I've always been fascinated with the kings and queens of England (I know, I know, a historian jonesing for royalty, go figure!) but when it comes to Anne Boleyn, there's a soft spot in my heart. When I saw that today is the anniversary of her death, a light bulb went off over my head. Blog post idea!
Anne is best remembered for being the 11-fingered witch who slept with her own brother (and a host of other guys) and gave poor embarassed King Henry VIII no choice but to execute her to rid himself and the royal family of her tainted presence.
Stand back folks cause I'm calling BS on that! Anne wasn't a witch and never cuckolded her husband (the extra finger thing might be true though). What Anne Boleyn was was a 16th century woman who bucked the system, showed her strength and got what she wanted out of life.
If you've never seen the Showtime series, The Tudors, you need to give it a view. Anne, played by Natalie Dormer, whose pic is above, was educated, intelligent and outspoken in a time when women were supposed to be nothing but walking wombs. Henry VIII was known for indulging in kingly pleasures (read "wham, bam, thank you ma'am") despite the fact that he had been married to Catherine of Aragon for many years. When Henry's eye fell on Anne, a lot of people were kind of shocked. Anne wasn't pretty by the day's standards; she had black hair, sallow skin and was tall and skinny. Plus Henry had already bopped her sister a few years earlier, possibly fathering a couple of kinglets on the wrong side of the blanket. But despite the grossness of this, Henry would take his pleasure from Anne and move onto the next lady on the smorgasbord. At least that's what Henry thought.
Anne had bigger ideas. She wasn't going to be like her sister and Henry's other cast-offs. If Henry wanted anything physical from her, he'd have to put a ring on her finger and the queen's crown on her head. Anne held out for somewhere around 7 years. She must have had some sort of magical mojo because what man will let a woman drag him around by the nose like that for 7 YEARS!!!! In the end, Henry had to break England away from the Catholic Church, completely change the laws in the land and annul his marriage to Catherine, but Anne became queen. Good for her right? (The title of this post tells you that's not true).
After a few years of marriage, a healthy daughter and a stillborn son, Henry decided that he was ready to be rid of Anne. But he couldn't just kick her to the curb. She was too smart and it would cause too much of an uproar in a country still reeling from all the changes he made before.
So his advisors come up with a bunch of charges against Anne. She spent some time alone talking to her brother so therefore she must have slept with him. She enjoyed having musicians and scholars around her so she must have slept with them. She had an extra finger on one hand so she's a witch who used her powers to enthrall the pitiful king. All of this was trumped up but it was enough for Henry to sign off on her death warrant. Her head was chopped off by a French swordsman because Henry did have a little pity and wanted the whole experience to be as quick and painless as possible for her. But Anne was dead and her love story/hate story with Henry has gone down in history. In the end though, Anne had the last laugh. Her healthy daughter with Henry went on to become Queen Elizabeth I, arguably one of the greatest of all English monarchs.
Why does Anne have a soft spot in my heart? Because my family is connected to hers. Anne's aunt, and namesake, Lady Anne Boleyn married Lord George Shelton leading to the begats and begats that worked all the way down to yours truly. Kind of cool, huh?
It is cool!
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