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Anne Boleyn
Marie Louise Bruce's account of Anne Boleyn's life and death is not very well-known nowadays but it was pre-eminent at the time it was published.
It covers her childhood and time in France, the divorce and her courtship with Henry VIII, her marriage and her tragic fall.
It covers her childhood and time in France, the divorce and her courtship with Henry VIII, her marriage and her tragic fall.
380 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1972
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
February 6, 2019
I'm a great fan of Anne Boleyn. This particular biography by Mary Louise Bruce came out of 1972. But it's still one of my favorites. They narrative is novelistic in that Bruce never stops telling a story, but remains uncluttered by speculative dialogue or the imagined thoughts of historical entities. Just a wonderful read from cover to cover. If you're an Anne Boleyn fan too, I highly recommend picking up this book.
May 20, 2015
This book is all about desire and power – Henry’s desire for Anne Boleyn, and Boleyn’s desire for power in the form of the throne, and being crowned Queen.
I found the first half of this book heavy going. But then the separation of Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon was heavy going. An administrative and political nightmare that went on for six years – wonderfully documented here by Marie Louise Bruce - but a bit of a grind to read about. You can skip all the shenanigans and just get the bare bones here.....
http://tudorhistory.org/wives/
As a young girl Boleyn got a wonderful education in how to be an enchantress. Not for her a childhood spent in the cold corridors of British houses. Instead she spent most of her childhood and early teenage years in the royal court at France, where flirting and amorous affairs were common. “The King wished none of the gentlemen of his Court to be without mistresses, and thought they were strutting fops if they had none.”
Her life in France was governed by two opposing cultures “a devout, almost monastic religious piety: and a rampant eroticism disguised by the gallant conventions of ‘courtly love’.”
In 1536 a poet in the French court spoke of Anne’s attributes.
She spoke the language fluently, he says, and was so “full of graces...you would never have thought her English...”
When she came to England and joined the English royal court, she must have appeared to Henry as an exotic charmer. He was certainly charmed, and courted her with enthusiasm for six years, before eventually engineering the circumstances which enabled him to marry her. She was no pushover though, and besides those ‘graces’ she comes across also as moody, erratic , and prone to rages. In spite of these shortcomings she manipulated Henry’s affections with superb skill.
Things would have been easier if Catherine of Aragon had been willing to relinquish her role of Queen, and accepted instead the proffered role of Princess Dowager of Wales. But she hung in there grimly, absolutely determined to remain Henry’s wife. After 20 years of marriage to Henry she was enormously popular with the people of England, and Boleyn was seen very much as the disliked and unwanted usurper. She was frequently booed and shouted at when she travelled. “On all sides the people of England loudly proclaimed their hatred of Anne. When the King took her on progress in July (1532) their route for four successive days was lined with women screaming abuse at Anne, making catcalls at her, and urging Henry to take back Catherine.”
But Henry was utterly besotted with Boleyn, and when she eventually (after years of arms-length-provocation) gave in to his amorous yearnings, she became pregnant. This was very much part of her game-plan. The King was convinced she was going to have a boy, and more than anything he wanted a legitimate male heir. Suddenly he had to make their marriage happen, and with the help of Thomas Cromwell he did so. Thus was born the Church of England, shortly followed by a baby girl called Elizabeth, to a woman who was now his wife and queen.
The King’s besottedness did not last long. Not only did Boleyn present Henry with a girl rather than a boy, but this was followed by a string of miscarriages. All too soon Henry found another object for his affection. A nameless mistress – but one to which Boleyn took great exception
“Finally, a year and nine months since their marriage and eight years after his infatuation began, his love for her was dead....The situation was one that would probably have occurred sooner or later even had Anne produced a son. For ‘sporting with ladies’ was to Henry a way of life, feeding his vanity and romanticism.”
Shortly afterwards the King met Jane Seymour, and his passions took a more serious turn. His capacity for turning against people he had loved was to prove truly astonishing. On 2nd May 1536 Boleyn was taken to the Tower of London on trumped up charges of adultery. This was a mere three years after he had married her. She was condemned not by public verdict, but by twenty-six peers, who all declared her guilty. Peers who were in the King’s thrall, putting his wishes over any semblance of truth.
All five of Boleyn’s ‘adulters’ were simply beheaded, but for Boleyn herself Henry provided a swifter death. He ordered an executioner to come from France and behead her with a sword. The deed was done on 19th May 1536. “On receiving the welcome news of his wife’s death, King Henry dressed himself in white for mourning, took his barge and went to spend the day in her house on the river with Jane Seymour......” Eleven days after beheading Boleyn, Henry married Seymour.
For me this book showed more than anything else the power of religion in the 16th century - all the intricacies of Henry’s separation from Catherine hinged on Biblical arguments, and the power of the Pope was phenomenal. The power of the King was huge too. As was the power of master manipulators like Cardinal Wolsley and Thomas Cromwell - although the success and failure of their careers and lives hung upon the King’s patronage and approval. The role of secular law in society seems to have been weak, and easily manipulated.
I enjoyed the second half of this book more than the first, but only because I found the endless machinations behind the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine rather boring. Once Catherine was out of the picture everything went at a fast pace - with Henry hopping briskly from love to hate to execution.
I found the first half of this book heavy going. But then the separation of Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon was heavy going. An administrative and political nightmare that went on for six years – wonderfully documented here by Marie Louise Bruce - but a bit of a grind to read about. You can skip all the shenanigans and just get the bare bones here.....
http://tudorhistory.org/wives/
As a young girl Boleyn got a wonderful education in how to be an enchantress. Not for her a childhood spent in the cold corridors of British houses. Instead she spent most of her childhood and early teenage years in the royal court at France, where flirting and amorous affairs were common. “The King wished none of the gentlemen of his Court to be without mistresses, and thought they were strutting fops if they had none.”
Her life in France was governed by two opposing cultures “a devout, almost monastic religious piety: and a rampant eroticism disguised by the gallant conventions of ‘courtly love’.”
In 1536 a poet in the French court spoke of Anne’s attributes.
She spoke the language fluently, he says, and was so “full of graces...you would never have thought her English...”
When she came to England and joined the English royal court, she must have appeared to Henry as an exotic charmer. He was certainly charmed, and courted her with enthusiasm for six years, before eventually engineering the circumstances which enabled him to marry her. She was no pushover though, and besides those ‘graces’ she comes across also as moody, erratic , and prone to rages. In spite of these shortcomings she manipulated Henry’s affections with superb skill.
Things would have been easier if Catherine of Aragon had been willing to relinquish her role of Queen, and accepted instead the proffered role of Princess Dowager of Wales. But she hung in there grimly, absolutely determined to remain Henry’s wife. After 20 years of marriage to Henry she was enormously popular with the people of England, and Boleyn was seen very much as the disliked and unwanted usurper. She was frequently booed and shouted at when she travelled. “On all sides the people of England loudly proclaimed their hatred of Anne. When the King took her on progress in July (1532) their route for four successive days was lined with women screaming abuse at Anne, making catcalls at her, and urging Henry to take back Catherine.”
But Henry was utterly besotted with Boleyn, and when she eventually (after years of arms-length-provocation) gave in to his amorous yearnings, she became pregnant. This was very much part of her game-plan. The King was convinced she was going to have a boy, and more than anything he wanted a legitimate male heir. Suddenly he had to make their marriage happen, and with the help of Thomas Cromwell he did so. Thus was born the Church of England, shortly followed by a baby girl called Elizabeth, to a woman who was now his wife and queen.
The King’s besottedness did not last long. Not only did Boleyn present Henry with a girl rather than a boy, but this was followed by a string of miscarriages. All too soon Henry found another object for his affection. A nameless mistress – but one to which Boleyn took great exception
“Finally, a year and nine months since their marriage and eight years after his infatuation began, his love for her was dead....The situation was one that would probably have occurred sooner or later even had Anne produced a son. For ‘sporting with ladies’ was to Henry a way of life, feeding his vanity and romanticism.”
Shortly afterwards the King met Jane Seymour, and his passions took a more serious turn. His capacity for turning against people he had loved was to prove truly astonishing. On 2nd May 1536 Boleyn was taken to the Tower of London on trumped up charges of adultery. This was a mere three years after he had married her. She was condemned not by public verdict, but by twenty-six peers, who all declared her guilty. Peers who were in the King’s thrall, putting his wishes over any semblance of truth.
All five of Boleyn’s ‘adulters’ were simply beheaded, but for Boleyn herself Henry provided a swifter death. He ordered an executioner to come from France and behead her with a sword. The deed was done on 19th May 1536. “On receiving the welcome news of his wife’s death, King Henry dressed himself in white for mourning, took his barge and went to spend the day in her house on the river with Jane Seymour......” Eleven days after beheading Boleyn, Henry married Seymour.
For me this book showed more than anything else the power of religion in the 16th century - all the intricacies of Henry’s separation from Catherine hinged on Biblical arguments, and the power of the Pope was phenomenal. The power of the King was huge too. As was the power of master manipulators like Cardinal Wolsley and Thomas Cromwell - although the success and failure of their careers and lives hung upon the King’s patronage and approval. The role of secular law in society seems to have been weak, and easily manipulated.
I enjoyed the second half of this book more than the first, but only because I found the endless machinations behind the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine rather boring. Once Catherine was out of the picture everything went at a fast pace - with Henry hopping briskly from love to hate to execution.
December 14, 2020
417 pages
4 stars
Ms. Bruce omitted adding a portion of Anne's education. Margaret of Austria, daughter of Maximillian I the Holy Roman Emperor, ruled Austria tutored Anne from the Spring of 1513 until October 1514. Only then did Anne go to France to serve Queen Mary.
When Anne caught King Henry VIII's eye, the trouble began. It was to last for several – about seven – years.
Anne and Cardinal Wolsey had a love-hate relationship going on. It seems to depend on the mercurial and immature Anne's mood.
From her text, one may surmise that Anne may very well been her own worst enemy. I wondered that she might have been bi-polar.
The common people hated Anne, especially the women. I did not know that Henry went to such extremes to suppress discontent. To deport so many people and search houses for weapons in order to protect Anne sounds extreme. This reader has to wonder just why he stayed with her. (Well, I can guess...)
There are many interesting little tidbits such as these littered throughout This is a very readable book that is written in an informal, conversational style. It is a well plotted and consistent telling of the life and times of Anne Boleyn. She seems so real. I could see her acting and speaking as though I were in the room with her. (It was not a pleasant experience.) Ms. Bruce also illustrates well the pagentery and color of the court life – as well as the smells...Thr information about the coronation of Anne was very interesting.
The distracted and deluded (to some degree – look what happened...), king, the whole drama with Wolsey, the “Great Matter” fiasco and Anne's greedy and grasping family are are told in brilliant color in this book. It'd wonderful stuff! Add to that the major part that Thomas Cromwell played in obtaining Henry's “divorce.”
There are many conflicting theories on the downfall of Anne. Some lay the blame on Henry's doorstep, while others believe it was all Cromwell's doing. I agree with Ms. Bruce in that Henry told Cromwell to get rid of Anne, and Cromwell did – by any means necessary. There is also a debate over whether Mark Smeaton was actually tortured. Was it physical or psychological? Did Anne commit adultery and treason? Even this is subject to a contentious disagreement among historians and scholars. Many points in this book are a matter of conjecture.
This very well written telling about a short period in Anne Boleyn's life is interesting and food for thought. I enjoyed it very much. The work contains a bibliography and extensive notes.
I want to thank NetGalley and Sapere Books for forwarding to me a copy of this great biography for me to read, enjoy and review.
4 stars
Ms. Bruce omitted adding a portion of Anne's education. Margaret of Austria, daughter of Maximillian I the Holy Roman Emperor, ruled Austria tutored Anne from the Spring of 1513 until October 1514. Only then did Anne go to France to serve Queen Mary.
When Anne caught King Henry VIII's eye, the trouble began. It was to last for several – about seven – years.
Anne and Cardinal Wolsey had a love-hate relationship going on. It seems to depend on the mercurial and immature Anne's mood.
From her text, one may surmise that Anne may very well been her own worst enemy. I wondered that she might have been bi-polar.
The common people hated Anne, especially the women. I did not know that Henry went to such extremes to suppress discontent. To deport so many people and search houses for weapons in order to protect Anne sounds extreme. This reader has to wonder just why he stayed with her. (Well, I can guess...)
There are many interesting little tidbits such as these littered throughout This is a very readable book that is written in an informal, conversational style. It is a well plotted and consistent telling of the life and times of Anne Boleyn. She seems so real. I could see her acting and speaking as though I were in the room with her. (It was not a pleasant experience.) Ms. Bruce also illustrates well the pagentery and color of the court life – as well as the smells...Thr information about the coronation of Anne was very interesting.
The distracted and deluded (to some degree – look what happened...), king, the whole drama with Wolsey, the “Great Matter” fiasco and Anne's greedy and grasping family are are told in brilliant color in this book. It'd wonderful stuff! Add to that the major part that Thomas Cromwell played in obtaining Henry's “divorce.”
There are many conflicting theories on the downfall of Anne. Some lay the blame on Henry's doorstep, while others believe it was all Cromwell's doing. I agree with Ms. Bruce in that Henry told Cromwell to get rid of Anne, and Cromwell did – by any means necessary. There is also a debate over whether Mark Smeaton was actually tortured. Was it physical or psychological? Did Anne commit adultery and treason? Even this is subject to a contentious disagreement among historians and scholars. Many points in this book are a matter of conjecture.
This very well written telling about a short period in Anne Boleyn's life is interesting and food for thought. I enjoyed it very much. The work contains a bibliography and extensive notes.
I want to thank NetGalley and Sapere Books for forwarding to me a copy of this great biography for me to read, enjoy and review.
August 13, 2024
If Henry VIII has no haters then Im dead...
January 19, 2021
The first few chapters of this book had enough flowery prose/descriptions that I wasn't sure I was going to be able to keep reading it. But somewhere along the way the writing style changed into a more head-on style and I got really into the book. Everyone knows how the story will end, but in this case it is definitely the journey that keeps the reader going. This book was carefully researched, providing plenty of details that enhanced your understanding and vision of the time period and the people, and while quotes from contemporary sources support the narrative, they are not so frequently used as to overpower it. Here the reader gets to know Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII and those around them, as well as understand some of the politics that drove the actions and decisions we know today.
Overall well-written and highly readable for historians and the casual reader alike, this was an excellent biography of the doomed English Queen and the times she lived in.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Overall well-written and highly readable for historians and the casual reader alike, this was an excellent biography of the doomed English Queen and the times she lived in.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
November 26, 2024
1.5 It was okay. I didn't realise how old the book was when I chose to read it, therefore it has a lot of falsehoods and it is very out of date. A lot has been discovered, debated and answered since the book was written. It gets an extra point for have a fluid, clear, writing style.
Like the very first couple of lines are wrong. Anne didn't not have extra little nail and probably did not have a huge wart on her neck, little moles if anything. No one ever mentioned anything bad about her teeth. The mysterious extra nail/sixth finger was only mentioned years after her death to slander her. It was never discussed within her lifetime and that is a problem on the quest for the truth. People hated her, they would've used any unusual features to beat her with and slander her in public while she was alive. It would've been mentioned repeatly in public while alive if true. She could not hide her body from dozens of ladies who dressed every part of her and would've seen her in her birthday suit daily. I mean, she didn't even put the rings on her fingers herself. Someone did that for her and it was classed as a honour to do so. Even the ladies who disliked her still helped her get dressed. If she had anything like a blemish of an extra nail, that would've been commented on. I repeat, people HATED her. Like proper despised. Would drink the water if she was on fire etc. They would've used anything like that as a negative mark against her character. Plus I don't think Henry would be into that, as he was very superficial and anything like that would've frightened him/disgusted him. He was very suspicious of bad omens, something like that would be seen as negative to him. He was also on a quest for healthy male heir, Anne wouldn't have met his requirements if this was true. So the author mentions that the sixth finger wasn't true due to the dubious source, but accepts she had an extra little nail instead and pushes that idea.
So, the first sentences of the book held a falsehood in them. So I took the rest of the book with a pinch of salt. If this is the book you ONLY base your history knowledge of Anne Boleyn, then I beg you, do not and read something more up to date.
Then we get the talk of Mary going to Margaret of Austria court, where it was Anne, who was admittedly quite young for the position (depending on what you accept her birthday was) went, not Mary. She spent years there. Yet it is never mentioned and just talks about her going to the french court, starting with Mary Tudor, then Claude. It is completely not mentioned and it ignores the huge influence Margaret would have on her character. It is proven that she went to that court. We have letters and proof. Not Mary. Mary has never been proven to go abroad to the Austria court, only French.
Also, don't forget we have two maybe years for her birth. It isn't sure which one is the truth. The book connects Anne's age to certain periods of her life, which isn't quite the truth. We can't say she was 15 when she came home, because we do not know. But the author states it as it if fact. We don't even know her birthday, let alone her birth year. I wish we did.
The author claims that Anne wasn't deeply religious, which is untrue. She was. ⁰And while she was interested in the new religion, it not proven that she subscribed and agreed to all of it. One of the things that is known she pushed repeatedly was to have the bible in English. She had a bible in English in her rooms that she would have people read and gave her ladies free access to it. But you can be "Catholic beliefs" and still believe the bible should be easy to access in English. That one should be able to read it by themselves without relying on a priests interpretation. We don't know how she stood on each controversial difference between the two different religions so we cannot have her religious beliefs stored neatly into one box over the other. She seems to be a mixed bag in her beliefs and in her life as queen, she did try to protect some of the monasteries. She wanted the money from them to help the poor and needy. Not peoples coffers, which she and Cromwell argued about and partly caused their break from being allies. She wanted reform, not complete destruction. There is no proof that she wasn't a woman of deep faith and it always annoys me when this seems to be ignored in her recent portrayals. She was deeply religious. And while she had reformist beliefs, you can still believe in something and want it to be better. Like she still believed in the doctrine of transubstantiation. That isn't a protestant belief. She was a mixed bag and cannot be classed as a devoted protestant, especially compared to some of her contemporaries and the people who existed a decade or so after her death. So it annoyed me that the author claimed she didn't care about religion until the end of her life. Beliefs are complicated and it is especially hard to put people into the past into neat boxes, especially when the form of the religion being discussed was is it's infancy. (A lot of reform and development of Protestant beliefs and doctrine/The doctrine of the Church of England happened after Anne's death afterall, so we cannot know what she would've felt about certain doctrines of the faith.)
Of course, it's not all wrong. A lot of the basics remain true, though certain things could've been looked into with more detail. But tbf, if you looked into Anne's whole life in detail, stuffed with research, you've got atleast a non fiction trilogy on your hands.
Like the very first couple of lines are wrong. Anne didn't not have extra little nail and probably did not have a huge wart on her neck, little moles if anything. No one ever mentioned anything bad about her teeth. The mysterious extra nail/sixth finger was only mentioned years after her death to slander her. It was never discussed within her lifetime and that is a problem on the quest for the truth. People hated her, they would've used any unusual features to beat her with and slander her in public while she was alive. It would've been mentioned repeatly in public while alive if true. She could not hide her body from dozens of ladies who dressed every part of her and would've seen her in her birthday suit daily. I mean, she didn't even put the rings on her fingers herself. Someone did that for her and it was classed as a honour to do so. Even the ladies who disliked her still helped her get dressed. If she had anything like a blemish of an extra nail, that would've been commented on. I repeat, people HATED her. Like proper despised. Would drink the water if she was on fire etc. They would've used anything like that as a negative mark against her character. Plus I don't think Henry would be into that, as he was very superficial and anything like that would've frightened him/disgusted him. He was very suspicious of bad omens, something like that would be seen as negative to him. He was also on a quest for healthy male heir, Anne wouldn't have met his requirements if this was true. So the author mentions that the sixth finger wasn't true due to the dubious source, but accepts she had an extra little nail instead and pushes that idea.
So, the first sentences of the book held a falsehood in them. So I took the rest of the book with a pinch of salt. If this is the book you ONLY base your history knowledge of Anne Boleyn, then I beg you, do not and read something more up to date.
Then we get the talk of Mary going to Margaret of Austria court, where it was Anne, who was admittedly quite young for the position (depending on what you accept her birthday was) went, not Mary. She spent years there. Yet it is never mentioned and just talks about her going to the french court, starting with Mary Tudor, then Claude. It is completely not mentioned and it ignores the huge influence Margaret would have on her character. It is proven that she went to that court. We have letters and proof. Not Mary. Mary has never been proven to go abroad to the Austria court, only French.
Also, don't forget we have two maybe years for her birth. It isn't sure which one is the truth. The book connects Anne's age to certain periods of her life, which isn't quite the truth. We can't say she was 15 when she came home, because we do not know. But the author states it as it if fact. We don't even know her birthday, let alone her birth year. I wish we did.
The author claims that Anne wasn't deeply religious, which is untrue. She was. ⁰And while she was interested in the new religion, it not proven that she subscribed and agreed to all of it. One of the things that is known she pushed repeatedly was to have the bible in English. She had a bible in English in her rooms that she would have people read and gave her ladies free access to it. But you can be "Catholic beliefs" and still believe the bible should be easy to access in English. That one should be able to read it by themselves without relying on a priests interpretation. We don't know how she stood on each controversial difference between the two different religions so we cannot have her religious beliefs stored neatly into one box over the other. She seems to be a mixed bag in her beliefs and in her life as queen, she did try to protect some of the monasteries. She wanted the money from them to help the poor and needy. Not peoples coffers, which she and Cromwell argued about and partly caused their break from being allies. She wanted reform, not complete destruction. There is no proof that she wasn't a woman of deep faith and it always annoys me when this seems to be ignored in her recent portrayals. She was deeply religious. And while she had reformist beliefs, you can still believe in something and want it to be better. Like she still believed in the doctrine of transubstantiation. That isn't a protestant belief. She was a mixed bag and cannot be classed as a devoted protestant, especially compared to some of her contemporaries and the people who existed a decade or so after her death. So it annoyed me that the author claimed she didn't care about religion until the end of her life. Beliefs are complicated and it is especially hard to put people into the past into neat boxes, especially when the form of the religion being discussed was is it's infancy. (A lot of reform and development of Protestant beliefs and doctrine/The doctrine of the Church of England happened after Anne's death afterall, so we cannot know what she would've felt about certain doctrines of the faith.)
Of course, it's not all wrong. A lot of the basics remain true, though certain things could've been looked into with more detail. But tbf, if you looked into Anne's whole life in detail, stuffed with research, you've got atleast a non fiction trilogy on your hands.
January 7, 2022
Anne Boleyn and her Cheating Husband
The storytelling was enjoyable but still I wished for a different ending! Another misogynist who walked the earth with pretended honor!
The storytelling was enjoyable but still I wished for a different ending! Another misogynist who walked the earth with pretended honor!
June 17, 2024
Maaaaannnn, the 1500s were wild. Content was interesting but the writing was hard to follow
April 16, 2018
This book is what I would call Pop History. That is, it's more interested in being a soap opera than in giving us the facts of what happened. The author spends a great deal of time putting thoughts in people's heads that she can have no way of knowing for sure. It's fine if you have ideas about what these people were thinking and feeling (even historical writers have an agenda they will try to push most of the time), but a writer needs to couch them as the supposition they are, not assert the statements as fact. We cannot know what these people were thinking and feeling. This is, in particular true of Anne Boleyn, since there is not as much actual documentation about her as there are about other people from this period.
In short, Bruce needed to decide whether she wanted to write a history or a novel because you can't do both.
If you'd like a solid history of Anne Boleyn, there are many, many options besides this available. If you want to be entertained by Tudor history, watch The Tudors or read a book by Philipa Gregory. This book fills neither of those catagories.
In short, Bruce needed to decide whether she wanted to write a history or a novel because you can't do both.
If you'd like a solid history of Anne Boleyn, there are many, many options besides this available. If you want to be entertained by Tudor history, watch The Tudors or read a book by Philipa Gregory. This book fills neither of those catagories.
May 11, 2008
I have been thinking a lot about this book since I finished it. It was profoundly sad. Anne was simply an instrument of her father and uncle's political aspirations. In the beginning, she didn't even care for Henry, and she really never had a say in any of it.
After waiting for nearly 6 years to marry, she was dead (by Henry and her own father's hands) only 3 years after their marriage.
This book was written by a young female historian in 1955. I really enjoyed her tone. I could tell that the author sympathized with and even liked Anne.
In addition to my new-found respect for Anne, this book prompted me several times to drag out the dictionary (and I love when a book does that). Among others, I didn't know the meaning of:
*avarice
*plover
*linnet
*megalomaniac
After waiting for nearly 6 years to marry, she was dead (by Henry and her own father's hands) only 3 years after their marriage.
This book was written by a young female historian in 1955. I really enjoyed her tone. I could tell that the author sympathized with and even liked Anne.
In addition to my new-found respect for Anne, this book prompted me several times to drag out the dictionary (and I love when a book does that). Among others, I didn't know the meaning of:
*avarice
*plover
*linnet
*megalomaniac
January 14, 2021
This was an interesting take on Anne Boleyn. Her life has been written about, romanticized, and torn to shreds by those who wished to bring her down. Mary Louise Bruce brings Anne to the front again, and in some ways, rehashing all of the information that has already been presented about her.
I was looking forward to gaining deeper insight into Anne Boleyn through this book, but nothing truly jumped out as new and exciting. Nevertheless, it was a decent biographical work of this young woman who became the queen of England, losing her life at a young age.
I was looking forward to gaining deeper insight into Anne Boleyn through this book, but nothing truly jumped out as new and exciting. Nevertheless, it was a decent biographical work of this young woman who became the queen of England, losing her life at a young age.
October 21, 2021
Interesting read but some of it is factually incorrect
March 3, 2021
Anne Boleyn is arguably one of England's best known historic figures. And also one of the most divisive. Originally published in 1972, Anne Boleyn by Marie Louise Bruce is an eminently readable account of Anne's life, loves, and downfall. As many people may know, Anne Boleyn started her life as the youngest daughter of a minor diplomat. While she had ties to several great houses, she was considered of little consequence herself -- until she caught the eye of Henry VIII and then refused to bed him unless they were wed first. From there her star rose... ultimately leading to Henry breaking from Rome and the creation of the Church of England. But when she couldn't give Henry the son she wanted, he soured towards her which led to her downfall and execution.
This book takes you through it all. Utilizing primary resources where she can, Bruce illuminates just who Anne was. She wasn't the harlot and harpy that her detractors paint her as, nor was she the victim to the whims of her father and eventual husband. She's a complex woman who was often neglected and forgotten as child. Shuttled off to be raised in the French court, she learned early on how to make the most of what she had. And Bruce supplies several pieces of evidence that supports this. And what's more, she provides context to the primary sources that she uses. This makes the book much easier to understand... while some people might think that by providing context she's fictionalizing the accounts, but that's not what I'm seeing here. The words are right there on the page and are open to interpretation. What she provides is information about that source... who they are known to have supported... what motives they might have had based on the prior (and future) behavior. It's not fiction, but a biography that goes beyond names, dates, and actions and into how those names, dates, and actions relate in the greater whole. There's context. And for someone who loves this period and in particular this tiny but crucial portion of history, context is everything.
So this is where I need to admit my own bias, which Bruce also does in both her introduction and conclusion to this book, I like Anne Boleyn. I respect her. I feel sorry for her. I acknowledge that she was an emotional and stubborn woman who likely rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. So seeing a portrayal of her where she isn't demonized or worse. is heartening. I am also 90% certain that I read this book in college as part of researching a paper on Anne Boleyn. The book was my jumping off point to other sources, and it is a good resource for people who are interested in the politics of the time.
This is the kind of book that fans of the Tudor era will adore.
Five Stars
Thank you to Sapere Books for providing me with an ARC of this book.
This book takes you through it all. Utilizing primary resources where she can, Bruce illuminates just who Anne was. She wasn't the harlot and harpy that her detractors paint her as, nor was she the victim to the whims of her father and eventual husband. She's a complex woman who was often neglected and forgotten as child. Shuttled off to be raised in the French court, she learned early on how to make the most of what she had. And Bruce supplies several pieces of evidence that supports this. And what's more, she provides context to the primary sources that she uses. This makes the book much easier to understand... while some people might think that by providing context she's fictionalizing the accounts, but that's not what I'm seeing here. The words are right there on the page and are open to interpretation. What she provides is information about that source... who they are known to have supported... what motives they might have had based on the prior (and future) behavior. It's not fiction, but a biography that goes beyond names, dates, and actions and into how those names, dates, and actions relate in the greater whole. There's context. And for someone who loves this period and in particular this tiny but crucial portion of history, context is everything.
So this is where I need to admit my own bias, which Bruce also does in both her introduction and conclusion to this book, I like Anne Boleyn. I respect her. I feel sorry for her. I acknowledge that she was an emotional and stubborn woman who likely rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. So seeing a portrayal of her where she isn't demonized or worse. is heartening. I am also 90% certain that I read this book in college as part of researching a paper on Anne Boleyn. The book was my jumping off point to other sources, and it is a good resource for people who are interested in the politics of the time.
This is the kind of book that fans of the Tudor era will adore.
Five Stars
Thank you to Sapere Books for providing me with an ARC of this book.
July 6, 2021
This book was outside my normal comfort zone. I am pretty well-versed in American Revolutionary history now, and I'm trying to branch out into earlier English history. I chose this book because I know at least a little bit about the Tudor family, and I was looking forward to learning what was and was not true from the show The Tudors (which I loved). This book reads like it was the primary source for the show. It is salacious. It is over the top. And, according to a friend who knows more Tudor history than I do, the research in it is relatively outdated now.
Structure and Formatting 4/5
For the most part, this book is set up in a linear/chronological fashion, which I always enjoy.
Thoroughness of Research 2.5/5
This is probably just a victim of the time this was originally written. According to my friend when I was talking to her about it, there is a lot of stuff in this book that has since been debunked or misproven. The author also seems to take a single account on an event and gives it a lot of weight. (This is how rumors get started in the first place!)
Storytelling/Writing 1/5
Oh boy, the writing. This reads like a gossip column. Let me leave you with a quote as an example from chapter 18: "Experienced though Henry was in the art of penetrating the female body, impatience, undue self-regard, over-anxiety, could all too easily make a farce out of this romance at last about to flower."
Level of Enjoyment 3/5
I didn't dislike this book, but it definitely isn't like any books I regularly read. The writing was the worst part for me to get over. Otherwise, it was interesting to start learning about a somewhat new time period than my usual focus.
Prior Knowledge Needed 4/5
I was at least somewhat familiar with the names involved in this, and I do think that helps. Seeing the show The Tudors should be enough to get you comfortable with the cast of characters being discussed in this book.
I am interested in trying another history book from this time period, but I'll be doing a little more research on the book or prereading a chapter or two before I do.
Structure and Formatting 4/5
For the most part, this book is set up in a linear/chronological fashion, which I always enjoy.
Thoroughness of Research 2.5/5
This is probably just a victim of the time this was originally written. According to my friend when I was talking to her about it, there is a lot of stuff in this book that has since been debunked or misproven. The author also seems to take a single account on an event and gives it a lot of weight. (This is how rumors get started in the first place!)
Storytelling/Writing 1/5
Oh boy, the writing. This reads like a gossip column. Let me leave you with a quote as an example from chapter 18: "Experienced though Henry was in the art of penetrating the female body, impatience, undue self-regard, over-anxiety, could all too easily make a farce out of this romance at last about to flower."
Level of Enjoyment 3/5
I didn't dislike this book, but it definitely isn't like any books I regularly read. The writing was the worst part for me to get over. Otherwise, it was interesting to start learning about a somewhat new time period than my usual focus.
Prior Knowledge Needed 4/5
I was at least somewhat familiar with the names involved in this, and I do think that helps. Seeing the show The Tudors should be enough to get you comfortable with the cast of characters being discussed in this book.
I am interested in trying another history book from this time period, but I'll be doing a little more research on the book or prereading a chapter or two before I do.
January 7, 2025
This is the eighth biography of Anne Boleyn I have read, and it is also the best, IMO. I have had the original 1972 hardback edition with good paper and good binding on my shelf since about 2000. The author adheres to Anne's birthdate of c.1507, as opposed to c.1501, the latter of which has been the majority view among Anne scholars since the later 19th century; there have always been two schools, though. I am now tempted to change to the George Wyatt/William Camden/Marie Lousie Bruce/Retha Warnicke school myself, as I think Anne's character and her behaviour at court (at least as presented by Marie Louise Bruce) is more congruent with her being only in her late teens or early twenties when she became the king's great affair/matter. In this book, Anne is more of a youthful and spontaneous player than the grown-up, serious religious reformer and politician she is in others, and I like that a lot.
January 6, 2021
We all know the story of Anne Boleyn. The woman who made a king fall for her. Divorce his first wife and lead to the break with the Catholic Church. I’ve ready many books on the woman and was hoping that this book would give be a new insight into the Woman.
Marie Louise Bruce certainly did not disappoint. This book is well researched and written. I finished the book feeling I knew more about Anne as a person. Lots of historical research with segments of letters written by the lover. (Anne’s letters survived at the Vatican)
I discovered more of her character and her family life. She was a very clever person. I certainly didn’t realise it took so many years for her to get her man.
Take the time to enjoy this book.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC
Marie Louise Bruce certainly did not disappoint. This book is well researched and written. I finished the book feeling I knew more about Anne as a person. Lots of historical research with segments of letters written by the lover. (Anne’s letters survived at the Vatican)
I discovered more of her character and her family life. She was a very clever person. I certainly didn’t realise it took so many years for her to get her man.
Take the time to enjoy this book.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC
January 11, 2021
Thoroughly enjoyed this account of Anne Boleyn. Bruce provides a detailed account with excerpts of letters between Anne, Henry and Wolsey. The narrative is almost conversational, making it a very easy and enjoyable read.
Bruce doesn't note Anne's time at the court of Margaret of Austria and instead refers to Mary spending time there.
The book is clearly the result of much research and covers the matter of Henry's Great Matter in much detail using George Cavendish's account of Wolsey as a fascinating source. Bruce conveys the tumultuous relationship between Anne and Wolsey which I found extremely interesting.
The original edition was published in 1972 and has been credited in works of other biographies of Anne.
If you are looking for an easy to read interpretation of Anne's life I would highly recommend this book.
Bruce doesn't note Anne's time at the court of Margaret of Austria and instead refers to Mary spending time there.
The book is clearly the result of much research and covers the matter of Henry's Great Matter in much detail using George Cavendish's account of Wolsey as a fascinating source. Bruce conveys the tumultuous relationship between Anne and Wolsey which I found extremely interesting.
The original edition was published in 1972 and has been credited in works of other biographies of Anne.
If you are looking for an easy to read interpretation of Anne's life I would highly recommend this book.
April 27, 2021
Filled with bits I had never before read about
Having felt badly for Anne Boleyn since I was very short, the portions of this book in which she was portrayed as bewildered by the king’s attentions, I was especially drawn to. Henry was twice her age and of no use or interest to her marriage-wise. The way her male family members—besides her good brother—treated and misused her, is not only sad and unfortunate, but truly cruel and diabolical. With no one ever truly on Anne’s side, truly looking out for her best interests, no wonder this series of self-effacing and maniacally narcissistic individuals rode her all the way to the top, before systematically driving her straight into the ground.
Having felt badly for Anne Boleyn since I was very short, the portions of this book in which she was portrayed as bewildered by the king’s attentions, I was especially drawn to. Henry was twice her age and of no use or interest to her marriage-wise. The way her male family members—besides her good brother—treated and misused her, is not only sad and unfortunate, but truly cruel and diabolical. With no one ever truly on Anne’s side, truly looking out for her best interests, no wonder this series of self-effacing and maniacally narcissistic individuals rode her all the way to the top, before systematically driving her straight into the ground.
August 24, 2017
This was one of the early biographies of Anne Boleyn; it was groundbreaking for its time and still holds up today as a very well done biography, full of primary sources, context, questions, and close examinations. Despite the beginning of the book being a bit dated with some florid writing and some since disproved gossip (the mole and the extra finger) the book goes on to be a stunning read giving a fair and even treatment of Anne’s actions as well as placing all events in a personal, national, and international context.
An excellent and thorough read about the always fascinating Anne Boleyn.
April 16, 2021
Anne Boleyn is one of history's character you ether love or hate.
I could not make up my mind which side the author came down on. I think she came down more against than for her.
The chapters seemed to have a bias against Anne and was full of supposition to support an argument that cannot be proved historically.
I was close to giving up on the book as it seemed to be same arguments proposed that every other author has made against Anne.
It was not an easy read and there are far better accounts of what happened.
I could not make up my mind which side the author came down on. I think she came down more against than for her.
The chapters seemed to have a bias against Anne and was full of supposition to support an argument that cannot be proved historically.
I was close to giving up on the book as it seemed to be same arguments proposed that every other author has made against Anne.
It was not an easy read and there are far better accounts of what happened.
December 13, 2020
Thank you to the publishers - Sapere Books - for giving me access to this book as an E-ARC via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Had no idea this book is a classic when it comes to literature about Anne Boleyn - the more you know.
As retellings of a historic person’s life goes, this was comprehensive and followed Anne’s life from childhood, to her education at the French court, her way into queen Catherine’s court and her love affair with King Henry VIII to her way to queendom and her fall from grace. I find Anne Boleyn to be a very smart woman who knew how to play the game perfectly – and I find it very sad she got the end that she got in the end.
Nothing really to note – the book said what it promise in the synopsis. Did I learn something new from reading this book? Not really, but I enjoyed it all the same.
Had no idea this book is a classic when it comes to literature about Anne Boleyn - the more you know.
As retellings of a historic person’s life goes, this was comprehensive and followed Anne’s life from childhood, to her education at the French court, her way into queen Catherine’s court and her love affair with King Henry VIII to her way to queendom and her fall from grace. I find Anne Boleyn to be a very smart woman who knew how to play the game perfectly – and I find it very sad she got the end that she got in the end.
Nothing really to note – the book said what it promise in the synopsis. Did I learn something new from reading this book? Not really, but I enjoyed it all the same.
January 16, 2021
Really well researched, very well written, incredible detail. I didn’t realize until after I’d finished that this is a republish of a book from the 70s. It’s not flattering to anyone but does appear to take a realistic approach. Very well done.
I received a copy from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I received a copy from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
March 8, 2022
A Great Book
One of the best history books I’ve ever read.
There is a depth of understanding rare in such books. Ann Boleyn is brought to life with sympathy, faults and all. Life at the top of the tree was dangerous, especially with the psychopath Henry VIII at the top.
Without Ann there’d be no Church of England.
I cannot recommend this book too highly.
One of the best history books I’ve ever read.
There is a depth of understanding rare in such books. Ann Boleyn is brought to life with sympathy, faults and all. Life at the top of the tree was dangerous, especially with the psychopath Henry VIII at the top.
Without Ann there’d be no Church of England.
I cannot recommend this book too highly.
January 6, 2023
Not Guilty
Riveting. Readers come to understand this brave and ambitious woman who persevered for six years to become Queen of England. She never provided Henry with the male heir he sought, but through her and Henry's daughter, Elizabeth, became heir to a future queen of England.
Riveting. Readers come to understand this brave and ambitious woman who persevered for six years to become Queen of England. She never provided Henry with the male heir he sought, but through her and Henry's daughter, Elizabeth, became heir to a future queen of England.
October 2, 2024
I’ve really enjoyed the book apart from the Anne’s appearance description. This all comes from a long time after Anne’s death and the person who started the rumours about the sixth finger, moles etc never even saw her and none of it was ever mentioned in the contemporary descriptions. I doubt Henry wound even look at her if she had any blemishes like that.
June 19, 2023
Great way to tellt the story of Anne Boelyn. The author writes her as a strong, smart, and independent woman, but also shows her as being as much of a victim. The victim of the men in her life during a time when a woman was seen and treated as a possession.
April 3, 2024
Same story but with Anne’s POV
This was a really good read. I’ve read so many books about Henry VIII and his six wives but none of them had a take on how the wives must have felt. I’m bored to tears with the Tudors but, from a new perspective I couldn’t put this down.
This was a really good read. I’ve read so many books about Henry VIII and his six wives but none of them had a take on how the wives must have felt. I’m bored to tears with the Tudors but, from a new perspective I couldn’t put this down.
April 26, 2021
Extremely Enjoyable
Really enjoyed this book. I thought there was nothing knew I could learn about this fascinating woman but I take away new facts and insights.
Really enjoyed this book. I thought there was nothing knew I could learn about this fascinating woman but I take away new facts and insights.
November 28, 2021
A new author
The book covered a lot we know from history but was enjoyable
The book covered a lot we know from history but was enjoyable
December 2, 2021
Recommended
A thorough and shrewd look into the life of one so widely debated and pondered. The best book on Anne I have read.
A thorough and shrewd look into the life of one so widely debated and pondered. The best book on Anne I have read.
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