Hello everyone! I hope you’re all safe and healthy. These are certainly strange and challenging times! Just a quick note to share an interesting link. Thousands of the Vatican Library’s manuscripts have been digitised over the years, including the 17 love letters written by Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn during their courtship.
They were digitised back in 2016, but it’s not widely known. Henry was not fond of writing his own letters, so this series, written in English and French, is quite extraordinary. The scans are of high quality, so you can zoom in on every stroke and ink blob. Note the changes in the king’s handwriting, the way it slants upwards, the little love hearts…
Link: https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Vat.lat.3731.pt.A
If you’re interested interested in learning more about Henry VIII’s love letters to Anne Boleyn, I highly recommend the work of Sandra Vasoli. She’s the only person I know who’s had the privilege of seeing them twice. I’ll be chatting to her on my podcast ‘Talking Tudors‘ in May, but in the meantime, here’s a wonderful guest post that Sandi wrote for queenanneboleyn.com.
You might also find this article, written by the late Jean-Baptiste Piggin, of interest, as it provides links to some other wonderful manuscripts.
Enjoy!
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