by Susan Bordo
Nicole Angeloro, who came to the project late but has been essential to its completion, read the entire manuscript with more care, editorial wisdom, and affection than I could have hoped for. The final book has benefited greatly from her guidance. David Hough was the most meticulous and knowledgeable copy editor I could have asked for. Thanks to him, I send this book into the world unafraid of source scrutinizers and punctuation police.
A project that takes as long as this one is never written uninterrupted or sheltered from personal difficulties, unexpected delays, and professional obligations of life outside the writer’s cave (in my case, a tiny study—formerly a dining nook—next to the kitchen, where I can make five AM coffee without waking up the rest of the house). There were times when I seriously doubted whether “my life” would allow me to finish my book. For helping me through those times, I thank my husband, Edward Lee; my sisters, Binnie Klein and Marilyn Silverman; Cristina Alcalde; Kate Black; Michelle Del Toro; Donna DePenning; Janet Eldred; George Hodgman; Kathi Kern; Ellen Rosenman; Natalie Sweet; and Lee Ann Whites.
My little study is the only room on the first floor of our house that can be closed off to dogs and other people, thanks to a door I installed; to press the point home, I put a sign up: DO NOT DISTURB: WRITER AT WORK. The sign means nothing to my daughter, Cassie, who barges in as she pleases, to describe the latest gruesome episode of her favorite television show or insist that I watch how many push-ups she can do. She thinks I’m a relic of another era, finds it quaintly amusing that someone would voluntarily sit writing, surrounded by books, when there are horses to ride, hoops to shoot, friends to text. She finds it a symptom of my derangement (“Mom, you concern me”) that I consider her the inspiration for a book about a sixteenth-century queen. She doesn’t know yet that there are many ways to be fierce and strong, and that I find her push-ups less stirring than her insistence, day after day, on being herself in every way.
Susan Bordo
Lexington, Kentucky
September 2012
Notes
Introduction: The Erasure of Anne Boleyn and the Creation of “Anne Boleyn”
1. Lord Cromwell to Sir William Kingston, May 18, 1536, in Norton 2011, 248.
2. Sir William Kingston to Lord Cromwell, ibid. Modern spelling applied.
3. Actually, Katherine Howard was also beheaded for adultery. As with Anne (who was, in fact, Katherine’s cousin), this marriage began with passionate infatuation on Henry’s part and ended with his former beloved on the scaffold. Barely a year after the marriage, Katherine (who likely did have at least one adulterous relationship) was placed under house arrest at Hampton Court and accused of leading “an abominable, base, carnal, voluptuous, and vicious life, like a common harlot, with diverse persons.” Katherine tried, unsuccessfully, to see Henry in person and talk him out of it. (Henry’s policy, perhaps because he feared he would be vulnerable to in-person pleas, was always to make sure that those he wanted dispensed with remained “out of mind” by keeping them “out of sight.”) She was executed on Tower Green in 1542.
4. Goodman 2005.
5. de Carles 1927, 234. Original: En ce pays, elle fut retenue/Par Claude, qui Royne après succedda:/Ou tellement ses graces amenda/Que ne l’eussiez oncques jugee Anglise/En ses façon, mais nifve Françoise.
6. She later became a passionate admirer and defender of William Tyndale’s English-language Bible, at the time banned in England but smuggled in for Anne, who had her ladies-in-waiting read it daily.
1. Why You Shouldn’t Believe Everything You’ve Heard About Anne Boleyn
1. Starkey 2004, 443.
2. Friedmann, vol. II, 1884, 297.
3. Froude 1891, 324.
4. Herbert 1855, 171.
5. Starkey 2004, 524.
6. Ibid., 421.
7. Ibid., 510.
8. Ibid., 361
9. Ibid., 527.
10. Bennett 2012.
11. Mattingly 1932, 178.
12. Ibid, 184.
13. Pascual de Gayangos (editor), “Spain: September 1529, 1–10,” Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 4, Part 1: Henry VIII, 1529–1530, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=87687.
14. Pascual de Gayangos (editor), “Spain: May 1536, 16–31,” Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5, Part 2: 1536–1538, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=87961.
15. James Gairdner (editor), “Henry VIII: April 1533, 11–20,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6: 1533, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=77546.
16. Adrienne Dillard, October 13, 2011, comment on The Anne Boleyn Files Facebook page, “Interesting Article on Eustace Chapuys by Susan Bordo,” accessed October 15, 2011, www.facebook.com/theanneboleynfiles.
17. October 13, 2011, comment on The Anne Boleyn Files Facebook page, “Interesting Article on Eustace Chapuys by Susan Bordo,” accessed October 15, 2011, www.facebook.com/theanneboleynfiles.
18. Ibid.
19. Deborah Kuzyk, October 13, 2011, comment on The Anne Boleyn Files Facebook page, “Interesting Article on Eustace Chapuys by Susan Bordo,” accessed October 15, 2011, www.facebook.com/theanneboleynfiles.
20. Loades 2009, 52.
21. Ibid.
22. Tremlett 2010, 250–51.
23. Loades 2009, 16.
24. J. S. Brewer (editor), “Henry VIII: May 1529, 1–10,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524–1530, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=91361.
25. Strickland and Strickland 2010, 561.
26. Herbert 1856, 317.
27. One is Annette Crosbie’s Katherine, in the first episode (written by Rosemary Sisson) of the 1970 BBC television series The Six Wives of Henry VIII.
28. James Gairdner (editor), “Henry VIII: July 1533, 26–31,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6: 1533, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=77563.
29. Rawdon Brown (editor), “Venice: November 1531,” Calendar of State Papers Relating to English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 4: 1527–1533, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=94624.
30. James Gairdner (editor), “Henry VIII: June 1533, 1–5,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6: 1533, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=77553.
31. Pascual de Gayangos (editor), “Spain: December 1533, 26–31,” Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 4, Part 2: 1531–1533, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=87797.
32. Pascual de Gayangos (editor), “Spain: October 1533, 1–20,” Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 4, Part 2: 1531–1533, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=87791.
33. Pascual de Gayangos (editor), “Spain: December 1533, 26–31,” Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 4, Part 2: 1531–1533, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=87797.
34. Lundell 2001, 77.
35. James Gairdner (editor), “Henry VIII: May 1536, 1–10,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10: January–June 1536, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=75429.
36. Pascual de Gayangos (editor), “Spain: April 1533, 1–25,” Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 4, Part 2: 1531–1533, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=87778.
37. James Gairdner (editor), “Henry VIII: July 1533, 11–15,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6: 1533, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=77560.
38. Pascual de Gayangos (editor), “Spain: November 1535, 1–30,” Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5, Part 1: 1534–1535, British History Online, http://www.brit
ish-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=87926.
39. James Gairdner (editor), “Henry VIII: February 1534, 11–20,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7: 1534, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=79296.
40. Pascual de Gayangos (editor), “Spain: May 1534, 21–31,” Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5, Part 1: 1534–1535, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=87897.
41. Pascual de Gayangos (editor), “Spain: June 1534, 16–30,” Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5, Part 1: 1534–1535, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=87899.
42. James Gairdner (editor), “Henry VIII: February 1534, 11–20,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7: 1534, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=79296.
43. Loades 2009, 71.
44. Froude 1891, 316; Friedmann, vol. II, 1884, 10.
45. Froude 1891, 280.
46. Friedmann 1884, 10.
47. Pollard 1919, 304.
48. Pascual de Gayangos (editor), “Spain: September 1533, 1–15,” Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 4, Part 2: 1531–1533, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=87789.
49. Ibid.
50. Starkey 2004, 420.
51. Weir 2010, 36.
52. Ibid., 30.
53. Ibid.
54. Ibid.
55. Ibid., 10.
56. Pascual de Gayangos (editor), “Spain: May 1536, 16–31,” Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5, Part 2: 1536–1538, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=87961.
57. Weir 2011, 82.
2. Why Anne?
1. The exact passage is Leviticus 20:21: “And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.” (KJV)
2. Letter 4, Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, in Norton 2011, 42.
3. J. S. Brewer (editor), “Henry VIII: February 1528, 11–20,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524–1530, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=91312.
4. J. S. Brewer (editor), “Henry VIII: February 1528, 11–20,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524–1530, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=91312. An almost word-for-word description of Anne also occurs in James Gairdner (editor), “Henry VIII: January 1534, 1–5,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7: 1534, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=79289. The repetition suggests that Wolsey’s early description of Anne had become official governmentspeak.
5. Pollard 1919, 176.
6. J. S. Brewer (editor), “Henry VIII: February 1516, 16–29,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 2: 1515–1518, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=90899.
7. J. S. Brewer (editor), “Henry VIII: December 1527, 1–9,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524–1530, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=91303.
8. Froude 1891, 23.
9. Ibid., 32.
10. Cavendish 1905, 12.
11. Strickland and Strickland 2010, 575.
12. Ibid., 576.
13. The exact nature and number of Anne’s pre-Henry relationships are fuzzy, but virtually all historians believe that she had some sort of serious romantic entanglement with Henry Percy, heir of the fifth Earl of Northumberland.
14. Cavendish 1905, 15.
15. Ibid., 16.
16. Dixon 1874, 107.
17. Anderson 1977, 30.
18. Hirst 2007, 161.
19. Ibid., 163.
20. Ives 2005, 40.
21. Rawdon Brown (editor), “Venice: October 1532,” Calendar of State Papers Relating to English Affairs in the Archives of Venice, Volume 4: 1527–1533, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=94635.
22. George Wyatt’s Life of Queen Anne Boleigne, in Norton 2011, 17.
23. Ibid.
24. Vincent 2009, 149.
25. Pitman 2003, 61–62.
26. Pointer 2005, 78–79.
27. If you happened to have been born with less than shining gold tresses, there were many recipes for curing that. You could take the scrapings from rhubarb, steep them in white wine or clear lye, and wet your hair with the solution, leaving it to dry in the sun (repeat if necessary). Sulphur and lead were also useful and could bleach freckles too. But the most successful procedures depended on lye—a great deal of it. (The success was temporary; golden tresses, tortured by lye, usually fell out over time.) Other formulas were employed to achieve the “whitely” complexion that was most admired. You can soak wheat in water for fifteen days, then grind it and blend it with water, strain it through a cloth, and let it crystallize through evaporation. You then mix it with rosewater, which “will obtain a make-up which will be as white as snow.” White ceruse (containing lead carbonate, lead oxide, and lead hydroxide) could also be smeared on the face to simulate a pale matte complexion. (It was poisonous, but other popular recipes—such as egg whites—left the face shiny and stiff.)
28. Actually, the sociobiological arguments fall apart against the historical and geographical spectacle of human diversity.
29. Connor 2004, 97.
30. Daneau 1575.
31. Sander 1877, 25.
32. James Gairdner (editor), “Henry VIII: June 1533, 1–5,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6: 1533, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=77553.
33. Norton 2011, 19.
34. Loades 1968, 22. Modern spelling applied.
35. Wyatt 1817, 424.
36. The third nipple, too, is reported as fact (or is described as “widely rumored” or as she “was said to have,” a characterization that tends to perpetuate itself) on numerous websites, many of which cite the popular The Book of Lists, first published in 1977, as their source. This book, which the authors admit was written “for fun,” quickly became a source for schoolchildren “to spice up their schoolwork.”
37. Bailey 2010.
38. Chapman 1974, 28.
39. Smith 1973, 119.
40. When I asked Howard Brenton in an interview why the blonde Anne—I thought that perhaps he was making some point by going against archetype—he said it was simply because a wig would have been too uncomfortable for the blonde actress to wear. Of course, Raison could have dyed her hair, as Natalie Dormer did, and I wonder if Brenton would have given up so easily if other historical facts had collided with his cast’s preferences. My suspicion is that our own lingering blonde fetishism, still asserting itself even in an era of multiracial aesthetics, played a role.
41. Drew 1912, 14.
42. Wyatt 1817, 424.
43. de Carles 1927, 234.
44. Wyatt 1858, 3.
45. The history of the mole is a case in point. Between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a mole’s “disruption” of the skin changed from being the devil’s handiwork to nature’s accentuation of especially pretty features (such as the lips or the eyes). Men and women alike began to put false spots (beauty patches) on areas of their faces they wished to draw attention to. (Or they might use them to hide scars or pockmarks.) Like actual moles, these mimic moles developed a code, but the meanings were far less menacing than the medieval interpretation: A spot on the forehead showed majesty, on the nose sauciness, on the midcheek gaiety, and near the corner of the eye passion. A patch on the lips invited a kiss. “It is a Riddle,” mused Robert Codrington in his seventeenth-century conduct manual, “that a Blemish should appear a Grace, and that a Deformity should adde unto Beauty.” (Vincent 2009, 150.) But that is oft
en the way ideals of beauty change.
46. Meyer 2004, 19.
47. Ives 2005, 18.
48. Margaret of Austria to Sir Thomas Boleyn, in Norton 2011, 25.
49. Cholakian and Cholakian 2006, 4.
50. Erasmus 1995, 292.
51. Starkey 2004, 258.
52. Pizan 1997, 119–20.
53. Knecht 2008, 227.
54. Benger 1821, 137.
55. Singer 1827, 120.
56. Pollard 1919, 191.
57. Ibid., 191–92.
58. James Gairdner (editor), “Henry VIII: September 1535, 11–20,” Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 9: August–December 1535, British History Online, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=75668.
59. Ives 2005, 33.
60. Only Aristophanes, as depicted in Plato’s Symposium, had up until then come close to providing a model of the kind of love that Shakespeare—and we—think of as “romantic”: two personalities who find their wholeness, power, and peace in coming together. And Socrates, not Aristophanes, won that debate in Plato—and thus in medieval culture, which was strongly shaped by neo-Platonism.