Non-Fiction About the Author: Eric Ives
Well respected British Historian who is Emeritus Professor at the University of Birmingham, England. He only writes about this period in history & doesn't write fiction. He has been awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his services to British history.
Reviews:
"The Best full-length life of Anne Boleyn and a monument to investigative scholarship"
- David Starkey
"The best book on Anne Boleyn ever written. This is a must for all lovers of Tudor history, academics and general readers alike."
- Alison Weir,
BBC History Magazine Books of the Year
"Splendidly successful... Ives' Boleyn, a portrait at all points supported by the evidence he gives, is clever, independent-minded and politically astute. Ives has gone as far as anyone can....in solving the enigma of Boleyn in a narrative at once profoundly researched and lively"
- Antonia Fraser
"Eric Ives, a scholar utterly at home in early Tudor Politics, has been writing about the Boleyns for more than two decades. His book represents a triumphant culmination of all that research, presented with clarity, wit and human sympathy"
- Diarmid MacCulloch
"Magnificently researched. Eric Ives has written the finest, most accurate study of Anne Boleyn we are ever likely to possess. He leaves no stone unturned in his quest to discover the truth. Never has the historical Anne been so satisfyingly portrayed."
- John Guy
"What Ives doesn't know ... about the high politics and court life of Henry VIII's England will either never be known or is not worth knowing. If there is a truth about Anne Boleyn's rise and fall, he will tell it to us."
- London Review of Books
"Ives demonstrates triumphantly the potential of the biographical approach in a pre-modern setting. He evinces a deep empathy for his subject without ever becoming an apologist for her, and ... he provides a narrative which is genuinely moving. He has also given us a fully rounded and persuasive account of Anne's life as a whole, and its significance for understanding the politics and political culture of the early Tudor decades."
- Reviews in History
"Eric Ives has made it unnecessary for anyone else to even make the attempt [to write a biography of Anne Boleyn]. The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn is a stunning portrait of the most controversial woman ever to have been queen consort of England."
~ The Independent on Sunday
"Ives has written an excellent book on Anne Boleyn. Its great strength is its sophisticated understanding of aristocratic women's involvement in 16th-century politics, and precisely how this worked in practice. ...Ives rises effectively to the human drama of Anne Boleyn's life and in the process illuminates both the inner workings of the Tudor court and its relationship to the larger dramas of the Reformation and European politics."
~ Jane Stevenson, Scotland on Sunday
"What is most exciting about The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn is not just that it has confirmed and solidified Ives's earlier work and presented it in a more accessible format. (Like John Guy, Ives has discovered that the Starkey model really does work and that popularisation -- 'to place among the people' -- should not be a term of opprobrium.) Rather, it is the development in methodology, the indication that cultural studies and the history of the book have provided us with new ways to evaluate evidence, to interpret the past."
~ The Spectator
"Eric Ives achieves the notable feat of combining magisterial historical authority with a gripping style,
and sets the reader's mind buzzing with debate
about the complex reasons behind the astounding events of Anne's life."
~ Times Literary Supplement
"[Ives] delicately pieces together a believable identity ... [and] gives, too, a lucid and coherent exposition of the circumstances that led to Anne's death."
~ The Guardian
"There is no questioning the impact of Professor Eric Ives on the historiography of Tudor England. There is a keen sense of the evidence, of diplomatic affairs, of the minutiae of the record and its context. The writing is fluent and well-paced, drawing the reader along."
~ The Tyndale Society Journal
"This is a moving and compelling account by an author who is the absolute master of his subject. I read it with great excitement and admiration."
~ Susan Brigden, Lincoln College, Oxford
"Eric Ives has cut through the myths and misconceptions. The result surpasses all previous work.When Ives describes Anne herself. he is utterly convincing."
~ Renaissance Quarterly |
Submitted by: SemperEadem
Comments: Few scholars will be able to offer you a better biography on Anne Boleyn than Eric Ives. If you are looking for a volume on Anne, this is the definitive biography. His knowledge in Tudor politics and religion make this a great read, since he is more than capable of backing up his assertions in the book. In fact, you will come away more intrigued than ever about this queen after you put the book down! I highly recommend it for those just starting out or already familiar with Anne. An engaging story teller, Ives also has the scholarly respect that makes his literature essential for college undergrads in Tudor history. |
Submitted by: MsSquirrly
Comments: As far as I am concerned this book is THE last word on Anne Boleyn's story. I read Ives' first edition 20 years ago and even though I have read other author's takes on Anne, I always return to this one. Ives revised this edition after Henry's Inventory was published so there is more detail and if you are not into detail you may find its a bit dry in places but honestly I love the details. Anne was very aware of her Image but this was an essential part of a person's power in court. Back in those days there weren't political parties but there were most certainly factions. Anne enjoyed gambling and this was her biggest gamble. Unfortunately for her, she ended up folding. Ives has a knack of portraying Anne in human terms, she isn't a saint nor is she sinner. She is flawed and ambitious but she is not an evil monster. Ives puts out the facts without judgments either way....just simple deductions about what was probable. He does address Retha Warnicke's claims of the deformed foetus, witchcraft & the homosexuality of George Boleyn very ably in this revised edition. I highly recommend this book to all you real tudorphiles as a MUST read. |
Submitted by:Antoinette2
Comments: This is by far the most well-researched and detailed biography that I have read about Anne Boleyn. Ives' research is impeccable and his story untouched by personal likes or dislikes. Anne evolves as an intelligent, opinionated, artistic, and political woman, backed by her family as a young girl and sent to France for "finishing." Anne commits herself to her family's wishes and returns as an intelligent, well read, witty and fashionable young woman. Unwilling to just being Henry's mistress, she gambles on the prize himself, Henry. What a contrast to most of the English court she must have been! Considering the length of time that she kept Henry dangling, she must have been an intelligent, charming and resourceful woman and Ives gives the reader plenty to chew on. I agree, the MUST READ for all Tudor-obsessives. |
Submitted by: Lady_anne2
Comments: This is the book I've been looking for and cannot wait to read it! |
Submitted by: queen_elizabeth_1533
Comments: I was amazed at how many details Ives had in this book. He has a chapter for everything! Anything you want to know about Anne is in this book. |
Submitted by: angelosdaughter
Comments: Ives has written a very detailed portrait of Anne Boleyn's public persona and life. He also explains the political machinery of the Tudor court. While providing chapter notes at the back of the book, Ives also cites his sources in the body of the text, allowing continuity in reading (one doesn't need to flip to the back of the book to check sources) He does admit to being an Anne Boleyn fan as indeed many historians do have some bias toward their subjects, and excuses many of her controversial actions, but he does provide a balanced view of her as politician, less of her as a person, no doubt as there is less on record of her relationships outside of Henry. There are also sumptuous descriptions of her clothing, jewelry, and furnishings and the fate of some of them after her death. There are little-known facts: who would have guessed that Anne and her attendants spent so much time embroidering? Many of the beautiful counterpanes, curtains, etc. were embroidered by Anne and her ladies, belying the common image of her chambers as the center of constant dancing, flirting, and revelry. Ives has chosen photos ( including those of Anne's prayerbooks, the valance of a bed hanging that Anne may have embroidered, Elizabeth's famous locket ring with its portrait of her mother, Anne, as well as the defaced medallion, which is the one likeness done in her lifetime) that have not been often published. Ives' style is very readable and informative. I have really enjoyed this book. |
Submitted by: VerelaiR
Comments: As a historian specializing in this period, I was delighted in this updated version of Dr. Ives' 1986 classic: from scholarship to presentation, it by far superior to any previous biography of this tragic queen (and I include Friedmann, Sargeant, Warnicke, etc.).
Here we see how Anne Boleyn moved within her milieu, the influences upon her and her consequent effect on the Henrician court: the power she wielded; her cultural accomplishments--and ultimately, why Henry, a refined man, chose her as consort. Unromantic in tenor, Ives presents the queen as relentlessly calculating her ascent, sure of her child bearing potential. A political animal, a forward thinking religious reformer, a woman convinced of the divine right of kings (anticipating her daughter's ostentatious presentation), an intellectual with a keen eye for aesthetics: no vulgar coquette, nagging shrew, homewrecker, or Sander's incestuous six fingered *****/witch here. Ives also avoids painting Anne Boleyn as tragic victim: the passive heroine, reluctantly raised from "lowly" station to queenship, sacrificed on love's altar.
Ives has the wisdom not to presuppose Anne Boleyn's character and motivations (as Joanna Denny's flighty and error ridden biography unfortunately does): we must draw our own conclusions. We shall never understand her inner life, her feelings towards the earl of Northumberland, the husband who hunted and slaughtered her, her opinions about power and queenship, or her attitude towards the new faith (genuine or pragmatic?). However, he points out, we can gain insights from observing how she acted and reacted to situations. Particularly welcome is Ives' attention to arts (she was undoubtedly gifted), culture and patronage, a throwback to her Margaret of Austria and French court days. As well, here we have the best analysis of her fall, much more precipitous than previously assumed--more a fight-to-the-death political struggle between her faction and Cromwell's (over Church revenues on the eve of the Dissolution), and less a matter of the simplistic, conventional view of Henry's disaffection. Apparently Anne Boleyn insisted upon church revenues being distributed en masse to the poor, rather than squirreled into the depleted royal coffers; her motives, of course, must remain mysterious: altruism, or ego? In any event, she was effective, giving more to the poor than Katherine of Aragon. That gesture did not appease the hostility, but her blood did: her trial and execution garnered more than a modicum of sympathy on the part of Londoners.
Dr. Ives must be praised for his command of both primary and secondary source documents: he sifts and sorts, assesses and appraises the quality of information until a portrait of the woman, and the age, appear. He addresses the question of her appearance, which has long eluded historians: there are no extant contemporary portraits of the queen, and contemporary descriptions were mostly hostile. Ives does find an amenable middle ground. However, his greatest strength is assessing her role in history by virtue of her profound effect on Henry VIII, the break with Rome, and the English Renaissance. No more Pollard's supposition Anne Boleyn appealed only to the less refined aspects of Henry's nature; the traditional view. It all makes sense: she attended the brilliant court of the formidable Margaret of Austria, and the licentious, overwrought court of Francis I, in whose presence Leonardo da Vinci passed his final years. Undoubtedly she took notes from observing the kindly, but beleaguered and oft pregnant Queen Claude. More profound influences included Francis' sister and mother, strong willed, imperious women in their own right. Long before her ascension, Anne Boleyn planned her court: chivalry, study, music, arts and aesthetics, intellectual debate. An early salon. I would have, however, liked to see more attention paid to her musical inclinations: apparently she composed and performed. On the Continent, did she meet Josquin, de Sermisy, Mouton? Did she perform their music? Dr. Ives only mentions the contentious music book in passing.
Ives also holds suspect Dr. Warnicke's suppositions of a deformed foetus, the birth order of the Boleyn children, and George Boleyn's alleged homosexuality (promiscuity, yes, absolutely). Very convincing arguments. Also, he suggests many recorded incidents of Anne Boleyn's life were apocryphal, and explains precisely why.
This can be termed a true landmark study, just as much as Friedman's, but without the latter's Victorian moral sensibilities. Beautifully written and superbly researched.
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The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the
Court of Henry VIII  Non-Fiction About the Author : Retha M. Warnicke An American historian and professor of history at the Arizona State University specializing in gender issues c. 1400 - 1700. Her theories on Anne delivering a deformed foetus & subsequent accusations of witchcraft & her brother's homosexuality on which Philippa Gregory based her novel "the Other Boleyn Girl" have been harshly criticized by other historians including Eric W. Ives & G. W. Bernard. However, Warnicke has publicly distanced herself from the novel and its presentation of the Boleyns. |
Submitted by: TudorLoyalist
Comments: Warnicke is one of this country's foremost 'Anne Boleynists'. In addition to giving a solid narrative of Anne's Rise and Fall, she does a great job of putting it into the context of the court culture of the time, and describing the forces at work behind the scenes of the King's Great Matter and its (temporary) resolution. |
Submitted by: MsSquirrly
Comments: Interestingly in the beginning of the book, Warnicke dismisses, out of hand, Ambassador Chapuys correspondence and then goes on to take huge leaps in speculating about George Boleyn's homosexuality without an iota of real historical evidence. This has now been used in both "The Other Boleyn Girl" and "The Tudors" ....meaning that this now it has become fact to a lot of people. Along with the myth of the deformed foetus as 'proof' that Henry believed her to be a witch. In fact it seems she has special insight into what Henry was thinking unlike most historians. (sarcasm) If you only want to read one book on Anne....this is not the one to read. However, as a counterpoint to other books on Anne, its an interesting if rather dryly written book.
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 About the Author : Alison WeirBefore becoming a writer of both historical fiction and non-fiction, Weir was a teacher & ran her own school for special needs children. She was born in Westminster, London and now lives in Surrey, England with her husband and two children.Review: "Three significant theories exist to explain Anne’s fall. One is that Henry, already lusting after Jane Seymour, was sorely disappointed by Anne’s failure to produce a son. He told his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, to oust her, and Cromwell obliged. Alternatively, Anne brought disaster on herself through sexual indiscretions or (far more plausibly) by overstepping the conventional limits of courtly banter. The third theory — the one Weir largely believes to be correct — is that Cromwell, after quarrelling with Anne and putting his career in grave jeopardy, decided to stage a coup. ... In unmasking Cromwell, Weir agrees with Eric Ives, Anne’s most recent biographer, but the two historians tell the story differently. Weir more often cites the earliest literary account of Anne’s fall: a long and colourful poem by Lancelot de Carles, especially important for its account of Anne’s defiant speech at her trial. Ives thinks the poem often peddles moonshine, but, while sometimes sceptical herself, Weir believes that a separate poem by another Frenchman, an “eyewitness” at Anne’s trial, one Crispin de Miherve, corroborates de Carles and adds extra details. Unfortunately, “Crispin” is a phantom. A French scholar proved in 1844 that the text Weir is using had been doctored, and in 1927 it was shown by comparing all the genuine manuscripts that the two poems are identical and by de Carles. Weir has been duped." ~ Historian John Guy in The Sunday Times
For more : <a class="external" href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article6894033.ece" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Read the full review at timesonline.co.uk">Read the full review at timesonline.co.uk </a>
Also listen to Alison Weir talking about her book on <a class="external" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122872854" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="NPR">NPR</a> |
Submitted by: firstmarie
Comments: I finished this late last night, and while I enjoyed it, I found Weir anxious to make assumptions, and take the very leaps from innuendo to innuendo that she accuses Retha Warnicke of taking. Also, the book could have been written in half the pages if she edited out the repetition. She seems to belong to that old school of oratory that taught writers and speakers to make their point three times in slightly different words, or it wouldn't stick. I found it demeaning. The first chapter reads like a novel, complete with hook, and once captured, I do not regret following it to the final page, reading many of the notes as I read. It is worth the effort, but it is not a perfect book. And while I like a ghost story as well as the next person, I think her inclusion of a string of paranormal sightings in an appendix entitled Legends was silly. She disposes of most of the "legends" as being impossible because they occurred in settings Anne never visited. Apparently she thinks the only kind of apparition is a Poltergeist. If she believes ghost sighting are worthy of a chapter in a history, she should realize that if Anne could bridge the barrier between this world and the next, she could probably manage a stroll in a garden she had never before seen. Ho Hum! |
Submitted by: MsSquirrly
Comments: I have to agree with firstmarie's review above and found the same problem with Weir's assumptions. At least she didn't repeat some of her gaffs in previous books (ie. saying there was a block at her execution in her Six wives book and that Anne was pregnant at her execution in her Henry VIII book). It is an interesting blow by blow account of Anne's last days though. She repeats some "stories" which most historians have put aside as just negative propaganda from the Elizabethan era which are a tad annoying but I guess she was trying to put every last little thing she could find in the book. She agrees with the factional theory that Ives espoused in his book but she also seems to absolve Henry of any involvement. In my opinion, the two men worked in tandem. I doubt Cromwell would have been successful in his coup without Henry's approval. For all the detail, its worth the read, even though I did find myself constantly checking her sources because she is notorious for using secondary rather than primary sources.
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 Non- fiction Available May 03, 2010 Yale University Press About the Author: G.W. Bernard professor of early modern history at the University of Southampton and editor of the English Historical Review. He is the author of The King’s Reformation: Henry VIII and the Remaking of the English Church.
He lives in Southampton, England.
I n this groundbreaking new biography, G. W. Bernard 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.
Click here : <a class="external" href="http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/anne-boleyn-fatal-attractions-by-g-w-bernard/5216/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="for Claire Ridgeway's review at "Tudor Book reviews"">for Claire Ridgeway's review at "Tudor Book reviews"</a>
"On three separate occasions in this work, Bernard gets the date of Anne’s execution incorrect – variably placing it to the twelfth, fifteenth or seventeenth of May. On page 57, inaccurately refers to Anne’s father, who was viscount Rochford from 1525 to 1529 and earl of Ormond and Wiltshire after 1529, as “Viscount Wiltshire," and on page 40 he describes the emperor, Charles V, as Katherine of Aragon’s uncle, rather than her nephew. Most damningly of all, in his account of Anne’s imprisonment he confuses Anne’s mother, the countess of Ormond and Wiltshire, with Anne’s estranged paternal aunt, Lady Amata Boleyn on page 191. Lady Boleyn was one of four women assigned by Cromwell to watch over the queen during her incarceration and to report on anything she did or said. It is these reports, written down by the William Kingston, constable of the Tower, which have formed the cornerstone of any analysis of Anne’s downfall. For Bernard to confuse Lady Boleyn with the countess of Ormond, when earlier in the same collection of papers Kingston specifically mentions the queen’s distress at being separated from her mother, indicates that the author quite simply has not read these sources with the necessary care or understood the crucial significance of the household arrangements during Anne’s imprisonment." ~ <a class="external" href=" http://garethrussellcidevant.blogspot.com/2011/03/fatal-delusions-review-of-new-biography.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Review by Gareth Russell">Review by Gareth Russell</a> “Early in Fatal Attractions Bernard refers to Carle as Anne’s ‘biographer’ and he often frames quotations from the poem in a way that lends authority to it, and to Carle himself, that arguably neither has....he makes clear at the outset that he is repeating what he has heard from a variety of sources during the time he has been in England, but he does not name his sources, address the truth of his information, correct a number of factual errors he could have checked, or claimed to have witnessed any of the events he recounts. These circumstances combine to make it reasonable to question the reliability of the poem’s content, making it surely unwise to give this source too much credibility, especially without a greater understanding of the poem and its author.”
~<a class="external" href="http://www.historytoday.com/susan-walters-schmid/anne-boleyn-gave-birth-princess-elizabeth" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="History Today ">History Today </a> “History Review” Issue 69 March 2011, Dr Susan Walters Schmid |
Submitted by: MsSquirrly
Comments: I was really interested to read Bernard's new bio on Anne because he is a well respected historian and for him to say that he had a thesis to suggest that Anne and the men who were executed along with her were actually guilty, must mean he had some evidence to back it up. But no. In his own words : "It remains my own hunch that Anne had indeed committed adultery with Norris, probably with Smeaton, possibly with Weston, and was then the victim of the most appalling bad luck when the countess of Worcester, one of her trusted ladies, contrived in a moment of irritation with her brother to trigger the devastating chain of events that led inexorably to Anne’s downfall.” A hunch? Yes folks, that's what he said. Why does he have this hunch? It seems to be mainly based on a french poem which Ives says was basically the official French line based on Cromwell's information sent to the French Ambassadors. Despite the fact that Chapuys, the Imperial Ambassador who hated Anne with a passion didn't believe she was guilty. My over riding impression is that Bernard's own admiration for Henry himself has blinkered him in his view of Anne. Its a short read ...so go ahead and read it, but if you are looking for real evidence, you won't find it. In my opinion it's an unsubstantiated hunch.
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Submitted by: theanneboleynfiles
Comments: I'm all for using primary sources to back up a theory but G W Bernard relies far too much on the poem of Lancelot de Carles without taking into account that de Carles, as secretary to the French ambassador, would have got his information from Thomas Cromwell.
I also have to disagree with Bernard's opinion of Anne's faith. Just because she swore on the sacrament in the Tower and her almoner defended the rituals of the Catholic Church it does not mean that she was not interested in Reform. Just because she doesn't fit Bernard's idea of what a Protestant was, it doesn't mean that she was a conservative Catholic. I agree with Ives and Dowling, Anne Boleyn was an evangelical with a true personal faith. Her ideas were based on those of the French reformers.
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Non Fiction About the Author: Joanna Denny This is Joanna Denny's first Non Fiction biography, her second, released in 2008, is about Katherine Howard. Denny has written a fiction trilogy set in the Tudor Era. |
Submitted by: Boudica
Comments: I started out with high hopes for this biography. On the hardback edition the subtitle read, "For the first time...the truth about Anne Boleyn." First off, Denny forgets that hers is not the first book to give Anne Boleyn positive spin, thankfully. But as an AB fan, I figured this was an author sympathetic to a lady I admire, so what could go wrong? A lot apparently (there's a reason it's got 13 1-star reviews on Amazon-US). If one has only read Denny and no other biographies on AB I suggest they go to the library and start reading some quickly because Denny has a knack for distorting facts to suit her twisted interests - frankly, her book is very anti-Catholic, gives AB a ridiculous amount of credit for the Protestant Reformation, lazy source citation, misinterprets primary sources over and over again. Bottom line is, there are much better biographies out there, like Ives or even Warnicke if you want to be edgy. This is the worst positive bio of AB I've read yet. Really. |
Submitted by: miller-pvkk
Comments: As much as I admire Anne Boleyn, I had a hard time reading this book. Joanna Denny clearly has an agenda, which focused on continuing the Protestant reformation into modern times. Let me emphasize that I am also very sympathetic to the 16th century Protestant reformation, but it is time to move on and put aside the propaganda for a more unbiased approach. This book strikes me as something Matthew Parker would have written (Elizabeth's Archbishop of Canterbury and a one of Anne's spiritual advisors). Again, nothing against Matthew Parker, but I like just a little objectivity from my historians. While I don't like books from blatantly pro-Catholic historians that trash Anne and turn her into an evil monster, I don't want a book that turns her into the saint of the Protestant reformation either.
I think a biography is much more effective when it treats its subjects not as saints but as human beings with attributes as well as flaws. If you have to limit yourself to one or two biographies about Anne Boleyn, I would skip this one and focus on Eric Ives' scholarly masterpiece. |
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Submitted by: VerelaiR
Comments: Yes, Ms. Denny's agenda is far too transparent; she is pro-Protestant and vehemently anti-Catholic. Curiously, she exalts Anne Boleyn to the point of blandness, and slanders all Catholics - particularly Katherine of Aragon and Sir Thomas More. The historian's first task is to remain as neutral as possible - this is the positive to Nicholas Sander's negative. Rather than repeat, please see my review on amazon.com (Irene Rheinwald, one star review). |
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 Non Fiction About the Author: Carolly Erickson |
Submitted by: Boudica
Comments: First biographic material I ever read on AB when I was about 13 years old. I remember going to the bookstore with my aunt and she said she would buy me one book of my choice, and this was it! The length and the large type I thought would be good for my short attention span and dyslexia, which it was. Other that that, I can't think of much else that I benefited from this. It was a good introduction, but Erickson, like Alison Weir, doesn't portray AB in a sympathetic light. Despite having a PhD, Erickson has sloppy citations and gets some of her facts mixed up or makes implications that don't stack up. For example, Erickson implies that the misuse of drugs taken by the English ambassador to Spain was a botched attempt to poison Princess Mary. (Even the picture on the cover isn't of Anne, it's of Frances Walsingham, the wife of Sir Phillip Sidney and daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabethan spymaster). Even at 13 I wasn't completely satisfied with this biography. |
Submitted by: Antoinette2
Comments: The author's constant injection of her own viewpoints really irritate me. Very biased. Write a novel if you want to tell the story from your POV. Not recommended. |
Submitted by: Lady_anne2
Comments: Pretty good; not great. I had to laugh when I read the picture on the cover isn't even Anne! I agree strongly with Antoinette2 about the author pushing her POV. How very Tina Brown of her.. |
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Non Fiction
The Challenge of Anne Boleyn
by
Hester W. Chapman
First American Edition, 1974
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Submitted by: Lady_anne2
Comments: The liner notes state, "The most sympathetic account of Henry VIII's second wife to appear. A skilled writer, Miss Chapman makes the story as readable as it is dramatic."
My favorite accolade is from "The Times" (London) : "Hester Chapman is the Coco Chanel of Tudor historiography."
She also wrote books on Henry's sisters; Mary and Margaret that I would like to read as well if they are not out of print. |
Submitted by: VerelaiR
Comments: Not recommended, as it is out of date, based on old information. In 1981, Hugh Paget published his watershed article "The Youth of Anne Boleyn" which completely revised our thinking on Anne Boleyn. She was far more educated and cultured than previously assumed, and entirely suited to be queen - Paget first placed Anne Boleyn in the court of Margaret of Austria. Ms Chapman states Anne Boleyn disliked reading, and preferred picture books - many of the old stereotypes.
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 Non fiction by Norah Lofts |
Submitted by: QueenAnnaBoleyn
Comments: I would suggest for you not to read this. As a massive Anne Boleyn fan, this was just patronising, and against her. I think there was just one chapter on her as Queen, and even that was made sad anddepressive. Some of her facts are wrong, and It seemed to favour Jane Seymour. It was well written, but I don'trecommendreading it if you are an Anne Boleyn fan. |
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35 different women are covered and
this book is divided into 7 main parts:- Warrior Queens - inc Boudica and Eleanor of Aquitaine
Wayward Wives - inc Violet Trefusis & Émilie du Chatelet
Scintillating Seductresses - inc Anne Boleyn & Mata Hari
Crusading Ladies - inc. Carry Nation & Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Wild Women of the West - inc Calamity Jane & Mary Ellen Pleasant
Amorous Artists - inc Josephine Baker & Camile Claudel
Amazing Adventuresses - inc Amelia Earhart & Lady Hester Stanhope
Publication date : March 1, 2011
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 Anne Boleyn: Henry VIII's Obsession Non Fiction by Elizabeth Nortonreleased July 2009 Doomed queen of Henry VIII, mother to Elizabeth I, the epic story of Anne Boleyn.Anne Boleyn was the most controversial and scandalous woman ever to sit on the throne of England. From her early days at the imposing Hever Castle in Kent, to the glittering courts of Paris and London, Anne caused a stir wherever she went. Alluring but not beautiful, Anne's wit and poise won her numerous admirers at the English court, and caught the roving eye of King Henry. Anne was determined to shape her own destiny, first through a secret engagement to Henry Percy, the heir of the Earl of Northumberland, and later through her insistence on marriage with the king, after a long and tempestuous relationship as his mistress. Their love affair was as extreme as it was deadly, from Henry's 'mine own sweetheart' to 'cursed and poisoning *****' her fall from grace was total. |
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Non- fiction - released March 24, 2011
Anne Boleyn : In Her Own Words & the Words of Those Who Knew Her
By : Elizabeth Norton
The complete letters, dispatches and chronicles that tell the real story of Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, caused comment wherever she went. Through the chronicles, letters and dispatches written by both Anne and her contemporaries, it is possible to see her life and thoughts as she struggled to become queen of England, ultimately ending her life on the scaffold. Only through the original sources is it truly possible to evaluate the real Anne. George Wyatt's Life of Queen Anne provided the first detailed account of the queen, based on the testimony of those that knew her. The poems of Anne's supposed lover, Thomas Wyatt, as well as accounts such as Cavendish's Life of Wolsey also give details of her life, as do the hostile dispatches of the Imperial Ambassador, Eustace Chapuys and the later works of the slanderous Nicholas Slander and Nicholas Harpsfield. Henry VIII's love letters and many of Anne's own letters survive, providing an insight into the love affair that changed England forever. The reports on Anne's conduct in the Tower of London show the queen's shock and despair when she realised that she was to die. Collected together for the first time, these and other sources make it possible to view the real Anne Boleyn through her own words and those of her contemporaries.
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Submitted by: theanneboleynfiles
Comments: A wonderful resource for those who don't have access to the primary sources. It is wonderful to have key extracts from the main contemporary sources in one place.
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 Non-fiction Author :Josephine Wilkinson * Re-release under new title of
"The Early Loves of Anne Boleyn"Josephine Wilkinson is an author and historian. She received a First from the University of Newcastle where she also read for her PhD. She has received British Academy research funding and has been scholar-in-residence at St Deiniol's Library, Britain's only residential library founded by the great Victorian statesman, William Gladstone. Her other books include MARY BOLEYN: HENRY VIII'S FAVOURITE MISTRESS, RICHARD III: THE YOUNG KING TO BE and ANNE BOLEYN - as editor of Paul Friedmann's original edition. She lives in York.
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 Non fiction (?)
about the author : W.S Pakenham -Walsh
born in 1868 and at the age of 29 until 52, he acted as Chaplain to the British community in Foochow, China. It was in the library of the Foochow community that Pakenham-Walsh first found books related to Anne Boleyn's enigmatic life and from which he began to compile a summary of her life. On his return to England became a keen scholar and educationalist, as well as being a respected clergyman.
He died in 1960 at the age of 92.
Join Canon Pakenham-Walsh on his personal journey across psychic channels to find the real Anne Boleyn - a journey, which beneath its psychic and historical drama, demonstrates religious purpose. The Author's deep-rooted fascination for Anne Boleyn first began in 1917 during a missionary trip to China, but it was on his return to England in 1919 that Pakenham-Walsh began to see divine confirmation of his desire to uncover the true Anne Boleyn. Following a prayer at Boleyn's burial site that she might become his guardian angel, Pakenham-Walsh experienced a series of bizarre coincidences. It was these strange incidents which led Pakenham-Walsh to seek clairvoyants, who helped to channel the spirit of Anne Boleyn. Through sessions with psychic mediums, the reader is presented with transcripts and accounts of psychic messages from Anne Boleyn and significant characters within Anne Boleyn's short lifetime. From one of Anne Boleyn's maids, put to death 'for the sake' of Anne Boleyn, to an infuriated Henry VIII, Pakenham-Walsh vividly recounts his experiences in a sympathetic and quaint style.
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Non-Fiction
Written by Claire Ridgway of The Anne Boleyn Files
- Should Anne Boleyn be pardoned and reburied as Queen?
- Anne Boleyn and "The Other Boleyn Girl".
- Did Anne Boleyn dig her own grave?
- The Six Wives' stereotypes - are they right?
- Did Anne Boleyn commit incest with her brother?
"The Anne Boleyn Collection" brings together the most popular articles from top Tudor website The Anne Boleyn Files. Articles which have provoked discussion and debate. Articles that people have found fascinating.
Written in Claire's easy-going style, but with an emphasis on good history and sound research, these articles are perfect reading for Tudor history lovers everywhere. Discover the REAL truth about the Tudors |
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