Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Anne Boleyn rhymes with Angoulême


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by

 

Damien F. Mackey

 

 

 

 

 

“Henry VIII was not the first monarch to divorce their spouse from the throne. That auspicious honor goes to none other than King John, who, upon ascending the throne in 1199, divorced his wife, Isabel of Gloucester, and married the young Isabella of Angouleme. There are a few reasons why this divorce is of less fame, though it was its own 13th century scandal at the time. For one, this would be John’s only divorce and he stopped at two wives. ….

Which brings us to Isabella of Angouleme, who had one notable characteristic in common with Anne Boleyn – they were both wildly detested by the public”.

 

 

 

 

Anne Boleyn seems to have been very closely associated with Angoulême:


 

… Marguerite de Navarre (also known as Marguerite of Angoulême and Margaret of Navarre) ….

….

Some historians have interpreted Anne Boleyn’s service at the French court to mean that she must have been close, not only to Queen Claude whom Anne served for 6-7 years (the wife of King Francis I) but also to Marguerite d’Angouleme. The fact that Marguerite was a noted supporter of religious reform only served to further cement this assumption.

Eric Ives notes that even ‘careful’ scholars like Herbert of Cherbury ‘took it as a fact that Anne served in the household of the Duchess of Alencon, sister to Francis’ (Pg. 32) ….

‘When reporting Francis I’s complaint in January 1522 about Anne leaving France, the imperial ambassadors described her quite unequivocally as one of his wife’s ladies, just as she had been in 1515.’ (Pg. 32)

Although it is unlikely that Anne was in service to Marguerite, it is likely that they knew each other.

In June 1519, Thomas Boleyn was Henry VIII’s representative at the christening of Claude’s second child, the future Henry II, Marguerite’s nephew.

Ives believes that Thomas would have taken this opportunity to introduce his daughter to Marguerite. What she thought of her sister-in-law’s lady in waiting is unknown but in 1532, when Marguerite was Queen of Navarre, the English tried to get her to accompany her brother to Calais to meet Henry and Anne, but their efforts were in vain – Francis came alone.

Some historians have concluded that this ‘dismissal’ shows that Marguerite was ‘bitterly hostile to the projected marriage’ (Pg. 32) ….

….

It was at around this time that Francis I was trying to negotiate a match between his son Henry and Catherine de Medici – the Pope’s niece… Probably not the best time for it to appear that he was endorsing Anne’s position.

Other indications that Anne favoured Marguerite are:

In 1533, the Duke of Norfolk had two five-hour consultations with her and was convinced that she was ‘as affectionate to your highness as if she were your own sister, and likewise to the queen…My opinion is that she is your good and assured friend.’ (Pg. 33)

In 1534, Anne Boleyn confided to Marguerite that she was expecting a child and so a planned meeting between Henry and Francis had to be postponed, as she could not travel and needed Henry with her at the time of her confinement. Ives suggests that the real reason might have been that Henry feared trouble at home but nevertheless, George Boleyn delivered the message to Marguerite and insisted that Henry was still determined to meet with Francis:

‘Her Grace is now driven to her sheet anchor in this behalf, that is, to the only help of the said Queen of Navarre, and the goodness of the good King her brother, for Her Grace’s sake, and at this Her Graces’ suit and contemplation, to stay the King’s Highness her husband, and to prorogue their interview till a more commodious and convenient time for all parties.’ (Pg. 33)

In 1534, Anne had assured Marguerite that although at the 1532 meeting there had been ‘everything proceeding between both kings to the queen’s grace’s singular comfort, there was no one thing which her grace so much desired…as the want of the said queen of Navarre’s company, with whom to have conference, for more causes than were meet to be expressed, her grace is most desirous.’ (Pg. 33)

A message from Anne to Marguerite in 1535 stated ‘that her greatest wish, next to having a son, was to see you again’ (Pg. 33).

Are these remarks evidence of a close friendship between Anne and Marguerite? Or, as Ives suggests, could these remarks be Anne’s attempts to turn ‘mere acquaintance into a bosom friendship’ (Pg. 33).

Ives also points out that many of the books that Anne collected during her time as Queen, came from authors and printers that had been ‘encouraged by the Queen of Navarre.’ Ives even speculates that Anne would have possessed a copy of Marguerite’s Le Miroir de l’aime pecheresse, published in 1531, and claims that this exact copy might have been the one her daughter Elizabeth would use in 1545, when translating this work for her step-mother, Katherine Parr (Pg. 278).

Ives believes that there are also parallels between ‘Anne expressing her faith in fine illuminated manuscripts and Marguerite doing the same’ (Pg. 278).

It seems likely then that Anne saw Marguerite as a role-model, although Ives does not agree with earlier writers whom assumed that Marguerite was responsible for Anne’s interest in French reform (Pg. 277).

The true nature of Marguerite’s feelings towards Anne and the extent of their ‘friendship’ remains a mystery but what the evidence suggests is that during Anne’s reign Marguerite was ‘favourable to England, and to Anne.’

….

 

Certain parallels can be found between Isabella of Angouleme and Anne Boleyn:


 

Henry VIII was not the first monarch to divorce their spouse from the throne. That auspicious honor goes to none other than King John, who, upon ascending the throne in 1199, divorced his wife, Isabel of Gloucester, and married the young Isabella of Angouleme. There are a few reasons why this divorce is of less fame, though it was its own 13th century scandal at the time. For one, this would be John’s only divorce and he stopped at two wives. Secondly, there was no religious component – the annulment, for all its detractors, was approved. And finally, instead of casting aside a princess and marrying an Englishwoman, John did the reverse. Isabel of Gloucester was no Katherine of Aragon and she didn’t have the familial ties of claiming relation to the Holy Roman Emperor. For that matter, we don’t know whether Isabel had any desire to stay married to John in the first place.

Which brings us to Isabella of Angouleme, who had one notable characteristic in common with Anne Boleyn – they were both wildly detested by the public.

 

Just like Anne Boleyn, too, Isabella of Angoulême has been called a “Jezebel”. See my:

 

Isabella of Angouleme ‘more Jezebel than Isabel’

 

https://www.academia.edu/35156760/Isabella_of_Angouleme_more_Jezebel_than_Isabel_

 

Anne Boleyn has acquired, apart from 'a Jezebel and harlot', a multitude of unhappy epithets:


 

  • Whore – The imperial ambassador never referred to Anne Boleyn by name and instead called her “the concubine”, “the she-devil” and “the whore”, the Abbot of Whitby called her “Common stewed [professional] whore”, a lady called Margaret Chanseler (quoted in Eric Ives “The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn”, p200) referred to Anne as “The Goggle Eyed Whore” and she was also known as “The Great Whore”, “The King’s Whore” and a “naught paike”!
  • “The Scandal of Christendom” – This is what Catherine of Aragon called Anne.
  • Homewrecker or the other woman – This is the kind of label you see in Team Catherine vs Team Anne type arguments. People who give Anne this label feel that Anne purposely broke up Henry’s marriage to Catherine.
  • Seductress, plotter, tease and sexual predator – The belief that Anne Boleyn set out to purposely seduce and trap Henry VIII so that she could be queen.
  • Poisoner – In “The Other Boleyn Girl”, Philippa Gregory, suggests that Anne poisoned Bishop Fisher and his dinner guests, Cardinal Wolsey and Catherine of Aragon.

  • Witch – The idea that Anne Boleyn was a witch who put Henry under a spell. If you are eagle-eyed, you will have spotted Anne Boleyn’s portrait on the wall of Hogwarts in the first Harry Potter film, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (The Sorcerer’s Stone).
  • Deformed – Nicholas Sander, a Catholic recusant in Elizabeth I’s reign, wrote of Anne Boleyn having six fingers, a projecting tooth and a large wen under her chin.
  • Adulteress – Anne was charged with adultery and incest and some people believe that ‘there’s no smoke without a fire’.
  • Traitor – She was executed as a traitor, as someone who had not only committed adultery and slept with her brother, but also as someone who had plotted against the king.
  • Bigamist – In “The Other Boleyn Girl”, Anne Boleyn marries Henry Percy and they consummate their union, therefore, according to Philippa Gregory, Anne was a bigamist.
  • Kidnapper – In “The Other Boleyn Girl” (do you get the idea that many of the stereotypes and labels can be blamed on this novel?!), Anne adopts her sister Mary’s son, Henry, without Mary’s permission. She steals him.
  • That she gave birth to a monster – The idea that Anne gave birth to a monstrously deformed baby and that this was a sign that she had committed incest or was a witch.
    ….

  • Protestant martyr and saint – One website (Reformation.org) claims that Anne’s “only ‘crime’ was breaking up an incestuous relationship between King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon”, that her death was part of a conspiracy to keep England under the Catholic Church, that her doctor made sure that she did not have a male heir and that Anne should therefore be seen as a saint and martyr.
  • Victim of poison – The same website I mentioned a minute ago speaks of how Anne was given the cantarella of Borgia (poison) to make her miscarry.
  • A Sibyl or prophetess – I heard that one radio show on Anne Boleyn was claiming that Margaret of Austria ran a spiritual academy for sibyls (seeresses and prophetesses), a Renaissance version of Hogwarts, and that Anne was educated as a sibyl and groomed to be queen.
  • The Leader of the Reformation in England – Some people believe that not only was Anne groomed to be queen by the likes of Margaret of Austria and Marguerite of Angoulême, but that she was also groomed to break the Catholic Church in England and lead the Reformation.
  • Vampire – I had to add this as there seems to be a trend at the moment in fiction for Tudor characters to be portrayed as vampires. A kind of Twilight meets Sookie Stackhouse meets The Other Boleyn Girl! Hmm…
     
     
    Image result for anne boleyn vampire

 

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