Q & A with Robert Parry

There have been numerous biographies, novels, documentaries, mini-series and films written about the Tudor period. Why do you think viewers and readers are insatiable when it comes to the Tudors?

Well, the clothes were gorgeous, for a start. They also seem to have viewed life in a different way to us. They were not only elegant and swaggering, but spiritual and philosophical, as well. Where we have doubts and cynicism, they had optimism and self-confidence – and an extraordinary sense of adventure. They were hard working and brave, and they were also people who made things happen, who changed the world in which they lived. Rightly or wrongly, we are attracted to strong, defiant characters like the Tudors. It is probably also the sense of structure and order in their society that appeals to us – especially in our own chaotic, anything-goes kind of age.

What inspired you to write Virgin and the Crab?

I have always been enchanted by the Tudor and Elizabethan age, and the hero of the story, John Dee, was a man at the very hub of intellectual activity at that time. It is impossible, for example, to study the history of astronomy and astrology without encountering him at some stage. He is best known for casting the date for the Coronation of Elizabeth Tudor in 1559. It was probably well-over 20 years ago when I first started to speculate on what the relationship between Dee and Elizabeth might have been, and from that time the novel gradually took shape. An early version of it was finished around the mid-90’s and almost got snapped up by a major publisher in London. It didn’t quite make it then, but it did finally come to light in 2009 when it was published through Createspace. The title, by the way, comes from the astrological signs of the two main protagonists – Virgo the Virgin (Elizabeth) and Cancer the Crab (John Dee).

Who was John Dee and what role did he play in the life of Elizabeth I?

Born in 1527, Dee was just a few years older than Elizabeth. He was almost certainly one of her tutors, probably in mathematics and astronomy. Later, he advised her on all matters astrological and alchemical – these subjects being the forerunners of many scientific disciplines at the time. He was a great antiquarian and his home contained one of the most extensive libraries in Europe. He advised and worked for many of the great seafarers and explorers, such as Raleigh, Frobisher and Gilbert, who consulted him on geography and navigation. Elizabeth called him her ‘noble intelligencer’ and, sometimes ‘her eyes’ (a title he shared with Robert Dudley). He was intimately connected to the secret service, led by firstly William Cecil and later Francis Walsingham – both close friends of his – and undertook numerous journeys overseas of a secretive and sometimes controversial nature. He was, and remains, something of an unsung hero.

Your novel is meticulously researched and rich in historical detail- reading it felt a little like time travel! Tell us about the process you follow when researching your novels.

Thank you. At the time of drafting Virgin and the Crab in the early 90’s, the internet was yet to come into its own as a source for research, and so all the gathering of information had to be done in the old fashioned way – that is, by visiting libraries, taking photocopies, visiting places like the Tower of London – and reading lots and lots of books. The sub-title, ‘Sketches, Fables and Mysteries’ tells you that there is an element of fantasy to the plot. But I was determined not to describe anything that could not actually have taken place in reality. So all the characters – who are real people, of course – are to be found in more or less all the right places at the right time.

Why do you think that almost 500 years after Anne Boleyn’s death she still provokes such strong feelings and emotions? Why does she polarize people?

Yes, Anne Boleyn is a mystery and a fascination. Her popularity seems if anything to be increasing with the passing of time rather than fading away. Yet for somebody who had such a profound influence on the course of history, she remains almost invisible, airbrushed out by her contemporaries. There are so many questions for which we simply do not have answers. We do not even know with any certainty the year of her birth! Speculation on why this censorship might have occurred only adds fuel to the flames, of course. Conspiracy theories can find fertile ground – while the very fact that we know so little, allows us to project all kinds of emotional images onto the blank canvas. Sometimes we see her as a helpless victim, others as a home wrecker, all according to our own personal preferences and experiences.

I often sit and think about Anne, Henry, Elizabeth and many other Tudor personalities. I wonder about what they would have looked like in the flesh, what their voices would have sounded like and what Anne’s beautiful black eyes would have been like to behold in person. What are some of the questions that you ask yourself about the Tudors?

Yes, it would be wonderful to know what they looked like in the flesh, and what they sounded like, as well – their voices. I would also like to ask them how they squared their spiritual beliefs with the terrible injustices they sometimes inflicted on others. I’m sure they were genuinely devout people who believed in the principles of love and forgiveness. But they could also be greedy, uncaring and brutal. Henry is a prime example. Here we have a man who prayed daily (as any self-respecting Tudor would, of course) and yet who was so ruthless and cruel at times and who also destroyed so much of England’s architectural and artistic heritage during the Reformation – and for what? How come? That’s what I would ask – and a hundred other questions probably besides.

The ghost of Elizabeth I is said to manifest in the Royal Library of Windsor Castle and has allegedly been witnessed by members of the Royal family. Do you believe in the paranormal?

Yes. I rather suspect that the world we perceive with our five senses is only a tiny part of the whole spectrum of reality. Perhaps I have conveyed a sense of this in ‘Virgin and the Crab’ which becomes gradually more extrasensory, more dream-like and even a little hallucinatory as the story progresses. In the story, Dee and Elizabeth communicate with each other through dreams, through intuitive thoughts at moments. Both were mystics and students of philosophy in real life, and in fact the whole of the Tudor and Elizabethan age was permeated with magic and spiritual ideas – so much so that it would be a surprise if they did not believe that such things were at least possible. They were not only different to us in this respect; they were probably more different than we can ever imagine.

Have you visited places associated with the characters in your book? If so, do you have a favourite location?

I am lucky enough to have lived and worked much of my life right in the middle of  so many of the places where the Tudors and Elizabethans lived and played – in London; the Home Counties; all around the Thames and the towns that line its riverbanks. Like many people, I enjoyed my visits to Hampton Court and to the Tower of London, which just has to be one of the most evocative buildings in the whole world – in the way the history almost seeps out of the walls as you walk around. And I was fortunate some years ago to spend a few days and nights in Arlington Castle – once owned by the Wyatt family.

Your second novel ‘The Arrow Chest’ will be available this month. Could you tell us a little bit about this novel?

It is a story about Anne Boleyn, but moved forward a few centuries to the bold, extravagant neo-Gothic culture of Victorian England. That’s not quite so bizarre as it sounds. The Victorians underwent their own crisis of faith similar to the Reformation in Tudor times. The arrival of Darwinian evolution was perceived as a huge threat to the Church during the 19^th century just as Lutheranism was to the established Church in the 1500’s. I also felt I could make more sense of Anne’s story if I set it in a time a little nearer to our own, but not so near as to be stripped of its historical intrigue. The title, The Arrow Chest, meanwhile, refers to a curious incident at the time of Anne Boleyn’s execution in 1536 when her body (and head) were placed in an arrow chest rather than a coffin and buried under the floor of the Chapel of St Peters ad Vincula in the grounds of the Tower of London. But why an old arrow chest? The standard explanation tells us that an arrow chest was all that was available. That has never sounded quite right to me. The symbolism of the hunt as a metaphor for romance and sexual desire was widespread in Tudor times, and Henry liked to associate himself with the archer-God Apollo, as well. Could there have been other things, other issues involved? Anyway, the novel itself begins in 1876 when the remains of Anne Boleyn were unearthed during a renovation of the Chapel. It is a story speculating on what might have gone on at the Tudor court, only moved forward in time.

If you were given the task of writing a few lines for a memorial plaque for Anne Boleyn, what would you say?

That’s a tricky one. Probably something like, ‘Here lie the remains of a beautiful Queen who helped inspire the Reformation and who, through her daughter, led to the brave and vigorous golden age of Elizabethan England.’