The Rise, Reign and Fall of Anne Boleyn, Part One
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- Terrie_Bittner
- Barbara Nicholson Bell
- Anjuli_McDonald
- Anjuli_McDonald
- Terrie_Bittner
- Anjuli_McDonald
- Anjuli_McDonald
- fallen__angel
- History500
- Gwenda
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» Terrie_Bittner - Welcome to the Suite!
Welcome to the Suite! Our list of British topics is becoming very impressive. Everyone, be sure to read her bio. It's fascinating! I've enjoyed getting to know you, and I'm looking forward to watching your topic develop.-- posted by Terrie_Bittner
» Barbara Nicholson Bell - A wonderful topic!
I'm so glad you are here, and Anne Bullen (alt. sp.) is a perfect subject for your opening. Is it true or apocryphal, that she was born with an extra finger? I love this era, and have read many historical novels and non-fiction works about Henry, Anne, and their daughter Elizabeth. In fact, I just saw the movie Elizabeth this week.I'm glad I didn't live in those times, however! *grin*
Welcome!
-- posted by Barbara Nicholson Bell
» Anjuli_McDonald - Anne Boleyn's Extra Finger
Historical experts differ on this point. There is no mention in any of the chronicles during Anne's lifetime of this "deformity", nor of the "large wen" which some claim she had on her neck. Later writers, attempting to discredit her after her fall from grace -- and, in some measure, to excuse Henry VIII's obsession with Anne by claiming that she had bewitched him -- took to describing these supposed malformations as evidence of her traffic with the Devil. If she did have a slight deformity on her hand, it was probably only the hint of a slight 6th nail growing out of the end of one of her pinkies. Legend has it that she used to hide this supposed deformity by wearing gowns with long, flowing sleeves -- a French fashion which she brought with her from the court of Francis I, and which became popular as Anne rose to prominence at Henry's court. There is also a legend that these sleeves captivated Henry with their graceful flow, and that he wrote the song "Greensleeves" in her honor. Scholars have never been able to definitely identify the provenance of "Greensleeves", however, so the legend remains only that.Hans Holbein, Henry VIII's famous and expert court portrait painter, leaves us one of his characteristic sketches of Anne -- though not a full-blown portrait -- one of the few we have which really depicts Anne as she probably actually was. In this sketch it is interesting to note that she is wearing a high collar (the only portrait of her in which she does so,) so that if the "large wen" actually existed, it is carefully hidden.
Hope that answers the question. Thanks so much for the welcome. I have so much to write about with reference to this time period -- but please don't hesitate to let me know if you have a particular subject which interests you -- I'll try to include it. Everyone -- enjoy! It's a fascinating period!
-- posted by Anjuli_McDonald
» Anjuli_McDonald - Anne Boleyn
Just as a side-note, in case anyone is interested, when I married on January 3, 1998, we held a fully medieval wedding, in which I wore a duplicate of one of Anne Boleyn's gowns. The boice,over-sleeves and over-skirt were done in fuschia silk with embroidered roses in cream; the under-skirt and undersleeves were cream satin with a fuschia ribbon and lace trim. (I was corseted in to a 27 inch waist -- ahh, those were the days! With a baby on the way now, corsets are right out!) The headpiece was a style known as the "attifet" -- a little bit out-of-period, since it was favored years after Anne Boleyn's execution by Mary, Queen of Scots -- done in the same fabrics, with a rosebud and crystal bead trim and a finger-tip veil of cream satin. I wore a floor-length gold chain and pearl belt, and a heart-shaped, gold mesh pomander filled with potpourri, and carried a traditional English bouquet of tri-color roses, holly, boxwood, and ivy.My husband wore a later Elizabethan garb of poet shirt and breeches made of purple raw silk, a black velvet doublet with silver trim, and an Italianate cap of the same black velvet and silver piping.
All members of the wedding party were dressed in medieval garb from various periods, and everyone who attended the wedding was also dressed in medieval fashions. The ceremony (a traditional German Lutheran version from the 1500s) was held in a medieval style hall in Lancaster, PA, all decorated for Christmas, in front of a roaring fireplace. The music was period music provided by bagpipes, harp and recorder, and we taught medieval English country dancing at the reception. The feast was all homemade medieval recipes, the crowning glory of which was a three-dimensional swan "subtlety" -- an actual duplicate of a swan done in lemon cake and icing, floating on a mirror-pond and surrounded by greens.
It was a lovely wedding, and I hope to have photos posted on my web page very soon.
-- posted by Anjuli_McDonald
» Terrie_Bittner - I was just about to post a request for pictures when I saw that
I was just about to post a request for pictures when I saw that last part. It sounds beautiful. Of course the web page will also have pictures of the baby when it arrives?-- posted by Terrie_Bittner
» Anjuli_McDonald - Photos
Our personal web page will have photos of everything, from our medieval wedding to the soon-to-be-born Bracken Fitzhugh, to our puppy (Good Queen Bess the Muffin Puppy, Intrepid Explorer and Ruler of All She Surveys) as well as our 160-year-old haunted house and anything else I can think of that would be of interest.Unfortunately, I do not have any photos appropriate for the Tudor England page here at Suite 101, and am very open to suggestion. I'd like to dress up the page a bit, but the photo page recommended for contributing editors to Suite 101 really had nothing appropriate to the topic that I could discover. Anybody got an ideas?
-- posted by Anjuli_McDonald
» Anjuli_McDonald - Anne Boleyn -- What else?
I have often wondered, in my research, just why Henry lost interest in Anne as quickly as he did. If he had married her only for the sake of having an heir, then her inability to produce one could have caused his volte face -- but I feel certain his dependence on her fertility was only one part of his infatuation. Naturally, she was so different from Catherine -- from anyone at his court, in fact -- that she wove a spell of fascination over him, whether deliberately or not. But it seems that only love itself can turn to hatred so quickly as Henry's did -- love and disillusionment are a poisonous combination.Besides, she had gotten pregnant three times in three years -- and even if we place her birthdate as early as 1501, she was still well within her child-bearing years; there is no reason to suppose that she was incapable of producing another living child, as she had with Elizabeth in 1533. Henry's decision to get rid of her because he had fallen out of love with her, and ostensibly in his own mind because she could not produce a son, points up the hypocrisy of his claim that he had put Catherine aside only because he feared that in marrying her he had sinned. He had put her aside for love of another woman, and in the hopes of producing an heir.
But maybe Henry put Anne aside for a similar reason. After all, it is pretty obvious from the events and chronicles of the time that Henry was far gone with love for Jane Seymour when he began considering how to rid himself of Anne. This king, who was supposed to be so cold-blooded and calculating (and he was, in gaining his own ends) certainly responded to the whims of his own heart more than just about any other monarch in history. Henry followed the custom of marrying to further national or international policy in only one of his marriages; the other five were all entered into in obedience to the dictates of his heart.
-- posted by Anjuli_McDonald
» fallen__angel - the bullen family line
Because my surname is bullen i was really interested in finding out if im, in anyway related to anne boleyn, if anyone has information then u can email me : fallen_a_n_g_e_l@kittymail.com thanx ! buh bye ~X~ Sarah ~X~-- posted by fallen__angel
» History500 - Re: Anne Boleyn -- What else?
In response to message posted by Anjuli_McDonald:Your summary is very interesting, obviously based on the little historical facts which have survived from that period. I personally do not believe the history books and tend to read between the lines and think to myself "why should they have gone to all that trouble to falsely convict Anne, what were they trying to hide"
Your comments would be invaluable.
-- posted by History500
» Gwenda - Re: Re: Anne Boleyn -- What else?
In response to message posted by History500:Anne's conviction and execution...why did it happen? Was it because Henry had tired of her and wanted to replace her with Jane Seymour? Very possible - especially as Catherine of Aragon's death meant his new marriage would no longer be shrouded by the same question mark hanging over his marriage to Anne Boleyn. Was Anne a victim of successful plotting against her? There were plots but plots need to find ways in and weaknesses to succeed. My view is that Henry was very much behind Anne's death. Interesting, because emotions still burned hot between them only months before it fell apart for her. But in the short time between arrest and her execution, Henry exhibited little emotion, especially if you compare the King's emotion colouring his last days as Katherine Howard's spouse.
Evidence points to the royal houses of Europe laying Anne Boleyn death very much at his door.
Anne gives us no tokens of a woman going to her death knowing herself guilty - rather the reverse. Sometimes I find myself wondering about Henry's head injury in January, 1536. Could it be true this caused some kind of brain damage, and made him turn against the woman he had wanted so much...??
Best!
Wendy
-- posted by Gwenda
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