Daughter of Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard, Anne was educated
in the Netherlands and France. Plans for her first marriage (to a
cousin) fell through and so she became a lady-in-waiting to then Queen
Catherine of Aragon. She was sent home by Cardinal Wolsey after a second
betrothal (to a gentleman at court) failed. Third time was a charm
though - she attracted the attention of Henry and the chase began.
As her older sister Mary had been Henry's mistress
before her, Anne refused to be so easily used. She held her ground and
became so great a desire to him, Henry took control of the English
Church and annulled his previous marriage 5 days before wedding Anne.
Their first and only surviving child was Elizabeth - afterwards known as
Elizabeth I. After three more miscarriages, Henry had moved on to
courting Jane Seymour. Anyone sensing a pattern??
In April 1536 Henry had her investigated for high
treason - the charges of Adultery, Incest, and Witchcraft tenuous at
best. None-the-less she was found guilty and beheaded on May 19th
of that year. During her daughter's long reign, she was honored as "the
most influential and important queen consort England has ever had" due
to her involvement in the English Reformation. And she is still quite
the controversial figure.
I'm not sure I feel quite as bad for Anne as
for Catherine Howard. Catherine seemed to be young, careless and not
terribly bright to begin with while Anne was well educated, exacting and
indulgent. It was again amusing to watch my boyfriend react to Anne in
the Tudor series because of her abruptness (See reaction to finding
Henry and Jane together towards the end of the second season or the
overly paranoid Mary-could-be-Queen scene in the first/second season)
and "creepy mouse mouth." Obviously as we are both fans of Catherine, we
are a bit biased against Anne. But I tried not to let that come across
too strongly since she is my own sister's favorite.
This one goes out to you G! : )
Ooh, I think this one is my favorite yet. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I feel about Anne Boleyn. The Tudors definitely did not make her a likeable character, but from what little I've read about her as a historical figure she made lots of enemies at court because she was too smart and it freaked them out, lol.