Anne Boleyn was a skilled musician and according to Eric Ives, “Her skill in performance is commented on by everyone” (Pg. 285).
Ives believes that it is possible that a case of virginals, known as ‘Queen Elizabeth’s Virginals’ housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum may have originally belonged to Anne Boleyn.
Thought to have been made during the first part of Elizabeth’s reign until the date ‘1594’ was recently discovered on the jack-rail of the instrument.
The collections department of the museum state that, “The spinet almost certainly belonged to Elizabeth I. It bears the royal coat of arms and the falcon holding a sceptre, the private emblem of her mother, Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth is reported to have played ‘excellently well…when she was solitary, to shun melancholy’.”
The decoration bears the image of a falcon on a tree stump – Anne’s Falcon Badge. Ives believes that it is possible that Anne Boleyn was indeed the first owner and that after her death Elizabeth somehow acquired it.
If this is not the case, then Elizabeth was in fact repeating her mother’s badge and keeping her memory alive. I imagine that all who saw Elizabeth playing the virginals with the falcon badge standing proud would have thought of Anne. It clearly illustrates that even though we have no recorded instances of Elizabeth speaking about her mother, she certainly kept her memory alive and close to her heart.
Click here to see images of the beautifully decorated ‘Queen Elizabeth’s Virginals’ including the falcon badge.
Sources & References Ives, E. The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 2004. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O70511/spinet-the-queen-elizabeth-virginal/
When I saw the badge of Anne’s falcon on Elizabeth’s virginal… I have to say I got a shiver down my spine!
I think I would too Sarah! It’s so beautiful!
Catherine Howard who was a relative of Anne Boleyn and also ,at the age of 19, was said to have been phenomenol at the “Virginals” one of the only ways in which she received a very formal education. She “lived” with her great grandmother a Duchess who was also Queen Elizabeth’s great grandmother so Anne Boleyn’s grandmother .
Left out beheaded. Howard was only 19 when this event also called adultery and treason occured.
WOW..I will have to stop into the museum to see this on my trip. Thank you
It’s on my list too Kate!
c.1594 would be certainly too late for the virginal to be owned by Anne Boleyn (she had already been dead for a long time). Remember the time-line; she was H VIII’s 2nd wife and he had 6 in total. King Edward and then Queen Mary ruled. Finally, Elizabeth came to the throne. Queen Elizabeth herself would also be in her middle age — this is only 6 years before the turn to the 17th century! Virginals were older than the latter part of the 16th century. It very well could have belonged to Elizabeth; but, it would have been a NEW instrument in 1594 (unless it had been made much earlier and had been her Mother’s.)
Hello Julia, yes, I’m well acquainted with the Tudor timeline, thank you. Professor Ives believed that the instrument may have been made for Anne Boleyn, and then found its way to her daughter later in the century. By the end of Henry VIII’s reign (1547), he owned more than 30 virginals, acquiring around 5 of them in 1530, so it’s very possible that Anne, being a talented musician, played the virginals. Recent conservation, however, found the date ‘1594’ inscribed on it and so it’s thought that this is the date in which the decoration was applied. While it may have never belonged to Anne or have even been played by the ageing Queen Elizabeth, it’s still interesting that Anne’s falcon badge makes an appearance. Best wishes.