Who's That Lady: Anne Boleyn

Though Anne Boleyn would refer to herself as having once been a "commoner," she could hardly have been called common. Anne was a woman who came from a very influential family, one of means. While it is well-nigh impossible to determine just how happy her upbringing may have been, she had certainly enjoyed substantial material comforts while growing up.

Anne's father, Thomas Boleyn, was a prominent figure in the court of Henry VIII. Intelligent, capable, and intensely ambitious, Thomas Boleyn was a man who was ever reaching for the stars, higher and higher, never satisfied with the status quo, he determined to shine brightly. Boleyn would use everything within his capacity to achieve those ends, not stopping at his own children. Still, Thomas Boleyn was not terribly different from other courtiers in his time, many who did attempt to thrust daughters and sons into the pathways of the nobility. Given the lowered status of women in the 16th century, a daughter was an undeniable liability for most men. If Mary Boleyn was as attractive as she was reported to be, undoubtedly Thomas Boleyn thought his family could capitalize on that factor. It certainly seems a very distasteful notion to our modern day sensibilities, but world of the Tudors was radically different from the world we now inhabit.

Anne, we have been told, while not as conventionally pretty as her sister, Mary, had attributes all her own. While she was never considered a great beauty, she certainly was considered attractive and desirable. There have always been women who create their own beauty, who are so knowledgeable and skillful at applying their feminine wits and charms, that men find them irresistible. Mary may have been blonde, and pretty. But Anne was a triple threat, vivacious, darling, wildly flirtatious. It is really not too difficult to understand how she eventually eclipsed her own sister, and eventually won the hand of a king in matrimony. Though the story would end badly, very badly, Anne did get Henry to marry her.

Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn: One time wives to the Great King Henry

Anne came into King Hal's life in a rather indirect way. I don't think it is fair to say that Anne Boleyn destroyed Catherine of Aragon's marriage, because her husband was disenchanted with Catherine long before Anne made herself known at the English court. As we all know, Mary was Hal's mistress long before he became enamoured of Anne. In fact, the Boleyn Family became interwoven into Henry and Catherine's estrangement in a complex and somewhat convoluted manner. That is not to say that Anne did not bear guilt, because she certainly did. Anne carried on for years with a still very married man, and simultaneously mistreated his daughter, Mary. I have wondered to what extent the miserable treatment Mary endured from Anne Boleyn, shaped her extremely disturbed personality in her adulthood.

King Henry was gracing the Boleyns and Howards with many favours quite some time prior to his fiery romance with the raven-haired Anne. To many, it seemed that as Henry was systematically ousting poor Catherine out of his life, he was almost creating a new family for himself among the Boleyn and Howard factions.

It is difficult not to feel great sympathy for Catherine. Almost any normal woman can relate to her dilemma. She was the wife of Henry's youth and had done nothing to deserve such shoddy treatment. She had been faithful to Hal in every conceivable way, had never complained of having a convenient headache when Hal's desires were for her, (and he would admit later that she had performed her wifely duties in every way when they were together,) and she had deferred to him on all matters. But, Boy Howdy, when Hal thought he was going to quietly send Catherine on her way and take up with sexy, young Anne Boleyn, the Great Henry found he had another thing a-coming. The formerly mild, almost timid Catherine stood up to him with a fury that few man ever had dared to. Again--as women, most of us can relate. Henry had impregnated Catherine over and again. Few of us modern day women would like to be pregnant as many times as the long suffering Catherine had been. The poor queen kept having miscarriages, or infants who would tragically die shortly after birth. All contemporary accounts report that being perpetually pregnant for many years had all but destroyed Catherine's looks. Once a bright strawberry blonde, with rose-gold cheeks and curvy figure, sorrow and over a dozen pregnancies had left Catherine prematurely aged, and hopelessly stout. Sadly, Henry had not the character to remain loving to his wife. We all know couples where the wife was once a Catherine Zeta-Jones, or a Christie Brinkley, and 3 children later, perhaps a career, loads of hard work and perhaps a few heartaches along the way, has thoroughly faded the wife's once radiant beauty. And yet the husband remains solidly in love with his wife. A real man knows and expects that his wife will not look the way she did in the honeymoon photos forever. Beauty fades, and quite fast, so many of us have found. True beauty comes from the heart, and this type does not fade. Catherine had true beauty to spare. But Henry was a superficial kind of guy. He found Anne's long shimmering black hair, her flashing eyes, and her sworn state of virginity, (probably not true,) to be an offer he couldn't refuse. It is worth mentioning, and considering that we know how the story ends, Anne would one day find herself in the same unenviable position. Discarded, cheated on, unwanted was the state Anne would become familiar with, just as Catherine had experienced not so many years before.

Mary was the pretty one?

Was Mary Boleyn the pretty sister? I suppose it might depend on whose opinion one chooses to rely on. If pretty is as pretty does, Anne was the winner as she was vivacious, sensuous, flirtatious. There are no such reports on Mary. Sadly, the only thing Mary had a solid reputation for was her alleged wantonness.

Anne would have been the captain of the cheer leading squad, had she lived in this modern era. Still, Mary wouldn't have lacked for dates had she been a high
school girl in the 21 century. But she lacked Anne's verve. Mary was said to have been fair-haired, a physical trait highly valued in Tudor times. (Of course, I'm not sure how much that has changed. Marilyn Monroe?) It is clear, for whatever reason, that King Henry's eye fell on Mary first. The degree of intensity of the affair between Mary and the king is debatable, and for the most part, unknown. Many historians now believe that King Henry fathered at least one of Mary's children. They certainly bore physical resemblance to Elizabeth, more so than is typical for cousins.

In any case, while Mary may have lacked the sharp intelligence and forceful personalty or her sister, she was not without self-determination. Mary was astute enough to have Thomas Gardiner appointed to Tynmouth Priory. Her husband was the beneficiary of several royal grants in 1522-1525. There may have been several reasons behind the King's largess. He may have truly appreciated Mary's discretion, or perhaps he believed, correctly or not that Mary's children were his own. Certainly, Mary's relationship with the king ended on good terms.

It has been said many times, that ultimately, Mary was the luckiest of the Boleyn children. It seems that Mary's willingness to quietly fade into the background was her saving grace.

An Excellent Education, Early Life

It seems that since their earliest childhoods fate would have these two sisters on paths quite separate and ironically familiar at different time points. That Mary and Anne would both, at different time periods, be mistresses to King Henry VIII is certainly remarkable in and of itself. Though Anne would demurely maintain, during the early part of her relationship with Henry, that she was only a commoner, there was actually little that could be called
common about her.

The Boleyn children enjoyed educations which were typical the time they lived, for high born children. For Mary and Anne, this would include reading and writing, sewing, and embroidery. The finer points of their schooling would include singing, dancing, learning to play instruments such as the virginal and lute. Even outdoor activities were included, and Mary and Anne learned to ride in the nearby parkland, and learned archery and hunting.

During the time that Mary lived, the educating of daughters was still a new concept, although it was a trend that was gaining acceptance. Interestingly, Mary and Anne's education also included study of the family history and origins.

This and That On the House of Tudor

What does the great king have to do with Mary Boleyn? Plenty! She was actually Bluff King Hal's mistress before the doomed Anne was. Their relationship was hardly a fling, as portrayed in the Tudors series, but lasted some time. AND, some historians are convinced that Mary's children were actually sired by King Henry VIII! More on that later. Much more on that later.

Anyhoo, in a nutshell, none of HR's kids liked each other very much. Yes, there was typically trouble in the House of Tudor. His eldest child, Mary, that is Bloody Mary, came along first. Or, shall we say she was the first child that survived between Henry and Catherine. At the time of her birth, she was legitimate, then according to Hal she became a bastard, then she legitimized herself again when she took the throne, and was never a bastard again. Well, that's debatable given her behaviour. Now I don't know how one can make himself/herself legitimate again, but she did it; yes she did. Mary usually got her way in any matter. (Except in matters of the heart. When she was still young and reasonably attractive, there were some handsome lads interested in taking her hand, but her Big Papa broke off her engagements for this reason or that. When she was finally able to marry, she was a prematurely aged, shriveled up shell of a woman with scary huge eyes and no eyebrows. Contemporary reports write that her eyes were very white--shudders. Oh, it would be lazy of me not to mention that contemporary reports of Queen Mary all record that she had a mannish voice. If that were not enough to scare the daylights out of her household, and kingdom, she had many people burnt at the stake. Now there are actually a following of hers, yes, in this modern day, who sympathize with Mary Tudor. (I think the series on Showtime "The Tudors" might have something to do with that. But the real Mary Tudor looked nothing like the beautiful girl Sarah Bolger, who portrays Mary on The Tudors.) Mary Tudor's sympathizers lament: Oh but consider how her father treated her! She was forcibly separated from her mother! She was in fear for her life! ACTUALLY, many people have lived lives far more hellish than that cruel tyrant, and have never murdered anyone. Far less murdered anyone for their faith, or lack of. (Dear Readers: Please understand that my comments are not based on any anti-Catholic sentiment. While I am Protestant, many of my beloved family members are Catholic. My comments are not about my subject's respective faiths, rather their behaviours. Anne Boleyn did some wonderful things, and she also did tremendous damage to others. More on that later. Much more on that later.)

Without going off on a tangent, by now everyone knows that Mary did not get along with Elizabeth, who did not get along with Edward, and feel free to mix and match in any direction. Henry's children had little affection for one another. Strangely, his son born by the dazzling beauty Bessie Blount, Henry Fitzroy, seemed to coast along without too much difficulty. Maybe being a bastard made Fitzroy feel strangely free and not compelled to fight with his half-siblings not born out of wedlock. Edward VI, particularly clashed with Mary Tudor. Their respective religious views would keep them far apart while they lived. Elizabeth sort of tried to please both brother and sister; then again she sort of didn't. Never a shrinking violet, Elizabeth only became more stubborn as she grew older. It didn't help that Elizabeth reminded Mary of Anne Boleyn. Save for the flaming red hair, she certainly resembled her mother in more than one way. After Anne's death, Mary did have some sort of pity on the then Baby Elizabeth. She also took care of her, occasionally, though not very willingly. Because of their shared history, they would always have a love-hate relationship. In Mary's eyes, Elizabeth was a heretic, Anne Boleyn's daughter, and yet, her little sister. Thus, she would always bear conflicting feelings toward Elizabeth. Things reached a boiling point after Mary married the Spanish prince Philip II. First of all, the English people did not appreciate having to defer to a Spanish king. Naturally, like most people of any country, they preferred one of their own countryman. They knew full well the disaster that could befall them if the Spanish king had his way. His sympathies were naturally 100% towards his own country. The arrogant and cold Phillip 2 found his wife old and, well, ugly. Mary had been sickly since childhood, had a very disturbing personality, was prone to curl up in the fetal position during periods of clinical depression that would last for weeks, and horror of horrors, she was infertile. Even in this day, 37 is a tad long in the tooth for pregnancy, in Tudor times, she was positively ancient. (I'm not taking pot shots at her age. Myself, I am past 37 and have entered the great divide which separates those who are under 40, and alas, those who are over.) Making matters worse, Elizabeth was in the bloom of youth. She was considered to be quite the beauty, red hair, statuesque. Elizabeth was well studied, a splendid dancer, basically the Miss Universe of her day. Unfortunately, even Phillip noticed. Disastrously, he ORDERED his wife to treat her younger sister with the utmost "kindness." Any woman can imagine this scenario. You're frantically making Botox appointments, and ordering Spanx by the truckload, and you've got a little sister who looks like Charlize Theron, and is about a foot taller than you. And then--your much younger than yourself husband orders you to be nice to your little sister or else he just might not come home. That is how things went! The aging queen had her darling little sister summarily thrown in the Tower. Elizabeth was just sure she would now follow her late mother to the scaffold. But fate was in Elizabeth's favor, as it usually was. Mary's popularity was plummeting through the floorboards. After all, she had sent a mass of innocent people to horrible deaths simply because they chose the Protestant faith. She had proven to be unsuccessful in giving England an heir. (In Tudor times, many women were already in menopause at 37, so conceiving a child had been a tall, tall order.) Feeling like he had nothing to stick around for, Phillip departed for his beloved Spain. (He would have been more than happy to marry Elizabeth once his wife was out of the picture, and hinted at it enough towards pals to the extent that Elizabeth caught wind of his amorous feelings. She made it clear in no uncertain terms that she wouldn't dream of marrying her sister's dainty little husband.) Mary lost Calais, and her 2 "pregnancies" turned out to be a huge, malignant uterine tumour. She took to her bed, sick, heartbroken, defeated. Mary declined to execute her sister, probably NOT wanting that on her record as she knew she would soon be dead. I'm not sure what she thought about all the OTHER murders she had on her craggy little hands. The best she could do regarding instruction for her successor was strongly suggest Elizabeth continue on as she had. Elizabeth only responded she would guide her country as her conscience dictated. Lonely, with profound sadness, all the while asking for her husband, Mary departed, lucid till the end.

And thus, Mary Boleyn's niece, Elizabeth was now Queen. Of course, she couldn't help her mother, Anne. BUT, she could be of great use to Mary Boleyn's children, who might of been Elizabeth's siblings as well as her cousins. And she did reward them richly! These cousins, or, er, siblings did resemble Elizabeth very much. We will have more on that later, also.

When was Mary Boleyn born?

Mary's birth date is fairly impossible to pinpoint with any certainty. Amazingly, historians are equally unable to identify the exact birth date of Anne Boleyn. It seems likely that the doomed queen had become a pariah to the extent that every possible item which would serve as a reminder of her, had been obliterated. If Anne had a bad reputation, Mary's was immeasurably worse. Nevertheless, historians are able to provide windows of time in which it is likely the Boleyn girls were born. Historians have long disagreed as to whether Mary or Anne was the eldest child. Most will agree that George Boleyn was the youngest. There is some evidence of Anne having been the eldest in the form of A Catalogue and succession of the kings, princes, dukes, marquesses, earls, and viscounts of this realm of England, published in 1619 by Ralph Brooke, York Herald. In this, Brooke names Anne as the eldest daughter and co-heir of Thomas Bullen. Most scholars hold that Mary was born in 1500, with Anne following approximately a year later. Mary's father would complain many years later that in the younger years of his marriage his wife had brought him "every year a child." In addition to Mary, Anne, and George, Elizabeth, Thomas' wife, had bore two sons, Henry and Thomas. These two children did not survive infancy.


*Photo is of actual bedroom at the beautiful Blickling Hall, Norfolk

Blickling Hall

Blickling Hall is a fabulous place, which has long been associated with royalty. It once belonged to Harold Godsinson, the last Saxon King of England. Interestingly, a beautiful manor home once stood on the site, owned by Sir Nicholas Dagworth, 1401. The current structure is either a renovation, or a replacement. In 1616, Sir Henry Hobart, Lord Justice of the Common Pleas, purchased Blicking Hall from the Clere family. It lies north to south, the main entrance being on the south side. So many wonders and beautiful design lies within this house, that an entire book could easily be devoted to it.

Now how does Mary fit in this magnificent structure? The facts are actually debatable. It is impossible to determine whether Mary was born at Hever Castle, or at Blickling Hall, since her birth-date is indeterminate.