Anne Boleyn

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Anne Boleyn

Tudor Talk

“No more to you at this present mine own darling for lack of time but that I would you were in my arms or I in yours for I think it long since I kissed you. Written after the killing of an hart at a xj. of the clock minding with God's grace tomorrow mightily timely to kill another: by the hand of him which I trust shortly shall be yours.
Henry R.”
by King Henry VIII. The famous love letters, originally written in French, from King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn are undated. They were located in the Vatican library but Anne's responses are lost. Source: englishhistory.net

Anne Boleyn inspires because of her complexity and bold personality. She was intelligent, courageous, witty and determined. A sixteenth century woman with a voice! Anne Boleyn was magnetic, she inspired fierce loyalty and was the only of Henry’s wives to control him. Anne was also loyal and helped members of her family, friends or sympathizers to her cause.

Anne could be ruthless, calculating and unrelenting. She had a fiery temper and gave into bouts of ‘rashness’. As well as inspiring fierce loyalty, she inspired hatred.
This dichotomy coupled with her extraordinary story - her rise to fame from relative obscurity and her dramatic downfall - make her compelling and addictive.

Much about Anne is unknown, debated and controversial.

Her downfall reveals the power she held. It was not enough to simply divorce her or remove her, sshe had to be destroyed and her faction annihilated.

Anne Boleyn was many things but not a victim. She took on Cromwell and lost in the end. Even after her execution, those unsympathetic to her spoke of her courage and the honourable way in which she met her death. She was extraordinary and aroused strong feelings that left her mark on this world, an indelible Queen.