A Review of ‘Anne Boleyn – Adultery, Heresy, Desire ‘ by Amy Licence

Anne Boleyn’s unconventional beauty inspired poets – and she so entranced Henry VIII with her wit, allure and style that he was prepared to set aside his wife of over twenty years and risk his immortal soul. Her sister had already been the king’s mistress, but the other Boleyn girl followed a different path. For years the lovers waited; did they really remain chaste? Did Anne love Henry, or was she a calculating femme fatale?

Eventually replacing the long-suffering Catherine of Aragon, Anne enjoyed a magnificent coronation and gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth, but her triumph was short-lived. Why did she go from beloved consort to adulteress and traitor within a matter of weeks? What role did Thomas Cromwell and Jane Seymour of Wolf Hall play in Anne’s demise? Was her fall one of the biggest sex scandals of her era, or the result of apolitical coup?

With her usual eye for the telling detail, Amy Licence explores the nuances of this explosive and ultimately deadly relationship to answer an often neglected question: what choice did Anne really have? When she writes to Henry during their protracted courtship, is she addressing a suitor, or her divinely ordained king? This book follows Anne from cradle to grave and beyond. Anne is vividly brought to life amid the colour, drama and unforgiving politics of the Tudor court.

The relationship between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn has been studied, scrutinised and even recreated in drama many times over the years. The emerging assumptions are that Anne was a calculating, manipulative, social climber who used her beauty and intelligence to lure the King away from his devout, faithful and popular wife of over 17 years and in doing so sparked a turbulent and deadly period of England’s religious history.  The opposing view is that Anne was an intelligent, accomplished, unconventionally attractive, fashionable woman who was ultimately given no choice in embarking on a relationship with an increasingly capricious King and who eventually paid the ultimate price.

Amy Licence presents a thoroughly researched and engaging examination of Anne’s life and takes the reader with Anne as she grows from Norfolk to Hever, through her service to Margaret of Austria and Queen Claude and her eventual return to England and the Court of Henry VIII in service to Catherine of Aragon. The book is set out in 7 sections starting with the origins of the Boleyn family and Anne’s early life, her time spent in service in Europe, as Lady in Waiting to Queen Catherine, her ascendancy, the royal separation and divorce, Anne’s triumph and her swift and fatal downfall.

The book offers an impartial narrative of Anne’s life through all available sources some of which offered new information to the reader. This is all the more remarkable given that much of the surviving information from the time was not written by those who were supporters of Anne such as Eustace Chapuys, Charles V’s Imperial ambassador to England and George Cavendish, a member of Cardinal Wolsey’s household who asserted that it was Anne’s desire to ruin the Cardinal following his interference with her earlier relationship with Henry Percy. They were both self-confessed opponents to the relationship and their accounts of the time are highly critical of Anne and her family.

A skilful re-examination of the surviving love letters to Anne from Henry identifies a more sinister undertone in the letters which ultimately gave her no choice in whether to pursue the relationship with Henry using coercion to pursue her, ultimately wearing down her resistance.

Once married, Amy Licence studies the turbulent relationship between Anne and Henry and how she may have felt during that time. She asserts that Anne was not trained or prepared to be queen whereas Catherine of Aragon was raised from birth as a future queen, learning from her mother to turn a blind eye to her husband’s infidelities, the importance in impressing foreign ambassadors and the skills involved in ruling. Anne was raised at home in a rural family environment before her European service. However even in her service roles she was an onlooker rather than a key player, who was charged with maintaining a dignified public persona with all those around her. As a result, when she was placed under pressure, it showed.

Amy Licence recounts the 3 different narratives which are provided as explanations of what went wrong between the couple. Firstly, after such a long wait, Henry’s high expectations were not met and the marriage was in difficulties very early on. This resulted in a rapid extinction of Henry’s desire for Anne. The second interpretation is that the marriage was still viable and that whilst tempestuous, there remained a genuine affection between Henry and Anne until an unfortunate series of events inearly 1536 caused Henry to break. The last interpretation was that there was a critical tipping point during the relationship following which was a period of disappointment and disillusionment with Anne failing to deliver the promised son and Henry turning to other women.  As a result the pressure on Anne grew, resulting in many terse and angry exchanges and Henry’s change in role from devoted lover to the King who had set aside his previous wife.

Amy Licence’s conclusion on the much asked question as to why Anne had to die was simply that Henry wanted it.  She asserts that Henry was increasingly capricious, mercurial, volatile and narcissistic. He had already taken many unprecedented steps to satisfy his own will.  He wanted rid of Anne and asked Thomas Cromwell to achieve this for him. Anne was one of a cast of many who Henry favoured and then disregarded.

In a final flourish, the appendix of Anne’s bills and debts, featured at the end of the book gives a schedule of the articles ordered by Anne and of her debts owing at the time of her death. Listed are many fine pieces one would associate with a person of Anne’s status.  More heart-breaking, are the many pieces ordered for ‘my lady Princess’, a little girl Anne would not see grow up.

The book is written in an extremely appealing and accessible style which will be pleasing to those who are new to the subject matter and also to those that have read other books on Anne. Amy Licence’s refreshing approach to a much covered and hotly debated subject matter avoids making sweeping assumptions about the key players. She provides an extremely impartial account of Anne’s life, giving the reader an incredible amount of detail of the time. The end of the book marks the finale of an exceptional woman’s remarkable journey through life which, whilst short in years, has marked history for all time.

Reviewed by Kate Hope