This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Oct 12, Barbara Plummer rated it it was amazing. Very well-written The story remains the same, if course, but is told with a fresh and touching perspective by a very talented author.
Moth To The Flame: The Story of Anne Boleyn
Mar 26, Constance Markarian rated it really liked it. Also, it was a quick read. If you like this time period in English history, I think you will like this book. Jennifer Krueger rated it liked it Jan 13, Miss Susan Axford rated it it was amazing Dec 02, Camille Green rated it it was amazing Feb 09, Sue rated it it was ok Jan 28, Arthur J Brier Jr rated it it was amazing Nov 04, Kathleen Coussens-Flores rated it liked it Dec 14, Lindsey rated it it was ok Apr 20, Holly rated it liked it Dec 09, Girl From the North Country rated it it was ok Jan 14, Sarah Ott rated it really liked it Jun 09, Tara rated it it was amazing Jun 20, Ann rated it liked it Dec 02, Now the prepared letters announcing the birth of a prince had an s hastily added to them to read princes[s] and the traditional jousting tournament for the birth of an heir was cancelled.
Nevertheless, the infant princess was given a splendid christening, but Anne feared that Catherine's daughter, Mary , now stripped of her title of princess and labelled a bastard , posed a threat to Elizabeth's position. Henry soothed his wife's fears by separating Mary from her many servants and sending her to Hatfield House , where Princess Elizabeth would be living with her own sizeable staff of servants, and where the country air was thought better for the baby's health.
The new queen had a larger staff of servants than Catherine. There were more than servants to tend to her personal needs, everyone from priests to stable-boys, and more than 60 maids-of-honour who served her and accompanied her to social events. She also employed several priests who acted as her confessors , chaplains, and religious advisers.
One of these was Matthew Parker , who would become one of the chief architects of Anglican thought during the reign of Anne's daughter, Elizabeth I. The king and his new queen enjoyed a reasonably happy accord with periods of calm and affection. Anne Boleyn's sharp intelligence, political acumen and forward manners, although desirable in a mistress, were, at the time, unacceptable in a wife. She was once reported to have spoken to her uncle in words that "shouldn't be used to a dog". By October, she was again pregnant. Anne Boleyn presided over a magnificent court.
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She spent lavish amounts of money on gowns, jewels, head-dresses, ostrich-feather fans, riding equipment, furniture and upholstery, maintaining the ostentatious display required by her status. Numerous palaces were renovated to suit her and Henry's extravagant tastes. Anne was blamed for the tyranny of her husband's government and was referred to by some of her subjects as "The king's whore" or a "naughty paike [prostitute]". On 8 January , news of Catherine of Aragon's death reached the King and Anne, who were overjoyed. The following day, Henry and Anne wore yellow, the symbol of joy and celebration in England, from head to toe, and celebrated Catherine's death with festivities.
With Mary's mother dead, Anne attempted to make peace with her. These began after the discovery during her embalming that Catherine's heart was blackened. Modern medical experts are in agreement that this was not the result of poisoning, but of cancer of the heart , an extremely rare condition which was not understood at the time.
The Queen, pregnant again, was aware of the dangers if she failed to give birth to a son. With Catherine dead, Henry would be free to marry without any taint of illegality. At this time Henry began paying court to Jane Seymour. He gave her a locket with a miniature portrait of himself inside and Jane, in the presence of Anne, began opening and shutting it.
Anne responded by ripping off the locket with such force her fingers bled. Later that month, the King was unhorsed in a tournament and knocked unconscious for two hours, a worrying incident that Anne believed led to her miscarriage five days later.
Moth To The Flame: The Story of Anne Boleyn by Angela Warwick
Whatever the cause, on the day that Catherine of Aragon was buried at Peterborough Abbey , Anne miscarried a baby which, according to the imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys , she had borne for about three and a half months, and which "seemed to be a male child". Given Henry's desperate desire for a son, the sequence of Anne's pregnancies has attracted much interest. Author Mike Ashley speculated that Anne had two stillborn children after Elizabeth's birth and before the male child she miscarried in His new mistress, Jane Seymour , was quickly moved into royal quarters.
This was followed by Anne's brother George being refused a prestigious court honour, the Order of the Garter , given instead to Sir Nicholas Carew. Anne's biographer Eric Ives and most other historians believe that her fall and execution were primarily engineered by her former ally Thomas Cromwell. Anne argued with Cromwell over the redistribution of Church revenues and over foreign policy. She advocated that revenues be distributed to charitable and educational institutions; and she favoured a French alliance.
Cromwell insisted on filling the King's depleted coffers, while taking a cut for himself, and preferred an imperial alliance. Cromwell became involved in the royal marital drama only when Henry ordered him onto the case. Such a bold attempt by Cromwell, given the limited evidence, could have risked his office, even his life. He initially denied being the Queen's lover but later confessed, perhaps tortured or promised freedom.
Another courtier, Henry Norris , was arrested on May Day , but being an aristocrat, could not be tortured. Prior to his arrest, Norris was treated kindly by the King, who offered him his own horse to use on the May Day festivities. It seems likely that during the festivities, the King was notified of Smeaton's confession and it was shortly thereafter the alleged conspirators were arrested upon his orders. Norris denied his guilt and swore that Queen Anne was innocent; one of the most damaging pieces of evidence against Norris was an overheard conversation with Anne at the end of April, where she accused him of coming often to her chambers not to pay court to her lady-in-waiting Madge Shelton but to herself.
Sir Thomas Wyatt , a poet and friend of the Boleyns who was allegedly infatuated with her before her marriage to the king, was also imprisoned for the same charge but later released, most likely due to his or his family's friendship with Cromwell. Sir Richard Page was also accused of having a sexual relationship with the Queen, but he was acquitted of all charges after further investigation could not implicate him with Anne. November at Whitehall and the following month at Eltham. On 2 May , Anne was arrested and taken to the Tower of London by barge.
In the Tower, she collapsed, demanding to know the location of her father and "swete broder", as well as the charges against her. Your Grace's displeasure, and my imprisonment are things so strange unto me, as what to write, or what to excuse, I am altogether ignorant. Whereas you send unto me willing me to confess a truth, and so obtain your favour by such an one, whom you know to be my ancient professed enemy. I no sooner received this message by him, than I rightly conceived your meaning; and if, as you say, confessing a truth indeed may procure my safety, I shall with all willingness and duty perform your demand.
But let not your Grace ever imagine, that your poor wife will ever be brought to acknowledge a fault, where not so much as a thought thereof preceded. And to speak a truth, never prince had wife more loyal in all duty, and in all true affection, than you have ever found in Anne Boleyn: Neither did I at any time so far forget myself in my exaltation or received Queenship, but that I always looked for such an alteration as I now find; for the ground of my preferment being on no surer foundation than your Grace's fancy, the least alteration I knew was fit and sufficient to draw that fancy to some other object.
You have chosen me, from a low estate, to be your Queen and companion, far beyond my desert or desire. If then you found me worthy of such honour, good your Grace let not any light fancy, or bad council of mine enemies, withdraw your princely favour from me; neither let that stain, that unworthy stain, of a disloyal heart toward your good grace, ever cast so foul a blot on your most dutiful wife, and the infant-princess your daughter.
Try me, good king, but let me have a lawful trial, and let not my sworn enemies sit as my accusers and judges; yea let me receive an open trial, for my truth shall fear no open flame; then shall you see either my innocence cleared, your suspicion and conscience satisfied, the ignominy and slander of the world stopped, or my guilt openly declared.
So that whatsoever God or you may determine of me, your grace may be freed of an open censure, and mine offense being so lawfully proved, your grace is at liberty, both before God and man, not only to execute worthy punishment on me as an unlawful wife, but to follow your affection, already settled on that party, for whose sake I am now as I am, whose name I could some good while since have pointed unto, your Grace being not ignorant of my suspicion therein.
But if you have already determined of me, and that not only my death, but an infamous slander must bring you the enjoying of your desired happiness; then I desire of God, that he will pardon your great sin therein, and likewise mine enemies, the instruments thereof, and that he will not call you to a strict account of your unprincely and cruel usage of me, at his general judgment-seat, where both you and myself must shortly appear, and in whose judgment I doubt not whatsoever the world may think of me mine innocence shall be openly known, and sufficiently cleared.
My last and only request shall be, that myself may only bear the burden of your Grace's displeasure, and that it may not touch the innocent souls of those poor gentlemen, who as I understand are likewise in strait imprisonment for my sake. If ever I found favour in your sight, if ever the name of Anne Boleyn hath been pleasing in your ears, then let me obtain this request, and I will so leave to trouble your Grace any further, with mine earnest prayers to the Trinity to have your Grace in his good keeping, and to direct you in all your actions.
From my doleful prison in the Tower, this sixth of May;. Four of the accused men were tried in Westminster on 12 May Weston, Brereton, and Norris publicly maintained their innocence and only the tortured Smeaton supported the Crown by pleading guilty.
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Three days later, Anne and George Boleyn were tried separately in the Tower of London, before a jury of 27 peers. She was accused of adultery , incest, and high treason. The other form of treason alleged against her was that of plotting the king's death, with her "lovers", so that she might later marry Henry Norris. When the verdict was announced, he collapsed and had to be carried from the courtroom.
He died childless eight months later and was succeeded by his nephew. According to a legal review by Schauer and Schauer, "there is little if any evidence, apart from Smeaton's possible torture, that the rules of the time were in any way bent in order to assure Anne Boleyn's conviction". On 14 May, Cranmer declared Anne's marriage to Henry null and void. Although the evidence against them was unconvincing, the accused were found guilty and condemned to death.
George Boleyn and the other accused men were executed on 17 May William Kingston , the Constable of the Tower , reported Anne seemed very happy and ready to be done with life.
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Henry commuted Anne's sentence from burning to beheading, and rather than have a queen beheaded with the common axe, he brought an expert swordsman from Saint-Omer in France, to perform the execution. On the morning of 19 May, Kingston wrote:. This morning she sent for me, that I might be with her at such time as she received the good Lord, to the intent I should hear her speak as touching her innocency alway to be clear.
And in the writing of this she sent for me, and at my coming she said, 'Mr. Kingston, I hear I shall not die afore noon, and I am very sorry therefore, for I thought to be dead by this time and past my pain. And then she said, 'I heard say the executioner was very good, and I have a little neck,' and then put her hands about it, laughing heartily.
I have seen many men and also women executed, and that they have been in great sorrow, and to my knowledge this lady has much joy in death. Sir, her almoner is continually with her, and had been since two o'clock after midnight. Her impending death may have caused her great sorrow for some time during her imprisonment. The poem " Oh Death Rock Me Asleep " is generally believed to have been authored by Anne and reveals that she may have hoped death would end her suffering. Shortly before dawn, she called Kingston to hear mass with her, and swore in his presence, on the eternal salvation of her soul, upon the Holy Sacraments , that she had never been unfaithful to the king.
She ritually repeated this oath both immediately before and after receiving the sacrament of the Eucharist. On the morning of Friday, 19 May, Anne Boleyn was executed within the Tower precincts, not upon the site of the execution memorial, but rather, according to historian Eric Ives, on a scaffold erected on the north side of the White Tower , in front of what is now the Waterloo Barracks. Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it.
I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul. This version of her speech is found in Foxe 's Actes and Monuments [] and an almost identical version in Ives She gracefully addressed the people from the scaffold with a voice somewhat overcome by weakness, but which gathered strength as she went on.
She begged her hearers to forgive her if she had not used them all with becoming gentleness, and asked for their prayers. It was needless, she said, to relate why she was there, but she prayed the Judge of all the world to have compassion on those who had condemned her, and she begged them to pray for the King, in whom she had always found great kindness, fear of God, and love of his subjects.
The spectators could not refrain from tears. Lancelot de Carle, a secretary to the French Ambassador, Antoine de Castelnau , was in London in May , [] and was an eyewitness to her trial and execution. It is thought that Anne avoided criticising Henry to save Elizabeth and her family from further consequences, but even under such extreme pressure Anne did not confess guilt, and indeed subtly implied her innocence, in her appeal to those who might "meddle of my cause".
The ermine mantle was removed and Anne lifted off her headdress, tucking her hair under a coif.
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The execution consisted of a single stroke. Most of the King's Council were also present. He made no serious attempt to save Anne's life, although some sources record that he had prepared her for death by hearing her last private confession of sins, in which she had stated her innocence before God. She was then buried in an unmarked grave in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula. Her skeleton was identified during renovations of the chapel in , in the reign of Queen Victoria , and Anne's grave is now identified on the marble floor.
Nicholas Sander , a Catholic recusant born c. In his De Origine ac Progressu schismatis Anglicani The Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism , published in , he was the first to write that Anne had six fingers on her right hand. Her frame was described as delicate, approximately 5'3", with finely formed, tapering fingers. Anne Boleyn was described by contemporaries as intelligent and gifted in musical arts and scholarly pursuits. She was also strong-willed and proud, and often quarrelled with Henry. 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 21st 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: No contemporary portraits of Anne Boleyn survive. A bust of her was cast on a commemorative medallion in , believed to have been struck to celebrate her second pregnancy. Following the coronation of her daughter as queen, Anne was venerated as a martyr and heroine of the English Reformation, particularly through the works of John Foxe, who argued that Anne had saved England from the evils of Roman Catholicism and that God had provided proof of her innocence and virtue by making sure her daughter Elizabeth I ascended the throne.
An example of Anne's direct influence in the reformed church is what Alexander Ales described to Queen Elizabeth as the "evangelical bishops whom your holy mother appointed from among those scholars who favoured the purer doctrine". As a result, she has remained in the popular memory and has been called "the most influential and important queen consort England has ever had. Because of Anne's early exposure to court life, she had powerful influences around her for most of her life.
These early influences were mostly aristocratic women, who were engaged with art, history, and religion. Eric Ives described the women around Anne as "aristocratic women seeking spiritual fulfillment". These women along with Anne's immediate family members, such as her father Thomas Boleyn , may have had large influences on Anne's personal faith. Another clue into Anne's personal faith could be found in Anne's book of hours , in which she wrote, " le temps viendra " ["the time will come"].
Alongside this inscription she drew an astrolabe , which at the time was a symbol of the Renaissance. The inscription implies that Anne was a Renaissance woman, exposed to new ideas and thoughts relating to her faith since it was written in her book of hours. Anne Boleyn's last words before her beheading was a prayer for her salvation, her king, and her country. She said, "Good Christian people! I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law, I am judged to death; and therefore I will speak nothing against it.
I come hither to accuse no man, nor to any thing of that whereof I am accused and condemned to die; but I pray God save the king, and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler, or a more merciful prince was there never; and to me he was ever a good, a gentle, and a sovereign lord.. Foxe also believed a sign of her good faith was God's blessing unto Anne's offspring, Elizabeth I , and allowing her daughter to prosper as queen.
Many legends and fantastic stories about Anne Boleyn have survived over the centuries. One is that she was secretly buried in Salle Church in Norfolk under a black slab near the tombs of her ancestors. This legend was often told for the benefit of foreign travellers. In , Major General J. Dundas of the 60th Rifles regiment was quartered in the Tower of London. As he was looking out the window of his quarters, he noticed a guard below in the courtyard, in front of the lodgings where Anne had been imprisoned, behaving strangely. He appeared to challenge something, which to the General "looked like a whitish, female figure sliding towards the soldier".
The guard charged through the form with his bayonet, then fainted. Only the General's testimony and corroboration at the court-martial saved the guard from a lengthy prison sentence for having fainted while on duty. Pakenham-Walsh , vicar of Sulgrave , Northamptonshire, reported having conversations with Anne. Learn more about Amazon Prime. Please try your request again later. Angela Warwick lives in Gloucestershire with her family and two Jack Russell dogs. She is currently researching for her next historical fiction novel. Are you an author? Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography.
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