The Life and Legacy of Anne Boleyn E-Book

• Herausgeber: Charles River Editors
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Serie: British Legends
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 52

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

“To us she appears inconsistent—religious yet aggressive, calculating yet emotional, with the light touch of the courtier yet the strong grip of the politician—but is this what she was, or merely what we strain to see through the opacity of the evidence? As for her inner life, short of a miraculous cache of new material, we shall never really know. Yet what does come to us across the centuries is the impression of a person who is strangely appealing to the early twenty-first century: A woman in her own right—taken on her own terms in a man's world; a woman who mobilised her education, her style and her presence to outweigh the disadvantages of her sex; of only moderate good looks, but taking a court and a king by storm. Perhaps, in the end, it is Thomas Cromwell's assessment that comes nearest: intelligence, spirit and courage." – Eric Ives

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history’s most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors’ British Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of Great Britain’s most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Over 450 years after his reign, Henry VIII is still the most famous and recognizable King of England, but it’s for all the wrong reasons. Though well regarded by contemporaries as a learned king and "one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne", he is best remembered today for his gluttony and multiple marriages, particularly the gruesome way in which he was widowed on more than one occasion. Naturally, that was the focus of the popular Showtime drama series centered around his life, The Tudors.

Of those wives, none is more famous than his second, Anne Boleyn, who even today remains both famous and infamous for her personal and political life nearly 400 years after her death.   Anne was a vixen and ultimately a victim, but she was also an astute politician, foolish lover and wise woman.  She was also both an adulteress and religious reformer, and these two qualities would come together to change the face of English Christianity forever.

Anne came into the court with a better idea of what she was getting herself into than any other of Henry’s queens, but even she could not see foresee how fickle fate would cost her both her love and her life.  Like Catherine of Aragon before her, she would be unable to hold on to her wandering husband.  However, she would, ironically, be the last of his queens that he’d ever cheat on.  Early female mortality and his own failing health would keep him faithful to the women who would follow her as queen, in a way that the teachings of the Church and common decency never would.

British Legends: The Life and Legacy of Anne Boleyn looks at the life and death of the famous queen, but it also analyzes her enduring legacy and popular legends about her. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Anne Boleyn like you never have before, in no time at all.

Leseprobe

British Legends: The Life and Legacy of Anne Boleyn

By Charles River Editors

Henry's reconciliation with Anne Boleyn, by George Cruikshank, 19th century.

About Charles River Editors

Charles River Editors was founded by Harvard and MIT alumni to provide superior editing and original writing services, with the expertise to create digital content for publishers across a vast range of subject matter. In addition to providing original digital content for third party publishers, Charles River Editors republishes civilization’s greatest literary works, bringing them to a new generation via ebooks.

Introduction

Anne Boleyn (1501-1536)

“To us she appears inconsistent—religious yet aggressive, calculating yet emotional, with the light touch of the courtier yet the strong grip of the politician—but is this what she was, or merely what we strain to see through the opacity of the evidence? As for her inner life, short of a miraculous cache of new material, we shall never really know. Yet what does come to us across the centuries is the impression of a person who is strangely appealing to the early twenty-first century: A woman in her own right—taken on her own terms in a man's world; a woman who mobilised her education, her style and her presence to outweigh the disadvantages of her sex; of only moderate good looks, but taking a court and a king by storm. Perhaps, in the end, it is Thomas Cromwell's assessment that comes nearest: intelligence, spirit and courage." – Eric Ives

A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history’s most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors’ British Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of Great Britain’s most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.

Over 450 years after his reign, Henry VIII is still the most famous and recognizable King of England, but it’s for all the wrong reasons. Though well regarded by contemporaries as a learned king and "one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne", he is best remembered today for his gluttony and multiple marriages, particularly the gruesome way in which he was widowed on more than one occasion. Naturally, that was the focus of the popular Showtime drama series centered around his life, The Tudors.

Of those wives, none is more famous than his second, Anne Boleyn, who even today remains both famous and infamous for her personal and political life nearly 400 years after her death. Anne was a vixen and ultimately a victim, but she was also an astute politician, foolish lover and wise woman. She was also both an adulteress and religious reformer, and these two qualities would come together to change the face of English Christianity forever.

Anne came into the court with a better idea of what she was getting herself into than any other of Henry’s queens, but even she could not see foresee how fickle fate would cost her both her love and her life. Like Catherine of Aragon before her, she would be unable to hold on to her wandering husband. However, she would, ironically, be the last of his queens that he’d ever cheat on. Early female mortality and his own failing health would keep him faithful to the women who would follow her as queen, in a way that the teachings of the Church and common decency never would.

British Legends: The Life and Legacy of Anne Boleyn looks at the life and death of the famous queen, but it also analyzes her enduring legacy and popular legends about her. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Anne Boleyn like you never have before, in no time at all.

Anne Boleyn in the Tower, by Edouard Cibot

British Legends: The Life and Legacy of Anne Boleyn

About Charles River Editors

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Face of a Child

Chapter 2: The Face of a Woman

Chapter 3: The Face of a Temptress

Chapter 4: The Face of a Queen

Chapter 5: The Face of a “Traitor”

Chapter 6: Anne Boleyn’s Legacy

Bibliography

Chapter 1: The Face of a Child

Anne Boleyn became one of England’s most famous queens, but she did not seem destined for fame or even notice among her contemporaries in 1501, as witnessed by the fact nobody is sure of the precise date of her birth. Depending on the sources and evidence one accepts, it may have been as early as 1499 or as late as 1512, leading historians to settle on a “happy medium” of between 1501 and 1507. Until just a few decades ago, it was widely believed Anne was born in 1507, but conclusive proof indicated that Anne had written a letter in 1513 from Brussels as a maid of honour in court there, which meant she would have had to have been about 12 years old, not 6 years old. On the other hand, Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria and confidant to “Bloody Mary”, wrote in her memoirs that Anne “was convicted and condemned and was not yet twenty-nine years of age."

As a result, her place in the birth order of her siblings had also been disputed, as she came after Mary (born around 1499) and maybe after George (born circa 1504).

Mary Boleyn

What is beyond question is her parentage. Anne’s father was Thomas Boleyn, a diplomat and favorite of England’s King Henry VII. As such, he often travelled to Europe on the King’s behalf, especially to the French court, where his manner and fluency in the language made him popular with the French king. He was also the son of a well-known knight and Lord Mayor of London, Geoffrey Boleyn. Like her husband, Anne’s mother, Lady Elizabeth Howard, was of noble birth, the daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. Though her rank in the aristocracy might have technically been higher than his, his family seemed to have been the more respected during this particular era. They seemed to have had a relatively successful marriage, based more on ambition than love, and Elizabeth was content to raise her children in his ancestral home, Hever Castle, in Kent.