I’m still working on my book on the Boleyns, so don’t worry, but Linda’s idea was to put together the most popular articles from the last three years and publish them in a book format. I’ve done this but I’ve actually extensively reworked them and also included some new articles. The result is a 260 page paperback called “The Anne Boleyn Collection” and here is the blurb…

The Anne Boleyn Collection Blurb

The Anne Boleyn Collection – A collection of fascinating articles on Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII and Tudor history
Written by Claire Ridgway

• Should Anne Boleyn be pardoned and reburied as Queen?
• Anne Boleyn and “The Other Boleyn Girl”
• Did Anne Boleyn dig her own grave?
• The Six Wives’ stereotypes – are they right?
• Did Anne Boleyn commit incest with her brother?

“The Anne Boleyn Collection” brings together the most popular articles from top Tudor website The Anne Boleyn Files. Articles which have provoked discussion and debate. Articles that people have found fascinating. Written in Claire’s easy-going style, but with an emphasis on good history and sound research, these articles are perfect reading for Tudor history lovers everywhere. Discover the REAL truth about the Tudors.

Coming Soon!

The book will be released in March 2012 in paperback and also as an ebook for your Kindle or e-reader. You can subscribe to our mailing list to be kept informed by filling in your name and email in the Subscribe Now box in the left hand menu bar or by going to http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/free-report/. You’ll also receive a 12 page report, book list and primary sources list.

I hope you’re as excited as I am!

This display – and it must have been a sumptuous display – showed clearly that the King had found a new love. He was besotted. Anne had won his heart. It was a courtly love display in the best chivalric tradition and I suspect that Henry had no idea at this point that Anne would be any more than a flirtation or possibly a mistress. Of course, Anne was to refuse to become his mistress, even his maîtresse en titre, and Henry’s love for her would lead to him offering her marriage instead.

Edward Hall goes on to describe how many spears were broken at that joust and that this was the occasion when Francis Bryan lost one of his eyes – ouch!

If you’re interested in finding out more about Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s relationship then do read the folowing articles:-

• A Timeline of Anne Boleyn’s Relationship with Henry VIII – From 1528-1533
• Henry VIII Falls in Love with Anne Boleyn

Notes and Sources

• Hall’s Chronicle, Edward Hall, p707-708

On this day in history…

• 1478 – Birth of Sir Thomas More (some sources say 6th February) – see The Birth of Sir Thomas More
• 1531 – Convocation ordered to recognise Henry as “sole protector and supreme head of the English church and clergy”. The resulting “haggling” results in Thomas Cromwell adding the phrase “so far as the law of Christ allows”.
• 1587 – Mary Queen of Scots was informed that she would be executed the next day

Fast forward 60 years and the Queen, who is now in her 80s, is still following a busy schedule, a schedule which many of us younger people (am I young??) would find exhausting. Whatever you think about the British monarchy, she does an amazing job and Christmas Day just wouldn’t be the same for me without the Queen’s speech.

The BBC News website has a video of the report from 1952 of her accession – When Princess found out King had died – and the official website of the British Monarchy has the Queen’s official Diamond Jubilee photos, her jubilee message and lots more, see http://www.royal.gov.uk/

There is also a special Diamond Jubilee website – see http://www.thediamondjubilee.org/ and there is a selection of royal videos on the British monarchy YouTube channel – http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyalChannel. Have fun browsing!

The Vatican Love Letters of Henry VIII

by Dr Linda Saether

In Henry VIII’s letters to Anne Boleyn I found these lines:

“Mine own Sweetheart………
Wherever I am, I am yours……….
Written by the hand of him who is, and always will be yours….”

The passion found in those lines and the seventeen letters he wrote in the early days of his arduous pursuit of her have evoked sighs through the centuries, regardless of age, gender or culture. Love needs no definition. Its magic needs no explanation. How all that passion between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn changed the course of British history and placed Anne Boleyn, as Queen of England, on a scaffold to be executed by a French swords man only a few years later, has been the source of a five hundred year old controversy.

How these very personal letters ended up in Rome, hidden, for centuries, in the Vatican archives will never be known. One can only assume that they were stolen by supporters of Katherine of Aragon, the Queen that Henry VIII sought to divorce despite their Catholic marriage vows. According to Henry, his union with Katherine was sinful and unlawful in the eyes of God, incestuous in fact, due to Katherine’s prior marriage to Henry’s brother Arthur. His grounds for divorce was that this sin had cursed their union resulting in their inability to produce a male heir for the sake of England. Although the Queen swore her brief marriage to Henry’s brother was never consummated and the Pope had granted dispensation for their union, Henry didn’t budge. It was widely known that making Lady Anne Boleyn his wife and Queen had become Henry’s obsession. An obsession that eventually led England away from the grips of Rome and towards a religious reformation with Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the English Church. Perhaps the Pope himself read these letters meant for Henry’s darling Anne and realized just how obsessed Henry had become. And then quietly had them buried in the archives.

Through my own research, I found that these letters were not available for public viewing at the Vatican, and rarely has more than one letter ever been sent to foreign exhibits. During a recent trip to Rome, I made it my mission to see these letters for myself and determine how they had fared over the centuries. This turned out to be a far more difficult and yet a far more interesting quest than I could have imagined.

The letters are kept in the archives of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, the Popes’s private library which was founded in 1475. Although originally intended solely for His Holiness, the Pope himself, and a few eminent scholars, since 1883 it has been open to “qualified readers,” by advance approval for those who meet the Vatican’s stringent list of criteria.

In addition to an extensive application, I submitted a letter of introduction and replied to in-depth questioning about why it would not suffice to examine copies of the originals. Many letters passed between the head of the Dipartimento Manoscrititti Vaticana and myself before I was finally granted a letter of admission to the Pope’s library only days before my scheduled arrival in Rome. Although my letters were in English, the responses were all in Italian. Fortunately, my knowledge of Spanish got me through the process and helped to rapidly increase my knowledge of Italian in preparation for my visit to Rome.

There was no exact date on the letter indicating an appointment. Just a letter of “Ammissione” and directions to the Cortile del Belvedere, which contained the Vatican’s secret archives. Equipped with a map and my precious letter of admission, I headed for the Vatican on my first morning in Rome along with my friend Jan, a fellow Tudor enthusiast, who intended to photo-journal our way through the Vatican. The sun was fiercely hot as we stepped into St. Peter’s Square through Bernini’s colonnade for the first time and took in the view of the Basilica which seemed both imposing and sur-real in spite of having seen it so many times on TV and on photographs.

There were no signs to direct us to the library, so we stopped in the book store to ask for directions to Biblioteca Vaticani. The clerk directed us in Italian to the opposite side of St Peter’s Square, and, as we left, quipped sarcastically: “As if, you will get in…”

My letter instructed us to pass through the Via di Porta Angelica, The Angel Gate, an ancient archway that would lead us to Porta di S. Anna. We would recognize Porta di S. Anna because it was controlled by the Swiss Guard that has protected the Vatican for over five hundred years. At the tall wrought iron gate we caught our first glimpse of the young, blond, blue clad guards. Jan and I both presented identification and the letter of admission to the Vatican Library. We were received with some skepticism and discussion between the guards. Why wasn’t there a date of entry on the letter, why was it a photocopy, why were they not informed? So many questions!

I couldn’t give them a satisfactory answer to any of their questions, but all the same, I again pulled out my photo ID and reminded the young guard of the signature on the letter, copy or not, and urged him to let us pass. We were standing outside in the sweltering heat, and I was growing impatient with the delay, but grew even more so when the guard said, “You may pass to the next check point, but, Madam, cover your shoulders.” I was already modestly dressed anticipating entry to the Vatican, but I pulled a pashima from my purse and draped myself in it, as I tried to forget the heat and focus on getting to the Pope’s library. As he let us pass, I asked him why the Swiss Guard was in Italy to guard the Vatican? He replied without hesitation. “Because we are the best.”

At the next check point up the hill from Porta di S. Anna, a guard scrutinized my letter and ushered us into an air conditioned building were two men sat at a counter behind a glass barrier. Not quite certain why we were there, we pulled out our IDs and slipped the letter through a slot to one of the clerks.

The clerk turned to his colleague and the two discussed the letter, occasionally glancing up at us, before one finally turned to me and said, “You must sit here, while the other lady passes through to the library. Your ID is not acceptable.” I was painfully aware of our proximity to the letters and at that point being detained was not an option.

Porta di S. Anna

“Sir”, I said. “It is my name that is on that letter. If anyone is passing through, it is me. My identification is acceptable to The United States of America and the Swiss Guard, surely it is acceptable for entry to the Vatican Library considering the letter that I have presented.”

He looked at me with a mixture of resignation and astonishment, as I breathlessly waited to see what he would do next. The two men shared rapid words in Italian, our documents were returned to us, and along with them, two passes to the pharmacy. “You may leave.” is all he said. Jan looked at the passes and started to say “Pharmacy? We’re not going to….,” as I took her by the arm and headed for the door. We never did see the pharmacy or even find out where it was, but headed further into the depths of the Vatican to the Cortile del Belvedere. I knew we were only a stone’s throw from the Vatican Secret Archives.

The guard there greeted us kindly. After we described our journey from Porta di S. Anna, he immediately ushered us to the stately door at the far end of Cortile del Belvedere which was the entry to the library. We entered into a marble foyer where we were then guided by a porter into a hallway in front of La Officina de Segretaria where we were told to wait until someone would receive us.

In utter silence, we sat on black, strait-backed leather chairs in front of a marble wall plaque listing events relating to the library from the mid 1400’s to 2010. We were both aware that there was barely a sound in the building. We waited there in silence for 20 minutes before we again enquired about the “someone” who would receive us.

After a few more minutes the heavy doors of the Officina de Segretaria opened and a pleasant man greeted us in English and asked us to enter. After scrutinizing our documents and questioning me about my background, my reasons for wanting to see the originals and verifying my address, he asked me to fill out another form and sit for a photo. Shortly thereafter he handed me a Vatican Library photo ID with my photo and name on it, and with two hands he stood before me with a thick file of papers which he put into my hands and said, “These are the rules. Read them. Come back tomorrow, alone, and you may see the letters.” My heart sank, but I wasn’t going to argue. We thanked him and left. That evening I read the rules carefully. Among them, no photo equipment, no pens, no sharp objects, no cell phones, no food, and so on.

The following day I returned to the Vatican, alone, shoulders covered, with newly purchased not too sharp pencils from the Vatican store, a notepad, and my Vatican ID. When I entered the Porto di S. Anna I caught the eye of a Swiss guard surrounded by a group of students. I lifted my card and to my amazement, he ushered the students away to allow me to proceed and said “Pasa, Madame,” as he actually smiled to me. When I approached the second guard, I presented my card, to which he responded by saluting me and stepping aside so I could continue towards Cortile del Belvedere without revisiting the two clerks who had issued the “pharmacy passes” the previous day.

Upon entering the Vatican library this time my card was scanned by the porter in the foyer and the man from the day before reappeared. He greeted me cheerfully and promptly escorted me to a locker room where he told me to place my card against a small scanner on the left wall of the locker room. The number 42 appeared as I heard a click behind me of locker #42 opening. I placed my purse and phone in the locker, but kept my pencils, my notepad, my glasses and my ID and took a moment to say good bye to my helpful friend and thank him before he directed me on to the document reading room.

I headed down a corridor extending from the entry hall, flanked by two large curved staircases descending from a second floor landing. Midway through the hallway there was a glass barrier with the same electronic scanner device attached to the side of it as the one mounted in the locker room. I swiped my card and the glass barrier rose up and slipped back in one sudden movement to open the way for me. As I passed through it snapped shut right behind me.

Ahead of me was the elevator that required another electronic ID swipe before it would open. Once I stepped out of the elevator I took a wrong turn and walked into what looked like an ornate library of yesteryear. Old printed books lined the shelves of every wall, people read at tables, or were seated in leather chairs, but all was hushed and no-one looked up as I entered.
I found a librarian who quietly directed me to the Document Reading Room, and I proceeded through several rooms in complete awe of my surroundings until I found the Reading Room. There, I was graciously greeted by a very distinguished gentleman whom turned out to be Dr, Vian, my Vatican contact person. He spoke to me in Italian. I answered in English. We understood one another quite perfectly.

Vatican Document Reading Room

The Manuscript Reading Room was a large bright rectangular room with natural light streaming in through three large windows on the left wall. The ceiling was vaulted with an ornate medallion painted at its highest point. White and cream colored marble flooring matched the cream colored walls, white ceiling and the statutes in niches along the right wall. A deep red tile lining the periphery of the floor mirrored the color of the medallion above. Dr Vian worked from a dark wooden desk near the entry. Along the far end there was a five panel dark wooden counter with two large wooden cabinets behind it and an open doorway to the far right. Above the cabinets was another statue, a cross, a large inscription and a thoroughly modern electronic clock that displayed the passing time in bright blue letters. The room held approximately 20 reading tables divided into two rows, each equipped with wooden book stands and a pair of wood dowels.

Dr Vian introduced me to three male librarians behind the long counter in the front of the room. They were all dressed in the same blue shirts and ties, but neither had name tags. One of them asked me to pick a seat and register by signing my name and seat number in a paper journal on the counter. He then opened a computer screen facing me and asked me to fill in a questionnaire, provide document numbers and my reason for wanting to see them. Dr Vian stepped in with the document numbers, and I found myself again explaining why I wanted to see the originals. The eleventh hour found me compliant. I wasn’t going to make a ripple of a wave now so I wrote as I was instructed to do. When I finished the librarian looked at the screen and noted a colored indicator that had popped up on the screen. “That is a special document!” he said, and looked oddly surprised. “ I know”, I told him. The others gathered around and looked at me and the screen and back at me. “It will be thirty minutes.” one of the three said. Again, no argument from me, but I did ask what I could do in the meantime, anticipating perhaps a coffee shop, a little browsing through the library or a garden to walk through. The reply was “You sit.” He pointed to my seat and I sat. I sat for a long time. Thirty minutes came and went as I memorized the statues, the medallion, the light fixtures, the security cameras, the floor tiles and the profile of the young Catholic priest studying ancient looking sheets of music at the desk beside me. I cringed as I watched him touch the pages and wondered if this would draw the attention of the librarians, the security cameras or Dr. Vian.

After 55 minutes, according to the digital clock in front of me, one of the three librarians came through the door opening along the right side of the room with a cart full of old looking books. The top book was a thin book with a thick, light blue paper cover. He picked it up as he gestured to me to come to the counter. I stepped forward, expecting an explanation for the delay, but instead he handed me the blue book.

I must have looked surprised, because he said. “It is what you came for.” I looked at the book, wrapped much like my elementary school books had been in my native Norway. I held it reverently with both hands, tenderly as I would a newborn, but still in utter shock as it started to sink in that someone had placed the letters Henry VIII had written to Anne Boleyn nearly five hundred years ago, into my hands. There was no white gloved person on the other side of the counter to unveil documents enveloped in protective fabric allowing me to gaze only from a safe distance. The letters were in my hands!

It is very possible that I forgot to breathe as I carried the book back to my seat. Recalling the rules, I kept the book visible and I placed it on the wooden stand in front of me. Fully aware of the three librarians in front of me, Dr. Vian at the back of the room, and surveillance cameras pointed at me, I struggled to conceal my exuberance and tried keep my face in the same studious frame as the priest across from me. And probably failed completely. Of all the wonders I have seen through my travels, rarely has anything been so touching or so oddly exciting. I thanked God for my good fortune and dared to exhale as I opened the book. My hand touched Henry’s first letter as it was suddenly there before me. I thought of Anne Boleyn.

So much has been said of her. She was brilliant, savvy, well educated for a woman of her time, a champion for the reformation, a powerhouse in her own right, a woman who’s elegance and charm was legendary, as much as her volatile temper and sharp tongue. However, when these letters were written Anne was a young woman in love with a man described as the most handsome man in Christendom, an Adonis, the most influential man in England and a force in international politics. To be this man’s darling would have been a heady and exhilarating
prospect for any woman of her rank, but there is much evidence that Anne truly loved Henry, the man, as much as she adored her King. At the time of the letters he was not yet the tyrant he would later become. One can only imagine the utter excitement the letters must have brought her when they were delivered to her at Hever castle. I envision her there, young, alive and joyful, not the frightened and tormented Queen she was to become in her later days.

I was sad to see that each letter was glued into the book, efficiently numbered and stamped with the Vatican seal, in either red or black. From the reproductions I’d seen, I knew it would be difficult to read the script since Henry’s handwriting was so tortuous, and I wondered if Anne Bolyen had fared any better at deciphering their content. Thankfully, I knew what they contained and recognized the entries. One of the letters appeared to be written in a flurry, its strokes deeper, darker, and the page frought with ink stains. Was he angered? Was he drunk? I don’t know, but this one letter stood out from the ones that appeared more thoughtful and composed. Henry didn’t like to write, but yet most of the letters were quite beautiful in their composition. Since they were glued to the page I couldn’t see if there were entries on the opposite side, nor was there anything to indicate that they had been sealed. The color of each had faded to varying degrees with darkened edges, but over all, they were all in pristine condition, excluding the Vatican markings.

Following the final letter there were more pages that were handwritten translations of the letters in Italian or copies in a more readable English script, apparently written during different time periods. Each was glued, numbered and stamped in the same manner. Nothing indicated by whom or when the letters had been stolen and brought to the Vatican.

I don’t know how long I lingered over these documents. But eventually I reluctantly closed the book after spending a long time with each letter and cherishing the moment. I gestured to one of the librarians that I would be leaving and he met me at the counter where I deposited the treasured book into his hands. He winked at me, tucked it under his arm like the morning newspaper and slipped through the passage at the far end of the room and disappeared back into the archives.

I watched in astonishment and with some sadness as the letters were so irreverently taken away to be tucked back into a Vatican vault, hidden away yet again. Although humbled by the privilege of having had the letters with me for a short time, my thoughts drifted to the question of who the letters rightfully belong to, having been written by a British King and so obviously stolen.

I decided to let that thought pass and exited back out through the many electronic check points of the Vatican. I wandered through the Porta di S. Anna with its young, blond Swiss Guards and finally reached the Angel Gates where I joined a group of tourists headed for St Peter’s Basilicus. Surely, even that could not possibly be more wondrous than having held Henry VIII’s love letters to Anne Boleyn in my very own hands.

Via di Porta Angelica

In “The Tudors”, Sir Francis Bryan is a one-eyed rake who likes to have his wicked way with the ladies, but was the real Sir Francis Bryan really like that? Here are some facts about him:-

• He did indeed have one eye – He lost an eye jousting in 1526 and historian Susan Brigden writes of how he joked about it “for he wrote of the one-eyed Robert Aske ‘I know him not, nor he me … yet we have but two eyes’ (LP Henry VIII, 11.1103)”.
• His birthdate is not known but is thought to be around 1490.
• He was the first surviving son of Sir Thomas Bryan and Lady Margaret Bryan (née Bourchier) who was lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon and governess to Princess Mary, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Edward.
• Brigden believes that Bryan may have spent some of his youth in the household of Sir Thomas Parr of Kendal, Westmorland, in Northamptonshire because he later referred to him as his patron. Parr was the father of Queen Catherine Parr.
• His sister, Elizabeth, married Sir Nicholas Carew.
• He was Anne Boleyn’s cousin – His mother was Elizabeth Boleyn’s half-sister.
• In April 1513 he was Captain of the Margaret Bonaventure.
• In 1516 he became the King’s cupbearer.

• He was known for his skills at jousting and hunting and became the King’s master of the toils in 1518, a position he held for the rest of Henry VIII’s reign.
• He was also known for his rich clothing.
• in 1518 he became a gentleman of the privy chamber – He lost this position in Wolsey’s purge but then regained it in 1528.
• Bryan was knighted in 1522 for his courage during the capture of Morlaix in Brittany, serving under the Earl of Surrey.
• His first wife, who he was married to by 1522, was Philippa, daughter and heir of Humphrey Spice and widow of John Fortescue of Ponsbourne in Hertfordshire. The marriage was childless.
• Bryan had a reputation for gambling and was a court favourite.
• By 1526 he held the position of chielf cupbearer and master of the henchmen.
• During the King’s Great Matter, Bryan was Henry VIII’s “trusted emissary to those with most power to bring about the king’s remarriage: Clement VII and François”.

• Brigden writes of Bryan, “Bryan became known for his unusual willingness to tell the king the truth, but also for his employment of dubious means to gain diplomatic ends”, and writes of how he slept with a courtesan at the papal court to gain intelligence.
• Bryan was the one who informed the King of his excommunication in August 1533.
• In the 1530s he served as sheriff, JP and MP.
• In May 1536, when the Boleyns fell from power, he was summoned to London for questioning but was not arrested. He had previously distanced himself from the Boleyns and allied himself with the Seymours.
• Bryan was sent to tell Jane Seymour the news of Anne Boleyn’s execution and benefited from Anne’s fall, becoming Chief Gentleman of the King’s Privy Chamber.
• Thomas Cromwell referred to Bryan as “the vicar of Hell” in a letter to Gardiner and Wallop on the 14th May 1536. According to Catholic recusant Nicholas Sander, the King also referred to him by this nickname. Sander writes “This man was once asked by the king to tell him what sort of a sin it was to ruin the mother and then the child. Bryan replied that it was a sin like that of eating a hen first and its chicken afterwards. The king burst forth into loud laughter, and said to Bryan, “Well, you certainly are my vicar of hell.” The man had been long ago called the vicar of hell on account of his notorious impiety, henceforth he was called also the king’s vicar of hell.”
• Bryan’s motto was Je tens grace (‘I look for salvation’) and he was a staunch Catholic. Brigden writes “He owned a copy of the Matthew Bible of 1537, and was intrigued by the humanist enterprise of scriptural translation and exegesis. Although he could not translate scripture himself, he was the patron of scholars of Greek who could, and his own household was a kind of academy.”
• In 1537 he was sent to Paris to secretly arrange the kidnap or assassination of Cardinal Pole but it was suspected that he actually tipped Pole off.
• He acted as ambassador to Francis I in 1538 in Nice while Thomas Wyatt acted as ambassador to Charles V but was recalled due to his reckless gambling, drunkenness and all round bad behaviour. He never acted as ambassador to the French king ever again.
• Bryan sat on the jury which found his brother-in-law, Carew, guilty of treason in 1539.
• He was appointed vice-admiral in January 1543 but this was revoked in the February after he went against the instructions of John Dudley, Viscount Lisle and lord admiral.
• In October 1543 he acted as ambassador to Charles V.
• In October 1546 he was given the freedom of the City of London.
• He was made knight-banneret in 1547 for his role in the expedition against the Scots as commander of the horse.
• After his wife’s death in 1542 “he followed Wyatt’s satirical advice to marry a wealthy widow” and in 1548 married Joan Butler, dowager countess of Ormond, and daughter of James fitz Maurice Fitzgerald, tenth earl of Desmond.
• Brigden describes how “through his marriage Bryan wielded Ormond authority in south Leinster, controlling the estates of Thomas Butler, tenth earl of Ormond (1531–1614), in his minority and a private army of gallowglasses in co. Kilkenny” and “Through the office of lord marshal, to which he was appointed in January 1549, he commanded royal forces in Ireland”. Bryan had become a powerful and wealthy man.
• He died in Ireland on the 2nd February 1550, his last words allegedly being “‘I pray you, let me be buried amongst the good fellows of Waterford (which were good drinkers)’”.
• Like his good friend Thomas Wyatt, Bryan was a poet.
• Thomas Wyatt wrote of Bryan:
  “To thee, therefore, that trots still up and down
  And never rests, but running day and night
  From realm to realm, from city, street, and town,
  Why dost thou wear thy body to the bones?”
• There are no portraits of Sir Francis Bryan.

Notes and Sources

• Susan Brigden, ‘Bryan, Sir Francis (d. 1550)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
• Nicholas Sander, Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism

Hever Castle, the Boleyn family's home

In part one of this series on Mary Boleyn, I established that Mary Boleyn was born in approximately 1500 and was most likely the first child of Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard. Records also tell us that in 1514 Mary Boleyn was selected as a maid of honour to Mary Tudor who travelled to France to wed King Louis XII. Yet, as with much of Mary’s life, we know absolutely nothing about her first fourteen years of life. Due to the lack of information we can only make educated guesses at what Mary Boleyn’s childhood was like and the type of education she received.

There is one fact that we know for certain about Mary Boleyn and that is that she was able to write in English. In 1534 Mary wrote a letter to Thomas Cromwell, asking for his assistance after she and her second husband, William Stafford, were banished from court. This letter shows us that Mary could write and most probably also read, and it can be argued that Mary learnt this skill during her younger years.

Eric Ives, who is one of the most renowned writers about Anne Boleyn states that Thomas Boleyn, Mary’s father, “was careful to ensure that Anne had the best available education, and he was obviously also responsible for the education of her brother, George – possibly a product of Oxford and later a recognised court poet.” (Ives 2004, p. 10). Noticeably there is no mention of Mary Boleyn’s education but I suggest that since Mary Boleyn was approximately a year or so older than her sister Anne, that it could very well be that they were educated together or shared the same tutors. I would think it a little strange if a tutor was hired to teach Anne and George and Mary was completely excluded.

In her book ‘Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII’s Favourite Mistress’, Josephine Wilkinson writes that Mary received an education which was suited for a young lady of Mary’s status. She would have been taught to read and write – of which we know Mary was certainly able to do both. She would have been taught important skills such as sewing, embroidery, singing and dancing, which were all essential for a young woman. We know that during New Year’s 1533 Mary was given a gift by the King and in return she gave the King a blackwork collar she had made herself. I propose that Mary must have been quite good at sewing to make such a gift fit for a King. She would have also learned how to play the virginal and lute. Table manners were essential as well as being taught all the necessities to conform to the religious beliefs of the time. In addition to this Mary would have been taught to ride a horse as well as some archery and hunting. Wilkinson also stresses that Mary would have been taught to obey men, namely her father and then her husband.

It is also quite possible that Mary Boleyn learnt to speak and perhaps write in French. Her father, Thomas, was a diplomat and he was considered to be one of the best speakers of French in the English court. In 1514 Mary was chosen as a maid of honour to Mary Tudor who was about to travel to France to wed King Louis XII. A position within the future French Queen’s court would have been highly sought after and it can be assumed that Thomas Boleyn used his influence to gain Mary a spot, and that she was accepted because she had at least some knowledge and skills in speaking French. Certainly having a young woman who spoke French would have been a great assistance to the future Queen.

It has been suggested that Mary had little or no interest in intellectual pursuits and that she had no outstanding skills or qualities that would attract her to others. It was therefore for these reasons that Anne was chosen to further her education at the court of the Archduchess, Margaret of Austria. However since there are no surviving records of Mary’s education or personal notes or letters from her early years there is no way to say this for sure. Perhaps Mary was more interested or had more skills with other pastimes rather than reading or writing. Perhaps Thomas Boleyn believed that his second daughter Anne would be more likely to be accepted into Margaret of Austria’s court. Again with the lack of records or facts recorded about Mary Boleyn we simply cannot state what sort of a student she was or what her strength or weaknesses were. Sadly we cannot even say what were her interests or favourite pass times.
We also can only briefly track Mary’s whereabouts from the time of her birth until she travelled with Mary Tudor to France. It has been strongly suggested that Mary was born at Blickling Hall where her parents resided in 1500. In 1505/6, after the death of his father and Thomas Boleyn came into his inheritance, he moved his family to Hever Castle in Kent. Mary’s father was a member of King Henry VIII’s court and records show us that he was often at court or on diplomatic missions overseas. It is quite unlikely that Mary would have travelled with her father overseas, especially as a very young child.

Little is known about Elizabeth Howard, Mary’s mother. Kelly Hart in her book ‘The Mistresses of Henry VIII’ states that Elizabeth Howard was a lady in waiting to Queen Catherine of Aragon from 1509. Unfortunately we do not know how much time Elizabeth Howard spent at court, or how long she was a lady in waiting to the Queen. Nor do we know if Mary resided at court with her mother during her service to the Queen. If her mother was busy attending the Queen it could be quite possible that Mary stayed at Hever with her sister and brother to continue her education, but unfortunately we cannot say if this for certain. From this sketchy evidence I propose that Mary would most likely have spent the majority of the first fourteen years of her life at her family’s home at Hever Castle in Kent.

Once again it is most frustrating to know so little about Mary Boleyn’s education and the experiences during her formative years that influenced her later decisions in life. Personally I find it frustrating when people suggest that Mary was dull and dim witted as there is simply no evidence to suggest this. Perhaps Mary was not a great intellect like her younger sister or brother, but once more we do not know this for sure. Maybe Mary preferred to keep to herself or she had great skills in other areas such as sewing or playing instruments or dancing, which were all fine qualities for a young woman of the times to possess. Certainly she must have had something about her to capture the attention of Henry VIII, not only to become his mistress but to continue as his mistress for several years. There is so little we know about Mary and her education and early years of life make up a large part of this. If only a long lost letter or document would be discovered which finally shed some light on these formative years of Mary Boleyn’s life.

Sources

• Fraser, A 1992, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Phoenix Press, London.
• Hart, K 2009, The Mistresses of Henry VIII, The History Press, Gloucestershire.
• Ives, E 2009, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.
• Loades, D 2011, The Boleyns: The Rise & Fall of a Tudor Family, Amberley Publishing, Gloucestershire.
• Weir, A 2011, Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings, Jonathan Cape, London.
• Wilkinson, J 2010, Mary Boleyn The True Story of Henry VIII’s Favourite Mistress, Amberly Publishing, Gloucestershire.

Thank you so much to Sarah Bryson of the blog Anne Boleyn: From Queen to History for another excellent article on Mary Boleyn! You can read part one at Mary Boleyn the Unknown Sister – Birth

What was heartbreaking about this miscarriage was that Catherine’s abdomen stayed rounded and kept growing, leading her physician to concluded that she was still pregnant and that she had lost one of a pair of twins. Even though she began to menstruate again, it’s understandable that Catherine and Henry clung on to that hope and Catherine went into confinement in March 1510 to await the birth of the remaining twin. The birth never happened, it was a phantom pregnancy and Catherine’s abdomen began to return to normal. How heartbreaking!

You can read more about this miscarriage in my article Catherine of Aragon Goes into Premature Labour – 31st January 1510 and about Catherine’s pregnancies and miscarriages in The Pregnancies of Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon

Also on this day in history…

• 1547 – Thomas Wriothesley announces the death of Henry VIII to Parliament and Edward VI is proclaimed King
• 1574 – Birth of playwright Ben Jonson

Leanda de Lisle

As you probably know, we are running three Tudor history tours this year – the Executed Queens Tour, Discover the Tudors Tour and the Anne Boleyn Experience – and Tim and I have been putting the finishing touches to the itineraries. We’re pleased to announced that historian Leanda de Lisle, author of “The Sisters Who Would Be Queen” and “After Elizabeth”, has just confirmed that she will be speaking on Lady Jane Grey on our Executed Queens Tour in June and Anne Clinard Barnhill, author of the recent historical novel “At the Mercy of the Queen: A Novel of Anne Boleyn” is actually attending our September Anne Boleyn Experience Tour! Yay!

So, we have the following guest speakers for our tours now:-

• Executed Queens Tour – Author and historian Gareth Russell (tour leader), historian Dr John Guy and historian Leanda de Lisle
• Discover the Tudors Tour – Historian Dr John Guy, historian Linda Porter and tour leaders Claire and Tim Ridgway of The Anne Boleyn Files
• The Anne Boleyn Experience – Historian Eric Ives, author Robert Parry (Tour leader), author Anne Clinard Barnhill and Tudor costume expert Bess Chilver

Combine those expert speakers with accommodation at places like Hever Castle, Coombe Abbey and Alveston Manor, and visits to Tudor attractions and I think you’ll agree that these tours will be a Tudor history lover’s dream come true! Plus the historians join us for dinner and sign books so plenty of time to chat and get books signed, I’m so excited!

You can view or download a brochure at http://www.historytoursofbritain.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/2012_brochure_cover1.jpg or view all the details on our special tour website http://www.historytoursofbritain.com/. There is also a booking page there and you can book with a deposit of £300 per person.

Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, reported Anne Boleyn’s miscarriage in a dispatch to Emperor Charles V:-

“On the day of the interment [Catherine of Aragon's funeral] the Concubine had an abortion which seemed to be a male child which she had not borne 3½ months, at which the King has shown great distress. The said concubine wished to lay the blame on the duke of Norfolk, whom she hates, saying he frightened her by bringing the news of the fall the King had six days before. But it is well known that is not the cause, for it was told her in a way that she should not be alarmed or attach much importance to it. Some think it was owing to her own incapacity to bear children, others to a fear that the King would treat her like the late Queen, especially considering the treatment shown to a lady of the Court, named Mistress Semel, to whom, as many say, he has lately made great presents.”¹

and the chronicler Charles Wriothesley recorded:-

“This yeare also, three daies before Candlemas, Queene Anne was brought a bedd and delivered of a man chield, as it was said, afore her tyme, for she said that she had reckoned herself at that tyme but fiftene weekes gonne with chield; it was said she tooke a fright, for the King ranne that tyme at the ring and had a fall from his horse, but he had no hurt; and she tooke such a fright withall that it caused her to fall in travaile, and so was delivered afore her full tyme, which was a great discompfort to all this realme.”²

So, it seems that Anne lost a son and not the “shapeless mass of flesh” that Nicholas Sander wrote of in 1585 – and note that he was the ONLY person to write of this, plus he said Anne had six fingers! – or “a baby hardly malformed, with a spine flayed open and a huge head, twice as large as the spindly little body”, which is how this baby is described in Philippa Gregory’s “The Other Boleyn Girl”. This was a normal miscarriage, a heartbreaking tragedy, but something which was a common occurrence in Tudor times and which still is today. It is so sad that this pregnancy did not go to term as I’m sure that a healthy son would have made Anne secure in her position as queen. Catherine of Aragon’s death and this miscarriage left Anne in a very vulnerable position and her enemies were to take advantage of this.

You can read more about Anne Boleyn’s pregnancies, her miscarriage and its impact in the following articles:-

• Was Anne Boleyn’s Miscarriage Responsible for her Fall?
• Anne Boleyn’s Miscarriage – 29th January 1536
• The Pregnancies of Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon

Notes and Sources

1. LP x.284
2. A Chronicle of England during the reigns of the Tudors, from A.D. 1485 to 1559. by Charles Wriothesley, p33

Also on this day in history…

• 1536 – Funeral of Catherine of Aragon
• 1547 – Edward VI was informed that his father, Henry VIII, had died and that he was now King
• 1555 – Bishop John Hooper and Bible editor John Rogers were the first heretics to be condemnedto death in Mary I’s reign.

Photo by Clare Hancock

On the 29th January 1536, Catherine of Aragon was buried in Peterborough Abbey, now known as Peterborough Cathedral. In her last days she had requested to be buried in a Chapel of her beloved order, The Observant Friars, but the recent dissolution of the monasteries meant that there were none left.

This strong woman who had refused to recognise the annulment of her marriage to Henry VIII and who still saw herself as Queen of England was buried at Peterborough as Princess Dowager, referring to her marriage to Prince Arthur, the Prince of Wales, and the Bishop of Rochester even said in his sermon at her funeral that “in the hour of death she acknowledged she had not been Queen of England”! Henry VIII was using his first wife’s funeral as propaganda and I don’t blame the imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, who comforted Catherine in her last days, for not attending and choosing to remember her in his own way.

Catherine of Aragon’s tomb can still be visited today and Peterborough Cathedral have marked her tomb with the words “Katharine Queen of England”. The Cathedral also commemorate her life and death by holding a special programme of events every year at the end of January – The Katharine of Aragon Festival – and I think it is a fitting tribute to this wonderful woman. RIP Queen Catherine of Aragon.

You can read more about Catherine of Aragon’s last days and death in my article “The Death of Catherine of Aragon”