Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford

Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford

“When [Princess] Mary had left Greenwich to go to Eltham, a great many women, in spite of their husbands, had flocked to see her pass, and had cheered her, calling out, that notwithstanding all laws to the contrary, she was still their princess. Several of them, being of higher rank than the rest, had been sent to the Tower. On the margin of that report … we find (written by Dinteville himself): ‘Note, my Lord Rochford …’ The ambassador clearly meant that Lady Rochford … was among those who had cheered Mary.” - Paul Friedmann, Anne Boleyn: A Chapter of English History.

doomed couple: ↳ Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII 

The love affair between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn is shrouded in historical myth, romantic legend, cliché and half-truths. Much of their story remains fiercely debated by historians – everything from why Henry fell for Anne, to why he destroyed her in the end.

The Lost Kings & Queens of England + Part II

Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales (1486-1502): The eldest son and heir apparent of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Arthur was viewed as the great hope of the newly established House of Tudor. Soon after his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Spanish Catholic Monarchs, he died suddenly of an unknown ailment. 

Lady Jane Grey (1536/37-1553): Also known as the “Nine Days Queen”, Jane was a great-granddaughter of Henry VII and was nominated as the successor to the Crown by her cousin, Edward VI, in an effort to avoid his half-sister - the Catholic Mary Tudor - from taking the crown. Jane was Queen of England for nine days before Mary and her supporters deposed her, later executing her when Protestants rebelled in her name during Mary’s reign. 

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots (1542-1587): The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scotland, Mary was six days old when her father died and she became the queen of Scotland. After discontent amongst her subjects forced her to abdicate, she sought the protection of her first cousin once removed, Elizabeth I of England. As the Catholic Mary was a threat to Elizabeth’s crown due to her descent from Henry VII, she was held as a virtual prisoner for nearly two decades until she was finally executed after being found guilty of plotting to assassinate her queenly cousin. 

Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (1594-1612): The elder son of James VI and I, King of England and Scotland, and Anne of Denmark, he was destined to inherit both the English and Scottish thrones but he predeceased his father when he died young of typhoid fever.

James Francis Edward Stuart, Prince of Wales (1688-1766): Also known as the “Old Pretender”, James was the only surviving son of James II and VII, who had failed to produce a living son after nearly three decades of marriage to two different women. His Catholic father was deposed in the Glorious Revolution just months after James’s birth due to the realm’s unwillingness to have a James’s Catholic son succeed to the throne. James spent the rest of his life unsuccessfully attempting to win back his father’s thrones with the backing of his Jacobite followers. 

Prince William, Duke of Gloucester (1689-1700): The only child of Anne, Queen of Great Britain, and Prince George of Denmark to survive infancy, William was seen as a Protestant champion as his birth seemed to cement the Protestant succession established in the Glorious Revolution. His death at the age of eleven precipitated a succession crisis, resulting in the Crown passing over to his Protestant Hanoverian cousins after his mother’s death.

Sophia of the Palatinate, Electress of Hanover (1630-1714): A granddaughter of James I and VI, Sophia became heir presumptive to the Kingdom of Great Britain when her cousin Anne lost her only child, resulting in the end to the Protestant line of succession established by the Bill of Rights. However, she died less than two months before she would have become queen, and her position as heir passed on to her eldest son, the future George I.

Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707-1751): The eldest but estranged son of George II and Caroline of Ansbach, Frederick was heir apparent to the British throne from 1727 until he predeceased his father by nine years. His position as Prince of Wales passed on to his young son, the future George III. 

Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796-1817): The only child of the future George IV and his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick, she was the only legitimate grandchild of George III during her lifetime, meaning she was destined to be the future Queen of the United Kingdom. After a year and a half of happy marriage to the future Leopold I of Belgium, she died after delivering a stillborn son, resulting in a succession crisis and pressure on the King’s unmarried sons to produce an heir.

Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence & Avondale (1864-1892): the eldest child of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and grandson of the reigning Queen Victoria, he was second in the line of succession from the time of his birth but never became king after dying of influenza weeks after becoming engaged. 

Elizabeth and Thomas Boleyn with their daughters Mary (left) and Anne (right) in The Spanish Princess 2x05, “Plague”

Whew @ the child-molester Thomas Seymour being described as a ‘handsome rogue’

FROM THE VAULTS:

Tudor England

The Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

On turning over in my mind the contents of your last letters, I have put myself into great agony, not knowing how to interpret them, whether to my disadvantage, as you show in some places, or to my advantage, as I understand them in some others, beseeching you earnestly to let me know expressly your whole mind as to the love between us two. 

The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory

“Jane,” I said quietly.  She opened her eyes, she had been far away in prayer.  “Yes, Mary? Forgive me, I was praying."  "If you go on flirting with the king with those sickly little smiles, one of us Boleyns is going to scratch your eyes out.”

Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

Why are we so attached to the severities of the past? Why are we so proud of having endured our fathers and our mothers, the fireless days and the meatless days, the cold winters and the sharp tongues? It’s not as if we had a choice.

The Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes By His Fool Will Somers, Margaret George

To recount these histories is like unravelling a thread: one means only to tell one little part, but then another comes in, and another, for they are all part of the same garment — Tudor, Lancaster, York, Plantagenet.

Dissolution, C.J. Sansom

In worshipping their nationhood men worship themselves and scorn others, and that is no healthy thing.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Alison Weir

Katherine of Aragon was a staunch but misguided woman of principle; Anne Boleyn an ambitious adventuress with a penchant for vengeance; Jane Seymour a strong-minded matriarch in the making; Anne of Cleves a good-humored woman who jumped at the chance of independence; Katherine Howard an empty-headed wanton; and Katherine Parr a godly matron who was nevertheless all too human when it came to a handsome rogue.

The Life of Elizabeth I, Alison Weir

Relations between Elizabeth and her male courtiers reflected the age—old ideals of courtly love, in which the lover pays hopeless court to his unattainable mistress.

Idk if I explained that well, but I don’t totally disregard Chapuys as a source at all— what I don’t like is the treatment of him as an infallible source, something Lauren MacKay has unfortunately contributed to. Chapuys got things wrong sometimes, to take all his reports at face value and not compare them to what other contemporaries were saying at the same time is going to lend itself to an extremely myopic view of the Tudor court and its major players.