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Weir.
August 29, 2011
2:51 pm
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SG
North Yorkshire UK
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I find some of the conclusions she comes to rather strange as well.  I'm often left scratching my head over how she base on whole theory on one thing stated in a secondary source.  But then she usually backs it up with something I think is totally unrelated.  A lot of people take her for gospel though, and think she's more reliable than other historians.  Such a shame.

August 30, 2011
11:33 am
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Milady12
Sweet Home Chicago
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August 27, 2011
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Well of course these people lack references!!! What are they going to put?

 

1) The voices in my head.

2) The neighbor's Dog told me this one.

3) I divined this one during the Autumnal Equinox with a tuning fork, a tupperware lid and a box of Jello brand jello mix! 

 

Kimberly

August 30, 2011
12:28 pm
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Elliemarianna
Corsham, Wiltshire
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Milady12 said:

Well of course these people lack references!!! What are they going to put?

 

1) The voices in my head.

2) The neighbor's Dog told me this one.

3) I divined this one during the Autumnal Equinox with a tuning fork, a tupperware lid and a box of Jello brand jello mix! 

 

Kimberly

Hahaha! That's awesome!

"It is however but Justice, & my Duty to declre that this amiable Woman was entirely innocent of the Crimes with which she was accused, of which her Beauty, her Elegance, & her Sprightliness were sufficient proofs..." Jane Austen.

August 30, 2011
1:29 pm
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WilesWales
Winter Haven, Florida
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That is the best one yet, and I especially love the first. Maybe it was from the harmonic conversiance where the people all gathered with Shirley McClaine with the same apparati? Milady12, you are making my day with giggling! WilesWalesLaugh 

"This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes." Psalms 118:23

September 4, 2011
8:52 am
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WilesWales
Winter Haven, Florida
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I would like to thank Claire very much on her email sent this morning on the death dates of Thomas and Henry Boleyn, brothers of Anne. What a researcher Claire is, and I am amazed at what research she has gone into with regard to the dates of their deaths!!!!

What she does do is discredit Weir's dates of the death of them being circa 1520. Once again Weir is not totally accruated on her sources.

I also would like to thank Claire on her hypothesis that Thomas and Henry were at least spared the events of Anne and George's executions in May 1536.

What a wonderful leader we have, are fortunate we are to have her as the creators and moderators of these forums! Smile

"This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes." Psalms 118:23

September 4, 2011
12:52 pm
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Claire
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Thank you so much, WilesWales, for your encouragement. I have found the past couple of weeks quite hard as I really struggled with what to do for the best over the subject of Thomas Boleyn the Younger and Alison Weir's dating of his brass. At the end of the day, I had to challenge a theory that I felt was not based on evidence, and which was actually based on an error, and I have loved every minute of this research, which has now got me seriously into monumental brasses!

I love running this site and am happy to provide somewhere where Tudor history lovers can meet and debate. I'm just sorry that I can't spend more time in the forum, the discussions on here are all so interesting!

 

Debunking the myths about Anne Boleyn

September 4, 2011
8:15 pm
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Bill1978
Australia
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I too am impressed with your discovery Claire and your reporting really highlighted the efforts required in doing true research to develop a theory. The only negative I see is that through the comprehensive research you've managed to succesfully destroy the random possibilty that there was a Boleyn male that may have survived to procreation age to allow the Anne's surname to live on directly. As opposed to relying on the Carey branch to provide relatives. Other than that, well done again.

September 6, 2011
11:29 am
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Claire-Louise
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Milady12 said:

Well of course these people lack references!!! What are they going to put?

 

1) The voices in my head.

2) The neighbor’s Dog told me this one.

3) I divined this one during the Autumnal Equinox with a tuning fork, a tupperware lid and a box of Jello brand jello mix! 

 

Kimberly

LOL! love it!!! Laugh

September 6, 2011
12:37 pm
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WilesWales
Winter Haven, Florida
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Claire-Louise, this post still make me laugh because it just cannot be topped as a response! Claire goes over and discredits Weir even after Weir the three forms of the maximum steps to an hypothesis. Claire is too great! Her attention and pursuit of the absolute truth, beyond and even more is unparalleled. August 1978 says it well, too. It really is too bad there is not a heir left of Anne's surname to live on directly, and I mean Boleyn, and not Carey, even thought Elizabeth I was magnanimous in, I believe just off hand, making one of them a Baron during her reign. But, between Claire-Louise and Claire I have to follow Claire-Louis comment, “LOL! love it!!! Laugh

"This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes." Psalms 118:23

September 6, 2011
1:16 pm
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Claire
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Thank you for all your support and I'm so glad that you've all enjoyed my research and investigations. You can probably tell that I'm a Poirot and Miss Marple fan, with a bit of Nancy Drew thrown in, so the chance to combine history and sleuthing was just too good an opportunity to pass by!

It is sad that no male Boleyns survived to carry the name on, and I don't believe George Boleyn, Dean of Lichfield, was George's son, but there were other branches of the family and Mary Boleyn's children did a pretty good job of keeping the Boleyn bloodline going, albeit via the Carey and Knollys names.  

Debunking the myths about Anne Boleyn

September 6, 2011
8:00 pm
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Anyanka
La Belle Province
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You're just the whole Scooby Gang on your own Claire.

 

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It's always bunnies.

September 6, 2011
8:53 pm
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Mya Elise
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: ) Velma's brains, Daphne's confidence in what she's doing, Fred's ability to have fun with the work, and everyone needs the goofiness of Shaggy & Scooby in them.  

Claire is like the whole Scooby gang on her own. 

• Grumble all you like, this is how it’s going to be.

September 7, 2011
2:33 am
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Claire
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Oh yes, although I'm not quite as piggy as Scooby!

Debunking the myths about Anne Boleyn

July 16, 2012
2:17 pm
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Louise
Hampshire, England
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I see that Weir has been rating her rivals books over on Goodreads. She has given Claire a 1 star for each of her two books. Likewise she has given Suzannah Lipscomb 1 star for each of her two books. Interesting! I don’t suppose it had anything to do with the fact that neither Suzannah and Claire gave Weir a glowing review of her Mary Boleyn book, even though both reviews were fair and balanced? Claire also had the audacity to question Weir’s theory that the Boleyn brother who is buried at Penshurst lived into his teens/early twenties.
I’ve also noticed that any book which criticises Henry tends to be rated with a 1 or 2 star, whereas any book in praise of him is invaribly rated higher.
Weir wrote a book on the six wives as did Starkey. His book is brilliant, but surprise surprise, Weir has the arrogance to rate it a 2 star.
Of course Weir is entitled to her opinions, but like everything else about the woman, including her books and lack of references, I question her motives. Personally I think her reviews are based solely on self-preservation and a vindictive desire to bring down anyone who has the audacity to criticise her. Does the woman have no self respect? I pray that no one will be influenced by this increasingly desperate woman.

July 16, 2012
6:14 pm
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DuchessofBrittany
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Sadly, I am not surprised to learn this about Weir. It seems she cannot and will not accept criticism about her work, and anyone who does, is subject to her wrath. While I’ve read many of her books, I find them so plagued with errors, I end up peeved off. Why I keep reading them is a mystery. But I digress. It seems Weir has even bought into her image as an “historian.” I must state again, she is not an historian, and her research shows this lack of methology and training. She puts out a book each year. Her work must suffer. There is no way extensive historical research can be written, cited. and edited within 12 months of each other. I have no problem if she uses research assistants. My issue is the apparent lack of concern for good research.
Weir’s book on the six wives cannot hold a candle to Starkey’s. His book is a masterclass in proper historical training, and his mastery over all things Tudor.
It does seem Weir has taken issue with Claire’s review of her book on Mary Boleyn. Claire’s review was fair and balanced and the criticism was due, especially when Claire had evidence to challenge some of Weir’s so-called findings. I concur with Claire’s opinion of this book. Didn’t Weir make some slight toward this website?
Final thought: if it is not about her books and people fawning over them (and her), then it’s not important.

"By daily proof you shall find me to be to you both loving and kind" Anne Boleyn

July 16, 2012
8:21 pm
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Louise
Hampshire, England
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Hello Duchess,
Weir has insinuated that anyone who subscribes to sites like Claire’s are sort of groupies. These are mere ‘fan clubs’ followed by people who don’t know their history and don’t really understand what they are talking about. It was all unbelievably patronising. Only she knows the truth and we should follow her every word. Grrr

July 16, 2012
9:05 pm
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Boleyn
Kent.
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Louise said

Hello Duchess,
Weir has insinuated that anyone who subscribes to sites like Claire’s are sort of groupies. These are mere ‘fan clubs’ followed by people who don’t know their history and don’t really understand what they are talking about. It was all unbelievably patronising. Only she knows the truth and we should follow her every word. Grrr

Grrrrrrr indeed with a capital GR. I’ve read a couple of Weir books but found them to be quite boring and certainly not what I would call of any educational value whatsoever…
As for slating historical websites like ours well perhaps she should take a look, she may learn something. We can all claim the title of amatuer historians although some of us are more well read than others. I’ve certainly learnt a lot more than I thought I knew. I think myself that Weir is a little like SWMNBN in her attitude towards people like us. I bet if we were all to write down our opinions on Tudor history, or anything in history and get it published, it would become a best seller in next to no time. That would be a kick up the arse for these so called historians wouldn’t it..

Semper Fidelis, quod sum quod

July 16, 2012
10:38 pm
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Bill1978
Australia
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I had a quick look at Alison Weir’s ratings and I must say that she comes across as very vindictive. My reasoning for this is she just assigns a ratings tothe books without any form of a review. She clearly hates Phillipa Gregory every book of hers gets a 1 star and that comes across as being petty. Also noticed that she gave 1 stars to Dan Brown. It’s funny because she comes across as disliking populat mainstream novels while adoring the classics. I find this amusing because she has been accused of writing history for the mass consumption, so she is no better than the novels she appears to trash for no good reason. If I used Good Reads as a guide to choose books, I wouldn’t be putting any weight to Weir’s opinion due to her lack of clarification. My gut feeling in regards to her ‘rivals’ books is her goal to reduce their average while bumping up her average on her books.

July 17, 2012
12:18 am
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Bella44
New Zealand
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Are we sure this ‘Alison Weir’ on Goodreads is the same person as the author? I checked out Alison Weirs author page on Goodreads and she’s not a member, as an author anyway. ‘Alison Weirs’ page makes no mention of this person being an author at all and if this is indeed Alison Weir the historical author, why wouldn’t she say so in her profile? To hide behind a more anonymous account to give low ratings to authors she personally may not like is not something I would expect a professional author to do. Also, most of these ratings have only appeared in the last few days or so.

I may be wrong, but I just have a feeling that these are entirely two different people.

July 17, 2012
1:21 am
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Olga
Australia
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You could be right Bella, there are a lot of weirdos on the internet who love impersonating people.
Let’s not put Starkey on a pedestal please guys. Starkey was horribly condescending towards Weir and Antonia Fraser in his Six Wives book (unnecessary, especially as Frasers book has a superior section on AOC) and largely attributed Agnes Strickland’s success with her series of books to her being good looking. He can still be a sexist jerk, despite being my favourite historian.
As for authors acting professionally, I talk to a lot of authors. Some of them suffer from horrible insecurity, I encountered one earlier this year who posts every single review of his book he can find, whether it be a 15 year old blogger from Germany or a professional reviewer, and then sets his fans onto people who don’t like his book (I was torn somewhere between horror and hysteria as I watched a large group of people discussing how stupid I was) Social media exposes all sorts of things, and being relatively new, some authors are just not used to being on public display.
Weir certainly did say groups on the internet were like fan clubs, I thought she mentioned something like cults actually but I can’t remember. I also suspected she meant this group in particular when she said it, but then Weir is from a different generation and some of them don’t understand making friends on the internet *shrug* or the value of communities like this.

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