 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 3 4 5 ] Next Last |
It was open season on Anne's reputation after her death, and many sought to take a moral tale from her life. Catholic writers, such as William Roper and Nicholas Sander, created many of the inaccurate rumours about Anne Boleyn which are still repeated today. Namely that she was minorly deformed, sexually active from childhood, scheming, morally corrupt and responsible for the death of Sir Thomas More. Protestants, on the other hand, painted her a saint who had liberated England from the Papacy.
Historians today are similarly divided, although experts in the field, like Dr. Diarmuid MacCulloch, believe it is time to "re-evaluate the previously jaundiced" views of her. Some historians remain unconvinced, however, namely British popular historian, Alison Weir and American writer, Carolly Erickson. British romantic novelist, Philippa Gregory, author of "The Other Boleyn Girl" and "The Queen's Fool" offered the most damning (if wildly-inaccurate) presentation of Queen Anne in the first novel. In it, Anne is presented as a scheming trollop with no morals and even less sense.
Dr. David Starkey (author of "Six Wives") and Lady Antonia Fraser (author of many royal biographies, including those of Marie Antoinette and Mary, Queen of Scots) both offer more positive interpretations of her. Starkey is adamant that Anne was the most politically important of Henry's queens, and calls her "the most interesting, if not the most attractive" of the bunch. Lady Fraser, whilst acknowleding there is something "splendidly fearless" about Anne's fiery personality, nonetheless gives a more favourable (moral) account of Anne's predecessor ( Catherine of Aragon) and supplanter, ( Jane Seymour.)
The most favourable accounts of Anne Boleyn come from Professor Eric W. Ives, author of several political studies of the era, including a biography of Anne and an updated version set to come out in July 2004 called "The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn." He argues that she was "one of the makers of history" and an appropriate feminist icon.
Professor R.M. Warnicke, author of "The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn" and several studies on the era's sexual, religious and social morals, also offers a favourable interpretation of Anne's "energy and vitality." Feminist historian, writer and activist, Karen Lindsey, in "Divorced, Beheaded, Survived" believes Anne's story is one of the great feminist parables of all time and explores sexual harassment, psychological conditions at the time and says that the traditional image of Anne as a morally-loose ambitious homewrecker, "makes for great melodrama, all it lacks is accuracy." Recently, English historian Joanna Denny, author of "Anne Boleyn: A Life of England's Tragic Queen," has examined the enormous role Anne played in England's religious development.
He was the first to claim in print that Anne was deformed, giving her the features of a witch. Allegations included that Anne was a nymphomaniac with in excess of a thousand lovers; that she had three breasts (the third "nipple" was a large mole on her neck); that she had a projecting tooth; and that she had eleven fingers ( hexadactyly). All these are features traditionally associated with witches, and there is no contemporary evidence to support such allegations, despite their popularity and inclusion in many textbooks. Indeed it is unthinkable that Henry would have accepted such deformities at a time when they were considered bad omens.
| Previous: Catherine of Aragon | Wives of Henry VIII | Next: Jane Seymour |
| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|
