Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Question from Misty - Henry's feelings about Anne's imprisonment, etc.

I wrote a piece on Anne Boleyn for my blog www.madameroyale.com, and I started to research on how henry felt when he threw Anne in the tower and how he felt about her death. In your findings have you uncovered any information? I have found it particularly hard to anything on this subject.

Thank you,
Misty from Madame Royale

3 comments:

Lara said...

Howdy Misty,

I can't recall coming across anything, but I have to admit that it has been a while since I've stuff on Henry and Anne. Have you checked the Ives biography (in particular the recent revised version)? That might be a good place to start.

I have a feeling that if Henry felt any remorse, he hid it well!

Anonymous said...

Hi Misty,

A great new bio of Anne Boleyn came out last year, one that made me even more of an "Ann-thusiast" than I already am. Its by Joanna Denny (a descendant of Sir Anthony Denny, one of Henry's close servants) and provides a detailed account of Henry's activities during Anne's imprisonment and trial. Apparently he was spending alot of time with Jane in a house he stashed her in, somewhere in London. He was mainly planning for the wedding, ordering supplies, etc. Perhaps that can give us a glimpse into his mindset? (Denial? Apathetic?). The book is interesting, with a reconsideration of many events and people.

Anonymous said...

I second Joanna Denny's biography as an excellent read; it gives a fantstic new perspective on Anne.
About Henry's feelings while Anne was in prison - Henry was never one to dwell on things that made him feel bad - when Wolsey fell he behaved the same way as he did with Anne, cutting him out of his life completely. Once Anne was arrested Henry threw himself into his new relationship with Jane Seymour, and perhaps on the surface of his emotions he persuaded himself that he had done the right thing. However, a couple of things betray that he probably felt remorse and guilt - he never mentioned Anne's name again throughout his life (if that's not covering up then I don't know what is!), and we have very few original records of Anne, suggesting a lot of her letters and paperwork were destroyed (this could be attributed to Mary I, but I think may also be partly due to Henry wanting to rid himself of any memory of her, and thus assuage his guilt).
Sorry for the long post! I've spent a lot of time considering Henry's remarkable ability to destroy people apparently without affecting his ability to enjoy life!