Before the Glory: Anne Boleyn Before Henry VIII - Page 2
© Ellen McDaniel-Weissler
Anne apparently stayed on for some time after Mary Tudor returned to England in 1515 at Louis's death, but she was in service in the cloistered household of Francis's queen Claude, who lived an almost nun-like existence, apparently only emerging to perform the necessary court duties of a queen and to bear Francis' children. In Claude's household Anne would have lived a quiet and guarded life, and probably did not have the opportunities for sexual freedom in which her sister Mary evidently reveled at Francis' more open court.
Despite this lack of liberty, Anne apparently imbibed a great deal of the exotic French air and mien which were to make her such a standout on her return to the English court - a continental polish and mystery which captivated more than just the vulnerable and susceptible Henry VIII.
So much rumor abounds regarding Anne Boleyn and her charm (or lack thereof, depending on the opinion of the source) that the best we can do is try to establish a general picture of her from their accounts and rely on imagination for the rest. Contemporary descriptions of her rarely use the word "beautiful", yet it becomes apparent in reading the sources that Anne was a woman of unusual charm and allure, due to several factors. One was the above-mentioned French patina which overlay her every word and movement; other enchantments were her grace in the dance, her style in dress and music and speech, her elegance and sophistication and independence, her undoubted vivacity and wit, the mystery which surrounded a woman who had seen so much more of the fashionable European world than most women of her day - a woman who had attended courts as future young girls would attend finishing school, and whose pedestrian Englishness was gilded with the unmistakeable, indefinable je ne se quois which her European upbringing lent her.
Anne had a quick wit backed by intelligence and education, a gay laugh and a zest for life which wafted her through the palace hallways like an invigorating breeze - especially when one compared her to the staid, middle-aged Catherine of Aragon. Her large, dark, almond-shaped eyes and her lustrous, blue-black hair were her finest features, and drew grudging praise even from her sworn enemies, such as the Imperial Ambassador, Eustace Chapuys. Her complexion was variously described as "sallow" or "dark", but was probably simply not the almost translucent British Isles paleness which was so admired in that day - making her appear even more exotic. She had long, tapering fingers which she passed on to her daughter, Elizabeth, and a trim figure which she knew how to set off to advantage. Portraits of her do not depict a classically beautiful woman, but we must remember two things in our assessment of her based on such portraits: first of all, our 20th century ideas of beauty do not tally with those of the medieval world, and second, that as a woman of charm rather than physical attributes her appeal would not transmit well on cold, inactive canvas.
