Love Letter 17
To inform you what joy it is to
me to understand of your con-
formableness with reason, and of the
suppressing of your inutile and vain
thoughts with the bridle of reason. I
assure you all the good in this world
could not counterpoise for my satis-
fadtion the knowledge and certainty
thereof, wherefore, good sweetheart,
continue the same, not only in this,
but in all your doings hereafter; for
thereby shall come, both to you and
me, the greatest quietness that may
be in this world.
The cause why the bearer stays so
long, is the business I have had to
dress up gear for you; and which I
trust, ere long to cause you occupy :
then I trust to occupy yours, which
shall be recompense enough to me
for all my pains and labour.
The unfeigned sickness of this well-
willing legate doth somewhat retard
his access to your person; but I trust
verily, when God shall send him
health, he will with diligence recom-
pense his demur. For I know well
where he hath said (touching the say-
ing and bruit that he is thought im-
perial) that it shall be well known in
this matter that he is not imperial;
and thus, for lack of time, sweetheart,
farewell.
Written with the hand which fain
would be yours, and so is the heart.
R. H.
In most of the letters, he signs them H.R.
What did the r stand for? I searched for a possible last name but all I found was Henry Tudor.
Hi Sarah,
The R stands for Rex, the Latin word for King. Kings use Rex and Queens use Regina, hence Elizabeth R or Elizabeth Regina.
Thank you so much! I love the website by the way.
omg. I can’t.
It blows my mind how Henry can go from being so in love with Anne Boleyn, asking for reassurances and almost seeming a little insecure with the way she feels about him to hating her and wanting to get rid of her and remarry! I know he hated writing and he wrote all those letters. I wonder throughout the rest of his remaining years if he ever regretted it or was saddened by it.I know he never spoke of her. Nuts!
I think it is more than a little scary that Henry could express such loving thoughts to Anne, and then ‘turn’ on her so completely. Seeing how his emotions could change so thoroughly, I doubt he regretted or was saddened by what he did (or caused to happen) to Anne.
Henry always was terribly black-and-white in his thinking, though. While he was a true romantic, I think this was because he raised up the woman he loved to be almost goddess-like – the most perfect, the most beautiful, the one who could make him truly and completely happy.
Of course, the issue with this is that all of us are human and imperfect, including Anne Boleyn and each of Henry’s other wives. And when he realised this, his black-and-white view of things turned the beauteous angel of his dreams into an utter disappointment and (in his mind) someone who had tricked him into believing she was The Perfect One.
In short, I think Henry wanted something that doesn’t exist – the pefect woman. When he couldn’t get that, he threw a tantrum and blamed the woman herself…with devastating consequences. Of course, this was compounded by his consuming need for an heir – and he always blamed the woman for failing to produce that, too.
Henry VIII may have seemed mad during his latter times. I have read endlessly and watched documents. The wretched ulcers he suffered, which were horrid, couldn’t have helped his moods much, probably inflamed them. He had the ulcers cut and drained of pus, almost on a daily basis, just to keep him conscious. What I wonder is, why did he believe Cromwell whom he charged to carry out the investigation on Anne Boleyn? How come he never suspected her of being set up. Surely he must have been of known and expected there to be enemies within the palace as the norm, or was it that he had given up on her having a male heir to the throne?
I think it was because in part he wanted to be rid of her…i feel like Anne and Henry ‘s relationship had become the love and hate one. So in part he wanted to be rid of her, because she drove him mad with inability to produce an heir. Plus she was flirtatious..perhaps he witnessed her flirtations to some extent….combined with inability to produce a boy…i think he really started to believe that she was wicked…..like a man eater so to speak that is after a man’s heart and seeks control………and then the “evidence” one on top of the other conveniently layered on….and because there were more and more people against her not just Cromwek…it all just came together and formed a “perfect storm” of events…….. So to him there was no point turning back..because too many people hate her….she cant give him a son and he got sick of being led by a woman……..I think his understanding to failed pregnancies was due to her having affairs and being corrupt all together….Because in their times…..the belief was…”if you cannot produce an heir..something is wrong with you” Nonetheless i must say this is all happened because it needed to happen…Anne did not die in pain…in fact most of her pain came during her life….so why worry over it nw…she is in a perfect place and her and Henry soul chose a perfect path and lessons to learn from each other. Once we cross over we lose all ego and become angelic beings…..not kings..queens servants. Trust that they are al l in a greater place now and probably walking among st us….
In my past life regression reading….a few of them..I have been revealed that I was in fact in a life with Anne…and that my past life was as Jane Rochford……….it sucked to hear ….but then again that in the past…..but what am I gonna do ?Aparently I am not her anymore and i have forgiven that life where i have caused people pains etc…..plz don hate hehe
just interesting how it all turns out 🙂
Blessings
is this the comic relief? Yea verily, i know not whether to laugh or cry.
I really love this website. I am very interested in things like this. I love to read and watch movies about this.
I sometimes ponder on Henry and Anne. In some of his letters it seems that he feels ignored or unloved in return. And I wonder if this was indeed the case. Instead of Anne teasing him or seducing him or playing some clever sly game as is sometimes the belief Perhaps she in fact did not care for his attention initially? Perhaps her observations of his treatment of her sister and also of his wife, did not appeal to her. Perhaps that is why she withheld herself from him for so long. Perhaps her instincts told her not to trust him? We’ll never know and of course history treats the loser unfairly… no real portraits of Anne remain(who would display or keep them, knowing how vicious Henry would be?) Several unkind, even bizarre descriptions of her lack of looks and charm- obviously ridiculous as England was changed because of Henry’s obsession for her, she must have had a lot more going for her than the several anti- Anne descriptions that are too often presented as facts.
I think you’re right on the money here. Although it’s said she didn’t hold much for her sister she surely saw what had become of her at his hands and most likely had the typical disdain a woman does for lecherous men. I mean, he had just discarded her sister like trash hardly a year before, and could’ve appeared to be going for sloppy seconds. Mary had birthed him a son, surely her sister was capable!
Eventually she fell for the crap though. Elevation of family members, jewels, affections. She either fell for the crap or feared for her family’s status with the King. All of these favors were granted because he wanted her and if she didn’t eventually comply, they’d all be withdrawn. But still being very much her father’s daughter and interested in her own advantageous marriage she was unwilling to soil her name. She caught on that he wasn’t stopping until he had his prize and decided her options were to marry the King or face her entire family’s disfavor. She most likely had no more love letters than the one that still survives because she was sorely mistaken that ignoring him would send his mind elsewhere. The love Henry had for Anne, is in my opinion, likened to the love he had for hunting. Tracking, hunting and chasing gave him the thrill but after catching, it wasn’t gone but died down considerably. He had already been taking mistresses during her lying in, something he promised he’d never do and the jealousy she is known for was most likely anger from embarrassment. Tudor England was all about appearances. Her own husband who had torn the country in half for her was now bedding other girls. It’s a message that says “the King even cheats on his Great wh*re.”
Anne had a tragic marriage to Henry
There are many factors here but genuine love isn’t one of them.
I believe genuine love is the ONLY thing that WAS there. It was everything else that was wrong. Love was not enough.
I don’t think it was genuine love. It was obsession. He wanted her only when he couldn’t have her, and it drove him mad. Once the mystery was gone, there was not anything left to hold his interest.
I do believe he truly did love her, but after his jousting accident he was never the same. Its said that he “did not speak for 2 hours” which could mean he was unconscious. This is a smoking gun for serious head trauma, not to mention he had been hit with his visor not down years earlier and suffered from chronic headaches after. The serious accident in my opinion caused major damage to his frontal lobe, where most of our decision making and emotion control is at. I think this coupled with the pressures of being a “good king” and producing an heir led to the eventual change in personality and decision to kill Anne. 🙁
I like the way you think. But maybe someone close to the king convinced him to change his mind?? He was also cheating on Anne and she’d have to be blind to not notice that. It’s possible that Annes pressuring and the facts you stated may have added up to her death. Jane Seymore also couldn’t have liked Anne so she could’ve contributed to her death. Anne wasn’t the nicest to mary either. She had too many enemies and not enough friends to last too long anyways.
I like the way you think. But maybe someone close to the king convinced him to change his mind?? He was also cheating on Anne and she’d have to be blind to not notice that. It’s possible that Annes pressuring and the facts you stated may have added up to her death. Jane Seymore also couldn’t have liked Anne so she could’ve contributed to her death. Anne wasn’t the nicest to mary either. She had too many enemies and not enough friends to last too long anyways.
Poor Anne, who was used as a political chess piece, not only by Henry, but her father as well.
Obviously none of us having been present we can only speculate but I think it was a very complex multitude of factors that led to the unfortunate outcome for Anne. At first I do believe Henry was absolutely infatuated with her. I mean this is a man who was forced to marry a woman who could not produce a son and continue on his legacy. He constantly had women throwing themselves upon him and then he meets Anne a very clever (thanks to her family) mysterious and withholding woman who knew exactly how to prolong this infatuation and elevate her and her families status. I mean the one thing a king wants is what he can’t have and perhaps he believed himself to be inlove or maybe he was feeling things for her that were stronger than he was used to. I do believe Anne eventually came to love him but after marriage it was troubled times. I mean this woman turned his life upside down the reformation of the churches in England her strong opinions and loose tongue the jealously and her inability to produce a son which was what he had most desired meanwhile his people reject her and the council whispering in his ear poisoning his mind against her. I think he was under major stress and as that “love” wore off and reality set in he didn’t really know who to trust if anyone and with all the evidence of witchcraft and affairs the betrayal he must have felt caused him to snap and beheading was a very normal punishment back then. It wasn’t so heinous and taboo as it is today and for a king no one would be safe of his wrath if he felt betrayed. Especially not a woman who towards the end became more of a burden to be with a woman who had offended him and kept him from continuing on his legacy. If he ever did love her it surely was not enough.