Who was Anne Boleyn REALLY?

Anne Boleyn to me is a truly fascinating woman who became England’s most influential queen consort, more influential than any queen consort we have ever had, she was I agree a decisive mover in the reformation, the break with Rome and it’s king setting himself up as head of a new church, she was both loved and admired and hated in equal measure, there was no halfway measured with her, yet even her enemies declared her bravery was never in question, and she achieved something that no other mistress had achieved either, that of stepping from lover to wife, and against the odds of mighty Spain and the Pope, the wrath of Henry’s subjects which could have led not only to war with Spain but civil war to, she was to her enemies and Katherine of Aragon’s supporters, an evil who’re who so bewitched a king that he lost all sense of pride and dignity and respect by his relentless pursuit of her, the reality is she was not a wh*re but a woman who possessed a great deal of self respect, who wished to come to her husband as pure as the day she was born, she had no wish to be used and discarded and neither was she a witch either, but a very real woman who was blessed with a sparkling personality a sense of fun, a love of adventure, supreme self confidence and a sharp witty and cultured mind, a sense of style which she had inherited in two renaissance courts, all these attributes combined to make her a very alluring and attractive person, and many men fell in love with her, her most powerful suitor being the king, their union having an unforeseen explosive affect on this country, but what happened to England was not something which Anne deliberately set out to do, she had no idea the king would offer her marriage and whilst she was interested in reform and its teachings she had no idea she would be the catalyst behind it, the complete fissure of the English church from Rome, it was more Henry and his obsession with her, his need for a son that triggered the events that followed, we can also attribute Katherine of Aragon to as her absolute refusal to the annulment of her marriage,( her nephew being the emperor who the pope was bound to), led to Henry V111 taking the unprecedented step of marrying Anne even though the Pope had not issued the dispensation, the result of which led to excommunication and of course, in the eyes of Catholic Europe and those of Henry’s Catholic subjects, he had committed bigamy, Katherine herself in later years pondered if she had been in part to blame for the bloodshed which followed, maybe had she acquiesced to Henry’s demands a lot could have been avoided, so we can see it was not only Anne but also Henry the driving force, and Katherine to had all played their part in the break with Rome, Katherine beloved herself to be the true queen all her life and was probably correct, the conflicting verses in the bible said the marriage would be childless which in Henry’s eyes meant no sons, yet the other declared it was fitting of a man to takes his brothers widow to wife, of course Henry preferred the former, as he hungered after his wife’s Lady in waiting, the deaths of Sir Thomas More and John Fisher, the Carthusian monks because they would not sign the act of supremacy showed the king at his worse and Katherine wept over their fates, we do not know what Anne herself thought but she had an idea of how ruthless he could be when thwarted, all this made Anne’s enemies detest her more especially over Sir Thomas Mores death whom the king had known in his youth and was revered around the world for his humanist teachings his wise counsel his gentleness and wit, his death in fact troubled Henry and he waspishly accused Anne of being the cause, however much Anne played in the killing of these noble men, Henry’s treatment of his first wife and unhappy daughter, the reformation and the break from Rome, she died in a most brutal way and was I believe framed, because the speed at which the trial took place and the ludicrousness of the charges, the handpicked Jury and the arrangement which took place to have the swordsman sent from France before her trial, all these actions leave me in no doubt this queen was shamefully butchered to death so to free the king and leave him able to marry Jane Seymour, I to believe the earlier birthdate, she was too young I think at the tender age of just seven to journey to the lowlands, and after her last miscarriage had she been younger I feel the king would not have been so urgent to get rid of her, at 28/28 she could still have children but if she was 35/36 that was considered too old, she had had two miscarriages as she was recorded after Elizabeth’s birth as having a goodly belly, then we hear nothing, so we can assume she had sadly lost that infant, to lose another a few years later finally made up the kings mind she must go, she had failed to give him a son and his passion for her had swiftly abated, she had made many enemies and being the man he was, instead of taking some of the blame, blamed everything on her, in her short three years as queen she had made history more than any other queen England ever had, she had been no ordinary consort and in keeping with her violent death, made sure she had been the most talked about queen in our history, she has had books about her published since her first biography written by Thomas Wyatt, son of her one time suitor and famous poet, in the 16th century, volumes of historical fiction has been written inspired by her story, films have been made about her tragic love affair with Henry V111, and yes an opera and play by Shakespeare, the latest venture a musical which is currently showing in London’s west end, the most tantalising thing about this queen I think, is that she was born a member of the gentry and thought she would go on to make a good marriage and that would be it, her name would not make a mark and history would not record her, she did not think she would ever be a player in English history, but because of a kings passion for her and her own ambition fostered by his obsessions, her interest in reform she ended up playing an important role in its religion and new church, for a not very important baby whose birth was not even recorded, born in the rustic Norfolk countryside she achieved far more than would ever be imagined, no wonder she was often referred to as a sorceress! Something which her fickle husband himself said once!