Book Review - The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn: 'The Most Happy'

Indeed, as Professor Ives highlights in this important biography, Anne Boleyn was an intelligent, self-made woman who understood the image of majesty almost as well as her daughter, responsible for encouraging the early years of the English reformation.

Professor Ives biography not only mirrors back to us a clear manifestation of Anne Boleyn but also shows behind her Henry VIII himself, leaving us pondering many questions. Despite his great mercy of a skilled French executioner, I find myself more adrift than ever in my attempts to gain empathy for a King who could so easily destroy a woman he once so loved.

Whether we agree with Ives that Anne's destruction happened so swiftly and that her ultimate failure in the birthing chamber to give Henry VIII a living son bore little weight in the final outcome, Professor Ives provides a deeper understanding as to why Cromwell, once part of Anne Boleyn's faction but now fearing for his own survival, found it so necessary to do all in his power to take the queen from the chess board once and for all. Ives also helps us appreciate why Anne Boleyn so rightly feared Mary, "She is my death and I am hers." In the final analysis, Ives's work reveals Anne Boleyn who is like most of us, more good than bad - but also a gifted, intelligent woman so worthy of a King's passion, giving to history her Elizabeth. Most importantly, this biography powerfully vindicates Anne Boleyn, showing Anne and the men murdered with her wrongfully done to death - circa Regna tonat

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