What are your thoughts about Anne Boleyn?

[Anonymous]

Do you think she was wrongfully murdered?

[Anonymous]

No she deserved it.

[Anonymous]

I think it was horrifying that they were allowed to kill her and others within thought but it was a different time. She was playing the game she was groomed for and trying to survive a cruel world.

[Anonymous]

She should be a lesson to home wreckers. If they think the guy can easily toss his first wife aside, wait and see how he treats the 2nd wife.

[Anonymous]

Of course she was wrongfully murdered! Old king Henry was sick of her striving and failure to bring forth a male heir, so he accused her of witchcraft and adultery.

But the people she was accused of cheating with weren’t even nearby. She was an in-control and intelligent woman, but in the end she lost her head. Poor Anne.

And poor Lady Jane Grey. Those Tudors were brutal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think she was wrongfully murdered?

Absolutely not. Men are entitled to objectify women, obsess over them, and then cut off their heads if they are disappointing in any way (Ie don't deliver a male heir immediately).

[Anonymous]

My thoughts do not include Anne Boleyn.

[Anonymous]

Read history. What happened to her wasn't unusual. People who played politics, both men and women, put themselves at risk of bloody endings.

Her failure wasn't coming up with a boy but she went after the king. Had she been content to be wife of a squire or lord she'd have a different ending.

[Anonymous]

Noble Blood is a terrific podcast. It has great episodes on Ann and all sorts of other people.

[Anonymous]

I think she played politics (converting the king to Protestant) and lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think she played politics (converting the king to Protestant) and lost.

She didn’t convert him to Protestant. She was also a catholic - but he wanted a divorce and to remarry and the Pope didn’t let him so he had a tantrum and declared himself the head of a new church.
He was obviously a terror of a person who was so used to getting his own way that he could not fathom anyone who stood up to him (not that many did, Pope excepted) or threatened him in any way. He would kill those who tried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read history. What happened to her wasn't unusual. People who played politics, both men and women, put themselves at risk of bloody endings.

Her failure wasn't coming up with a boy but she went after the king. Had she been content to be wife of a squire or lord she'd have a different ending.

Actually, "what happened to Anne Boleyn" was basically unusual all the way through. She essentially maintained a "doing everything but" relationship with the king of England for seven years - a king who was considered to be divine and entitled to anything he wanted.

AFTER Anne, it was immediately clear to all queens that they were only as safe as their ability to bear male children quickly and tolerate maltreatment from their husbands in various ways. But before her? No, not normal.

Also re the bolded, you say that as though it was entirely her choice whether and who she married. Once the king expressed an interest, it was in the family's best interest to try to make that go well. They did it with one daughter and thought they could up the ante with Anne. It didn't work because she didn't have a son, but it's not like ANY of it was within her control.

Signed,

I think about this A LOT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think she played politics (converting the king to Protestant) and lost.

She didn’t convert him to Protestant. She was also a catholic - but he wanted a divorce and to remarry and the Pope didn’t let him so he had a tantrum and declared himself the head of a new church.
He was obviously a terror of a person who was so used to getting his own way that he could not fathom anyone who stood up to him (not that many did, Pope excepted) or threatened him in any way. He would kill those who tried.

Not quite that simple, lol.

[Anonymous]

Yes, she was wrongfully murdered. She was accused of infidelity to an insane degree, with a half-dozen men, including her own brother. It’s been reviewed and historians agree that she was not guilty of infidelity.

She was probably guilty of having a pre-contract to Thomas Howard, but it’s not her fault that Archbishop Cranmer worked with Henry and the Howards and the Boleyns to have it put aside.

She was absolutely no angel, but she also helped tear down Catholicsm’s iron grip on all aspects of life in that country at that time. She helped to crack the door that her daughter Elizabeth blew down, creating a country where people had more access to religious freedom, more access to reading Christian texts in English, more personal freedom.

She also helped create a world where women could be ennobled and own land in their own right. She is the first woman to be granted a patent of nobility in her own right.

If you are unaware of how much she directly worked to establish Protestantism in England—alongside Cromwell, who eventually turned into her enemy—you need to read a few of her modern biographies. She oversaw an entire council that was a precursor to Henry’s reformation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, she was wrongfully murdered. She was accused of infidelity to an insane degree, with a half-dozen men, including her own brother. It’s been reviewed and historians agree that she was not guilty of infidelity.

She was probably guilty of having a pre-contract to Thomas Howard, but it’s not her fault that Archbishop Cranmer worked with Henry and the Howards and the Boleyns to have it put aside.

She was absolutely no angel, but she also helped tear down Catholicsm’s iron grip on all aspects of life in that country at that time. She helped to crack the door that her daughter Elizabeth blew down, creating a country where people had more access to religious freedom, more access to reading Christian texts in English, more personal freedom.

She also helped create a world where women could be ennobled and own land in their own right. She is the first woman to be granted a patent of nobility in her own right.

If you are unaware of how much she directly worked to establish Protestantism in England—alongside Cromwell, who eventually turned into her enemy—you need to read a few of her modern biographies. She oversaw an entire council that was a precursor to Henry’s reformation.

Thomas Howard was her uncle. She wasn't pre-contracted to him. Do you mean Henry Percy?