Reader Questions

I have gotten a bit behind on answering submitted questions, I apologize! We have had so many great submissions in the past few weeks :) Thank you and I will do my best to answer them all!

Q: The other day a friend told me that Anne Boleyn had a sixth finger. I thought this was a lie until she showed me a website that confirmed what she said! What is your idea?

A: The myth that Anne had a sixth finger began after her death. Nicholas Sander, who was a Catholic living in exile during the time of Elizabeth I, disliked Elizabeth and sought to undermine her rule by blackening the reputation of her mother Anne. He also accused Anne of having an extra, protruding tooth and large moles on her neck. Sanders never saw Anne and his assertions are not found anywhere in contemporary primary source accounts of Anne. It is also safe to assume that Henry would not have pursued her for almost a decade if she had noticeable physical defects, he would have had his pick of attractive women.

Q: How did Lady Jane Grey have a claim to the throne? I am confused as to why she was nominated by Edward?

A: First of all Jane had a very weak claim, hence the reason her reign lasted nine days. Jane was the daughter of Frances Brandon, who herself was the daughter of Mary (nee Tudor) and Charles Brandon. Mary Tudor was Henry VIII's sister. Jane was nominated because she had Tudor blood and shared the virulent Protestant ideas of Edward. Edward and Mary (his eldest sister) often clashed over religious ideologies so he wanted to prevent her from ruling should he die without an heir. He chose to disinherit her based on the nullity of her mother's marriage to Henry VIII but in order to do so he would also have to disinherit Elizabeth regardless of the fact that she had protestant sympathies. Therefore when researching who would be next in line to inherit the throne Edward named Jane as she was his first cousin (once removed) and the eldest Tudor heiress.


Q: Why did Mary choose to place her allegiance with her mother, rather than her father? It would have seemed to serve her better?

A: If you are at all familiar with Catherine of Aragon's reproductive woes you will know why she doted so much on her daughter Mary. Unlike many royal parents Catherine took a very active role in her daughter's upbringing. She personally selected Mary's tutors, religious instructors, clothing and members of her household. When Mary was sick Catherine tended her and they saw each other frequently, writing letters when physical visits were not possible. Catherine's care and love in Mary's upbringing made her more sympathetic to her mother's plight and thus more loyal. we must also examine the fact that siding with her father meant denying her own legitimacy and inheritance, something she wasn't likely to do as she was raised as the heiress apparent and had expectations of ruling England one day.

Read of the Week

When reviewing books for this blog I always try to use something that will not only be enjoyable to my readers but also give them historical insight or knowledge. Sometimes I choose novels, either to give my mind a break from research or to just find out how others perceive and write about Tudor England. Whenever I indulge in a novel it is normally a Philipa Gregory one, her writings are my guilty pleasure because despite their vast historical inaccuracy they are fun to read. This week I settled in and battled the rainy blues by enjoying The Boleyn Inheritance.  The book covers three women vital to the story of Henry VIII; Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Jane Boleyn, viscountess Rochford. Each section of the novel tells the story from these women’s personal points of view. Dodging scandal, spying and playing the game of court politics is everyday life. Gregory brings to life Tudor England and the characters most of us tend not focus on. I greatly enjoyed the sections about Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard but I found her descriptions of Jane Boleyn hard to manage. I know this is historical fiction but the perpetuation of the rumor that Jane’s testimony sent her sister-in-law and Anne and husband George to the scaffold really bothers me. Despite this slight bias I have in the last section the book is amazingly well written and so readable. Pick it up today!

 

The Arrest of Anne Askew

On this day in Tudor history 1546, Mistress Anne Askew was arrested for heresy. Anne was married at fifteen to William Kyme but refused to adopt his last name as her own. William and Anne had at least one child. She developed her skills as a poet and used her talent with words to begin preaching strong Protestant beliefs. She went to London and gave speeches that taught against the doctrine of transubstantiation. Subsequently, William kicked her out of their home.  Anne returned to London almost immediately to apply for a divorce. She said her husband was not a true believer and therefore her divorce was legitimate under scripture, particularly 1 Corinthians 7:15. Her request for divorce was denied but Anne remained in London giving sermons and distributing banned books to people across the city. The first action taken against her was to order her to return to her husband in Lincolnshire.  She returned under duress but soon escaped and was back in London preaching what she viewed as religious truth.

In 1545 Anne askew was arrested and accused as a heretic. She was examined by English clerics about her religious leanings and they found her to disagree with their transubstantiation doctrines. Anne was brought before Bishop Bonner, a religious traditionalist gaining power at Henry VIII’s court. He questioned her but was unable to discover anything incriminating. He then taunted her, saying she lived an unclean, dishonest life. His techniques did not work; Anne remained steadfast in her beliefs.

The Lord Chancellor of England, Thomas Wriothesley took over the prosecution of Anne following the failures of church officials. Anne was subjected to long interrogations, recorded as lasting up to five hours. He asked her opinion of the bread and the Eucharist. She replied; "I believe that as oft as I, in Christian congregation, receive the bread in remembrance of Christ's death, and with thanksgiving, according to His holy institution, I receive therewith the fruits also of His most glorious passion." She was then asked; "How can you avoid the very words of Christ, 'Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you?'" She replied, "Christ's meaning in this passage ... is similar to the meaning of those other places of Scripture, 'I am the door', 'I am the vine', 'Behold the Lamb of God', 'That rock was Christ', and other such references to Himself. You are not in these texts to take Christ for the material thing which He is signified by, for then you will make Him a very door, a vine, a lamb, a stone, quite contrary to the Holy Ghost's meaning. All these indeed do signify Christ, even as the bread signifies His body in that place. Anne again escaped this interrogation relatively unscathed.

On June 18, 1546 Anne wasn’t so lucky; she was arrested by Martin Bowes who ordered Anthony Kingston, the Tower Constable, to torture Anne in order to force her to name other Protestants. The intent of her torturers was likely to implicate the Queen, Kateryn Parr, and several of her ladies in waiting who were thought to be of a like mind as Anne.

In her own account written from prison, Askew claimed she fainted from the pain of torture, thus she was lowered from her ropes and revived. This wracking was completed twice. Repulsed by her obviously pain, Kingston refused to be party to further torture of the woman. He left the tower and sought a meeting with the King at his earliest convenience to explain his position and also to seek his pardon, which the king willingly granted. With the less enthusiastic Kingston out of the way, Wriothesley and Rich set to work themselves. They wracked her so hard that Anne’s body was drawn apart; her shoulders and hips were pulled from their sockets, her elbows and knees dislocated. Askew's tortured screams could be heard in the garden next to the White Tower where the Lieutenant's wife and daughter were walking. Despite her ordeal, Askew gave no names, and her torture ended when the Lieutenant ordered her to be returned to her cell. Unfortunately for Anne, her test of faith was far from over. She would be the first woman in England to face the fires of Smithfield.

On This Day in Tudor History

On this day in Tudor history 1536 Princess Mary (known at this time as the Lady Mary) was the recipient of a visit by members of her father's council. Their intentions were to try and force her by way of threats to acknowledge her father as Supreme Head of the Church in England as well as making her admit that she was not the legitimate heir to the throne. For many years Mary had remained staunch in her assertions that her mother Catherine of Aragon was Henry's only legally wedded wife and therefore she was the only heir to the throne. The Second Act of Succession had recently been enacted declaring both Mary AND Elizabeth bastards. This was Henry's way of clearing the way for the inheritance of the children he hope to have by his newest wife Jane Seymour. Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys wrote of the visit in a letter to Charles V, uncle to the Lady Mary, saying,

"...to induce her to obey his commands and accede to his wishes, the King send to her a deputation composed of the duke of Norfolk, the earl of Sussex, the bishop of Chester, and several others, whom she literally confounded by her very wise and prudent answers to their intimation [intimidation]. Upon which, finding that they could not persuade her, one of them said that since she was such an unnatural daughter as to disobey completely the King’s injunctions, he could hardly believe that she was the King’s own bastard daughter. Were she his or any other man’s daughter, he would beat her to death, or strike her head against the wall until he made it as soft as a boiled apple, in short that she was a traitress, and would be punished as such. Many other threats of the same sort did the said deputies utter on the occasion, assisted in their task by the Princess’ governess, who happens to be the same as before, having then and there received orders not to allow the Princess to speak a word to any one, and to watch over her so that she should never be left alone by night or day."

The ambassador was previously convinced that Lady Mary's position would now be safe with the death of Anne Boleyn, obviously he was very mistaken. The king's actions and words revealed much about who had actually been responsible for the mistreatment in Mary's life over the past years. Chapuys was now more worried than ever about Mary's physical safety and encouraged her to acquiesce to her father, ensuring her that she would be spiritually forgiven by the Pope himself at a later date and that her survival and eventual accession to the throne was necessary for a return of England into the fold of Roman power and religion. Mary relented, finally, and signed the paperwork declaring herself a bastard and her mother an incestuous liar. Chapuys wrote again to the Emperor saying, "...it appears, however, that after signing the paper as above said, the Princess fell suddenly into a state of despondency and sorrow…”

The lady Mary must have felt as if she betrayed everything her mother had fought for and died believing. It is no wonder that she felt a sort of depression and self disgust.

Thomas Cromwell: An Introduction

Thomas Cromwell has become one of the most discussed and debated characters in the Anne Boleyn world. I will devote parts of this month to writing about his life, religion and downfall as we approach the anniversary of his execution. For those of you who are not as familiar with him, the following is a short summary of Cromwell’s rise and fall.

June was the month of staggering change for Thomas Cromwell. Once the favorite advisor of King Henry VIII, he was key in engineering the annulment of the king’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon and in structuring the new Church of England. He supervised the fledgling religious institution from the post of vicegerent in spirituals and as Vicar General. Despite their religious similarities, Cromwell and the new queen, Anne Boleyn had a disastrous falling out and Cromwell once again became primary in planning and carrying out the plot that led to her destruction and subsequent execution. During his meteoric rise to power Cromwell made many enemies, chiefly those who supported traditional religious values and the rights of Princess Mary.  In addition to his power, Cromwell’s exceptional wealth inspired jealousy and anger amongst the older, established noble families of England who viewed him as an upstart not worthy of advising the King. He had become rich during through his many official appointments and assistance in the suppression of monastic life in Britain. However, Cromwell quickly fell from favor when he arranged a “detestable” marriage between Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves. Cromwell thought that by marrying the king into a German duchal family he would secure an alliance with the Protestant League. He also hoped that the arrival of Anne of Cleves would refresh and jumpstart the Reformation in England. Unfortunately for Cromwell, the marriage was disastrous and ended after only six months. Cromwell was arrested on June 10 and arraigned under a bill of attainder. On June 12, 1540 Cromwell wrote to King from his room at the Tower recalling his “most miserable state” and begging for leniency while professing his innocence. The King however was no being influenced by the conservative faction at court and was not even moved by Cromwell’s sad letter that was “…written with the quaking hand and most sorrowful heart of…[his] most sorrowful subject and most humble servant and prisoner…” Cromwell would write many such letters and continue to humble himself before the King. Despite his prostrations, Cromwell was further stripped of his wealth and titles leaving his heir poor and disliked at court. His pleas for leniency also went unanswered and he was executed in late July. Though the King would later express regret at the loss of his chief minister.

Stay tuned all month for more juicy details on the life and death of Thomas Cromwell!