Claire | November 14, 2016
According to Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, King Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn on St Paul’s Day 1533, i.e. 25th January 1533, in a ceremony that was so secret that even Cranmer did not find out about it until several weeks after the happy event. However, this may not have been the first secret marriage ceremony for […]
Claire | September 7, 2016
I am honoured to welcome historical novelist and my good friend Sandra Vasoli to the Anne Boleyn Files today on day 3 of the book tour for Truth Endures, her second ‘Je Anne Boleyn’ novel. MadeGlobal Publishing is offering a paperback set of Je Anne Boleyn books (Struck with the Dart of Love and Truth […]
Claire | April 27, 2016
On this day in history 27th April 1536, writs were issued summoning Parliament to meet on 8th June, even though Parliament had only been dissolved on 14th April. A letter was also sent to Archbishop Thomas Cranmer asking him to attend the Parliament. Why was Parliament being summoned? Did this have anything to do with […]
Claire | February 7, 2016
On this day in history, 7th February 1526, the traditional Shrovetide joust took place at Greenwich Palace. The joust’s theme was unrequited love. Henry Courtenay, Marquess of Exeter, and his team of men wore green velvet and crimson satin embroidered with burning hearts. Above these hearts, a lady’s hand was depicted coming out of a […]
Claire | November 30, 2015
On 30th November 1529, Henry VIII was reproached by the two women in his life: his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and the woman he wanted to marry, Anne Boleyn. An angry Catherine of Aragon confronted her husband regarding his treatment of her, which she considered “the pains of Purgatory on earth”, and then when the […]
Claire | June 12, 2015
According to Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, on Sunday 12th June 1530 Catherine of Aragon had words with her husband Henry VIII, “exhorting him to be again to her a good prince and husband, and to quit the evil life he was leading and the bad example he was setting.”1 Catherine went on to tell […]
Claire | February 14, 2015
If you haven’t noticed (quick, buy a card!), today is Valentine’s Day, the day of love. Contrary to what many people believe, Valentine’s Day was celebrated in Tudor England. Alison Sim, in her excellent book Pleasures & Pastimes in Tudor England writes of how it is mentioned three times in the Paston Letters (a collection […]
Claire | February 7, 2015
Shrove Tuesday 1526 was celebrated with a “solemn joust” at Greenwich Palace. According to the chronicler Edward Hall, Henry VIII rode out in cloth of gold and silver “richely embraudered, with a mannes harte in a presse, with flames about it, and in letters were written ‘Declare I dare not’. The Marquis of Exeter and […]
