Anne Boleyn the Sportswoman and Her Captivating Looks – A Guest Post

I am delighted to be hosting day four of Sandra Vasoli’s book tour! Sandra has written a wonderful guest post for us entitled ‘Anne Boleyn the Sportswoman and Her Captivating Looks’. Are you intrigued? The title certainly got my attention! But before I share with you this entertaining and informative read, some more good news, MadeGlobal has provided me with a copy of Sandra’s new book, Anne Boleyn’s Letter from the Tower, to give away! Here’s how to enter…

Conditions of Entry

For your chance to win a copy of Anne Boleyn’s Letter from the Tower, you must be subscribed to On the Tudor Trail’s newsletter (if you are not already, sign up on our homepage where it says ‘Free Enewsletter Subscription’).

Then simply leave a comment after this post between now and 24 September 2015. Don’t forget to leave your name and a contact email. Please note that I have comment moderation activated and need to ‘approve’ comments before they appear. There is no need to submit your comment twice.

This giveaway is open internationally.

A winner will be randomly selected and contacted by email shortly after the competition closes. Please ensure you’ve added natalie@onthetudortrail.com to your address book to avoid missing my email.

Good luck!

Now, more about the author…

Sandra Vasoli, author of Anne Boleyn’s Letter from the Tower, earned a Bachelor’s degree in English and biology from Villanova University before embarking on a thirty-five-year career in human resources for a large international company.

Having written essays, stories, and articles all her life, Vasoli was prompted by her overwhelming fascination with the Tudor dynasty to try her hand at writing both historical fiction and non-fiction. While researching what would eventually become her Je Anne Boleyn series, Vasoli was granted unprecedented access to the Papal Library. There she was able to read the original love letters from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn—an event that contributed greatly to her research and writing.

Vasoli currently lives in Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania, with her husband and two greyhounds.

Anne Boleyn the Sportswoman and Her Captivating Looks

The fascination with Anne Boleyn, second wife and Queen to Henry VIII, is a worldwide phenomenon. Many questions about her and the relatively short life she boldly lived are discussed and debated in an endless search for answers. A singular topic which continually fires the imagination concerns her appearance. We are frustrated by the fact that there exists, at least to modern knowledge, no verified contemporary portraits of Anne. There are, certainly, two drawings that have been beautifully rendered by Hans Holbein the Younger, which some believe to be Anne. There are curiosities about each, however, that give rise to doubt and controversy as to who may have been the actual sitter. Thus we return to the lovely portrait hanging in Hever Castle, and the variations on that theme, in the hope that we are able to create a likeness of this woman who was so audacious and sophisticated, in our mind’s eye.

Anne Boleyn, by an anonymous painter. Hever Castle, Kent.

This article is not intended to examine what we already think we know about Anne’s appearance, but instead, try to understand her better through her known love of sport.

Anne was, without doubt, a woman of many talents. These were exhibited throughout the winter months as she excelled at indoor pursuits. In the summer, though, when the weather was fine, Anne along with Henry shared a great passion for outdoor sport. This, clearly, was one of the qualities Henry must have grown to love about Anne. She was fearless and enthusiastic, and undoubtedly displayed an athleticism he found very attractive. We know that she competed with Henry and others at archery. There is ample documentation about her love of hawking with her husband, and they seized every opportunity to do so as they travelled on Progress together.

Anne also played, with Henry and their best friends and courtiers, rousing games of bowls, or boules, as she had been taught in her youth in France. Not one to shy away from activity, Anne’s delight was to join in and compete. Perhaps of all the physically demanding sport she engaged in, riding and hunting were her favorites.

“The King commanded the Queen to be removed out of the court, and sent to another place; and his Highness rode in his progress, with Mistress Anne Boleyn in his company all the grece [stag-hunting] season.” [Cavendish, The Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey]

That Anne was an accomplished horsewoman, and fearless enough to join Henry on his many outings in the parklands and fields where he hunted for hours on end, is an often underestimated aspect of the mystique in their unique bond. Hunting represented, in 16th century England, a noble activity performed by the chivalrous knight. In terms of hunting imagery, both Henry and his courtier poet (and love rival), Thomas Wyatt, directly spoke of Anne Boleyn. Henry, in one of his early love letters to Anne, described the stag he had brought down and offered to her: “And to cause you yet oftener to remember me, I send you, by the bearer of this, a buck killed late last night by my own hand, hoping that when you eat of it you may think of the hunter.” Oh, that lusty Henry! The Wyatt poem, which is quite famous, Whoso List to Hunt, describes a hind (a female deer), pursued by two huntsmen. The hind, of course, represents Anne being pursued by both Wyatt and Henry. Thus, their shared fervor for the hunt must have incited in Henry an even greater ardor for the woman he adored – and sought relentlessly. Anne, herself, embodies an exclusive entity: the hunted, and the hunter. What does her penchant – and her ability – for the hunt tell us about her? There were, indeed, royal women who hunted regularly, but not many of them. It was a strenuous and exhausting recreation. Furthermore, it was highly dangerous. Dreadful accidents could, and did, occur during the chase.

Knowing this, it is even more intriguing – and very revealing – to consider how Anne’s desire to spend days on horseback afield with Henry informs us about her character – and her physical appearance.

At the commencement of a royal hunt, a blast of the huntmaster’s whistle fanned the greyhounds, buckhounds, and harthounds out in search of prey. Most days it was likely to be red deer, either hind or hart. At times, though, the hounds came upon wild boar – fierce competitors. As the hounds covered ground, the riders followed, in accordance with their rank. The king and Anne would ride at the head of the field, along with the huntmaster. Anne most likely rode astride as opposed to sidesaddle: her feet in stirrups, her gown designed for the purpose of allowing her to have one leg on each side of her horse. The hunt was neither the time nor place to ride on a sidesaddle. Every bit of strength and control was required to avoid perilous mishaps on the field, and riding aside offered little in that regard. Once the hounds sighted their prey, the field of riders took off in pursuit. Flying across hills, clambering down embankments, wading across streams: controlling a galloping horse took strength, wits, and courage. Anne possessed all, and reveled in the thrill. At times, the horses jumped brush or felled trees, and it took a keen expertise and great balance to remain seated. Henry probably bellowed with delight as they raced headlong across the terrain. His pride in Anne as she galloped near him would have been unmistakable. Once the deer was brought to ground and dispatched by the huntmaster and Henry, the party would head back to the stableyard, partaking of ale and refreshment along the way. Hot, fairly drenched with sweat, Anne would strip off her goatskin gloves. They must often have ridden in the golden light of late afternoon, on the return to whichever hunting lodge was their home base for that evening.

Anne, replete with a sense of accomplishment, would have greatly looked forward to a bath, a rest, and an evening supping with Henry. The day was one of strenuous exercise, to be certain! What, then, can we discern about Anne, knowing how often she hunted with Henry? Riding horseback, especially at the gallop and over fields and hills, as opposed to on roads or trails, is physically challenging. It is an extremely aerobic activity. Controlling a running horse uses every muscle. Therefore, we conclusively know that she was very fit, by today’s standards. This vigour served her also in the many other sporting endeavours she enjoyed with Henry: archery, hawking, bowls. She was undoubtedly lean and had a good deal of strength. The French poet, Lancelot de Carles, stated that she was ‘beautiful and with an elegant figure’. He observed that ‘She became so graceful that you would never have taken her for an Englishwoman, but for a Frenchwoman born.’ Her gracefulness in movement was in no small part due to her level of physical fitness, as much as her French training.

While Anne would have worn leather gloves while riding, there is no doubt that her face would have been exposed to some sun and wind. Veils, which would have offered little protection at best, would impede one’s vision to the extent that they were likely not worn while hunting.

So, what might this mean for Anne? She most likely had a suntan! It was not fashionable, to be sure, but Anne was not the typical beauty of the English Tudor court. This high colour could very well explain the description given her by the Venetian ambassador: ‘Madame Anne is not one of the handsomest women in the world. She is of middling stature, swarthy complexion, long neck, wide mouth, bosom not much raised, and in fact has nothing but the King’s great appetite, and her eyes, which are black and beautiful.’ Eric Ives reports that Simon Grynee, who had been a professor of Greek at Basle, described her complexion as ‘rather dark’, and Thomas Wyatt famously referred to Anne as ‘Brunet’.

If we think about Anne in the context of her ability and willingness to revel in the sport that men enjoyed, a clearer picture of her physical presence emerges. And as for a true glimpse at her personality? She was without doubt a woman of action; with drive, courage, strength, and the desire to push herself to the limit. These qualities, along with her unique looks, made her irresistible to the powerful Henry, King of England. This is precisely what we would expect from the charismatic, accomplished Anne Boleyn.

Sources

• George Cavendish, The Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey, ed. RS Sylvester, Early English Text Society (1959)
• James Jonathan Williams, Hunting in Early Modern England: An Examination With Special Reference to the Reign of Henry VIII, A thesis submitted to the School of Historical Studies of The University of Birmingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, October 1998
• Calendar of State Papers…in… Venice, ed. Rawdon Brown et al (1864 – 1940)
• Ilaria Veltri degli Ansari, A Sidesaddle, http://ilaria.veltri.tripod.com/sidesaddle.html
• All illustrations: Reinette http://jeannedepompadour.blogspot.com/2012_10_01_archive.html