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Claire | August 26, 2017
On this day in history, Tuesday 26th August 1533, Anne Boleyn, second wife and queen consort of King Henry VIII, prepared for the birth of her child by “taking her chamber”, i.e. entering a female only environment, for the final weeks of her pregnancy. It was usual for a woman in those times to take […]
Claire | August 26, 2014
One of the rituals associated with childbirth was called “taking her chamber”. A Tudor woman usually “took to her chamber”, or went into confinement, four to six weeks before her due date. Anne Boleyn took to her chamber on 26th August 1533, less than two weeks before Elizabeth was born. Elizabeth may have been premature, […]
Claire | January 29, 2014
On 29th January 1536, the same day that Catherine of Aragon was buried, Henry’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, miscarried “a male child which she had not borne 3½ months”. You can read more about this miscarriage, my examination of the primary sources and my thoughts on the deformed foetus theory in my article Anne Boleyn’s […]
Claire | September 7, 2013
On this day in 1533, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, Queen Anne Boleyn gave birth to a daughter, the future Elizabeth I, at Greenwich Palace. We don’t know the details of Elizabeth’s birth, only the time, the place and the fact that she was named after her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth of York, and possibly […]
Claire | August 26, 2013
On this day in 1533, Queen Anne Boleyn went through one of the rituals associated with childbirth: “taking her chamber”. A Tudor woman usually took to her chamber, or went into confinement, four to six weeks before her due date but Anne took to her chamber on 26th August 1533, less than 2 weeks before […]
Claire | January 29, 2013
The Imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, reported to Charles V on 10th February 1536 that on the day of Catherine of Aragon’s funeral, i.e. 29th January 1536, Anne Boleyn miscarried “a male child which she had not borne 3½ months”.1 This report is backed up by the chronicler Charles Wriothesley, Windsor Herald and cousin of Thomas […]
Claire | December 5, 2012
Following on from my post a few weeks ago about Anne Boleyn’s 1534 mystery pregnancy, I wanted to examine the various theories regarding Anne’s final pregnancy which ended in January 1536, less than four months before her execution. A Straightforward Miscarriage The majority of historians and authors believe that Anne Boleyn’s final pregnancy ended with […]
Claire | October 18, 2012
While researching for the recent webinar on Anne Boleyn’s pregnancies and miscarriages, I became intrigued by Anne Boleyn’s 1534 pregnancy, her second pregnancy and her first miscarriage, and thought you might be interested in it too. Before I explain what I mean by “mystery pregnancy”, I want to banish the myth that Anne Boleyn had […]
