Did Anne boleyn really have six fingers
Rating: +3
Full question: Did Anne boleyn really have six fingers? Wikipedia said she did not but then englishhistory.net said that she did.
Nicholas Sander, a Catholic Recusant who was living in exile during Elizabeth I's rule, was not a fan of Anne Boleyn and sought to discredit her and blacken her name by describing her as having a "projecting tooth under the upper lip", yet also describes her "pretty mouth", a large wen under her chin and six fingers on her right hand. This description must be taken with a large pinch of salt.
However, she may have had some sort of minor imperfection on her hand which gave rise to this myth as George Wyatt, grandson of Thomas Wyatt, sais "there was found indeed, upon the side of her nail upon one of her fingers, some show of a nail".
In my opinion, if there was some defect on her hand it must have been very minor because Henry would not have pursued her for so long and broken with Rome to marry a woman who could pass a defect on to his heir to throne or who had signs of being a witch.
I have read up on this and what I have found is she had a small mole that protruded outward, hence her hiding that hand more in portraits. It was not a weird nail or extra finger, just a small mole she had since birth. It didn’t make her ugly, stupid, witchy, or deformed in any way.
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With this story you have to consider the source. Like Claire said it was from someone who wanted to discredit Anne. Something very interesting to also consider is that the Tudor period was full of superstitious beliefs. Witches’ marks were commonly believed to include even moles upon the skin. I don’t know about everyone else but the Henry VIII I have studied comes off as a perfectionist and quite particular with his taste in everything. I have also read that he was a superstitious man. So would this picky superstitious man cause the biggest uproar the world had every seen for a woman with the witches’ mark? I’m with Claire on this one. Anne Boleyn had a sixth finger – MYTH
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Huh? I think she did but not a witch people are lying about her being a witch cuz they just dont like her I mean I am well intressted in her history no ofence ok?
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I heard that Anne Boleyn had a sixth finger which she covered up with material that attaches to your dress at posh balls etc. and apparently this is when that bit of material was invented, all because of our good friend Anne!
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Rubbish about the extra material in the sleeves being invented by Anne to hide her hands. The large cuffed turnback sleeves were already known and continued to grow in size due to fashion from the 1510′s onwards. Check out the National Portrait Gallery (London) 1520′s painting of Catherine of Aragon to see her wearing large turn back cuffs as well. That should bust that particular myth nicely for you!
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Claire Reply:
May 21st, 2012 at 4:04 pm
The amount of fiction books that mention Anne hiding the finger under her sleeves and Catherine trying to draw attention to it – aaaggghhh!
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