had or is supposed to have had, and hence to her agreement to marry the king. ‘A Difficult Engagement’ looks at the oft-told history of Henry VIII’s attempt to free himself to marry, but with a focus on Anne which undermines male-dominated interpretations of tradition. Part III, ‘Anne the Queen’, examines Anne’s marriage and consequent lifestyle, offering a picture of what it meant to be the consort of an English king at a magnification well in excess of what is possible for almost all her predecessors. Illustrating this is a nearly complete display of such visual evidence as has survived, which, in turn, supports detailed discussions of Anne’s portraiture, of her role as an artistic patron, of the day-to-day context of royal living and of her mind and beliefs. The final section, ‘A Marriage Destroyed’, concentrates on the closing months of the queen’s life, demonstrating the sudden and unexpected nature of her fall, the coup which precipitated it, the dishonesty of the case against her and the tensions of her last days.
Tudor history (especially court history) is a minefield of possible confusion arising from family names, changing peerage titles and the fluctuations of office-holding. I have therefore provided a brief explanatory list. Relationships can be equally confusing, so family trees of the royal houses of Europe, the nobility of Henry VIII’s court, and the Boleyn and Howard families are also included. In the index individuals are cross-referenced to a main entry under the family name. A full bibliography of relevant material would be impossibly large, but a list of titles frequently cited and therefore abbreviated can be found before the index. Other works have been cited in full in the notes. Where the place of publication is not given, London must be understood. Spelling in quotations has been modernized.
No biographer of Anne Boleyn comes to the subject without debts. Particularly since the 450th anniversary of Anne’s execution in 1986, a significant number of monographs and papers have opened or reopened issues affecting every stage of her life. Many of these contributions are discussed in the body of the text or figure in the notes, and my particular debt to James Carley and Gordon Kipling will be obvious. Not everyone is persuaded by my picture of Anne, and I am especially grateful to George Bernard for jousts which have sharpened up my analysis. Two substantial studies within discussions of Henry VIII’s complete matrimonial record deserve special mention - Antonia Fraser’s The Six Wives of Henry VIII and, more recently, David Starkey’s Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII. I do not always agree with them, but scholarship would be poorer without work of such quality. Furthermore, it is to Starkey that we owe the publication of The Inventory of King Henry VIII , henceforth an absolutely vital text. I have also benefited much from regular communication with Bob Knecht, particularly the chance to bounce off issues in sixteenth-century England against the situation in France and vice versa.
Many scholars and friends have helped me with particular points of difficulty, including Alan Douglas, Marguerite Eve, Joan Glanville, John Guy, Gary Hill, Richard Hoyle, Mme Nicole Lemaitre, Virginia Murphy, Geoffrey Parnell, Peter Ricketts and Barry Young. Over many years of studying the Tudor court and especially Anne Boleyn, I have also incurred considerable debts for the use of manuscripts and other material: to His Grace the Duke of Northumberland and to the archivist at Alnwick Castle, Dr Colin Shrimpton, for ready access to the Percy papers; to His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry for the use of the miniature of Anne Boleyn by John Hoskins; to Mr Robert Pullin for his generous help with the Hever Castle collection; to the Eyston family for access to its papers; to Patricia Collins at the Burrell Collection for introducing me to Anne’s needlework. Many librarians, curators and
Tudor history (especially court history) is a minefield of possible confusion arising from family names, changing peerage titles and the fluctuations of office-holding. I have therefore provided a brief explanatory list. Relationships can be equally confusing, so family trees of the royal houses of Europe, the nobility of Henry VIII’s court, and the Boleyn and Howard families are also included. In the index individuals are cross-referenced to a main entry under the family name. A full bibliography of relevant material would be impossibly large, but a list of titles frequently cited and therefore abbreviated can be found before the index. Other works have been cited in full in the notes. Where the place of publication is not given, London must be understood. Spelling in quotations has been modernized.
No biographer of Anne Boleyn comes to the subject without debts. Particularly since the 450th anniversary of Anne’s execution in 1986, a significant number of monographs and papers have opened or reopened issues affecting every stage of her life. Many of these contributions are discussed in the body of the text or figure in the notes, and my particular debt to James Carley and Gordon Kipling will be obvious. Not everyone is persuaded by my picture of Anne, and I am especially grateful to George Bernard for jousts which have sharpened up my analysis. Two substantial studies within discussions of Henry VIII’s complete matrimonial record deserve special mention - Antonia Fraser’s The Six Wives of Henry VIII and, more recently, David Starkey’s Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII. I do not always agree with them, but scholarship would be poorer without work of such quality. Furthermore, it is to Starkey that we owe the publication of The Inventory of King Henry VIII , henceforth an absolutely vital text. I have also benefited much from regular communication with Bob Knecht, particularly the chance to bounce off issues in sixteenth-century England against the situation in France and vice versa.
Many scholars and friends have helped me with particular points of difficulty, including Alan Douglas, Marguerite Eve, Joan Glanville, John Guy, Gary Hill, Richard Hoyle, Mme Nicole Lemaitre, Virginia Murphy, Geoffrey Parnell, Peter Ricketts and Barry Young. Over many years of studying the Tudor court and especially Anne Boleyn, I have also incurred considerable debts for the use of manuscripts and other material: to His Grace the Duke of Northumberland and to the archivist at Alnwick Castle, Dr Colin Shrimpton, for ready access to the Percy papers; to His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry for the use of the miniature of Anne Boleyn by John Hoskins; to Mr Robert Pullin for his generous help with the Hever Castle collection; to the Eyston family for access to its papers; to Patricia Collins at the Burrell Collection for introducing me to Anne’s needlework. Many librarians, curators and
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