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12:59 pm
August 22, 2009
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I’m about half-way throught this book and finding it fascinating. It’s by Nicola Shulman, who I hadn’t heard of before. She makes an interesting point about Wyatt’s poetry- it wasn’t written for posterity; it was written to capture events that had happened at court and circulate them in print while they were still fresh in the memory.
There’s a very interesting passage about Whoso List to Hunt. It’s based on a sonnet by Petrarch. Petrarch’s poem says: ””Let no one touch me,” she bore written with diamonds and topazes round her lovely neck. “It has pleased Caesar to make me free’. Compare this to the deer in Wyatt’s poem – instead of setting the deer (Anne) free, Caesar (Henry) has claimed her as his property.
As well as a biography of Wyatt, this is also a guide to the use of peoptry at Henry’s court. I wondered if any other forum members had read it?
2:25 pm
January 3, 2012
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This book sounds interesting. One of Anne’s motto’s was “Noli me Tangere Ceaserus sum” Basic translation is “Do not Touch me I am Ceaser’s”.
Wyatt used this saying in one of his poems to Anne. I believe Wyatt was in love with Anne and that love stayed with him all his life.
When Henry made his intentions known to Anne at the same time Wyatt made it clear he wanted her too and she used the saying to warn him to back off.
Semper Fidelis, quod sum quod
3:03 pm
October 28, 2011
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Not yet starbug, it’s on my wishlist. I was hoping someone would mention it actually, it looks interesting.
8:40 pm
August 22, 2009
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One thing that really stands out in is book is the way the atmosphere changed at court. At the time of the Chateux Vert masque when Anne played Perseverance, the atmosphere was very free and easy. Gradually, after the divorce, it changed. The Act of Supremacy made it impossible to voice your true feelings if you didn’t agree with all changes that were going on – and even silence couldn’t save you, as Thomas More found, to his cost.
By the time Henry was married to Jane Seymour, the court became a very different place. Secrecy and suspicion were the order of the day. The king was so paranoid that Cromwell was making his ambassadors spy on each other and report any wrongdoing back to him. It sounds like a very scary place to be.
I thoroughly recommend this book, as it gives a very evocative description of the court – before, during and after Anne’s reign.
3:57 pm
October 28, 2011
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Sounds good Starbug, thanks 
1:19 am
January 9, 2010
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I’m definitely going to have to put this on my ever-growing wishlist 
1:44 pm
June 7, 2010
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I’ve been pondering over this book for ages. I was in Edinburgh recently, and debated about buying it (since it is not avaliable in bookshops in Canada). Sadly, I put the book down and left. Now, I am regreting it, expecially after reading starbug’s comments. I guess this book will be added to my wishlist, too.
"By daily proof you shall find me to be to you both loving and kind" Anne Boleyn
