Thank you so much to art historian and author Roland Hui for his Anne Boleyn-themed contribution to the Anne Boleyn Files Advent Calendar. It’s a lovely one!
Simply click here to go to the calendar, and the click on number 3. You can catch up on days 1 and 2 if you missed them too.
And why not enjoy an extra Tudor treat by heading on over to the Tudor Society Advent Calendar? – click here
P.S. Do remember to add yourself to the Anne Boleyn Files mailing list (and get 5 free gifts for doing so!) as I’ll be announcing an online Anne Boleyn event to mailing list subscribers later this month – click here.
The letter Anne wrote to her father is so exquisite it can only have been written by an older girl, which debunks the theory that she was born around 1505 – 1507, it is a wonderful piece of correspondence from her to her father telling of her time at Marguerites court, and of how she wishes to do well and make him proud of her, the pictures of Marguerite and the photos of her court as it was in her own day, and of modern times are so interesting and it was here, in this court that Anne took the first steps to becoming the well bred sophisticated and educated woman she became, she was moulded under the tutelage of that most learned woman Marguerite of Savoy, and learnt how to walk gracefully, how to speak well conduct oneself, above all how to hold oneself in high esteem, virtue was everything at Marguerites court, she learnt how to play musical instruments and embroiderer (although she would have done that at home in England with her mother), she learnt how to become a cultured learned woman like Marguerite herself, this was the first impression of the world the young Anne Boleyn had when she left the family home of Hever and it seems she thoroughly enjoyed herself there, there were other girls from noble households who had also been sent there and Anne years later must have remembered with fondness the friends she had made and the good times she had had, for Marguerite herself she was delighted with little Anne, and wrote to Sir Thomas how grateful she was for sending her to her, she and Thomas were good friends so she was doing him a favour by accepting his daughter, but she was enchanted by this young girl with her fervour for learning and zest for life, the court was probably like an early version of a Swiss finishing school where the wealthy and noble today send their daughters, deportment good manners, horse riding skiing, French lessons and cookery are the norm and the outcome is the girls are expected to do nothing more than make a good marriage when they are older, Anne was recalled from Savoy back to England to accompany the Princess Mary Tudor to France, to marry the ailing King Louis and whilst there, she grew into like a French woman born as one contemporary described her, elegant stylish and a mistress of the art of courtly love, hardly surprising she she also learnt some French and became interested in the works of Martin Luther, though she never became a Lutheran she was interested by the new religion that was sweeping through Europe, her brother George was also keen and he himself had also had a good education, the seeds of the reformation that later was to cast its long fingers into the heart of Catholicism in Anne’s birth country was some years away, yet we can surmise it had its roots there, apart from being one of Europe’s most sophisticated courts it was also the most depraved and it’s king, – Francois encouraged the immorality that reigned there, Anne Boleyn however seems to have behaved herself with the same decorum she used at Marguerites court and she was after all, one of Queen Claude’s ladies, this long suffering wife of Francois kept her own court away from the vice and depravity of the kings and kept a sharp eye on her women, Anne when she was later recalled home had turned into a charming sophisticate, and the English court was totally unprepared for the change this dazzling young woman was to wreck upon it.