Friday, April 28, 2006

Question from Liz - Original letters

How does one find out where to see surviving letters, etc of Anne & Henry?

3 comments:

Lara said...

Since I'm not 100% sure what you are aiming for, I'm going to probably give way too long an answer. :)

You can find Tudor letters reproduced in many books, such as biographies, but I've also seen books mostly concerned with just the letters themselves. I recently picked up a gorgeous one called "Elizabeth I: Her life in letters". I'm hoping to get more letters up on my website, but I do have a few scattered here and there. In all cases, I try to record the source of the original.

If you were looking for information more along the lines of where you can see the letters for yourself, if you look at books (or websites) the majority of the time they will say where the original is. I've seen some in various places when I've traveled in Britain. One of my favorites was one of Henry VIII's at Hatfield House where he expresses his displeasure in his new bride from Cleves. A lot of Henry and Anne Boleyn's letters are in the Vatican in Rome. When I was there, they weren't on display, but I have no idea if they are now.

Hope this answers your question.

Anonymous said...

The letters aren't on display in the Vatican. Quite understandably, they aren't keen to showcase that particular love affair...

Anonymous said...

I was just browsing and I noticed this question, I hope you are still checking answers. I have a book that is really interesting and may be what you are looking for. It is Letters of Henry VIII 1526-29 "extracts from the calendar of state papers of Henry VIII" it has an editor that composed this book, Tim Coates it also states that it is an uncovered edition. I hope that helps and if you find one I think you will love it.