Well, this is my last blog of 2009 and of the decade, and what a year it has been!
I started The Anne Boleyn Files on the 17th February 2009 after having a dream about Anne Boleyn. I woke up in the middle of the night, shook my husband awake and announced that I was starting The Anne Boleyn Files. It was to be a blog in which I would share my journey into finding out the truth about Anne Boleyn. The reason for calling it “The Anne Boleyn Files”? Well, I saw my mission as being a but like one of Mulder and Scully’s missions from The X Files, a tricky mission but “the Truth is out there”!
I saw my journey to the truth as a personal one initially because I just didn’t realise that there were so many others who were also pursuing the truth about Anne Boleyn. I had no idea that my little blog would be found by others and that it would finish 2009 being a community of likeminded Tudor history fans. 2009 has been a fantastic year for me – I’ve made so many friends (you guys!), had brilliant debates about history, been able to immerse myself in history books and primary sources with a valid excuse, and have organised my dream holiday “The Anne Boleyn Experience 2010”! Wow!
I am truly humbled by the support you’ve all given to the site and I am dying to meet some of you in 2010. I’m looking forward to another year of Tudormania!
2010 at The Anne Boleyn Files
Over the next few weeks, I plan to continue looking at the men who were implicated in the fall of Anne Boleyn, men like Francis Bryan and Thomas Wyatt. I’d also like to explore the character of Thomas Cromwell and then go back to Anne, her family and re-examine her fall. Academic G W Bernard is publishing his book “Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions” in 2010 in which he:
“offers a fresh portrait of one of England’s most captivating queens. Through a wide-ranging forensic examination of sixteenth-century sources, Bernard reconsiders Boleyn’s girlhood, her experience at the French court, the nature of her relationship with Henry, and the authenticity of her evangelical sympathies. He depicts Anne Boleyn as a captivating, intelligent, and highly sexual woman whose attractions Henry resisted for years until marriage could ensure legitimacy for their offspring. He shows that it was Henry, not Anne, who developed the ideas that led to the break with Rome. And, most radically, he argues that the allegations of adultery that led to Anne’s execution in the Tower could be close to the truth.” (Description from Amazon.co.uk)
It will be interesting to compare Bernard’s views with those of Eric Ives and to dig deep into Anne’s character and the charges levied against her in 1536. Click on the book cover to pre-order from Amazon US or click here for Amazon UK.
But, what else would you like to see on The Anne Boleyn Files?
I’d welcome your ideas for articles or products so please do share them as comments below. Would you like more on Henry VIII? The other fives wives? Tudor England?… Tell me! I promise I will listen to you!
January Stock Clearance
Daniela, our “The Tudors” jeweller, has some surplus jewellery which has built up over the year and she wants to make space in her workshop for the new items planned for 2010. We are therefore offering various jewellery items at a special clearance price. Anne Boleyn Files subscribers got to see the list and make orders first but there are still plenty of items left.
Click on the link below to download or view our list of clearance jewellery items and follow the instructions to order your jewellery:-
January Stock Clearance – Updated 3rd January
Happy New Year
Thank you for all the personal emails you have sent me wishing me a “Happy Chrismas and Happy New Year”. I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas, with lots of Tudor gifts, and may you have a very Happy New Year. At midnight tonight, I will be toasting Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I (Anne’s wonderful legacy), you guys and 2010 with a glass of fine Spanish cava. Thank you for making 2009 one of the best years of my life (tear in eye!) and here’s to a fabulous 2010!
Thanks Claire for The Anne Boleyn file i love this site and so happy you did so all the best for 2010 cant wait to see what you got in store for us. Happy New Year X
Thanks, Emma, have a great New Year too x
Happy New Year to you and all the Anne Boleyn fans, Claire!! Thanks for this wonderful site and I’m looking forward to your articles-to-come!!
Personally, I’d like the articles to focus primarily on Anne (as all of us want! ;-)), but I’d also like to learn more about the other 5 wives and the customs of Tudor England, just to understand the times that Anne lived in. I’d also like to read reviews of AB books, movies, series etc. Is there already a review of The life and death of Anne Boleyn by Eric Ives?
I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year full of health, love and joy!!
Eliza.
Happy New Year everyone!
Hi Eliza,
Thanks for your support of The Anne Boleyn Files and your kind words. Yes, I think it will be good to get back to Anne after this series on the five men that were executed, after all, Anne is the focus of this site.
I haven’t reviewed the Eric Ives book but I really must because, in my opinion, it is the Anne Boleyn “Bible”. Eric Ives is fair and balanced and always backs up his theories with primary sources and it is a joy to read. His book is always sitting beside me on my desk and has so many notes in the margins, post-it notes, pages with bent corner and pieces of paper sticking out that it is very obvious that it is in constant use.I will review it soon, I promise.
Happy New Year to you too! Is “The Tudors” popular in Greece? It would be interesting to know. x
Wishing you all the Best for 2010! Thank you, Claire, for being you.
That’s such a lovely thing to say, Rochie! Thank you for being you too, you’ve been such a help and such a rock these past few months. Have a wonderful new year! x
Well, yes, The Tudors is quite popular in Greece, although generally the historical shows don’t get high ratings here. The first season was broadcasted in the biggest channel “MEGA” in the summer of 2007. The second season in July 2008. So far we haven’t seen the 3rd one, but “MEGA” has announced that they bought it, so we will probably see it in 2010. The ratings were pretty good!
I love the show, because it’s entertaining, I think the cast was well chosen for each role and I love how they show little pieces of Anne’s history, For example the motto “Ainsi sera..” or The Most Happy or the quotes “She is my death and I am hers”. No movie or series about Anne that I have seen has these little pieces and I love The Tudors for that!
Happy New Year!!
I would love to see some more Queen Anne talk, but I would also love to read more of Catherine Howard, Anne’s cousin who somewhat shared the same fate.
How interesting that this wonderful site was started as a result of a dream.
I hope that everybody has a great 2010 and look forward to many more interesting
articles in the New Year.
Claire , I could not agree more about Eric Ives he is such a brilliant and balanced historian.
I am looking forward to reading his latest book called Lady Jane Grey – a Tudor Mystery, I have not been able to find it yet.
Hi!
I have been fan of your page in the last 4 months and never write anything, now I would.
First of all.
I having been Anne Boleyn’s Fan since I was a little girl, your blog is wonderful, exquisite and fabulous. This is the perfect place to read my heroine.
I like all the articles, especially the book reviews i didn’t know how many books are of Anne, so I wish to begin my little library with these books next year.
About ideas of future articles, I would like a lot to read more about Thomas Wyatt and his relationship with Anne, I found very curious about this relationship and the man.
Happy New Year to all from mexico, especially you, Claire, wishing your the best wishes from next year :3
To All: Happy New Year!
Claire,
Thanks for providing this site and the Elizabeth site as well. All of your hard work and passion clearly shows!! I love being able to read the thoughts of other Anne B fans and thoroughly enjoy your articles. I have been a fan for years and I appreciate that all “theories” are examined here. I have learned so much from these sites and from the other fans who have engaged in great discussions.
May the best of your past, be the worst of your future! Happy New Year, from the U.S.
Hope to meet you & others at the 2011 Anne Boleyn Experience!! =)
Happy new year to all of my Anne Boleyn Files’s friends, I wish you many good things ‘ health, happiness and all that can make a good life), and many other good aarticles on this excellent site. Thanks for it and all the dicussions we had on it, and hope it will go on!
Thanks for all your hard work, Claire. How you stay patient and kind with all of us when you must have harried and frustrating days is amazing. I’ll echo Rochie and say “Thank you for being you.” Thanks for filling the void we all feel re: Anne. I feel better about being obsessed when I’m in good company here! I hadn’t heard the story of your dream about Anne – was it a positive dream and you wanted to know her better? Or was it a dark dream that made you feel she was denied justice? It may have all happened 500 years ago, but a lot of people still care and still want to know the truth about Anne, so thank you for The Anne Boleyn Files. I can’t wait to meet you in May!
Happy new year everybody and I want to thank Claire for this website so I can learn a lot of This wonderfull woman and the Tudor times.
Thanks again.
Greetings from the Netherlands
Richard
I’m extremely happy this site exists! I have learned so much here! Claire’s post have made me look at things in a new way. I am greatful for that. I’ll admit when I first started reading about the Tudor era I didn’t warm up to Anne right away. All I read about her was about how mean she was (especially to Mary), and how she lured Henry away from his true wife. While I never hated Anne, I didn’t really like her because of that. Then I read about her courage when she was beheaded, and how much she helped the poor during her reign. I started to think, “Perhaps there’s more to this women than meets the eye.” I searched around and found this site. Reading Claire’s posts halped me to realize that while Anne was not a saint, she wasn’t a bad person either. I began to look at her in a different light, and before I knew it I was an Anne Boleyn fan. It was then that I saw how history had been unkind to her, and how her enemies had damaged her image. Thank you, Claire, for showing us the real Anne Boleyn. Long live Queen Anne!!!
Thank you, Claire, for creating this site and devoting so much time to finding the truth about Anne. I discovered this site during the summer while watching The Tudors. It was such a surprise to find that there were others who felt the same way that I did about Anne and who recognized her intelligence, her contributions and the tragedy of her execution. It was Anne who first sparked my interest in history, which ultimately led me to my master’s degree. After putting away my books about Anne for so long, I have rediscovered them and I am now adding new ones to my collection. Every week, I check The Anne Boleyn Files for your newest posts. This is my first comment, but I have resolved to write more in the new year.
Happy New Year!
CONGRATS, CLAIRE, CONGRATS!!! In less than a year you’ve created the quintessential AB site. Whilst reading your post “Hail the Conquering Hero” was running through my head…you rock! Due to school n life I’ve not had time to post. I am always checking in. As I thought, the site has been invaluable with my studies. I would also like to announce the BIRTH of my baby chihuahua born Christmas Day, Claire-Anne Boleyn-Bosko. She weighed 6.5 ounces. Her name honors our dearest Anne & the woman who’s worked hard to provide us all with Queen Anne’s story. Her eyes are still closed but she’s already ‘visited’ this site! I truly hope everyone’s Holidays were wonderful. Miss Claire, I know you will keep up the great work…so here is to a fantastic year to us all, and to bigger & better things for the files!!!! p.s. I have read around 18 AB books since the end of Oct., & would love to chat about and/or discuss them with anyone. I’m taking a semester off, so I’ll have more ‘free’ time for personal indulgences. Take care of yourselves my friends!!!!! Smiles, Amy
Hi Eliza,
I think “The Tudors” has been popular all over the world which I think is brilliant because it has got so many people interested in the Tudor period. It’s a shame that you haven’t had Season 3 yet though.
Hi Julie,
I’m just reading Lacey Baldwin Smith’s book on Catherine Howard so I will definitely be writing about her soon. What’s interesting about Catherine is that she’s a mystery too, no details on her birth, her childhood etc. For someone who was queen, very little is known about her.
Hi Carol,
Are you in the UK? I know that the Eric Ives book on Lady Jane Grey is on Amazon and on the Book Depository website and I expect you can order it from any bookshop if they don’t have it in stock. I got my copy from Amazon UK and we have it in our special Anne Boleyn Files Amazon UK shop – see http://astore.amazon.co.uk/yourandacom-21/detail/1405194138
It’s next on my list to read and I’m expecting ti to be good because Ives is always so balanced and accurate. I would also recommend Leanda de Lisle’s “The Sister Who Would be Queen” which is about Jane and her sisters.
Hi Avi,
Yes, I certainly will be writing about Thomas Wyatt. Thanks for your comment.
Hi Nancy,
Thanks for your comment, it’s great to know that people love the site and that I’m on the right track, I do want to write content that is interesting to people. Looking forward to meeting you one day.
Hi Lexy,
Thanks for all your support over the past few months!
Hi Carolyn,
It was one of those dreams where you can’t quite remember the whole dream but it was about Anne’s execution and I felt helpless because there wasn’t anything I could do to save her. That made me want to do all I could to find out more about her and prove that she was innocent.
As far as being patient and kind, I actually love spending my time on the website because people are so supportive here and so friendly, and that rubs off on me!
Looking forward to meeting you in May, not long now!!
Hi Richard,
Greetings to you too and I’m so glad that you enjoy the site.
Hi ProudtobeCatholic,
Thanks for all your comments and posts in the forum, I always look forward to hearing from you. Yes, I’ve never thought that Anne was a saint or martyr but she certainly did not deserve such an awful end.
Hi Cindy,
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the books you’ve read and we do have a “Move and Books” section in the forum – see https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/forum/
I also welcome book reviews too if you have read a book that I haven’t reviewed already. I look forward to hearing your opinions and thanks for taking the time to comment.
Hi Amy,
Wow, you made me cry!! I’ve never had anything named after me and to think that there is a little cute puppy named after me and Anne is so heart warming. Please email me a photo at claire@theanneboleynfiles.com as I’m a real dog lover. Thank you so much for honouring me in such a way and I’m sure Anne would love it too as she was a dog lover, she had a greyhound called Urian. Thank you soooo much!
As I said to Cindy, we have a Movie and Books section in the forum for discussing books and I’m always willing to publish book reviews so do let me and others know which Anne books you’ve enjoyed. Thank you also for your kind words about the site, I really appreciate your feedback.
Enjoy your semester off and enjoy spending your time with your new puppy.
To Amy: Congrats on your new puppy! Great name for her. I was thinking about pet names and thought that if I got a boy I might call him Wolsey LOL!
Hello Claire
Thank you for your advice about Eric Ives book Lady Jane Grey – a Tudor Mystery. I do live in London. I have tried to order the book from Waterstones but it is out of stock – the same with Amazon. I am sure that I will be able to get it soon.
I have read the book The Sister Who Would Be Queen by Leanda Lisle and agree it is
very good.
Returning to Eric Ives, he was one of the speakers at a summer talk on Henry V111 at Hampton Court Palace – I was very impressed with him – he was asked a lot of questions about Anne Boleyn!!
I am a volunteer at Historic Royal Palaces, so I am often at Hamton Court – I think that it is a privilege to work at such an interesting place – especially for a Tudorholic!!!
Claire,
I love this site. When I first found I didn’t even realize thats what it was – a blog. I found it because I was looking for a replica on her “B” Necklace, as I am going as Anne Boleyn for halloween 2010. I love this site too, and I love Anne Boleyn. I have always loved her duaghter, and for the longest time I never knew who Elizabeth’s mother was. This site is wonderful and I am glad to find others who aren’t annoyed by my constant talk of her or the Tudors.
Carol,
You VOLUNTEER at HAMPTON COURT??!? you have no idea how jealous of you I am right now, but that is also completely cool! is it as beautiful as the pictures show. I hope one day to see it for myself, along with Hever!
Hello Angelina
Yes, Hampton Court really is as beautiful as it looks in the pictures and they
have people dressed in costumes re-enacting scenes from history – it really brings it all to life.
Hever is beautiful too – I think it is just like a little fairytale castle.
Angelina, I love the Tudors as well – I think that the cast is brilliant.
Claire, thank you so much for having such a fantastic anne boleyn site up and running! Anne Boleyn means alott to me, as both a person & my personal role model & heroine- & everything about her is deeply fascinating. to find such a frequently updated, and well put together sit on her is simply amazing. thank you!
~meg (:
I just wanted to say congrats on making it to the end of this year!!
I really love this website, its so great, I’ve been a big Anne Boleyn fan since age 6 (I started young what can I say). She is a heroine to me, and I really love her.
Also I’m a college student, who loves learning, and writing, so if you ever need help with anything please let me know!! I’d love to be able to do something so please email me if I can do something to help out with the website.
Kate
Hi Kate,
Thanks! I’m so glad that you like the site. I welcome guest articles and book reviews, and also feel free to debate things in the forum too. I’d love to have you involved.
Thanks,
Claire