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Anne Boleyn’s reaction on Catherine of Aragon’s death

Jan 2012

Catherine of Aragon in 1530s, artist unknown

On 7 January 1536 Katherine of Aragon – first wife of Henry VIII and former queen of England – died on Kimbolton Castle. Some historians claim that Katherine’s death was the beggining of the end of Anne Boleyn – since she became one and only Queen of England and couldn’t bear male heir. But professor Eric Ives states that ;

”She had (Katherine) suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly gone downhill at the end of December, and her death was greeted at court by an outburst of relief and enthusiasm for the Boleyn marriage, which gives the lie to later historians who suggest that Anne was already living on borrowed time.” / p. 295 /

As long as Katherine of Aragon lived, Henry and Anne couldn’t enjoy their marriage in a proper way. There was still a reminder of the fact, that Henry had to sacrifice his kingdom for Anne Boleyn. With Katherine death new hopes arrived and both Henry and Anne were aware of it.

So how did Anne Boleyn react on her rival’s death? She received the news at Greenwich and she gave the messenger a ‘handsome present’. And what about Henry VIII? He said :

Category: 6 wives of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Myths and misconceptions, The Boleyns Tags: 1536, Anne Boleyn, Death of Katherine of Aragon, January 1526, Katherine of Aragon One Comment

3D reconstruction of Anne Boleyn’s face

By Sylwia

Dec 2011

This is a 3D reconstruction of Anne Boleyn's face, based on National Portrait Gallery

I’ve always wanted someone to do a 3D reconstruction of Anne Boleyn’s face, based on her famous NPG portrait. it never happened so I decided to become this ‘someone’. I learned how to use a program for 3D face reconstruction. This program gives a chance to make a 3D face reconstruction based on photographs. Well, obviously we do not have Anne Boleyn’s photographs so I used her portrait. It was quite hard to do such reconstruction. At my first reconstruction, many of you commented that Anne looked like Cher. I admit – I got too creative with first work. But my second reconstruction is successful – I worked on it for few days, and here it is!

I based Anne Boleyn’s 3D face reconstruction entirely on NPG portrait. It came out very realistic and reconstructed Anne looks a lot like on her portrait. What is even more interesting – I noticed that after reconstruction, Anne looks similar also to John Hoskins’ miniature, and this miniature is the most authentic likeness of Anne Boleyn.

Category: 6 wives of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's appearance, Portraits, Tudor Portraits Tags: 3D Reconstruction, Anne Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's face, Appearance, Tudor portraits 2 Comments

Affair of the necklace

By Sylwia

Dec 2011

Miniature of Anne Boleyn by John Hoskins

Thanks to my friend, Maria who runs her own blog about Anne Boleyn, she shared with me an article that states that the ‘B’ necklace on Anne’s portraits stands for ‘Brandon’ and not ‘Boleyn’. Quite an interesting theory, isn’t it? I’ve decided to research this theory and I found few informations.

In her book ”The Feminine Dynamic in English Art, 1485-1603” Susan James states that famous portrait of Anne Boleyn showing her with ‘B’ pendant is Mary Tudor Brandon. Susan James writes ,;

Category: 6 wives of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's appearance, Portraits, Tudor Portraits Tags: Anne Boleyn, Anne Boleyn B Necklace, Charles Brandon, Mary Rose Tudor, Tudor portraits Leave a Comment

14 November 1501&1532

By Sylwia

Nov 2011

The official surces claim that Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII married secretly in earl 1533 (25.01). It has been however suggested that they underwent two marriage ceremonies. Chrinolcer Edward Hall, who wrote during Henry VIII’s reign claimed that :

“The kyng, after his returne [from Calais] maried priuily[privily] the lady Anne Bulleyn on sainet Erkenwaldes daie, whiche mariage was kept so secrete, that very fewe knewe it, til she was greate with child, at Easter after”

Considering that Elizabeth was born in September 1533, she must have been conceived around December 1532 and it is not enitirely impossible that the couple decided to marry after succesful meeting with king Francis I in Calais.

Category: 6 wives of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII, Kings and Queens, The Boleyns Tags: 1501, 1532, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII Leave a Comment

Anne Boleyn’s face?

By Sylwia

Nov 2011

Unknown woman underneath Elizabeth's portrait

Today I want to discuss about ‘Portraith with a serpent’ that depicts Queen Elizabeth Tudor. Underneath Elizabeth’s face there is a portrait of unknown woman. She is facing opposite direction and in a higher position than the queen. According to National Portrait Gallery, :

”The X-ray shows a female head in a higher position, facing in the opposite direction to the portrait of Elizabeth. The eyes and nose of the face underneath can now be seen where paint has been lost from Elizabeth’s forehead. The lips and headdress can also be seen, as can the ruff which was positioned underneath Elizabeth’s chin. The identity of the original sitter remains a mystery but the unfinished portrait appears to have been very competently painted, probably by a different artist. The original sitter appears to have been wearing a French hood of a type that was fashionable in the 1570s and 1580s, suggesting that there may have been a period of a few years before the panel was re-used.”

If you look closely, you can notice the similarity between unknown woman and … Anne Boleyn! The oval face with dark dramatic eyes, high cheekbones and full lips bears resemblance to contemporary accounts on Anne Boleyn’s appearance. This portrait looks very similar to NPG and Hever portraits of Anne Boleyn.

Category: Anne Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's appearance, Elizabeth I Tudor Tags: Anne Boleyn, Elizabet Tudor 4 Comments

Did Henry VIII father Mary Boleyn’s children?

By Sylwia

Nov 2011

Henry Carey, Mary's first child

I was inspired to write this article after reading another chapter of new book by David Loades, ‘The Boleyns’. In chapter entitled ‘Mary & the King’s Fancy – in and out of Favour’ professor Loades states that ;

”Mistress Carey’s charms may have faded, or been replaced by those of her sister, but the indications are that Mary was handed over to her husband at some point in the summer of 1525. Her son, Henry Carey, was born on 4 March 1526, and that suggests that she began to sleep with William at some time in June or July of 1525.” / p. 52 /

”From 1526 onwards Mary is overshadowed by her sister Anne, and glimpses of her in the records become few. She must have spent quite a lot of her time on pregnancy leave, because a few months after Henry’s birth, she had conceived again, and bore William’s second child, a daughter Catherine, at some time in 1527.’‘ / p. 53/

I have to say that I always thought that Catherine Carey was born c. 1524 and thus was Mary Carey’s first child. In her book ‘Mary Boleyn : The True Story of Henry VIII’s Favourite Mistress’ Josephine Wilkinson states that ;

Category: Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII, Henry VIII's children, The Boleyns Tags: children, Henry Carey, Henry VIII, Katherine Carey, Mary Boleyn 3 Comments

Mary Boleyn’s portrait…? UPDATE

By Sylwia

Oct 2011

Copy of 'Mary Boleyn' portrait c. 1630-1670

You probably remember my article about portrait allegedly depicting Mary Boleyn. Historian and author Alison Weir claims that there are 6 versions of this portrait and that it probably depicts a royal sitter because of the ermine fur;

“The fact that there are at least six versions of the ‘Mary’ portrait indicates that there was demand for a portrait of the sitter, and she is wearing ermine, a fur restricted to the upper nobility and royalty.”[1]

I did a research about this and in this article I am going to write more about this portrait. I was looking for information about provenance of the portrait of ‘Mary Boleyn’ and confirmation of Alison Weir’s claim that there were ‘at least 6 versions of this portrait’.

I contacted Anna L. Splender who is a Deputy Head Steward at the Hever Castle. She kindly replied that;

Category: Anne Boleyn, Portraits, The Boleyns, Tudor Portraits Tags: Mary Boleyn, Tudor portraits 2 Comments

Anne Boleyn : the Rival of Venus?

By Sylwia

Oct 2011

Detail from Boticelli's 'Birth of Venus'

We can certainly say that Anne Boleyn was not considered beautiful in her times. Typical beauty at Tudor court had blonde hair, pale skin and blue eyes, and Anne had dark complexion, dark hair and enchanting ‘black eyes’. She certainly was not a typical ‘English Rose’ but she was different and interesting. In her book ‘Six Wives of Henry VIII’ Alison Weir states that ;

‘Even King Francis was smitten by the fascinating Anne, and wrote :

Venus était blonde, on m’a dit:

L’on voit bien, qu’elle est brunette.’[1]

‘Venus was blonde, I’ve been told: Now I see that she’s a brunette!’ I was always very curious about this quote, and I never came across the information that Francis I was actually referring to Anne Boleyn. Dr. Susan Bordo’s recent article made me question this quote once again and I decided to immerse myself into the primary sources and books, to find out whether King Francis was referring to Anne Boleyn when speaking about Venus.

In her book Alison Weir does not cite the reference so it is really hard to get to primary sources. Weir only gives us a hint:

‘For the duration of her stay in France, see Herbert, and also Emmanuel von Meteren’s Histoire des Pays Bas: Crispin, Lord of Milherve’s Metrical History (1618) ; Epistre contenant le process criminal fait a lencontre de la Royne Boullant d’Angleterre by Lancelot de Carles, Clement Marot, and Crispin de Milherve (1545 ; included in La Grande Bretagne devant l’Opinion Francaise by G.Ascoli, Paris, 1927), Histoire de la Royne Anne de Boullant (MS. In the Biblioteque Nationale, Paris, before 1550) ; and Charles de Bourgevilles Les Recherches et Antiquites de la Province de Neustrie’ (1583).’[2]

In her book ‘Anne Boleyn: a young Queen to be’ Josephine Wilkinson states that :

‘In matters of dress her tastes were said to have been adopted by other ladies, although, we are assured, none looked so well as Anne, who was described as the rival of Venus’ [3]

Category: Anne Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's appearance, Kings and Queens, Myths and misconceptions Tags: Anne Boleyn, France, Francois I, Venus 3 Comments

Myths surrounding Anne Boleyn : a witch?

By Sylwia

Oct 2011

Myths surrounding Anne Boleyn : a witch?

Modern interpretation of Anne Boleyn by Alexandre Jubran

Anne Boleyn was accused of adultery, incest, treason and plotting to kill a king. But among charges against her, also witchcraft was brought up. Why was Anne accused of witchcraft? Did she had something in common with ‘dark powers’?

In her book ‘The Lady in the Tower : the Fall of Anne Boleyn’ , Alison Weir states that ;

‘At that time witchcraft was not an indictable offence; it was not until 1542 that an act was passed under Henry Viiii making it a secular crime, and it did not become a capital offence until 1563, under Elizabeth I. Prior to that, the penalty for witchcraft had been determined according to evidence of actual criminality, which proof of evil deed being necessary to obtain a conviction; in the cases of persons of high rank, there was often a suspicion of treason against the Crown’.[1]

In England, Scotland and Ireland, between 1542 and 1735 a series of Witchcraft Acts enshrined into law the punishment (often with death, sometimes with incarceration) of individuals practising, or claiming to practice witchcraft and magic. [2] Witchcraft was the alleged use of magical or supernatural powers to harm people or their property. It was also widely believed that witches were in league with Devil. During the times when people did not know how to explain unexplained, they tend to believe in dark powers.

Category: Anne Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's appearance, Henry VIII, Kings and Queens, Myths and misconceptions Tags: Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth Woodville, Legends, Myths, Witch One Comment

Henry VIII’s gifts for Anne Boleyn

By Sylwia

Sep 2011

Henry VIII’s gifts for Anne Boleyn

Anne and Henry

Although after Anne Boleyn’s execution Henry VIII did everything to get rid of memories about her, one thing is certain – they were a loving couple for almost 10 years, and Henry was very much in love with Anne. In order to show his feelings towards her, he showered her with magnificent gifts, and some of them are described with details. In this article I will take a closer look on Henry’s gifts for Anne Boleyn.

For many years Anne Boleyn was Henry’s ‘wife-to-be’. Many called her king’s mistress, although she had never accepted such a title, and even refused to sleep with Henry until they were married. It seems that Anne had wrapped Henry around her finger, and he seemed to be madly in love with her. But officially Henry was still married with Catherine of Aragon, and Anne was merely the king’s fancy, or so many people who knew the king believed. So it is natural that Henry wanted to win Anne’s affections by fancy gifts. When the divorce was not going as planned, Henry used to buy Anne magnificent things only to prove to her, that he is going to marry her.

Professor Eric Ives wrote that ‘the couple were always together and Henry’s privy purse expenses show how intertwined their lives were’.[1] Henry’s privy purse accounts have survived for the years 1529-32 and they gives us an insight of the happy time they have spent together as a fiancées.

Category: Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII Tags: Anne Boleyn, Gifts, Henry VIII Leave a Comment

Archive for the Category » Anne Boleyn «

Anne Boleyn’s reaction on Catherine of Aragon’s death

3D reconstruction of Anne Boleyn’s face

Affair of the necklace

14 November 1501&1532

Anne Boleyn’s face?

Did Henry VIII father Mary Boleyn’s children?

Mary Boleyn’s portrait…? UPDATE

Anne Boleyn : the Rival of Venus?

Myths surrounding Anne Boleyn : a witch?

Henry VIII’s gifts for Anne Boleyn

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