Reply to What are your thoughts about Anne Boleyn?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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 [b]Thomas Howard[/b], 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. [/quote]

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

I do! Thank you! :)[/quote]

I think that was an example of her trying to set her own course and the patriarchy nope-ing her head right off.

I think Anne Boleyn's execution was the point at which it was made clear to women in England that they would NEVER be safe. It doesn't matter how much he loves you. Doesn't matter if you come from a really powerful family. Doesn't matter if you're the Catholic Church. That's pretty grim.[/quote]

To be fair, while women were oppressed in absolutely countless ways, men were being executed left and right on the whims of the king and the Church, too. Thomas More, Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell, all the men executed alongside Anne…of course this was all going on long before Henry, but he and his father really went off the rails. They never felt safe on the throne. The boys in the Tower, and both Plantagenet cousins…Elizabeth certainly kept it going. [/quote]

Yes, the violence was certainly not restricted to women.

However, each of those men had real power within the monarchy. Not as much power as the king, but real power. Each of them pursued and achieved positions of power close to the king, as trusted advisors. They received titled and money in return for their loyalty to him, but then lost their lives when they fell out of favor. But the CHOSE to pursue those positions, and none of them had to have sex with Henry or bear him children in order to maintain his favor. They just had to agree with him and do what he told them to do, a job they willingly signed up for .

This is very different from the women who were married off to him at his behest and that of their families, and whose "service" was to let this diseased tyrant of a man try to impregnate them. It's very, very different.

What happened to Henry's wives, including Anne, was a violation of the most grotesque sort.[/quote]

When did I ever say otherwise?! [/quote]

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