The Anne Boleyn Collection II by Claire Ridgway
Queen Anne Boleyn and her family have gone down in history as ambitious social climbers who stopped at nothing to gain the King's favour, and who paid the ultimate price. But the real Boleyns were very different. In this collection of articles, best-selling author and creator of The Anne Boleyn Files website, Claire Ridgway, banishes the myths and introduces the real Boleyns. Written in Claire's easy-going style, but with an emphasis on good history and sound research, these articles are perfect reading for Tudor history lovers everywhere.
I was excited to hear that Claire Ridgway was bringing out another book about Anne Boleyn as I thoroughly enjoyed her first book “The Anne Boleyn Collection”. I was interested to see what sort of information was included in this second book and what aspects of Anne’s life that Claire examined. Upon reading I have to say that I was not at all disappointed and I found Ridgway’s second book to be just as good, if not better than her first!
As with the first book this second book about Anne Boleyn is set out in a series of easy to read articles which look at the various stages and events in Anne Boleyn’s life. Claire starts off her book by giving a history of the Boleyn family, including some details about their possible origins and extended family members. She then moves on to talk about a possible birth date for Anne Boleyn and argues why 1501 and 1507 are two dates that have been singled out as the most likely dates for Anne’s birth. As with Claire I believe that 1501 best fits as a date for Anne’s birth – if only a long lost piece of information would come to light with an exact date!
Claire also talks about Anne Boleyn’s royal connections and her prestigious heritage through several lines of family including the Howards on her mother’s side and the Butlers on her father’s side. It is interesting to think that many called Anne Boleyn nothing more than a common whore but in fact she did have noble blood in her!
The next chapter is a fascinating article which looks at Anne Boleyn’s time serving Margaret of Austria and then her time at the French Court. As well as giving information about this time in Anne’s life Claire talks about the influence that both Margaret of Austria and those at the French Court may have had on Anne Boleyn during her most formative years.
I thoroughly enjoyed the sections about Anne Boleyn’s love life and her potential marriage to James Butler. Anne is often portrayed as a whore or a woman with extremely lose morals yet Claire has shown that there were not a great deal of men in Anne’s life – no more really than any other woman. She was a normal woman who attracted suitors as any other did and yes happened to get involved with a married man, but clearly she was not a whore!
From this section Claire moves on to talk about Anne’s coronation (and includes a great map which helps plot out Anne’s Coronation Procession). The amount of information and detail in this section clearly shows that Claire has done a great deal of study and research to gather such meticulous information. It is simply fascinating to read about Anne’s Coronation and the splendour and pomp that went into the event.
There are also two great articles which look at Anne Boleyn as a mother and her miscarriages. The first article contains lots of fascinating information including predictions if Anne’s child would be a girl or a boy, what Anne’s lying in chamber would have looked like, the role of the midwife and the events following the birth. There is information about Elizabeth’s christening and what Anne Boleyn may have been like as a mother. The second article examines the tragic miscarriages Anne had and possibly how many she suffered and possible reasons why.
I thoroughly enjoyed the articles in Claire’s book which talk about Mary Boleyn and Anne’s relationship with her sister. (I am a tragic Mary Boleyn lover at heart!) Frustratingly we have a few facts but not enough to put together any sort of firm conclusion as to the sister’s relationship. We do know that they grew up together and were educated together in the early years. Mary served her sister when she was Queen and Anne cared for Mary’s son after Mary’s first husband died. We also know that Mary was banished from court and after that the sister’s never saw each other again. Once again if only a long lost piece of information came to light which gave us an insight into the sister’s relationship!
Claire also talks about Anne Boleyn and her charitable works, her faith and her patronage. Claire debunks the myth that Anne Boleyn was only a selfish woman who thought about herself. She provides a great deal of evidence to show that Anne had a deep and true faith and that she sought to help others and further her faith.
From this Claire gives details about Anne Boleyn’s fall and her time at the Tower of London, from her coronation to her ultimate execution. Claire provides a great deal of interesting information about the Tower of London including what it used to look like during Anne’s life as well as other notable men and women executed within the Tower walls.
The last few articles look at Anne Boleyn’s close family, her father Thomas Boleyn, her mother Elizabeth Howard, her brother George Boleyn and her sister Mary Boleyn. These are great articles which give an overview of who the members of Anne’s family where, what they were like and Anne’s relationship each family member.
One aspect that I really loved about this book was Claire Ridgway’s passion for Anne Boleyn. It was evident in the way she wrote about this remarkable woman, in the depth of her research and the power behind her words that she truly cares for Anne Boleyn and has a great passion for bringing the life and truth about Anne Boleyn to the reader. I also really enjoyed the sections where Claire added in her own personal thoughts and views. She does not push these upon the reader but gives them as a means to express herself and help the reader understand where Claire is coming from in her thinking and her beliefs.
Claire also included many fascinating images throughout the book. Some were black and white portraits while others were colour photographs. She also included family trees and maps, all of these help to add to the book as they were not only fascinating to look at but also helped the reader gain an idea of what a person or place looked like.
I loved Claire Ridgway’s second book on Anne Boleyn. As with her first book it is clear that Claire did a great deal of research. This is not a book that has been written lightly and it is evident that Claire has spent a great deal of time reading, researching and checking her facts. Her passion for Anne Boleyn comes through and brings her writing to life. This is an absolutely wonderful book and gives a great overview of Anne Boleyn’s history and her life and I believe it is a must have for any bookshelf.
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