Log In
Register
Home
Topic RSS
7:42 am
February 16, 2009
Offline
As it's Valentine's Day I thought I'd post about Anne and Henry's love. Why do you think Henry pursued Anne for so long, when he could have any woman he wanted? What was it about her that kept him chasing for 7 years?
Debunking the myths about Anne Boleyn
2:24 pm
January 27, 2010
Offline
Who knows why we love who we do. I swore for years I would marry a rich man and then I had to go and fall in love! I'm obviously not as shallow as I'd planned!
The cynic in me wonders whether it started out as an ego thing. Henry could, as you say, have any woman he wanted, so he had to pursue the one woman who said no just because she said no. I'm not trying to take anything away from Anne, she had many good qualities, as we all know. I'm just saying that that's the sort of impression Henry makes on me in that respect. I hope he did fall in love with her eventually. I think he did.
3:56 pm
June 20, 2009
Offline
I believed he loved Anne. He certainly didn't love his other wives in the same way he loved Anne. She presented a challenge for him, and that is something he could not resist. She was the only woman he really courted, and he did not show the same passion for anyone else.
Her qualities that made him fall in love with her also made him angry. As he was not used to having anyone be his “equal”, I'm sure it bothered him that she could dish it out just as much as he could. Elizabeth inheirited that quality from her mother. Not to say that it's a bad thing… I like intelligent banter as much as anyone else.. LOL
It's sad that he fell out of love with her, but I hope that she haunted his memories for the rest of his tyrannical life. 
Let not my enemies sit as my jury
4:17 pm
October 11, 2009
Offline
I think that Anne didn't love Henry at the beginning of the relationship ( to deal with everything that happened and to refuse access to her body she had to keep her head cold), but she gradually felt in love with him. The reason was, according to me, that Henry gave Anne everything she wanted and dreamed of: real courtly love, importance at court and independance from mer ( he gave her the title of Marquess of Pembroke in her own right after all). Anne was surely an independant woman, and she saw Henry as a way to reach her dream, not depending of men. Theyu were equal in the relationship, she could yell at him when he didn't act the way she wanted ( for exemple what happened when she discovered about the shirts Katherine made). It's the destruction of this illusion of egality which made their love crumble, along with the birth of Elizabeth, Anne's only real and big love I think.
5:26 am
December 8, 2009
Offline
I think they just sparked off each other. To use a modern day example, a good friend of mine is engaged to what appears to be, to me at any rate, a complete bastard. They fight continually, he is fiercly jealous of her (for example, they had a row and she came to my flat for the night, he rang every couple of hours to make sure she was still here, that there were no men in the flat, and seemingly, to hurl abuse at both of us). Yet, these rows are followed by equally passionate making up sessions (if you catch my drift, I had the dubious pleasure of over-hearing one), and they won't be able to keep thier hands off each other. Following the death of her father, he was a perfect gentleman. During her pragnancy, again he was magnificent. But still, he'll go out, get drunk/high come home and start an argument. I mean wind her up continually until she retaliates. They can't live with each other, and at the same time they can't live without each other. There's that chemistry between them, and they just can't let it go. Splitting them is like splitting the atom (difficult and downright dangerous).
I wonder, sometimes, when looking at them, if it was like that with Henry and Anne? Extremely volatile, but an indefinable “something” gluing them together?
Be daly prove you shalle me fynde,nTo be to you bothe lovyng and kynde,
12:54 pm
June 20, 2009
Offline
@hannah
that sounds about right.. LOL
Let not my enemies sit as my jury
2:34 pm
February 24, 2010
Offline
i think I have to agree with Lexy on this. I don't believe she loved him at first I truly believe she loved Henry Percy still . And I'm not sure if this is a fact or not but I think Henry Percy urged her in a letter not to love anyone else. I think she gradually fell in love with King Henry because she probably felt she was never going to be with the first love which was Percy. Does anyone find it strange that she wasn't good enough for Lord Percy but she was good enough for the king? Has anyone ever written a book on Henry percy and Anne?
Anne's Admirer
1:15 am
February 16, 2009
Offline
Yes, it is ironic that Anne was seen as not good enough for Percy but was able to marry the King! Either Henry Percy's father, and the King and Wolsey, already had Mary Talbot in mind for Percy and Anne got in the way of this plan or Anne was seen as just not good enough for the future Earl of Northumberland. Mary Talbot was the daughter of the 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, and so was a more suitable choice for an Earl as the Boleyns were seen as “upstarts”.
However, Anne obviously did go on to become Queen and I don't think that Henry cared one iota for her family's history. Henry wanted Anne and that was that so he made her suitable by raising her family and giving her the title of Marquis of Pembroke. I don't think that the Boleyns were quite the upstarts that they have often been portrayed as because Thomas Boleyn was an important diplomat, his wife was a Howard and they were both members of the aristocracy. It was Geoffrey Boleyn, Anne's great grandfather, who had made the family rich, had married into the aristocracy and become Lord Mayor of London, and I think it was this “newness” of money that made people look down on the Boleyns – they weren't an “old” family. Plain snobbery!
Debunking the myths about Anne Boleyn
7:45 am
February 24, 2010
Offline
Excellent Claire! I love the way you say Plain Snobbery! I did just find out that Thomas Boleyn was an important diplomat. Its so sad how daughters were treated back then for personal gain women had to what was told to them. I find it so unbelieveably sickening that they were treated that way. You probably would know this more than anyone has anyone ever written a book on just Henry Percy and Anne Boleyn?
Anne's Admirer
12:13 pm
February 24, 2010
Offline
I'm with you Claire. The Boleyn's were a family on the rise before Anne was in the picture.
I have a hard time putting into words how I feel about Henry and Anne. I am quite cynical when it comes to Henry loving anyone. I believe he felt a great passion for Anne; but when that passion died, well, so did Anne.
Anne was not the typical blonde, blue-eyed English rose. She was dark haired, and dark eyed. Different than what the court was used to seeing. She was witty, charming and intelligent. As they say in many history books her mannerisms were very French. She was intriguing to say the least. I'm sure Henry was enthralled. He pursued her without mercy. When she put him off as she did, he became obsessed. However, Anne was a different story. What choice did Anne have when you come right down to it? He had eliminated the playing field. How could anyone else even attempt to court her when their King already had dibs? All she could do really was hold out for marriage. When she agreed to marry him, I think she was starting to love him. Maybe. See this is where I am not sure what I think. Drives me crazy. He was offering her a throne along with his undying love, (?) and his protection. There was no where else for her to turn. Somewhere in the time between saying she would marry him and finally doing so, I believe she fell in love with him. He became her rock.
One question though. If Anne knew that Wolsey was behind getting rid of Percy, did she also know that Henry was the catalyst? She hated Wolsey because of it. Does anyone think she may have resented Henry's interference in this matter? It might explain in part anyway, her reluctance to fall into his arms.
9:40 am
February 24, 2010
Offline
In answer to your question I do believe she in some way resented Henry for playing apart in her not marrying Percy. Although I dont think its historical fact that Henry did have anything to with it. It has been said that it was around that time he started noticing Anne. I do believe it was a historical fact about Wosley having been involved since Percy was one of his Pages. Its hard to know the truth… I dont think Anne loved henry at first but grew to love him after some time since she couldnt be with the one she truly loved why not try to love someone else especially when its the king of england I would try to love him too!
Anne's Admirer
5:33 am
February 16, 2009
Offline
I haven't heard of a book about Anne and Percy but Josephine Wilkinson's “The Early Loves of Anne Boleyn” looks at the men that Anne was linked to.
By the way, I've been immersing myself in the love letters that Henry wrote to Anne and reading them out to my husband and we both agreed that Henry was a real romantic and it's obvious that his love for Anne and his confusion over how she felt about him were completely torturing him, he was definitely in love with her. When you compare it to the only surviving letter from Henry to Jane S, which is quite short, to the point and almost business-like, there really is no comparison.
I think Anne did love Henry back. I think she loved his passion and his get-up-and-go. Like her, he was intellectual and he wasn't like Percy who obeyed his father and went and married Mary Talbot without fighting for Anne, Henry fought tooth and nail for Anne and that must have been quite a turn-on!
Debunking the myths about Anne Boleyn
11:37 pm
June 20, 2009
Offline
I have this book on their letters, I got it from Amazon.. it's just a little book, but it has transcripts of his letters to her, with notes on the sources. (I've been on an Amazon binge.. I finally got the Henry VIII Man and Monarch Book). They are romantic…
Let not my enemies sit as my jury
12:24 am
January 9, 2010
Offline
Amazon binges… I know all about those LOL!
I've seen that book on Henrys letters to Anne and it's on my list (along with a hundred other things) but I'm trying to be good at the moment and save up for G W Bernards' 'Fatal Attractions' and Linda Porters new biography on Katherine Parr.
And then maybe the letters…. 
10:20 am
February 24, 2010
Offline
AnnesAdmire1024 said:In answer to your question I do believe she in some way resented Henry for playing apart in her not marrying Percy. Although I dont think its historical fact that Henry did have anything to with it.
I was reading Starkey's book, “Six Wives.” In it he states, “According to Cavendish, it was Henry's discovery of the pre-contract between Anne and Percy which first led him to take Wolsey into his confidence about his feelings for Anne.” Cavendish-worked for Wolsey. However, there is no way of knowing whether Anne knew about Henry's involvement.
I have read the love letters from Henry. Yes, he was a real romantic at heart.
4:57 pm
June 19, 2009
Offline
I have always believed that there was a love story in Henry and Anne's relationship. Henry is such a contradiction in his personality changes, he is a hard guy to like yet so facinating. I find it hard to give him any respect and at the same time, I recognize his achievements, many say that he is the architect of modern England and his legacies do live on. Anne and Henry both put so much love into the relationship in the 7 years prior to their marriage, many of us would have walked away. How I would like to know what or who changed Henry from being Anne's greatest admirer to the person who ultimately caused her death.
If it was not this, then it would be something else?
