Anne Boleyn: Fact vs Fiction

Hi Divas! You've been asking for many MANY moons for this ep so here we go. Today we're deep diving into the life and lies of Anne Boleyn! Second wife of Henry VIII, mother of Elizabeth I and known throughout time as 'the great whore,' Anne's story is full of reformist ideas, bold declarations of love, the pressure of an heir and ultimately, tragedy, as she looses her life under the dynastic demands of Tudor England. I think you'll love this one guys, and I'm keen as always to hear your thoughts! Shout out to our incredible researcher Grace McCamish for pulling this together, and if you're wanting more Hot History you can follow along on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/hothistoryclub/?hl=en, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@hot.history?lang=en and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@hot.history and of course, right here! Til next week, Ainslie x

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:38Speaker 00

  Hi guys and welcome back to Hot History, your corner of the internet where we cover all the things in history that you probably should know but don't. I'm Ainslie Harvey, your hot historian here. Ready to chat today? The long-promised episode about arguably one of history's biggest baddies. She is absolutely like top five women in history. I always feel like there's the big four: Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, Diana Joan of Arc. But like just after them? Is Anne Boleyn. Second wife of Henry VIII, mother of Queen Elizabeth I, and arguably the central figure of the breakdown between the Catholic Church and the Church in England,

• 2:21Speaker 00

  Anne Boleyn has been accused of everything under the sun, from adultery to witchcraft. And today, we are going to unpack the fact from the fiction. So let's rewind it all the way back to the early Tudor period, somewhere between the years of 1501 to 1507. Now, as is the case for the majority of women born throughout time, there's usually no official records on birth dates unless you are a royal. But most historians go with 1501 as the date of Anne Boleyn's birth. So that's what we're going to stick with today. Anne's mother was a woman called Elizabeth Howard, and she was the daughter of Sir Thomas Howard, the second Duke of Norfolk, who just so happened to be one of the most powerful men in the country.

• 3:07Speaker 00

  And yes, my divas, that is the same Howard as Catherine, wife number five to Henry, who was Anne's first cousin, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Now, Elizabeth was so well born and her family so prestigious that many believed she married beneath her status when she accepted the proposal of Thomas Boleyn, son of the High Sheriff of Kent. But it was okay, because his grandpa Geoffrey was the Lord Mayor of London and a successful merchant. So it's not like she's marrying some, like, low-born guy. In fact, on the scale of Nepo babies, I'd put Anne Boleyn somewhere around maybe like a Gracie Abrams or the Apetow sisters. Like, she's not a Kylie Jenner or Miley Cyrus, okay, put that to bed.

• 3:50Speaker 00

  But she's like a low to mid ranker. But Anne was not the only Boleyn. There was her sister Mary, who most historians believe was the eldest of the siblings, although, again, there are no real records to go off here, and her younger brother George. She also had two other brothers, Thomas and Henry, who both unfortunately died in childhood. So Anne is the middle child. But unlike the modern middle children, such as Malcolm and the plethora of others who are perhaps overlooked in exchange for the eldest and the babies, being a female middle child... Was actually kind of a flex, especially for Anne.

• 4:31Speaker 00

  Her parents fussed over Mary focusing on her marriage and after the deaths of Thomas and Henry, they did everything to keep George, the heir, happy and healthy, which left Anne free to her own devices and the Bellins took great advantage of this, sending her off to various royal courts across Europe. That's right, divas, our gal was doing some serious international travel well before her teen years, spending her days hanging around queens, eating pastries and admiring some of Europe's finest art, all while wearing the most fashionable European gowns. Now, her first stint at a royal court was around 1513, so based on the 1501 birthday,

• 5:15Speaker 00

  this means she's about 12 years old. And she is sent by her father to Meishlen, aka modern day Belgium, to the court of Margaret of Austria. Now, she is the daughter of Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor, which is a pretty huge deal and a massive opportunity for both Anne and the Bellins in general. Now, you may be sitting there thinking, well, how do you get into a royal court like this? Like surely you can't just call Taylor up, you know, to get a spot? And you are not wrong. This was a highly competitive business for the young women selected to be a part of

• 5:55Speaker 00

  these courts, received not only a firsthand education, but built incredible connections for both marriage and statesmanship, which is where Thomas Berlin comes into the picture. As an intelligent and well-connected man, thanks to his wife's last name, Thomas was appointed as an ambassador for Henry VII, where he undertook several missions to the courts of Burgundy, France and the Holy Roman Empire, where he meets Margaret of Austria.

• 6:26Speaker 00

  Now she thought he was clever and sharp-witted and praised him in a letter sent to Henry VII as a man of wisdom and discretion. Recognizing this in Thomas, Margaret, who was highly selective about the class of young noblewomen she educated, hoped that his daughter would inherit her father's talents, which is why she invited her to court. Now, like I said, this really is a golden opportunity, which historian Kyra Cornelius Kramer described as, quote, "a stage mum getting her kid in a Steven Spielberg movie", regarding prestige, education, and access. So Anne B. is now living it up on a parent-trap, summer camp-style trip.

• 7:10Speaker 00

  And while she doesn't find her secret twin here, she does learn a hell of a lot. Described by Margaret of Austria as "promising and intelligent", Anne lived in the Hochvonn Savoy Palace in Meishlen, which was largely considered both an economic and cultural epicenter at the time, placing Anne smack-bang in the middle of the action. With diplomats, envoys, and countless courtesans visiting Anne, who, given her age, had no real special duties other than sitting around and watching, soaked up the drama and dalliances of court life. She learned to be amiable and courteous, to study languages, and to walk Margaret's dogs around the palace FYI. Sounds like a dream job.

• 7:55Speaker 00

  She was generally a great court lady, which Margaret said in a letter to Thomas, her father, stating, "I find her so bright and pleasant for her young age, and I am more beholden to you for sending her to me than you are to me for taking her." So from an early age here, you know, she's only 12, we really understand that Anne is delivering on all of the promises of her greatness, which she continues to do by taking an active and expressive interest in the arts. From paintings to poetry and music to Flemish miniaturists, Anne was delighted by the various artists who arrived at Meishlen. She was also a prolific reader, guys, consuming all the original works of Christine de Bisan

• 8:39Speaker 00

  alongside Aristotle, Seneca, and Socrates, plus, of course, the grand medieval romances such as The Knights of the Round Table and Merlin with its sorcerers and romantic declarations. As far as we can really tell here, Anne genuinely loved her time at court, but she was soon recalled back to England by her father in August 1514. But there was no chill out, kick your feet up kind of housewarming here, because both Mary and Anne were then sent to the French court of Louis XII, where they would be part of Mary Tudor, aka Henry VIII's sister's entourage. Yeah, that's right, divas. We are court hopping here,

• 9:24Speaker 00

  which was a massive opportunity for the Berlin girls, as France really was the cultural epicentre of all of Europe, and somewhere that Anne shone brighter than all. Upon her arrival, she was both fresh faced and well versed in all matter of cultural and academic subjects from her time under Margaret. In fact, it is said that she was almost perfectly versed in Socrates when she arrived at around 13 to 14 years old. Now, I don't know what you guys were doing, but I was too busy obsessing over the Sphinx and like making fairy bread, let alone reciting ancient philosophers. So Anne is one clever cookie here, guys, which she absolutely doesn't get enough credit for, by the way, but more on that later.

• 10:08Speaker 00

  So, again, the year is 1514, and while Louis XII is King of France, he dies three months after his wedding, which meant that a new king and queen would rule over the Berlin girls. And their names were Francis I and Queen Claude. Now, the thing to know about Francis I's court is that it was pretty loosey goosey. He himself was renowned for an indulgent mix of depravity and free living, which bred a passionate and excited court of men and women adept at both adventure and inquiry. But his wife Claude's household was no such thing. Deemed almost convent-like, she kept a strict and moral house

• 10:53Speaker 00

  of good girls from good families, which is in fact relevant here, because everyone, not just in France, in England too, was obsessed with Anne Berlin being a virgin.

• 11:09Speaker 00

  This, of course, was and largely still is the obsession of all young girls by society at large, but at court and for Anne, it was paramount. Now, while Mary eventually returned home after only a short stint in the Queen's court and stayed in France for seven years, learning skills and manners expected of a lady of high society under Claude, while also engaging in the fun-filled spirit of Francis's court when the Queen was in seclusion for her annual pregnancies. Here, amidst the backdrop of the French Renaissance, Anne became one of the most sophisticated and fashionable young women at court. Soon, she was fluent in French, formed close connections with members of the royal families,

• 11:54Speaker 00

  and was exposed to more art, fashion, literature, and music than she could have ever dreamt of. It really was this, this cornucopia, this melting pot, if you will, of politics, culture, and art, something which Anne embraced with both arms, putting her own personal twist on existing trends, especially in the world of fashion. In fact, the Seigneur de Brontemps stated that Anne, quote, "dressed with marvelous taste and devised new modes which were copied by all the fashionable ladies at court, but none wore them with her gracefulness in which she rivaled Venus." So from a young age, guys, Anne is blessed with taste, but she was also blessed with

• 12:39Speaker 00

  something else, a very particular and striking figure. Now, I will say, this is the first elephant in the room for us here because so much of ah, the mythology and the essence of Anne Boleyn is determined by her sexiness, right? She is this, this vixen, this baddie, the hot new bombshell who enters the Tudor villa and blows it to smithereens, and while, yes, that is basically what happened, a lot of the narrative around her physical appearance is drastically exaggerated by both Catholic and Protestant sources after her death, which I know we're getting like so far ahead of

• 13:22Speaker 00

  ourselves here, guys, but I do think it is important to note that Anne is in many ways similar to Cleopatra here, who, FYI, an episode of her coming in a few weeks, but we are, we are fully off track now, so let's get back to it. Anne, like Cleopatra, is less of a sexy Kim K or Natalie Dorma-style vixen, and rather a woman of immense taste, intelligence and charisma. And it is that which determines her beauty and appeal. Of her physical appearance, though, a Venetian ambassador writes in 1532 that she is, quote, "not the most handsome woman in the world",

• 14:02Speaker 00

  rather describing her as, quote, "middling stature, swarthy complexion, long neck, wide mouth, bosom not much raised, but her eyes are black", and beautiful. So again here, we see affirmation that it's not her physical appearance which made her enticing, rather her talent and charisma and just, you know, vibe. Which Seigneur de Brantome again says here, "made her the fairest and most bewitching of all the lovely dames, for when she sang like a second orpheus, she would have made bears and wolves attentive." So France has been good for Anne Berlin. She's learnt a lot. She's transformed in

• 14:44Speaker 00

  many ways into this incredibly accomplished woman of taste and, you know, perhaps if she'd had it her way, she would have stayed here, marrying a member of the French aristocracy or maybe even royalty and kind of living life amongst these good people and these good times. But, as is so often the way in history, especially in women's history, all good things must come to an end, and Anne was eventually shipped back to England sometime around 1522, when tensions between England and France began to rise. So, now our gal is back on home soil and the reason is, of course, one thing. Matrimony.

• 15:25Speaker 00

  Arranged by her father in order to settle a dispute over an Irish inheritance, Anne found herself betrothed to a nobleman named James Butler, with their union joining these two families whose separate claims over the same estate would be settled when Anne produced an heir. Now, this is, of course, one of history's biggest what ifs, right? Like, if Anne had married this James Butler, who most of us have never heard of, she would have gone on to become the Countess of Ormond and spent much of her life connected to Irish politics. But the marriage did not go ahead. You may be sitting there thinking, "Well, diva, I know the marriage didn't go ahead and I know who was behind it all." Henry.

• 16:08Speaker 00

  But that, my darlings, is incorrect. While historians don't know for certain why Anne and James didn't marry, there are a number of theories. First is that Thomas wasn't actually happy with the match, wanting something more advantageous for his fancy French school daughter. The next is that inheritance settlements involving English and Irish claims were notoriously complex and the negotiations between the families eventually broke down. And finally, there is the fact that Anne Boleyn seemed to be engaged to someone else, or at least betrothed. His name was Henry Percy, the heir to the Earl of Northumberland, one of England's greatest earldoms.

• 16:49Speaker 00

  Now, I wanna be clear, this isn't super solid either, but we do know from George Cavendish, a gentleman who served in the same household as Henry, that he was increasingly enamored with Anne, declaring he would marry her. This was all foiled when the master of the household, Cardinal Wolsey, aka Henry VIII's chief minister, reminded him that he needed to make an advantageous match after all, despite all of her fancy French finishing and accomplishments. Anne was the daughter of a minor aristocrat with no real links to the throne, so eventually the two broke it off. But don't you worry, divas, Anne is hardly sitting around heartbroken with nothing to do, for she was sent to a place that seemed more like home than home.

• 17:34Speaker 00

  The court, returning from France, fit with all her culture and ideas, Anne was selected for the very prestigious role of lady-in-waiting to none other than the Queen of England herself, Catherine of Aragon. A Spanish-born princess who was first sent to England in October 1501 to marry the elder son and heir to the throne, Prince Arthur, Catherine had great expectations on her shoulders. Married on November 14th that same year, Catherine and Arthur were a bit of an odd match. She was bold and wickedly clever, meanwhile, he was more reserved and quieter in nature. Still, though, they were expected to do their duty and move to Ludlow Castle on the Welsh border as Prince and Princess of Wales. However...

• 18:20Speaker 00

  After just a few months of marriage, Arthur suddenly died, creating a major diplomatic problem. After all, Spain had paid a huge dowry for Catherine to eventually be Queen of England, and insisted she remain there to preserve the alliance, marrying Arthur's younger brother, Prince Henry instead. Which, you know, all very neat and tidy. However, there was a problem, as there so often is. Church law forbade a man from marrying his brother's widow as according to Leviticus 2021. "If a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing. He hath uncovered his brother's nakedness." They shall be childless, which, you know,

• 19:04Speaker 00

  it's kind of a big deal for a royal family to go without children. After all, it is...

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• 20:09Speaker 00

  Literally, dynasty ending.

• 20:13Speaker 00

  So to get around this, right, there's a bit of paperwork involved. The Pope enters the chat, yeah, the big dog. And he grants a papal dispensation for the marriage on the grounds that Arthur and Catherine had never consummated their union. So no sexy times between these two was the entire backbone of the marriage between Catherine and Henry, right? It all comes back to this. And really, this question of whether any sex happened between Catherine and Arthur has become one of like the biggest what ifs, did it, didn't it, in English history? And, you know, it's just this, like I said, big, big kind of obvious pothole that was just had some boards put across it and everybody walked over it and forgot about it.

• 20:58Speaker 00

  But alas, everyone believed it. So Henry and Catherine were married on June 11th, 1509, a mere month and a bit after his father and king, Henry VII, died, making Catherine Queen of England and Henry VIII king. So by the time Anne enters Catherine's service at court, the king and queen had been married for well over 10 years, and in that time had only managed to have one living child, a daughter, Mary. Now this again, kind of a big deal, and I want to be really clear. This is not a matter of personal preference. A son was a political necessity. For where women had ruled England previously, most notably Empress Matilda, the backlash after her rule was huge.

• 21:43Speaker 00

  And after the chaos of the War of the Roses, which saw the Tudors come to power, Henry was not willing to risk his dynasty on a girl. God forbid. Of course, you know, this is a fact which history will reveal, is a case of great irony, but again, more on that later. So Catherine's inability to give Henry his son and heir put a huge amount of strain on the marriage. But at this point in time, around 1522, he did still have hopes that Catherine would deliver him a son. So want to be really clear, there's no thoughts of divorce, there's no thoughts of beheading, there's no thoughts of death, yet.

• 22:23Speaker 00

  Which brings us back to Anne, who was a genuine, 100% certified, no other agenda than finding a good match lady in waiting to Catherine. And she was actually the perfect pick for the job. As I said, her time in France had given her much more than fluency in the language. She dazzled the English court with her continental fashions, sophisticated manners and Renaissance education. This was all pretty new to the English court, to be honest, especially to Catherine's household, which was serious minded, deeply religious and scholarly. So Anne brought a real liveliness to the sometimes dull English court. So what did Anne do for Catherine then? Like, what is actually involved in the role of lady in waiting? Well, their duties varied

• 23:07Speaker 00

  quite dramatically, from dressing and bringing messages to accompanying the Queen on state visits and reading aloud to her, with the closest and kind of more modern comparison we have being like a royal aide or secretary, you know, but, but for, for everything. As a result of this, they spent excessive amounts of time together in private and vulnerable moments from literally being nude while dressing, first waking up in the morning, or travelling for days at a time. Ladies in waiting were therefore friendly, trusted, and treated far more as companions than careers. And while there are no surviving letters describing the relationship between Anne as lady in waiting and Catherine as queen, we can assume by her tender of four years in service that these two at least got

• 23:52Speaker 00

  on in some capacity, something which must have made the year of 1526 especially painful for Catherine, for the constantly wandering and, as we'll soon discover, lethal gaze of King Henry VIII found its way to Anne Boleyn. Now, given Anne's role in the royal court and Thomas Boleyn's status as part of Henry's diplomatic inner circle, it is, of course, obvious that Henry had set eyes on Anne well before 1526. And while we don't have an exact date for their first meeting, we do know that Anne performed in one of the court plays, the Chateau Vert pageant, on March Fourth, fifteen twenty two, where Henry was in attendance.

• 24:37Speaker 00

  Other historians believe their first sighting of one another was not at that play, but rather at Cardinal Wolsey's Court festivities in fifteen twenty two. But to be honest, it doesn't really matter. Because contrary to popular belief, there is no surviving evidence of a grand, dramatic, love-at-first-sight meeting where the graceful and sexy Anne saunters across the room and the big, bold, brazen Henry locks eyes. None of that happened. In fact, Henry's attention was on another Berlin entirely, Anne's sister, Mary. Now, Henry, as all men of the aristocracy were at the time, was a renowned philanderer. And while there were many undocumented relations with all manner of gals, we do have two official mistresses.

• 25:22Speaker 00

  The first was Elizabeth Bessie Blout, who gave Henry an unacknowledged illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, and the other was Mary Berlin. Now, despite there being very little direct evidence surviving of the relationship between Mary and Henry, historians generally agree that the affair began sometime around fifteen twenty two, while Mary was married to William Carey, and Henry, of course, you know, still married Catherine, and then ended at some point around fifteen twenty five, so a year before kind of where we are right now in the timeline. This was, therefore, a three-year-long relationship. And eventually it fizzled out, there was no hard feelings, Mary returned to her role as wife and mother.

• 26:05Speaker 00

  Meanwhile, Henry's attentions turned to the other Berlin sister. Now, for context here, Anne Berlin was around twenty-five years old at this point in time. She was also well-known and well-liked in the royal inner circle, with a pretty stellar reputation as a cultured and successful lady in waiting. Meanwhile, Henry was around thirty-five years old and getting really annoyed with all of this sunless, airless business, so filled his days with drink, dogs and damsels. And at this point, his eyes are fixed firmly on Anne Berlin. While, again, we don't know the exact date that Henry began pursuing her, we know it Was around fifteen twenty six, from the various surviving love letters we have in the Vatican

• 26:47Speaker 00

  Library, which date between fifteen twenty seven to fifteen twenty eight. Now, these things are incredibly revealing, showing us not an imposing, gout-ridden, off-with-her-head king, but rather a man struck down by equal parts obsession and desire. In one letter, he writes, "Being in my last letter in doubt of your health, I send this bearer to know how you do." Translator for the modern day, he wanted to know how she was, so he sent this text. In another, he was even willing to surrender the whole world for her, saying, "I would rather remain in your heart than possess the whole world." In another, he says, quote, "My mistress and friend, I and my heart put ourselves in your hands."

• 27:28Speaker 00

  So, again, this is a man who is genuinely one hundred percent obsessed with this woman. And it's not hard to see why. Anne Boleyn was the Dua Lipa of Tudor England, okay? She could sing, she could dance, she could speak French, she was dressed in the finest of fashions, she laughed out loud and spent lots of time abroad absorbing art and culture. Plain and simple, she was just fucking cool. And the pièce de résistance of it all was that she bobbed Henry off at every single turn. Honestly, guys, when he tried to make moves on her, she moved out.

• 28:11Speaker 00

  Literally, up and left, removed herself from court, spending extensive time at Hever Castle. When he wrote to her, she then ghosted him, the gifts he sent were then returned, and it all drove Henry mad. Where most women of the court, including her sister, were expected to bend to his will and accept his advances, Anne wasn't having a bar of it. Even when he offered to recognize her as his official mistress, which, by the way, was not an official title like it was in France, it's kind of this more, you know, de facto role where people know who you are, but no one kind of acknowledges you properly. She refuses, doing everything in her power to say, "No, thank you, sir."

• 28:58Speaker 00

  Now, there are a couple of different schools of thought on this, and to be honest, a lot of the mythology of Anne Boleyn as this like conniving, slutty seductress comes from this early rejection. So I want to unpack it with you guys. Now, the first school of thought here is that Anne actually wanted to be his mistress, but said no and rejects his offer because it was dangerous for her. Her own sister had firsthand experience with this, being left poor and alone after her husband's death that same year. And even though her and Henry were still on pretty good terms, he refused to financially support her until later on when Anne insisted.

• 29:39Speaker 00

  So perhaps her resistance to this offer of, you know, kind of de facto acknowledgement, was actually a matter of self-preservation. After all, Anne Boleyn was a smart woman and one whose position at court was tied to his wife, Catherine, who she'd served for four years. And while, like I said, the mistresses were respected in public, people often talked mad shit about them behind their backs. Now, the next school of thought is that she didn't want to be a mistress. Instead, she wanted to be a queen. Now, this is the most common perception of Anne Boleyn's initial rejection of Henry, and one which has defined both the life and historical legacy of Anne, that she rejects him as a political ploy by insisting she wouldn't give him what he wanted,

• 30:24Speaker 00

  sex, unless he married her. The idea here being that Anne used her sexuality to make herself queen, keeping Henry on the proverbial hook, if you will. Which brings us to the last school of thought, and indeed the one which is almost entirely dismissed, which is that Anne didn't want to become anyone's mistress, let alone Henry's. After all, remember here, guys, Margaret of Austria's court where she is raised? There she learned the values of piety and conservatism, and we know from various prayer books that still survive that Anne Boleyn was a deeply religious person. Again, just pure facts, looking at it here at Queen Claude's court where Anne spent her teen

• 31:05Speaker 00

  years, the same thing was beaten into her: honour, virginity, duty, godliness. And a sexual relationship with the married king of England was not the kind of thing that Anne wanted to bring into the confession booth. But this, like I said, is not the popular view as it directly combats the reputation of Anne as, you know, the ambitious seductress. After all, you have to admit, it is sexier and easier to believe the story of a power hungry minx who teased poor Henry with his great manly weakness. Sex. Yeah, oh, it's so sad. I mean, guys, it really is a story as old as time from Pandora, opening the box and unleashing

• 31:47Speaker 00

  Sinon Man to the stories of sirens of the sea that lure men to their deaths with their beauty. We see it time and time again, female sexuality being treated as the ultimate danger because men's sexuality is their ultimate weakness. The thing they can't resist, a primal biological destiny which men as the dominant sex need. This has formed a lot of the social construct we have as a patriarchy and we see this more and more in extreme versions through incels and men's rights groups where sex is demanded as one of their rights. The great irony here in the case of Anne Berlin, though, is that her actions directly combat this narrative of her as the great seductress.

• 32:33Speaker 00

  Not only did she flat out refuse to be Henry's mistress, saying no to him all the time, she literally moved out. She ran away. She refused to even respond to his letters. She said no. Countless times, but we still believe she had this evil agenda.

• 32:53Speaker 00

  Oh, she only said no to, to, you know, tease him. It's all ambition and tactics. She didn't actually refuse him. Like, why would she? Again, guys, we see this time and time again, whether it's in the cases of sexual assault victims today or just gaslighting in general. We, as a society, have always had a problem believing women.

• 33:15Speaker 00

  And Anne Boleyn is the perfect example of this. I mean, one of the most famous quotes attributed to her is, "I would rather lose my life than lose my honour." And while it is almost certain that this is either misinterpreted or exaggerated, it does reflect exactly who Anne Boleyn was, and how she behaved, and what she believed, and how she was raised. She said no, removed herself, didn't encourage him. She's a smart woman of God, who had shown no interest or desire in Henry in the four years prior when she was at court, but still, still, we blame his inability to take no for an answer on her.

• 34:00Speaker 00

  It is fucking absurd.

• 34:06Speaker 00

  Regardless of what her intentions actually were, though, it doesn't really matter. Anne was in an impossible situation. She was damned as she did and damned as she didn't. Her refusal of Henry, on the grounds of her piety, was clearly only driving him into deeper obsession. He kept writing, he kept sending gifts, he kept trying to visit with even more intensity. Listen to this snippet here, for example. "Mine own sweetheart, these shall be to advertise you of the great loneliness that I find here since your departing. I think your kindness and my fervence of love causeth it, for otherwise I would have not thought it possible, that for so little a while it should have grieved

• 34:48Speaker 00

  me, wishing myself especially an evening in my sweetheart's arms, whose pretty duckies I trust shortly to kiss, written by the hand of him that was, is, and shall be yours by his will." Like, that's giving Scary Stalker level obsession.

• 35:08Speaker 00

  Thank God this guy didn't have fucking Instagram or like

• 35:13Speaker 03

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• 35:43Speaker 02

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• 36:12Speaker 00

  ...to air tags or something? I'm hundreds of years in the future and I'm scared, right? So what's Anne meant to do? Literally, that's the whole point of the song in Six. Like, what's a girl gonna do, right? She keeps saying no and getting these creepy, slightly threatening notes, or does she say yes and become by society and the church's definition, a ruined woman? Because there's no way on God's green earth that she can be his wife, right? Well, under Catholic law, no. In their eyes, Henry and Catherine weren't just husband and wife. They were united under God's will, and a legal separation would not only be a dangerous

• 36:56Speaker 00

  political move, but an offense to God, as the Catholic Church considered marriage as one of the seven sacraments. But Henry was getting impatient, guys. On one hand, he needed a son, and Catherine had not managed to give him one. And on the other, he wanted Anne, who refused to be his mistress and whose younger worm would perhaps bring him what he really wanted: his heir. It was kind of, you know, a two birds, one stone solution here. But the particular stone that Henry wanted to use was impossible. You see, so often now, we talk about it as a divorce, right? Henry wanted to divorce Catherine to get with Anne, but that's not actually correct here.

• 37:41Speaker 00

  What Henry wanted was an annulment. So what's the difference? Well, where a divorce says a real marriage existed but is now ended, an annulment is the idea that a valid marriage never existed in the first place. And the reason Henry wanted this was twofold. First, although by no means the primary motivation here, it would remove his daughter Mary from the direct line of succession, as she would essentially be deemed a bastard. And secondly, he knew a divorce wouldn't be granted. So the annulment was the best chance for separation. And the way he intended to do this was by resurrecting the ghost of his dead big brother.

• 38:25Speaker 00

  Oh, yes, my divas, you didn't think we'd actually heard the last of the did they or didn't they sex argument here? Now, whether he genuinely believed it or simply just weaponized this verse to get what he wanted, Henry became obsessed with that Leviticus verse I mentioned before, and used it to make claim that Catherine had lied about consummating the marriage with Arthur, which did in fact make him his brother's wife. And as the verse said, this was the reason they'd be childless, even though they did in fact have a child, just, you know, according to Henry, the wrong kind. Now, I want to be clear here. At this point in time, which is now around 1527,

• 39:08Speaker 00

  Henry only wanted the annulment. For him, England was and always would be Catholic. So he entrusted this very important matter to the big dog, AKA Cardinal Walson. And he really was the right man for this job, guys. Not in the least that he was tied to both the religious and political realms, but because this was a man that got stuff done.

• 39:36Speaker 00

  The son of a nipswitch butcher, he used his brilliant administrative skills and sharp intellect to rise from a small office as the royal chaplain to lord chancellor. And he was super duper confident he could solve the annulment problem with Rome through diplomacy. But my, my, my, was he wrong. You see, the pope at the time was a man by the name of Clement VII, and he was a dude firmly fixed between a rock and a hard place. Firstly, just months before Henry formally pursued the annulment, a very important event went down in Rome. This is property, guys, strap in.

• 40:19Speaker 00

  Led by Emperor Charles V, the city of Rome was attacked during what became known as the Sac of Rome, or at least one of them anyway. During this time, Pope Clement was trapped inside the Vatican and managed to escape the brutality of the invading forces thanks only to his personal bodyguards, aka the Swiss Guard, who made a desperate last stand at St Peter's Basilica. Here, 147 of the 189 guards were absolutely brutally massacred, buying Clement enough time to escape through the Passetto di Borgo, a fortified passageway connecting the Vatican to the fortress of Castel San Angelo.

• 40:59Speaker 00

  Here, he saw Rome burn and its citizens suffer, eventually negotiating a surrender after being pretty much besieged for weeks on end. The price was high, both in the literal cash sense with Charles demanding the papacy hand over large sums of money, and in pride, with the forces taking over several fortresses and basically making the pope a puppet ruler. Now, like I said, this is a pretty big fuck-off deal for many reasons, but chief amongst them for Henry's annulment case was that Charles V was not only the king of Spain, but he was also the Holy Roman Emperor, and more than that, guys, I would say doubly more important than both of those things.

• 41:44Speaker 00

  He was Catherine of Aragon's nephew. So it is hardly likely that Clement, who is pretty much detained by Charles, is going to insult him by insisting his aunt was a big fat liar and her marriage and her daughter are illegitimate, right? This, of course, is also paired with the fact that Clement would be overruling the prior papal approval of the marriage in the first place. It's just like so messy, which is, you know, why we're all so fascinated by it. And it ultimately really culminates in the famous Blackfriars Trial of 1529, a specialist court in England that was authorised by the Pope and overseen by both Cardinal Wolsey and Cardinal Lorenzo Campagio,

• 42:30Speaker 00

  who was representing Rome in this case in person. Now, Henry, as always, expected to win. After all, you know, he had the Bible on his side. He's got this Leviticus quote, but it wasn't so simple. Catherine's supporters, including Cardinal Lorenzo here, rebuked the Leviticus passage with their own, Deuteronomy 25:5, which encouraged a man to marry his brother's widow under certain circumstances. The real nail in the coffin, however, came from Catherine herself, who entered the courtroom on June 21st, 1529, kneeling before Henry and delivering one of the most famous speeches in Tudor history. I'm going to read it for you guys, or at least some of it.

• 43:13Speaker 00

  She began stating, "Sir, I beseech you, for all the loves that hath been between us and for the love of God, let me have justice and right. Alas, sir, where have I offended you? I take God and all the world to witness that I have been to you a true, humble and obedient wife, ever conformable to your will and pleasure." I never grudged a word or countenance or showed a spark of discontent. I loved all those whom ye loved only for your sake, whether they were my friends or enemies. These twenty years and more I have been your true wife, and when ye had me at the first, I take God to be my judge.

• 43:56Speaker 00

  I was a true maid, without touch of man, and whether it be true or no, I put it to your conscience. An absolute banger, guys. Honestly, Taylor Swift ran because Catherine of Aragon walked here. And once she left, she courtesies, she turns around, she leaves the doors, and she is greeted outside by the public who are shouting words of support, never again returning, despite being called to, you know, testify in his court. She appealed directly to the Pope in Rome, which led Compenio to suspend the trial,

• 44:36Speaker 00

  and Henry to be absolutely fucking furious, which he took out on Cardinal Wolsey, basically having him stripped of power and charged with treason, and you know, all of this before his eventual death in fifteen thirty. So it seemed Henry couldn't have his annulment, and therefore couldn't have Anne. But it was around this time that a rather radical loophole reached his ears, and that, my dear friends, is called the Reformation. Now, given that this is the podcast covering all the things in history you probably should know but don't, we are doing the ultimate crash course on the Reformation, but it is hard to give a quick summary on one of the most defining events in Christian history.

• 45:20Speaker 00

  So forgive me for, you know, ye all Reformation scholars for the brevity here. So what the hell is the Reformation, right? What are we talking about? Well, in fifteen seventeen, a German priest named Martin Luther, the first one, so Martin Luther, King Junior Civil Rights activist, not talking about him, talking about fifteen seventeen German priest. He's pretty mad about the practices of the Catholic Church, and as such, he basically writes like a diss track called the Ninety-Five Theses, which were mainly concerned with theological arguments against the Catholic sale of indulgences, where one could like pay to be saved and, you know, pay for a good spot in heaven, alongside church corruption and overspending and things like that.

• 46:02Speaker 00

  Now, the result of this ninety-five theses was a split in Christianity across different branches, including Protestantism, which in twenty twenty held a total of five hundred and eighty-six million devotees globally, according to Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. So again, to say this was a significant historical event really is an understatement. And it wasn't just about religion. It is so often just, you know, blamed on religion, but it wasn't just about that. The Reformation also refers to this great social upheaval which accompanied Luther's movement, seeing a strong improvement in literacy, education, scientific inquiry, and human rights.

• 46:41Speaker 00

  So, a time of real change, and something that Anne Boleyn was deeply interested in. I want to be really clear about this from the get-go here when talking about Anne and the Reformation. Because this point is so deeply embedded in the misogyny in which we speak about her, and that is that Anne Boleyn was by no means a Protestant, in the modern sense we know today, okay? Yes, Anne Boleyn was a deeply religious person and someone who believed in reform, which she was exposed to initially in the French court. But she was also someone who practiced Catholicism for the majority of her life, and took her

• 47:23Speaker 00

  prayers very, very seriously. Her ideas of reform, like I mentioned, weren't strictly religious, right? This, this, again, it's so often seen as this big Christian religious movement, it was about so much more. And Anne's beliefs specifically were embedded in humanism, which promoted an increase in dignity, access to education, and a one-on-one relationship with God versus a strict call-out of religious corruption or change in doctrine. So, the idea that Anne was this, like, raging Protestant who tricked Henry into, you know, setting up her church, totally incorrect. So how did she influence him then?

• 48:04Speaker 00

  Well, it all comes down to a book and a change in dynamics between resistful Anne and lustful Henry. You see, we don't know exactly when Anne started accepting, or perhaps, I think, probably the more correct term here is tolerating Henry's advances. But there are signs that she began thinking differently by fifteen thirty, so after the failed attempt at this Blackbriars trial. And, you know, I, I guess we can see why here. After all, it is pretty clear Henry's gone to like pains to make clear to Anne and everybody else that, you know, he's trying to get rid of his current wife and willing to fight the Pope in order to achieve it, which for Anne could mean marriage, respectability, power,

• 48:48Speaker 00

  duty to her family, and a real life of herself at court. Which really is the point, that this story transforms from a simple, is probably the right word, court romance into an outright political revolution. Now, there are several ambassadors of the time who tell us of this change, reporting that Anne was behaving increasingly like a future queen, receiving extraordinary honours, travelling with Henry, holding council with foreign diplomats, and even managing to save her sister Mary from destitution by convincing Henry to give her some cash. So a real shift in the dynamic here, and many have suggested that this was due to her reformist beliefs starting to inspire Henry.

• 49:33Speaker 00

  So some common kind of intellectual ground is perhaps developing here, which we believe is largely based off a book that Anne gifted to him, titled The Obedience of a Christian Man by William Tyndale, which basically argued above all else, kings ruled by God's authority, not the Pope's. Okay? Now, of the text, Henry said, "This is a book for me and all kings to read." So, you know, he's feeling inspired, he's feeling fresh. And while it is highly unlikely that Anne Boleyn was the first person, you know, obviously, to ever introduce Henry to the ideas of humanism or reformation, but it was her intelligence, proximity and enthusiasm for them, which kind of began to really rub off on Henry,

• 50:17Speaker 00

  who soon went full tilt when one of his ministers, a man named Thomas Kramer, found the long forsaken loophole. You don't need permission from the head of a church if that head is you. And thus, the Church of England was born. Intent on splitting from Rome and nulling the marriage with Catherine, taking Mary out of the line of succession and making himself head of his own church, Henry had all the English clergy begin addressing him as, quote, "Supreme Head of the Church in England" in 1531. And, you know, obviously to add to that list of things to do,

• 50:59Speaker 00

  duh, Anne Boleyn. After all, that was literally the whole point of the Reformation for Henry, who, despite reading the books and, you know, liking the movement, was a Catholic at heart and cared very little for the humanist elements the Reformation was meant to stand for. And on the other hand, we know did care. And while historian E. W. Ives tells us it is highly improbable that she would have admitted she was a reformist, we can guess from six of the nine remaining Boleyn items which are reformist in character that Anne would have been genuinely pleased about the move away from Rome for its greater values beyond her own matrimony. But for Henry, numero uno, guys, that's all he cares about. And having now kind of declared himself head of his own church,

• 51:42Speaker 00

  he does several things. One, Catherine, piss off. Yep, get out of your apartments. I need those rooms back. You're out. Then moves Anne in, then marries her in November 1532 at a very small ceremony in Dover. Now, we don't know a lot about this. I feel like this whole episode, I'm like, eh, we're not really sure, but that is kind of the, um, nature of the Tudor period. But we do know from chronicler Edward Hall that, quote, "The king after his return married the lady Anne Boleyn, which was kept so secret that very few knew it till she was great with child at Easter." After, yes, guys, Anne Boleyn is pregnant.

• 52:24Speaker 00

  Now, the general consensus is that Anne knew she was with child around December 1532, which means she's got some time before she really starts showing. But Henry has to, like, kick his ass into gear, quick sticks, to get this union legitimised. Because, you know, even though he said he was the head of the Church of England, few people actually recognise his authority to make his own marriage and annulments. So on January 25th, there was another formal marriage ceremony in Whitehall Palace, which, all good and well, but again, the issue persists. Henry is still legally married to Catherine.

• 53:00Speaker 00

  Even though he's, you know, chucked her out and approved his own marriage, the annulment from Rome hadn't come through and wouldn't do so for another four months. So there's this like awkward kind of limbo period, which is super ambiguous and messy, all the more so because again, Anne is pregnant and the countdown to that bump showing is ever increasing. So Henry decides to do what he does best. It's very Trump of him, uh, show off, yeah? By throwing a series of parties and events to roll Anne out to the public as their queen. This kind of like PR tour, if you will. Firstly, he makes Thomas Kramer the Archbishop of Canterbury on March 30th to ensure all the legalities, the paperwork, the admin, the boring stuff,

• 53:45Speaker 00

  right? Are managed. Then a month later, the Act in Restraint of Appeals is passed, which allowed any English subject, including the king, to appeal major church court decisions, including the annulment case, therefore essentially saying to Rome, England rules itself, no longer recognised your authority. It's not a full like fuck off, but it's like, piss off, you know? Next, he staged a great gathering for mass where he was accompanied in public by Anne, which the Venetian ambassador of the time tells us, saying, quote, "The morning of Easter Eve, the marchioness Anne went with the king to high mass as queen, and with all the pomp of a queen, clad in cloth of gold and loaded with the richest jewels." So again,

• 54:29Speaker 00

  this kind of rollout tour of Anne as queen is underway. The next stop of which was the Tower of London, where Anne was escorted by river on May 29th and greeted by Henry with a kiss before retiring to the royal apartments in order to prepare for her coronation. Now again, if Anne knew she was pregnant in December, then she is at this point around six-ish months pregnant. So like definitely bumping it up. And because of this, Anne was given a singular great honour during her coronation on June 1st, 1533. I don't know if you guys know about this. When I found out about it, I was like, holy shit, this is crazy.

• 55:10Speaker 00

  So, as per usual, she was anointed and proclaimed queen. But more than this, the crown of St Edward the Confessor was placed atop her head. Guys, this is a huge statement because that crown is only used by and reserved for the monarch, the kings, right, up until this point. So Henry's bestowal of St Edward's crown upon Anne is really a sign that, one, you know, he wants to make a grand display of legitimising her, and two, I think he thinks there is a boy in her belly. He's essentially crowning him through her, which makes this marriage, this queen, and most importantly, this child, indisputably legitimate.

• 55:54Speaker 00

  Because, you know, whatever comes out of Anne, he doesn't want it being a like, is it a Baratheon, is it a Stark, is it a Lannister, is it a Targaryen conversation? He wants legitimate, royal born. But because the life of Anne Boleyn is basically just a whole series of butts, and however, it would not be a boy. For on September 7th, 1533, Queen Anne Boleyn gave birth to a beautiful, bouncing, healthy daughter named Elizabeth. Henry was naturally disappointed, you know, he'd chased the high of announcing the birth of his son for nearly 20 years at this point, and as Anne's belly bloomed, so too did his hope that this moment would eventually come. You know, it, it didn't.

• 56:36Speaker 00

  Nonetheless, though, Anne was overjoyed, taking to motherhood very naturally, and even Henry had to admit, he's now got this legitimate royal princess, even though he already had one. And her fiery red hair and temperament definitely mirrored him in many ways. He also did have the knowledge that Anne could deliver a healthy pregnancy. So while many historians, prematurely in my opinion, mark the birth of Elizabeth as this kind of like real beginning of the end for Anne Boleyn, I don't believe that that's necessarily the case. At this point, Henry is still very much in love. He's still very much of the belief that he will get his son from Anne, something which is affirmed just a few months later with George Taylor, a servant at court, writing enthusiastically in his journal

• 57:21Speaker 00

  that the queen had a goodly belly, signalling she was yet again pregnant by the time 1533 was out.

• 57:30Speaker 00

  So as queen and a wife, Anne is off to a pretty good start, right? She's had her coronation, she's had a child, and although not a son, can clearly carry and deliver healthy children, and by all accounts, her and Henry.

• 57:44Speaker 03

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• 58:14Speaker 00

  In love, or whatever the Tudor equivalent is. Plus, she's pregnant again. Insert DJ Khalid.

• 58:21Speaker 05

  Another one.

• 58:23Speaker 00

  Now, in celebration of this news and convinced again the child would be a son, Henry reportedly commissioned a magnificent silver cradle studded with jewels and diamonds to welcome his heir. And with it, a new piece of legislation. Oh yes, divas, it is time to talk about the First Succession Act of 1534. Now, this is a defining moment in the Reformation and the Tudor family, for it proclaimed above all else that Elizabeth, not Mary, was Henry's heir. And should he die before Elizabeth reaches her majority, Anne would rule as her regent.

• 59:04Speaker 00

  For her, you know, obviously fucking amazing news, but for the 17-year-old Mary who was called before her father and basically told, "Mm, you're a bastard now and this baby outranks you," it was shattering, much to the pleasure of Anne Berlin. Yeah, guys, you see...

• 59:26Speaker 00

  For all the positive traits and you know, the obvious sympathy that I have for her. Anne was truly a terrible, terrible stepmother, like, kind of like the original evil stepmother trope. She hated Mary with a burning, burning fervour and was far more cruel towards her than she ever needed to be. Really rubbing Elizabeth's confirmation and her role as queen in Mary's face. Reportedly saying that, quote, "By the law of God and of the King, she ought clearly to acknowledge her error and evil conscience." Suggesting Mary go and serve in baby Elizabeth's household, like basically as a servant.

• 1:00:06Speaker 00

  So imagine, guys, you're a royal princess one day, you know, next to the throne. Next day, you're told to go and be a servant to a baby who's your half-sister who outranks you.

• 1:00:20Speaker 00

  Actually, that's literally the, isn't that the plot of Cinderella? I've never realised that. I gotta research. Maybe it was inspired. Anyway, Mary miserable and to be honest, kind of a little fearful by the sounds of it, saying, quote, "While my father lives, I shall be only Lady Mary, the most unhappy lady in Christendom." And to be fair, she did have something to be mad and scared and kind of worried about. Because if Mary wouldn't serve Elizabeth as Anne wanted, she reportedly wanted her killed. Or, you know, at least according to this guy, Eustace Shapoy, envoy for Charles V, who said, quote,

• 1:00:58Speaker 00

  "Anne is continually telling the King that he does not act rightfully or prudently in allowing the Queen and the Princess to live, for they deserve death." The Queen in question here being Catherine and the Princess being Mary, but I do wanna say it is important to say this, this guy here, we are gonna quote him a lot. Shapoy? Shapoy? Shap- Shapoy's? Shapoy? Guys, I'm gonna call him Shapoy, okay? He's deeply biased. He hates Anne, he's pro-Catholic, he's pro-Catherine, he's pro-Mary, so we're kinda gotta take this with a grain of salt. But Anne's confirmation as Queen, Elizabeth's as heir and Mary as illegitimate was something which pissed off a lot of devout Catholics in both England and Europe at the time, laying the groundwork for a fuck-ton of tension to come.

• 1:01:44Speaker 00

  But for Anne and Henry. Things are looking up. Elizabeth's first in line, Anne is pregnant, Henry has this like fancy cradle thing, but unfortunately, no child would occupy it. Now, we don't know, again, we don't know, lots of we don't knows exactly what happened here, since the tutors literally seem to do anything other than write things down, including designing fancy cradles. But the widespread belief here is that Anne suffered a miscarriage rather than a stillbirth, which historian Hester Chapman confirms, stating that another pregnancy followed in April of the year after, so 1534, which also resulted in miscarriage and perhaps another in July. So 1534, really difficult year for Anne on the health front,

• 1:02:27Speaker 00

  with both emotional and physical strain at an all time high. But Anne would not be beaten down and threw herself into life at court with full gusto. Now, this like really doesn't surprise anyone. After all, this is a woman who spent her entire adolescence in foreign courts. So Anne really leaning in to her role as queen, not a surprise. But she did carve out a space for herself, which would go on to influence all the queens who followed. So what'd she do? Firstly, her French wardrobe took a hold of the English court, who began dressing in similar fashions. She also had her say about music, wine and readings, all of which were yet again influenced by her time in Europe.

• 1:03:10Speaker 00

  But Anne's real big win as queen, I think anyway, was on the diplomatic front, which was a lofty feat for any woman of the time. But for one who much of Europe still considered wasn't legally married, you know, this is a pretty big deal. From receiving multiple ambassadors to hosting banquets and sponsoring foreign scholars, Anne took time to understand the growing impact of the Reformation and changing politics of Europe. Something which several foreign ambassadors mentioned made her essential to Henry's court. And that is true, to an extent. Henry often consulted Anne on matters of reform and diplomatic relations in these early years, even in the midst of his sonless annoyance.

• 1:03:52Speaker 00

  But there was no point that Anne Boleyn was like out there running the small council meetings and making grand political manoeuvres. She was never and would never be given this kind of authority or influence, especially without a male heir. Again, we're gonna say son, we're gonna say male heir a million times in this episode. And while Anne was charming enough with foreign guests, they were still largely loyal to Catherine and the Catholic cause. But I do think her time as queen does show us like just how charismatic she was and how she gets this reputation as this kind of, um, you know, seductress and she's really beautiful.

• 1:04:32Speaker 00

  It is in charisma because she does manage to charm people who were predetermined to dislike her. So let's check back in with our timeline here, guys, because I do know all these Tudor years tend to like blend together. So at this point, 1534, Elizabeth is almost one, Mary is almost 18, Anne has had somewhere between two to three miscarriages, Henry is getting frustrated but still hopeful, and by November of that year, a very big thing happens. And that thing is called the Act of Supremacy. Yes, guys, another Tudor year, another Tudor piece of legislation, and this one is no

• 1:05:17Speaker 00

  small amendment or injunction here. This is arguably one of the most important laws in English history because it made Henry VIII the legal head of the Church in England, formally ending the Pope's authority. Specifically, the Act declared, quote, "The King's Majesty justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme head of the Church of England." So huge news to end 1534 on.

• 1:05:45Speaker 00

  But what does it actually mean? Like, is there no mass anymore? Is Catholicism outlawed? Is Henry now a Protestant? Well, the answer is no. Yeah, you guys thought I was gonna say, we don't really know. The answer is no. While many assume that the passing of the Act of Supremacy is the moment the king converts, for better a word, this really isn't the case, guys. The passing of this act and indeed the establishment of the Church of England was always a matter of marriage and power for Henry versus, like we said, religion and corruption. So, yeah, sure, politically, one can say Henry is Protestant from this moment, but in actual fact, I don't really think he ever was. He was like Catholic through and through. Which brings us up to early 1535.

• 1:06:29Speaker 00

  So what's Anne up to, guys? What's, you know, what's she doing? Well, with the passing of the Act of Supremacy, the power dynamics begin to shift at court with Henry's Chief Minister, Thomas Cromwell, really becoming the like dominant political figure in England because it is his job to oversee the government's religious reform. Big job in a devoutly Catholic nation up until this point. And as part of this reform process, which was really lengthy and much bigger than what we're gonna talk about today, Cromwell started making some pretty serious decisions, first of which was investigating monasteries throughout England, looking to assert greater royal

• 1:07:11Speaker 00

  authority over teachings, particularly what they were saying about the royal marriage, but mainly for wealth. Okay, dollar dollar bills, y'all. As one of her early supporters, Anne agreed to support Cromwell on this and they made a pretty formidable pairing. But cracks begin to form in the alliance when Anne started asking for this wealth that was being taken from the monasteries to go towards things like education and charity versus the government or court. So we have the Queen starting to go into a showdown with really the most powerful man in England, something which wouldn't bode well for her because the royal marriage was veering perilously close to the rocks.

• 1:07:59Speaker 00

  You see, where Anne's education, her opinions, her culture, her charisma attracted Henry in the beginning. As time went on, he found her fierceness deeply annoying. Here was this strong, audacious, brazen, sassy woman who said what she thought and was, you know, wading through this world of change and reform with her head held high and her mind opened. And Henry fucking hated it because again, guys, harping on for the millionth time, all this man wants is a fucking son. I know I've said it 12 million times, but I cannot emphasize enough just how desperately Henry wanted Anne to give him an heir.

• 1:08:44Speaker 00

  Again, we talk about like what ifs, genuinely, I think about this all the time. If Mary or Elizabeth were boys, I do genuinely believe the history of England will be changed forever. Like it's crazy. So this son business is an obsession for him, which made all of Anne's other personality traits, which again, he initially loved, just like fucking grating. You know, when you have a friend who you love and adore and like get on really well with and spend so much time with, and then they do, or they say one really annoying thing. And then everything after that just becomes so much more annoying, even if it's not actually annoying. But the stain of the first incident just like lingers.

• 1:09:29Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's how Henry felt about Anne because guess what, guys? You gotta come in real close and listen. Um, women aren't actually four dimensional humans. They're just vessels for sons. So with each month that passed without Anne's womb being filled with a son, Henry got more and more frustrated with her. Which is when we meet one Jane Seymour. Lock in divas, we are getting in to the drama, into the tea. If we haven't already been, you know, serving and spelling it to date, but this is where things get wild. Born into a humble background as a simple mistress, Jane was raised with the idea that marriage and children were paramount to climbing the social ladder.

• 1:10:15Speaker 00

  Like, you know, all women at the time, so her primary concern was on finding a husband. Well, I mean, waiting for her parents to find her one anyway, since women in the 16th century had about as much agency as a dairy cow. And while no offers came to Jane, her sister Elizabeth was successful with her marriage securing Jane a place in none other than the service of Catherine of Aragon. Yeah, guys, basically, the entire Tudor period is just a series of ladies in waiting, replacing other ladies in waiting. After all, um, what do you think about it, right? What better way to divide us women than men asserting their absolute authority and then stealing all our friends? It sounds to me like ahem patriarchy.

• 1:10:59Speaker 00

  In Catherine's court, Jane learned much and by all accounts, you know, kind of really admired her, but she's not sharp witted and charismatic like Anne, nor was she a great beauty with the Imperial Ambassador telling us she was, quote, "so fair that one would call her rather pale than otherwise." But these two things are actually what draws Henry to her. In the first play, she's kind of plain, she's kind of boring, she's kind of shy, she's kind of, you know, just sits in the background. Because in Henry's mind, if Anne was the very personification of fierceness and charm, and she couldn't give him a son, then he needed to have the furthest scene from that, right? Opposite day, which really was Jane Seymour.

• 1:11:41Speaker 00

  She was mannered and mindful from a family who stood to lose quite a lot and had spent years in Catherine and Anne's courts, surrounded by miscarriages and whispers and tension, which made her aware of just how high the stakes were here. And so when Henry began sniffing around, she took a page out of the Book of Anne Boleyn and initially snubbed him, stating in a letter that she valued, quote, "no treasure in the world as much as her honor."

• 1:12:13Speaker 00

  But by September of that year, Henry was willing to push the envelope and made a personal visit to the Seymour family estate of Wolf Hall to see Jane. So what does Anne think about all of this? I mean, you know, her husband is basically doing what he did to Catherine to her. Well, having gone through it herself, she was very aware of how Henry operated. You know, she also really understood what Jane's choices were and of course, what it meant for her personally. And while she was certainly not thrilled that Henry was potentially fornicating with Jane, she knew she had the trump card up her sleeve, the one way to win back Henry's full devotion. A legitimate royal pregnancy.

• 1:12:59Speaker 00

  And by autumn 1535, Anne Boleyn was again with child. So we start 1536 on a pretty good note here, right? Yes, of course. Jane Seymour's around, but Anne's got Elizabeth. She's also got the position as queen and she's also got a baby in her belly, which she knows is what Henry really wants. So Anne thinks, you know, nagging aside, none of this Nancy behaviour, this is going to be the best fucking year, right? And on January 7th, so literally one week into this year, a great omen presents itself.

• 1:13:41Speaker 00

  And that is the death of Catherine of Aragon. Yep, that's right, guys. Anne Boleyn's arch nemesis, her opposition.

• 1:13:51Speaker 03

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• 1:14:50Speaker 00

  The woman she openly dislikes, whose daughter she outright calls a bastard, the very symbol of Catholic royal conservatism, is D E D. So what's the reaction here? Well, Anne and Henry believe that Catherine's death is such a good omen, they actually wear yellow to celebrate the occasion, throwing a feast to commemorate it. But this really is the beginning of the end, guys. For a few weeks later, on January 24th, Henry VIII, despite his increasing size and age, is competing in a jousting tournament in Greenwich. Now, this wasn't uncommon, especially for Henry, who grew up a very sporting and kind of, you know, macho man.

• 1:15:33Speaker 00

  And he took great pleasure in the sport as both a participant and spectator. But on this particular occasion, he is participating in the joust and takes a very nasty fall, leading to serious, life-threatening injury. So much so, that for a brief moment, a small second of potentially history-changing joy, the crowd believes their king is dead.

• 1:16:01Speaker 00

  This, as you can imagine, sparked mass anxiety, for as we have so greatly harped upon, the Tudor dynasty at this point of time rests on the shoulders of a two-and-a-half-year-old baby girl, at a time of mass tension between Protestants and Catholics, the old, the new, the right, the wrong, right? It's a fucking mess! Which added so much more pressure on Anne's shoulders, that the baby in her belly should be a boy. And indeed it was.

• 1:16:31Speaker 00

  But he would not live. When news reached Anne of Henry's fall, she was overcome with emotion, her body unable to cope with the stress and anxiety, and she miscarried a son. Estimated to be around fifteen weeks gestational age, the great hope of the Tudor dynasty and Anne's life as queen was gone.

• 1:16:54Speaker 00

  Henry knew it, the court knew it, and Anne knew it, with this pregnancy really being her last real chance.

• 1:17:03Speaker 00

  Henry II was devastated, this was what he had longed for, but was yet again denied.

• 1:17:10Speaker 00

  So, from February onwards, the court and ambassadors alike noted how Henry's affection for Anne, which was already faltering, withdrew almost completely. He spent less and less time with her, growing increasingly open in his attentions to Jane Seymour, who knew exactly how to play the part of the soothing, unthreatening alternative after all. She had quite the mental.

• 1:17:35Speaker 00

  Writing to her in March of that year, Henry said, quote, "My dear friend and mistress, thus hoping shortly to receive you in these arms, I end for the present your own loving, servant and sovereign, H.R." This note was sent along with a generous purse of gold sovereigns, which was rejected under the pretense that Jane couldn't accept such a gift if she was unmarried. Quite a moment of deja vu. Meanwhile, Anne, who was still the queen, moved through the palace like a phantom or a ghost. She was there, but barely. Her spirit broken, her heart crushed, Anne Berlin became a shell of her former self.

• 1:18:19Speaker 00

  That once bold, brazen, fierce, quick-witted young girl who arrived from France to shake up the English court, had been cycled through its perilous programme and spat out the other side, reduced to the status of a troublemaker, whose empty belly turned her into the very thing she despised: an ornamental crown.

• 1:18:44Speaker 00

  Henry wouldn't have it. And with Jane slowly returning his affections by April fifteen thirty six, he began having what I really believe is a mix of both like a mental break and a religious episode. What do you mean, diva? I hear you say, well, firstly, that jousting accident from January really did change Henry forever. P S is that karma for like having a feast over your dead wife's like funeral? Probably. Yes, Henry was physically injured, but specialists and historians also believe that he suffered a traumatic brain injury, which led to personality change. Now, I'm not saying for a second that this is why he turned away from Anne.

• 1:19:27Speaker 00

  He did this on his own, but it is certainly something which impacted his decision making. The second part of that equation is the religious element. As we know, Henry often interpreted events through a religious lens. After all, remember the Leviticus thing with Catherine, right? And after Anne's miscarriage of a son, he was convinced that God was punishing him. Again, maybe also don't have a feast over your dead ex-wife. Which, Shapoy? I feel like I'm saying it wrong. I'm so sorry. I think it's Shapoy. Sorry, Shapoy, sorry to this man. Shapoy reports that Henry said outright God would not permit him to have male children. So you have this mix of mental illness and spiritual spookiness interplaying here.

• 1:20:08Speaker 00

  And Henry takes his concerns to his top dog, Thomas Cromwell. Now, again, we mentioned before him and Anne having beef, right? Over the money with the monasteries. And this division between them only grew. Thomas began to really fear Anne's influence and reformist beliefs, which threatened his own power and control over both Henry and the church. So he's actually kind of delighted to hear that the king is stressing. And tells him, sir, you know, the only thing you can do is to get rid of her. And I don't mean in a legal sense, guys. While it is true that unlike the first time with Catherine, Henry could annul his own marriage without permission or bloodshed.

• 1:20:51Speaker 00

  That's not what he or Cromwell decided to do. No, you see, Henry learnt from the first time just how annoying it was to have a disgruntled ex-wife baby mama with political connections dashed away in the country. He felt like he was always looking over his shoulder with Catherine and as such, he sought a more permanent solution, charging Cromwell with making it happen. Now, this is his dream job, okay? He begins pursuing criminal charges against Queen Anne Boleyn, including adultery with five men, one of whom was her own brother, so there's another charge of incest. And then just to drive the point home, he accused Anne of plotting to kill the king, aka treason.

• 1:21:36Speaker 00

  But where is the evidence for this, right? What is the reason the evidentiary support? Like, he has to have some for such a serious charge, right? Well, ye- yeah, but not really. All he did was torture Mark Smeaton, a court musician and friend of Anne's, who confessed to adultery with her after endless hours of pain, which most historians say is absolute fooey extracted under torture. But with this one shonky claim, Cromwell easily expanded the case against Anne, getting confessions from her ladies that she had had affairs with her brother, George, Sir Henry Norris, who was the king's best friend, Francis Weston and Sir William Brereton. Again, historians also believe that

• 1:22:21Speaker 00

  these confessions were obtained in false and misleading ways, but it didn't really matter, guys. All five of these men were arrested and while maintaining their innocence, the whole time, they were found guilty and sentenced to death. And because unless there was like any shred of doubt, just to drive this point home, all five of these men are enemies of Thomas Cromwell, which he bragged about later, saying he quote, "contrived the whole affair." So he can, you know, take Anne off the map, take five of these other guys who he doesn't like off the map, kind of do some light torturing and some light threatening, get the confessions, get in Henry's good books and like, all is well and rosy in the court of Thomas Cromwell. As for the charges of treason, well Cromwell was-

• 1:23:05Speaker 00

  Really doing some real mental arithmetic with this one, talking this up to basically a joke that Anne had said to Henry Norris. Again, this is like the king's bestie, saying that if Henry died, he, as in Norris, would be looking to step into his shoes as Anne's husband. Again, like, no mention of like, let's go kill this fucker, or this bastard should die so that we can get together, but, you know, that's tutored justice for you. And lastly, what's a 16th century trial against a woman without a few light allegations of witchcraft? Yes, guys, of course, they had to be thrown in, Anne was alleged to have like an extra finger, have had multiple deformed stillborns, and supposedly use supernatural forces over Henry to make her his queen. Like, obviously fucking bollocks.

• 1:23:49Speaker 00

  It's so boring, ah, I can't deal. But, again, guys, it, it really didn't matter. Honestly, her fate was sealed from the moment Henry tasked Cromwell with this kind of, you know, order. It was all signed, and Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, would soon be arrested. So how does it all go down? What's the drama? What's the tea? Can we get Andy and a Bravo crew there to, you know, kind of film this all? Well, the day was May 2nd, 1536, and Anne, as was planned, attended a May Day joust at Greenwich Palace. At first, the day appeared, you know, perfectly normal. The Queen watched the festivities alongside Henry as knights competed in honour of the royal court. Then, suddenly, without warning, everything changed.

• 1:24:35Speaker 00

  At the height of the tournament, Henry suddenly left, with witnesses reporting that he departed in an agitated state, taking several of his closest advisers with him. Anne was thus left behind, totally unaware that events were already moving against her. And to be honest, she was kind of embarrassed. But I don't think at this point, like, she was suspicious as such, even though several members of her inner circle, including that musician, that, um, musician we spoke about before, had vanished in the days prior, and she, of course, had the Jane Seymour of it all on her mind. But like, I don't really think Anne seemed to be cautioned by Henry's leaving, which we know now was like certainly a big old blazing red flag. Honestly, this kind of feels Game of Thrones-y.

• 1:25:20Speaker 00

  She was then summoned before the royal council where she was informed that she faced charges of adultery, incest and treason, which of course was a huge shock. So much so, that according to contemporary accounts, she laughed nervously and then burst into tears. But unfortunately, there was little time for theatrics. For that very afternoon, Anne Boleyn was escorted by barge along the River Thames to the Tower of London. A bitterly iconic journey which she herself had made only three years earlier in triumph before her coronation. But that was not the case today. For here, she entered as a prisoner, passing through the gates with the famed words, "I am come hither to die."

• 1:26:06Speaker 00

  Yeah, guys, I think at this point, she, you know, well and truly caught on and while continuing to protest her innocence, she knew there was no escaping her fate.

• 1:26:17Speaker 00

  So what was like life for Anne as a prisoner? This has all happened so far, like from the jousting to the meeting to now kind of being here. Well, as queen, she was not, you know, kind of thrown into a dudgeon. Instead, spending the final few weeks of her life in the same royal apartments she had stayed before her coronation. Here, she was watched like a hawk by Sir William Kingston, constable of the Tower and bestie of Thomas Cromwell, who placed his own trusted ladies in waiting in her company. So imagine, guys. One, you're locked up. Two, you're facing death. And three, you have to do it surrounded by spies who like will be making small talk. Oh, unimaginable. Their reporting though is invaluable to us and some of the most important primary sources

• 1:27:00Speaker 00

  of the entire Tudor period, which really depicts a woman under extreme emotional strain. During her time in the Tower, Anne was frightened, bewildered, prayerful and at moments, almost strangely composed. Sometimes she wept, at others she nervously laughed, and sometimes she had old flashes of, you know, the kind of wit that she once had, which some chalk up to mental instability or witchcraft, but I think is just really the genuine reaction of a woman trapped in an impossible situation, watched by hostile eyes and aware that every word might be used against her. It could have also been because she knew her brother George Berlin was also being

• 1:27:44Speaker 00

  held in the Tower and likely going to die without ever seeing him again. Or the fact that this was a sham of a case and it was really being built around her while she sat inside this fortress with no voice, no defence and no way of escape. Like, genuinely, the fact she's only giving like a little awkward inappropriate laughter or crying is amazing. If this were me, I'd be clawing up the fucking walls.

• 1:28:12Speaker 00

  So what happens now? After all, Anne is still queen and she's been accused but not formally charged. Well, after several days of imprisonment, Anne was finally brought to the Great Hall of the Tower of London on May 15th and presented before a court of twenty-six peers of the realm who were presided over by the Duke of Norfolk.

• 1:28:33Speaker 00

  Now, this is particularly awkward because the Duke of Norfolk is her uncle. Now, you may be thinking, thank God, finally some nepotism for poor Anne in all of this, but it is not the case either. For in Tudor England, loyalty to the monarch came before anything else, including family. So the trial began, and Anne proceeded in her defence. She outwardly denied every accusation and challenged all the evidence presented against her, with contemporary accounts suggesting Anne answered both confidently and intelligently, impressing even some of those present. But it wasn't enough. This was a kangaroo court with a predetermined outcome, based

• 1:29:17Speaker 00

  on charges fabricated by Cromwell, and it would only have one verdict. Delivered by the Duke of Norfolk himself, he read Anne, Queen of England, "Thou hast offended our sovereign lord and king and will be sentenced to death, either by burning or beheading at the king's pleasure." What followed next was silence. No screams, no cries, no fanfare with witnesses reporting that Anne listened to the sentence with remarkable composure, returning to her apartments in the Tower to await her execution. She knew. There was no hope, no way of escaping, and all she could do was ready her soul and think of her daughter.

• 1:30:03Speaker 00

  So in the days that followed, Anne spent much of her time in prayer. And while her moods occasionally shifted again between courage and grief and disbelief, she managed to stay composed. But she wasn't the only one feeling really uneasy about this. Never before in history had a Queen of England been sentenced to death, and there were many who questioned how and why it had come to this. After all, like we said before, Henry's head of the church. He can do as he pleases with annulments and marriages without Anne needing to die. Even Shapoy, who openly hated Anne, thought it was unnecessary, stating she had been,

• 1:30:44Speaker 00

  quote, condemned under presumption and certain indications without valid proof or confession. He also notes the public's reaction of Henry's hypocrisy, saying it, quote, "sounds ill in the ears of the people that the king has shown himself more glad than ever." So even if your enemy is like, what the fuck is going on, you know, this is really unnecessary and improper, then imagine what the common people are thinking with their queen potentially being burnt at the stake. The concern grew even larger when Anne received the sacraments and swore upon her living soul that she had never been unfaithful to Henry, which for the deeply spiritual tutors

• 1:31:26Speaker 00

  and members of other foreign courts, carried enormous weight, as falsely swearing before God while receiving communion was considered a grave spiritual crime. So people are really starting to get pretty antsy over the fact that Henry hasn't acquitted her or changed his mind here. But there was a moment where this may have happened and everyone's kind of on the edge of their seat, and that was on May 17th, when Thomas Cromwell officially declared Henry and Anne's marriage annulled. So it's over, right? He's free to marry Jane, right? He's free to marry Jane. Anne can be released and melt away into obscurity and, no, that's that. But it wasn't that simple. Henry needed the marriage annulled not to deal with the Anne problem as such, but to

• 1:32:10Speaker 00

  ensure Elizabeth, like Mary, was declared a bastard, right? Same process. I don't really think he ever had any intention of simply annuling and acquitting Anne. He really kind of needed her dead, sorry. So, you know, bang goes that idea. That same day, Anne, brother George, and the other accused men were executed on Tower Hill. And from then, things moved pretty quickly. Hearing of her brother's death, Anne once again sank deeper into her prayers, thinking of her almost three-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Ofton. It really is like such a tragedy here because at no point in the seventeen days from her arrest to her execution, that's how quick it went, guys, seventeen days,

• 1:32:53Speaker 00

  was Anne ever allowed to see or say goodbye to Elizabeth. She knew she had been disinherited, something again Anne herself had insisted happened to Mary. So she understood better than anyone that Elizabeth would face a harsh and perilous future at court. Which of course weighed on her greatly, as did her method of death. Now, originally, if you remember from the sentencing, Anne was told she would be either burnt or beheaded at the king's discretion. Now, I don't want to say luckily, you know, for pretty obvious reasons here, but Henry did end up choosing beheading, a death which he considered more merciful,

• 1:33:35Speaker 00

  even arranging the fatal blow to be delivered by an expert swordsman from Calais to ensure it was swift with no pain or suffering. So, you know, I, I kind of suppose he does do Anne this one solid before her. And which brings us to the morning of May nineteenth, fifteen thirty-six. Here, in the royal apartments, Anne rose early and first attended mass, praying and preparing with her ladies-in-waiting, who reported that she appeared calm and composed, declaring again that she had been a faithful wife to the king, and despite not really liking them very much, she asked her ladies to be brave.

• 1:34:16Speaker 00

  Then, at around eight o'clock, Sir William Kingston arrived to inform her that the executioner was ready, to which Anne reportedly replied that she had heard the executioner was skilled, and joked with her ladies that she had a little neck, nervously laughing and famously placing her hand almost entirely around her throat. She then stood up, left the apartments, and made her way with her ladies in waiting to the nearby scaffold which had been erected within the tower grounds near the chapel of St Peter at Vincula. Unlike the executions of George and the other falsely accused men whose executions were attended by huge crowds, Anne saw only a small crowd permitted out of dignity for her

• 1:35:00Speaker 00

  status as a former queen. Facing them all, with the morning chill still in the air, Anne walked steadily to the scaffold, dressed in a dark grey damask gown trimmed with fur and a crimson petticoat beneath. Her ladies, albeit again Cromwell's spies, accompanied her, weeping as they moved through the crowd. Once on the scaffold, Anne then stood before the crowd, trembling, where she delivered a brief speech which has had several translations, but Tudor chronicler Edward Hulse is generally the most commonly accepted. I'm gonna read it for you now. Anne says, "Good Christian people, I have not come here to preach a sermon. I have come here to die.

• 1:35:43Speaker 00

  For according to the law and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that whereof I am accused and condemned to die. But I pray God save the king, and send him long to reign over you. For a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never. And to me was he ever a good, a gentle, and a sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my case, I require them to judge the best. Thus, I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me."

• 1:36:26Speaker 00

  So a really, really powerful monologue here from Anne, right? Again, showing no real cracks in her resolve throughout this. She refuses to blame or harp on the charges, which is already outwardly denied. She also not only says nothing bad about Henry, who I would have put an upstake last year, but actually praises him, no doubt hoping that this act would spare Elizabeth from his coldness. And I actually think in this, one of the most illuminating lines, at least for me personally, isn't the stuff about the blame or the praise or whatever. It's actually that second last line where she says, "And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best," which basically just translates to,

• 1:37:07Speaker 00

  "If anyone chooses to discuss my case, I ask them to think best of me." Or perhaps a more literal translation of this is, "If people speak about what happened to me, I ask them to give me the benefit of the doubt." And I think this is really interesting at this point because it shows Anne is very aware of what is going to happen to her historical legacy next. A great defaming of her character that will live long after her, whose shadow Elizabeth will have to contend with her whole life. And I think calling this out to the crowd, like literally on the stage of her death,

• 1:37:47Speaker 00

  is almost a plea in a way to consider her baby daughter in the way they speak about her. So super, super moving stuff from Anne here and really sets the scene for what's to follow. "But the time was here, and after her speech Anne removed the headdress and jewellery she wore, kneeling on the straw." Guys, I'm getting anxiety, guys. My parasocial relationship right now. This happened a long time ago, okay? It's not happening to us. "Kneeling on the straw-covered platform, her body trembling. Her ladies then approached, blindfolding her, as was the custom, while the executioner positioned himself behind her. As we said, he was a real professional, brought in from France, who was not only skilled with the blade, but in his manner,

• 1:38:33Speaker 00

  distracting Anne by calling for his sword, which was already placed on the platform, hidden in straw, so not to scare her. At the sound of his voice, Anne instinctively turned her head towards it, with the swordsman taking a double swing of the blade above his head and striking." She didn't expect it. There was no noise, no pain, and death was instantaneous. The crowd fell silent, the ravens flew, and one of the most captivating and divisive figures in English history was dead.

• 1:39:10Speaker 00

  Her body and head were quickly covered up by her ladies, who famously declared they would handle Anne's body themselves, for they did not want her to be handled by inhumane men. As such, they wrapped her remains in a white cloth, the blood-red stain seeping through almost instantly, before placing her body in an elm chest that had originally been used to store postings. One final blow of indignity for the fallen queen, who was taken to the nearby chapel of St Peter at Vincula within the Tower of London and buried in an unmarked grave.

• 1:39:44Speaker 00

  No ceremony, no monument, no tomb. By that very afternoon, it was as though Anne Boleyn had simply vanished, disappearing into the earth with remarkable haste, something that Henry himself took full advantage of, wasting little time moving on, when he proposed to Jane Seymour the next day.

• 1:40:07Speaker 00

  While certainly no surprise, the speed of this shocked many observers at court and across Europe, which only fuelled further rumours that Anne's death had been planned long before her arrest. But Henry wouldn't hear of it, marrying Jane less than two weeks later on May 30th, 1536. The union was a successful one, with Jane often described as Henry's one true love, something which I think we can generally chalk up to the fact. She finally gave him his long-awaited son on October 12th, 1537. His name was Edward, and the price paid for him was five women. Catherine, Mary, and Elizabeth, cast aside and mowed down by Henry's great dynastic desires.

• 1:40:53Speaker 00

  Jane too, paid the price, dying at 29 years old, just 12 days after giving birth. Then, of course, there's Anne, who in my opinion, paid the ultimate price not just in life, but in death. Her historical record awash with misogyny and hate.

• 1:41:13Speaker 00

  Whether it was anti-Reformation elements in her own court, like Chippewa, or those from Europe like Pope Paul III, Anne was seen during her lifetime as a troublemaking vixen whose womanly wilds had disturbed the natural order of things, undermining centuries of history and papal authority. Even those at court who supported her, or, you know, at the very least, supported the Reformation and her role in its coming, went harsh on the subject after her death out of self-preservation, seeing another four queens come after her. Then, of course, there is a later generation in Edward and Mary, the latter of whom obviously hated Anne, having been disinherited by her and as a Catholic,

• 1:41:57Speaker 00

  had her religion be minimized in England. During her time on the throne, which was a notoriously bloody affair for Protestants, Mary referred to Anne almost exclusively in insults, giving her titles like the Concubine and Madame de Pembroke. This then fuelled other Catholic sources to refer to Anne in the same manner, giving us the great whore element that's been passed down today. Edward, on the other hand, didn't really know Anne to speak on her, but we know he was fond of Elizabeth and many of his advisers admired Anne and the reformers she helped elect. But it was hardly reputation-saving stuff, guys. No, the truth is, from the time of her marriage to Henry,

• 1:42:40Speaker 00

  Anne's historical legacy was written. She was a husband-stealer, a radical, a difficult woman, because she spoke her mind. She had opinions and she shared them openly, transforming the role of queen for centuries after. When she couldn't deliver Henry his son, it then changed again. Now she was an adulterous, incestuous witch, something that has been disproven countless times by countless historians in the years since, but it didn't matter. Because ultimately, the story sells. And if there is one thing we know for certain, no one gets in the way of a good story, especially when you can weaponise it for your own agenda.

• 1:43:27Speaker 00

  So as time went on and tensions between Catholics and Protestants rose, the rumours surrounding Anne grew. With later sources, including Nicholas Sander, a Catholic exile writing 50 years later during the reign of Elizabeth, stating that Anne was a monster with six fingers on one hand, a projecting tooth, a large goiter under her chin, and, most infamously, that she had miscarried a shapeless mass of flesh. We see this same treatment for countless women throughout history with the best example probably being Marie Antoinette, whose entire legacy comes down to four words: let them eat cake, which she never even said. In fact, they weren't attributed to her until at least 50 years after her death, again,

• 1:44:10Speaker 00

  same as Anne here, in one of the subsequent French revolutions to perfectly sum up the privilege and ignorance of the aristocracy in a way that just seems almost too good to be true. And the reason is because it is. Marie never said let them eat cake, the same way Anne was never a witch or a whore. But these stories sell and stack up to the relevant agendas of the day. Whether, like I said, it's anti-Protestant, it's anti-monarchy, or in both cases, it's anti-women, it is classic misogyny, which cannibalises the historical record and legacy of those women whose flaws and mistakes, something FYI, we all have and we all do,

• 1:44:54Speaker 00

  are transformed into something so, like, grand and, um, malevolent, right? That they're not even treated as humans anymore. Anne is a witch with misfigurements and Marie, both in her life and death, was portrayed as a half-human, half-beast. It's so fucked up, guys. And again, proof that if we are not perfect, quiet, meek women that operate in a way that patriarchy sees fit, we will be treated as an other. Something which both Marie and Anne suffered. And while we have made so much progress since then in both historical reporting and

• 1:45:37Speaker 00

  the social standing of women, we still see this happening every single day. With vicious attacks on both progressive and conservative women, creating platforms and speaking out. I mean, this is something I've even experienced in like a much lesser capacity, just talking about history. Men in my DMs and comments section saying things like, this is why women shouldn't be in academia and shut the fuck up, get back to the kitchen, can't listen to your voice, you're so annoying. Um. Oh my God, I had one the other day. You're pretty enough to watch, but have to mute you because you're talking shit.

• 1:46:17Speaker 00

  Okay, you do hours of research and then put it online for people. No, you won't, really. Honestly, like it genuinely is endless. And that's just a teeny tiny bit of what public women today experience. So imagine what it was like for Anne.

• 1:46:32Speaker 00

  Which I have to admit, guys, like it does make me think for a minute. Why are we doing it? Like, why keep speaking out and making our lives harder, sacrificing our mental health, our safety, and in some parts of the world, our lives, right? And I think it all comes back to the age old adage that we plant trees in whose shade we know we will never. Sit, this work is not about us. It's about paving the way for the women who follow. And most importantly, you know, especially for me in this particular field, honoring those who came before. Which, in the case of Anne Boleyn, is best demonstrated in her daughter.

• 1:47:14Speaker 00

  Now, while we don't have any evidence, shocker, that Anne wrote to Elizabeth or left anything in the final days of her life for her. There is a legend which began circulating in the years after that on her final day on earth, Anne Boleyn proclaimed that Elizabeth would achieve great things, reportedly stating she will be more famous than any queen who was ever sat upon England's throne. Now again, no evidence to suggest she said this and it's probably just, you know, a legend created years later, but she was not wrong. Elizabeth, daughter of Anne, disappointment of Henry, became not only one of England's most successful monarchs in history, but the world.

• 1:47:57Speaker 00

  Ruling through a golden period of culture and change, asserting more strength than her father could ever muster and ruling with more savvy than her mother could have ever dreamed of. Refusing to have children, thus ending her father's great dynastic desire, the same one which steamrolled so many of the women around her. Elizabeth is known today as Gloriana, England's greatest queen.

• 1:48:26Speaker 00

  And you have to admit, there is a real sense of divine justice in that moment. After all, you can kill the mother, you can try to eradicate her memory, but you cannot kill the spirit of the daughter which follows. Which is exactly what we do it for. Which brings us to the end of another episode of Hot History, guys. Thank you so much for following along with me on this ride. An absolutely huge one for you all. Make sure to tune in next week because we are kicking off our July coverage on all things Greek and Bronze Age in preparation for the release of The Odyssey. That's right, guys, all of July, we are talking about the Trojan War.

• 1:49:10Speaker 00

  We are talking about Homer, we are talking about the Greek gods, and we are going to give you all the information that you need to know to walk into that cinema and storm the gates of Troy yourself, okay? First episode of the rank will be the Greek gods. So if you want to do a little Percy Jackson rewatch before, which is what I'm currently doing, you go for it. As always, guys, if you are looking for some more hot history before then, then you can follow us on Instagram at Hot

• 1:49:38Speaker 04

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• 1:50:07Speaker 06

  Kayak searches and compares hundreds of travel sites. But unless I repeat the word kayak, Kayak thinks you won't remember that. So Kayak asked me to say kayak as many times as possible. Kayak. Kayak. Kayak. Kayak. Kayak. Kayak. Kai. Ooh. Ak. Kayak, kayak, kayak, kayak. Kayak. Search, compare and save on your trip. Kayak, got that right.

• 1:50:37Speaker 00

  History Club and on TikTok at hot dot history. It has been such a pleasure getting down and dirty in time with you and I will speak to you all shortly. Thanks, guys. Love you. Bye.