Read of the Week

Good morning Anne aficionados! Last night I finished up Alison Weir's The Life of Elizabeth I. I really enjoyed this book, Weir wrote a biography emphasizing the personal life of Elizabeth using a vast cache of primary sources including letters, government documents and journals. The reader finds out almost immediately that Elizabeth's need to marry is of the utmost concern, not just to her advisors and subjects but to the entire European marriage market.. Princes from all over continent wanted to marry for a variety of reasons and Elizabeth kept them on a string, guessing whether or not she would accept their offers and playing them against each other for the benefit of England. There was even intrigue among her highest nobility pressing their offers for her hand. Despite the continual urging of her closest friends and advisors to marry and produce "...heirs of her body..." the self styled Virgin Queen professes herself married to her country and her people; a bold statement for a woman who lived in a time when most believed that a woman could not survive without a husband.

 Outside of Elizabeth's matrimonial quandaries, Weir gave such great detail on who Elizabeth was, breaking the mold of Gloriana to explore the importance of symbolism, faith and relationships to Elizabeth's life. Alison gives us a ton of information on the Robert Dudley/Elizabeth relationship and how it changed and developed over time. The author was great about digging into Elizabeth's personal life, but the one subject I wish she would have spent more time on is Elizabeth's intellectual pursuits and how she encouraged and promoted education; it would become a hallmark of her reign.

I would however point out a few sections that I struggled with, namely Weir's assertion that Amy Dudley was murdered. The point seems small, considering the epic life of Elizabeth I, but the ways in which the author tried to justify herself seemed out of place given the normally meticulous research of Alison Weir. The author asserts that the person who may have murdered Amy Dudley is William Cecil. She spend many pages describing how he may [emphasis mine] have set the scene to frame Dudley for her murder ensuring that people were suspicious prior to her untimely death and that these suspicions meant Elizabeth would never marry Robert, leaving Cecil's influence over Elizabeth and her regime intact.

 While I enjoyed the depth of Weir's research, it really bothered me that she would quote primary source documents and other contemporary sources without using footnotes or endnotes. I am always looking for books to use in my research but Weir's lack of citations makes it extremely difficult to locate just where she is getting her information from.

This book is an excellent introductory biography for any historian or reader hoping to grapple with the grandeur of the Elizabethan era. Weir's grasp of making historical narrative come to life shines in her writing.

On This Day in Tudor History

On this day in Tudor history 1540 Henry VIII married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves at the royal Palace of Placentia in Greenwich in a ceremony conducted by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. The union was not to be a happy one; Henry had been trying for several weeks to seek out a way to end his betrothal to Anne. His dislike of his intended bride was due perhaps in large part to her cold treatment of Henry the week before when he tried to surprise his fiancé in disguise and she reacted badly (some historians believe she may have thought she was being abducted) Unfortunately for Henry, jilting Anne would have compromised the fragile alliance between England and the Protestant German states. England needed this alliance to ensure that she was not the victim of a joint attack by the recently allied France and Spain. Also, Cromwell had done his utmost to ensure that the marriage followed all laws and regulations to avoid another Katherine of Aragon/Anne Boleyn fiasco. The marriage negotiations, it seemed, were rock solid with no graceful exit for Henry. The wedding night, far from the joyous occasion it should have been. It was awkward as Anne was not only a virgin but had been sheltered from the realities of sexual relationships for the entirety of her life. Her innocence may have frustrated Henry even further. He complained to Cromwell that he could not consummate the relationship saying, "I liked her before not well, but now I like her much worse..." Henry had been very vocal about his disappointment in her looks, refuting the words of French ambassador who said Anne was of "...middling beauty, and of very assured and resolute countenance." The marriage would be Henry's shortest, lasting little more than six months.

Anne of Cleves
Hans Holbein the Younger c 1539

Contest Winner

Happy new year Anne lovers! I am excited to announce that CatyIsMyLady is the winner of our anniversary giveaway! She will receive a copy of Susan Bordo's The Creation of Anne Boleyn. Thank you to everyone who participated; we had over 30 entries with 10 containing all correct answers. I appreciate your continued support of Confessions in 2014!

Thank you!

 



Second Anniversary Giveaway!

Confessions is nearing it's SECOND anniversary! Similar to last year, I will be hosting a giveaway! All you have to do is answer a series of Anne Boleyn related questions! These answers can all be found around the Confessions website.

1. Who was the second husband of Mary Boleyn?

2. What does Le Temps Viendra mean and where is the phrase found?

3. What is the name of Anne Boleyn's childhood home?

4. After Henry's supposed disdain for Anne of Cleves became known, what was her nickname?

5. Where in Anne Boleyn buried? (Be exact!)

6. What was Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, executed for and when?

7. What was Anne Boleyn's motto as queen?

8. What was the cause of Cardinal Wolsey's death?

9. What was the name of Anne Boleyn's coronation song?

10. Under which noble woman did Anne Boleyn learn French and perfect her manners?


The winner of this giveaway will receive a copy of Susan Bordo's The Creation of Anne Boleyn

Send your answers to anneboleynconfessions@gmail.com by January 1, 2014 at 12pm PST.

Read of the Week

This past weekend I was really excited to jump into Blood Will Tell: A Medical Explanation for the Tyranny of Henry VIII by Kyra Kramer. The book is a very interesting look at the mental and physical decline of Henry VIII and a possible explanation. Her theory is that Henry VIII's blood was Kell positive. As such, he would have had an extraordinarily difficult time fathering healthy children who thrived. Kell negative women who have children by Kell positive fathers have fine pregnancies the first time around, but develop an "allergy" to the Kell antigens afterwards, causing future fetuses to miscarry or die early in infancy.

Kramer, a medical anthropologist, does a commendable job of dissecting Henry VIII's medical, psychological, and behavioral history. She walks through the reproductive trials and tribulations of each of his first two wives examining how Henry's possibly Kell-positive status could have affected Anne and Katherine's pregnancies. It's entirely plausible and incredibly fascinating.

Kramer does not just give surface information and expect the reader to agree with her. Her research has immense depth; postulating that Henry may additionally have suffered from McLeod syndrome, a disorder that interestingly enough can cause major personality changes, including paranoia and schizophrenia. The author does an impeccable job of bringing together science and history to write an engaging and thoughtful book that humanizes Henry VIII, helping to lessen the historically accepted view of the lecherous, obese monster.

I commend Kramer for her incredible use of citations, she made this book a researcher's heaven. Her bibliography is extensive and impressive; pulling not only from historical and medical sources but also from sociology and anthropology. The book is well rounded, and impeccably researched.
Her tone is logical and professional, her own thoughts are carefully concealed, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions. I enjoyed her style, because I did not feel led on to believe her theory blindly.

Kramer doesn't let her own voice intrude very much in her narrative, choosing to maintain a very  smooth, logical tone that fits well with the medical report style of the book. The one thing I think he could have improved on was to write for a more diverse audience. The book is fascinating, but if you are not a Tudor historian her lack of background/contextual narrative would have made the book difficult to read. All in all, I really enjoyed this book, it added a lot of nuance to my conceptions about Henry VIII. I suggest it for all readers who want to understand more about the man Henry VIII truly was, even if you do not accept her medical explanation for his decline.