way she was having an emotional affair with Culpepper, as the letter she wrote to him when he was sick testifies how much she missed him and cared deeply for him. Henry, who doted upon his new life and lavished attention and gifts upon her, was made to look like a fool – and history tells us that no one makes Henry VIII look like a fool!

My heart breaks for this girl, given to the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk to live with other children of noble families whose parents could not afford to look after them. While she was taught the basics in education it appears that the Duchess did not take much interest in her upbringing and this had a huge impact on Katherine’s life as she grew up. Weir talks a little about how Kitty was a very warm and caring young woman and it would seem that people – especially men, used this quality against her. There is no doubt that she was a very sexual young girl, how much of that was what she wanted and how much of it was pushed on her by Dereham and Culpepper Weir leaves it up to the reader to decide.

I get the feeling that Katherine was so taken by her new lavish lifestyle, being totally and utterly spoiled by Henry, having gifts lavished upon her, given everything her heart could desire, being the centre of attention – I think it all went to her head. She must have known what she was going with Culpeper was wrong, and yet it seemed as though she was completely taken with him. A strong part of me still thinks that she was far too naïve and foolish to realise the true impact of what she was doing.  If she had only agreed that she had been contracted to marry to Dereham then her marriage to Henry would have been declared null and void and she probably would have saved her life. Unfortunately her naivety cost Katherine her life.

Lastly Weir moves on to talk about the life of Katherine Parr. I felt an incredible amount of sorry for Katherine. Here is a woman who helped to revolutionize learning for women in the Tudor times and what was her reward? A devastating betrayal and a sad, tragic ending. She was very much aware of Henry VIII’s past and what he did with his wives and yet Katherine was put into a position where she could not deny Henry’s request for marriage. She was in love with another man (Thomas Seymour) and yet she had to push that love aside because her King wanted to marry her. It must have been terrifying for her.

Yet despite this knowledge she was a loving and caring woman who nursed Henry through great bouts of health problems. She was a secret Protestant and this in itself almost brought about her downfall when Bishop Gardiner informed the King of this and tried to have her sent to the Tower. Yet I love that Katherine was a strong woman and knew how to play her role well. Running to Henry she fell on her knees imploring him that she was his most faithful and humble servant, wanting nothing more than to learn from him and if she did argue or question him it was only in an attempt to help her learn. HA! Smart words and a wonderful way to play on Henry’s love of flattery and vanity! I think this moment in itself shows the great intelligence and strength of Katherine.

I also love how Katherine basically revolutionized learning for women during her time. She was an avid reader and loved learning. She published two books and encouraged her step children and daughters of noblemen to strive for greater learning and knowledge. After Henry died Katherine was very vigorous in continuing and encouraging the education of young noblewomen. She invited Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey into her home to give them the best education possible, and made it so that a woman’s education was just as important as a man’s.

And yet despite all of this, despite pushing her own love aside to marry Henry VIII, despite nursing the King through bouts of ill health, putting up with his temper, managing to avoid being sent to the Tower, Katherine still, I believe, had a sad tragic ending to her life.

She married the love of her life Thomas Seymour, only to find him flirting and trying to seduce Elizabeth and to learn that the love of her life perhaps did not love her as much in return. And then, after so many years without children she finally conceived… only to die a short while after giving birth. I think that’s such a sad ending to a Queen who did so much for women during the Tudor period.

I absolutely LOVED this book and found myself unable to get enough. Despite working, looking after a spirited two year old and running errands I found myself finishing this book in just over a week! I had to be careful because when I picked it up I had a lot of trouble putting it down again. I was honestly quite sad when I had finished the book because I just wanted to keep reading more and more. I just adore Alison Weir as an author. Her writing flows and creates beautiful and intriguing images in the mind, as though the words are flying off the page and coming to life. There is a wealth of emotion within her books and yet she still manages to leave it to the reader to make up their own minds about each matter and what happened to each wife.

If you only ever read one book about the wives of Henry VIII then I suggest, no implore you to read this book! The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir is a fantastic read, full of so much detailed information and I promise you that once you pick it up you won’t be able to put it down!





On a side note, I think this is the longest review for a book that I have ever written! (It’s five typed pages!)

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser
The six wives of Henry VIII - Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr - have become defined in a popular sense not so much by their lives as by the way these lives ended. But, as Antonia Fraser conclusively proves, they were rich and feisty characters. They may have been victims of Henry's obsession with a male heir, but they were not willing victims. On the contrary, they displayed considerable strength and intelligence at a time when their sex supposedly possessed little of either.

This is the first book that I ever read related to all six of Henry VIII’s wives. Before reading this book I had been souly focused on Anne Boleyn and her life, but through reading Fraser’s work I was able to extend my knowledge and begin a journey to learn not only about Anne, but also about Henry VIII’s other five wives. To learn who they were as woman and how they influenced one of the most famous King’s in English history.

Before I write anything else I have to admit that this is not my most favourite book regarding Tudor history. Do not get me wrong, it is a good, strong and solid book with a wealth of information – it just is not my favourite. Perhaps I have a soft spot for Alison Weir but I find her book on The Six Wives of Henry VIII a great deal easier to read and a little more captivating and engaging than Fraser’s work. Perhaps it is more that Fraser’s writing style does not sit at ease with my reading style as I did find this book at times a little difficult to get through.

Yet saying this I did find this book a wonderfully rich resource of information about six amazing woman all who played a role in the life of Henry VIII. My copy of this book is quite tattered, with the corners of the cover worn and some of the pages dog eared from being read and reread in a quest for information. When writing my own piece of the final days of Anne Boleyn I found myself referring back to this book to gain bits and pieces of information that I needed. Fraser gives an interesting look at each woman in Henry VIII’s life and provides a history based in a great deal of research and fact.

What I really enjoyed about this book was the abundant amount of pictures included within the pages. I have found that some history books only contain a few pictures, mostly portraits of the people within the book, but Fraser goes beyond that. Yes she provides images of Henry, Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Kitty Howard and Catherine Parr – but she also includes images of the women’s badges, trinkets they owned, letters they wrote and images of some of the other important players during Henry’s life.

One thought that Fraser proposes within these pages, which really struck out to me was when Fraser wrote: “It is seductive to regard the six wives of Henry VIII as a series of feminine stereotypes, women as tarot cards. Thus Catherine of Aragon becomes The Betrayed Wife, Anne Boleyn is The Temptress, Jane Seymour The Good Wife, Anna of Cleves is The Ugly Sister, Katherine Howard The Bad Girl; and finally Catherine Parr is The Mother Figure … These are elements of truth, of course, in all of these evocative descriptions, yet each one of them ignores the complexity and variety in the individual character. In their different ways, and for different reasons, nearly all these women were victims, but they were not willing victims. On the contrary, a remarkably high level of strength, and also of intelligence, was displayed by them at a time when their sex traditionally possessed little of either.’

I think this quote really sums up the women who each had a role as wife of Henry VIII. We often see these women as ‘The Wives of Henry VIII’; we group them together in books and in discussion but in reality these women, all six of them were unique and individual as each new day. Katherine, Anne, Jane, Anne, Kitty and Catherine… six incredible, exceptional women who all had their strengths, all had weaknesses and all who influenced the history pages in one way or another. Six women who will never be forgotten – one of whom has changed my life forever.

There is a lot of detail within the pages of this book and there is a lot to take in and learn. Antonia Fraser is a well known and highly praised historian and author and I would suggest that if you do have some time pick up a copy of this book do give it a read. It is a wonderful resource and reference regarding the incredible lives of Henry VIII’s six wives.

The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn is the most notorious of England’s queens, but more famous for her death as an adulterer than for her life. Henry’s second wife and mother of Elizabeth I, Anne was the first English queen to be publicly executed. Yet what do we know of the achievements and the legacy of her short reign?
In The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn Eric Ives provides the most detailed and convincing portrait we have of the queen. He reveals a person of intellect with a passion for the new culture of the Renaissance, a woman who made her way in a man’s world by force of education and personality. She played a powerful and independent role in the faction-ridden court of Henry VIII and the unceasing struggle for royal favour that was Tudor politics. The consequences can still be detected today. Indeed, Ives shows that it was precisely because Anne was a powerful figure in her own right that it needed a coup to bring her down. She had to be stopped – even by a lie. 

This is the bible of Anne Boleyn. It is the first book I ever read completely dedicated to Anne and even today it is the first book that I refer back to when I am researching or learning about Anne. My poor copy is dog eared and tattered but to me that only gives it more character and life. If you want to know about Anne Boleyn, want to learn who the woman was who rose to be the jewel in Henry VIII’s eye and then fell shattering into history then this is the book to read. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about Anne Boleyn. It is the go to book... it is the bible of Anne Boleyn!

There is so much detail within these pages. Ives starts off at Anne’s beginnings – what little we know about her first years of life. He talks about her family, where she was raised, and her family’s role at court etc. He moves onto her time spent in Europe and at France and how that period of her life would forever influence not only her sense of dress, but her style, her views on music, dancing, literature, social interactions and use of sexuality.

Ives discusses Anne’s first taste of love with Thomas Percy, how her heart was broken and also the attraction that Thomas Wyatt the famous poet had towards Anne. He moves on to talk about how Henry VIII’s eye turned from Mary Boleyn to Anne Boleyn and how he started to court Anne. Ives goes into great detail about the long years now known as ‘The Great Matter’ in which Henry fought with Rome about his divorce and the beginnings of the Reformation. Ives also discusses Anne’s personal religion and her views and beliefs.

There is a lot within these pages about Anne and Henry’s marriage and how it started off with great love, passion and shared interest and slowly turned sour… with Henry wanting nothing less than Anne’s death. The anti Boleyn faction is spoken about in detail and how, Cromwell and these men within the faction worked together to bring down Anne Boleyn.

And of course, Ives details the Anne’s trial and the trail of her fellow accused, her tragic last days and then her final, gut wrenching moments. He talks about Anne’s burial place and her legacy and her beloved daughter Elizabeth I.

My favourite and most touching line from the book is: ‘To Christ I commend my Soul!’ And while her lips were still moving, it was suddenly over.  I challenge anyone who is interested in Tudor history not to feel some emotion over Ives writing!

I believe that within the pages of this book Ives captures the image of who Anne Boleyn was. The spirited, passionate, vivacious, hot tempered, determined and sometimes cruel, but always bold, Anne Boleyn. If you can only get one book about Anne then I would most certainly recommend this book.

She has been a remarkable woman. She would remain a remarkable woman even in a century which produced many of great note. There were few others who rose from such beginnings to a crown, and none contributed to a revolution as far-reaching as the English Reformation. To use a description no longer in fashion, Anne Boleyn was one of the ‘maters of history’. Yet historians see through a glass darkly; they know in part and they pronounce in part. What Anne really was, as distinct from what Anne did, comes over very much less clearly. To us she appears inconsistent – religious yet aggressive, calculating yet emotional, with the light touch of the courtier yet the strong grip of the politician – but is this what she was, or merely what we strain to see through the opacity of the evidence? As for her inner life, short of miraculous chace of new material, we shall never really know. Yet what does come to us across the centuries is the impression of a person who is strangely appealing to the early twenty-first century. A woman in her own right – taken on her own tears in a man’s world; a woman who mobilized her education, her style and her presence to outweigh the disadvantages of her sex; of only moderate good looks, but taking a court and a king by storm. Perhaps, in the end, it is Thomas Cromwell’s assessment that comes nearest: intelligence, spirit and courage.

This is the Anne Boleyn I have come to know, admire and love.