Within hours of each other, siblings Anne and George Boleyn would stand trial on charges of treason in King's Hall at the Tower of London. Both would be declared guilty and condemned to death.
One year ago this week, I made my first journey to England and changed my life. The trip would forever alter my outlook, mood and attitude for the better. Upon my return, I found myself refreshed, renewed and ready to face all new challenges.
In some strange way, it was the unimagined strength of Queen Anne Boleyn to face her doom with poise and dignity that enabled me to come back to the U.S. and carry on despite my grave fear of the unknown future that lay ahead. I have always felt this kinship with Anne and I am proud to say I used it to my advantage over this past year. (Something I believe Anne, herself, would find a way to do as well!)
The way Anne behaved and lived her life -- always true to herself -- has so often been used as an explanation of her downfall and the reason so many people disliked her. I use it as a model for the way I intend to continue to behave and live my own life -- come what may. In this way, Anne's spirit will live on, through me.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
On This Day in Tudor History:
On April 21, 1509, King Henry VII died of tuberculosis leaving his second son to become King Henry VIII. Thus begins the reign of one of the world's most famous monarchs.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Anne Boleyn as Cover Art
Courtney Love's band Hole is coming out with a new album which features two tragic queens on the cover. Although the front cover of Hole, "Nobody's Daughter" shows a painting of a woman only from the neck down, it is obviously French Queen, Marie Antoinette. Likewise, the back cover is the bodice portion of the most famous portrait of Anne Boleyn.
Impossible to miss the obvious headless references.
Impossible to miss the obvious headless references.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Nothing Like Controversy to Pump Book Sales
Charges for which she was executed, long thought to have been cooked up, are likely to have been true, says historian George Bernard
A new biography of Anne Boleyn is set to claim that, far from being framed for adultery, Henry VIII’s second queen may not have been innocent of the affairs for which she was sentenced to death.
The widely held view among contemporary historians is that the charges brought against Anne – that she committed adultery with five lovers, including her brother – are too preposterous to be true, and were either trumped up by one political faction to do down another, or invented by Henry as a result of his desire to marry Jane Seymour, after Anne had failed to give him a son. But George Bernard, professor of early modern history at Southampton University and editor of the English Historical Review, believes that the queen could well have been guilty of some of the charges laid against her – or at the very least that her behaviour was such that it was reasonable for Henry to assume she had committed adultery.
Examining a 1545 poem by Lancelot de Carles, who was then serving the French ambassador to Henry’s court, Bernard concludes that the poem, entitled “A letter containing the criminal charges laid against Queen Anne Boleyn of England,” offers strong evidence that Anne did, in fact, commit adultery. She was accused of “despising her marriage” and “entertaining malice against the king”, with her indictment claiming that “by base conversations and kisses, touchings, gifts, and other infamous incitations” she seduced men including the musician Mark Smeaton, chief gentleman of the privy chamber Henry Norris and her brother George, Viscount Rochford, “alluring him with her tongue in his mouth and his in hers”. All five men, and Anne, were executed.
A new biography of Anne Boleyn is set to claim that, far from being framed for adultery, Henry VIII’s second queen may not have been innocent of the affairs for which she was sentenced to death.
The widely held view among contemporary historians is that the charges brought against Anne – that she committed adultery with five lovers, including her brother – are too preposterous to be true, and were either trumped up by one political faction to do down another, or invented by Henry as a result of his desire to marry Jane Seymour, after Anne had failed to give him a son. But George Bernard, professor of early modern history at Southampton University and editor of the English Historical Review, believes that the queen could well have been guilty of some of the charges laid against her – or at the very least that her behaviour was such that it was reasonable for Henry to assume she had committed adultery.
Examining a 1545 poem by Lancelot de Carles, who was then serving the French ambassador to Henry’s court, Bernard concludes that the poem, entitled “A letter containing the criminal charges laid against Queen Anne Boleyn of England,” offers strong evidence that Anne did, in fact, commit adultery. She was accused of “despising her marriage” and “entertaining malice against the king”, with her indictment claiming that “by base conversations and kisses, touchings, gifts, and other infamous incitations” she seduced men including the musician Mark Smeaton, chief gentleman of the privy chamber Henry Norris and her brother George, Viscount Rochford, “alluring him with her tongue in his mouth and his in hers”. All five men, and Anne, were executed.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
On This Day in Tudor History:
On February 20, 1547, Prince Edward is crowned King Edward VI of England at the tender age of 9. 
Edward was the long awaited son of Henry VIII with his third wife, Jane Seymour. Edward was England's first sovereign to be raised a full Protestant.
Sadly, Edward's reign was marked by economic and social unrest. Of course, Edward only ever ruled through a Regency Council because he never reached maturity.
Edward fell ill in January 1553, and when it was discovered to be terminal, he and his Council attempted to prevent the country being returned to Catholicism by naming his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, as his heir and excluding his half sisters, Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. This would doom Lady Jane to execution by Queen Mary I.
Edward was the long awaited son of Henry VIII with his third wife, Jane Seymour. Edward was England's first sovereign to be raised a full Protestant.
Sadly, Edward's reign was marked by economic and social unrest. Of course, Edward only ever ruled through a Regency Council because he never reached maturity.
Edward fell ill in January 1553, and when it was discovered to be terminal, he and his Council attempted to prevent the country being returned to Catholicism by naming his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, as his heir and excluding his half sisters, Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. This would doom Lady Jane to execution by Queen Mary I.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)