Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions

by G.W. Bernard

Overview

A new look at Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn

"Will certainly make readers think again about what we really know about Henry VIII's most controversial wife—and what we have merely become accustomed to believe we know about her."—Paul Hammer, University of Colorado at Boulder 

In this groundbreaking new biography, G. W. Bernard offers a fresh portrait of one of England’s most captivating queens. Through a wide-ranging forensic examination of sixteenth-century sources, Bernard reconsiders Boleyn’s girlhood, her experience at the French court, the nature of her relationship with Henry, and the authenticity of her evangelical sympathies.

He depicts Anne Boleyn as a captivating, intelligent, and highly sexual woman whose attractions Henry resisted for years until marriage could ensure legitimacy for their offspring. He shows that it was Henry, not Anne, who developed the ideas that led to the break with Rome. And, most radically, he argues that the allegations of adultery that led to Anne’s execution in the Tower could be close to the truth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300170894
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	05/31/2011
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

G. W. Bernard is professor of early modern history at the University of Southampton and editor of the English Historical Review. He is the author of The King's Reformation: Henry VIII and the Remaking of the English Church. He lives in Southampton, UK.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vi

Preface viii

Acknowledgments x

1 'These bloody days have broken my heart': the fall of Anne Boleyn 1

2 Who was Anne Boleyn? 4

3 'Whose pretty dukkys I trust shortly to kiss': Henry VIII's infatuation with Anne 19

4 'The King's Great Matter': Henry's divorce and Anne 37

5 'The most happy': King Henry and Queen Anne 72

6 She 'wore yellow for the mourning': Anne against Catherine 79

7 'I have done many good deeds in my life': Anne Boleyn's religion 92

8 Anne's miscarriage 125

9 Conspiracy? 135

10 'A much higher fault': the countess of Worcester's charge against Anne 151

11 'You would look to have me': Anne's lovers? 161

12 'Incontinent living so rank and common': was Anne guilty? 183

Epilogue 193

Appendix: the portraits of Anne Boleyn 196

Notes 201

Bibliography 223

Index 230

Editorial Reviews

"[Bernard's] book is an extraordinarily successful demonstration of how much less we know of Anne than we had thought. A shrewd critical eye is turned on the circumstances and motives of those who created the historical record on which our limited knowledge depends; and an even sharper eye distinguishes between evidence and interpretation or opinion."—Richard Rex, The Catholic Historical Review

The Catholic Historical Review - Richard Rex

'His [Bernard's] path, and it's a noble one, is to do painstaking research, consider feasible alternatives, and put cats among the historiographical pigeons … Berbnard's brave book adds new twists to the mystery.' - Jonathan Wright, The Herald

The Herald - Jonathan Wright

'Bernard is an outstandingly diligent and resourceful archival historian ... He is also by instinct a histroiographical street fighter, refusing to take on trust the findings of other scholars, even, or perhaps especially, when they are the stuff of broad historical consensus ... To call Bernard's book a revisionist biogrpahy would be something of an understatement. It sets out to turn completely on its head 'the traditional view of Anne.' - Peter Marshall, Literary Review

Literary Review - Peter Marshall

'Bernard has worked his fingers deep into the greasy corners of the sources, like a man picking a chicken carcass for one last oyster of meat. And this book is pleasantly written … certainly an attention grabber.' — Dan Jones, The Spectator

The Spectator - Dan Jones

". . . the book is a useful resource and an eloquent assessment of the times."--Carol Herman, The Washington Times

The Washington Times - Carol Herman

"This bold new study of Anne Boleyn is provocative, but it is also shrewd and thoughtful and eminently readable. Bernard's book will certainly make readers think again about what we really know about Henry VIII's most controversial wife—and what we have merely become accustomed to believe we know about her."—Paul Hammer, University of Colorado at Boulder

Paul Hammer

''His [Bernard''s] path, and it''s a noble one, is to do painstaking research, consider feasible alternatives, and put cats among the historiographical pigeons … Berbnard''s brave book adds new twists to the mystery.'' - Jonathan Wright, The Herald

— Jonathan Wright

The Herald

''Bernard is an outstandingly diligent and resourceful archival historian ... He is also by instinct a histroiographical street fighter, refusing to take on trust the findings of other scholars, even, or perhaps especially, when they are the stuff of broad historical consensus ... To call Bernard''s book a revisionist biogrpahy would be something of an understatement. It sets out to turn completely on its head ''the traditional view of Anne.'''' - Peter Marshall, Literary Review

— Peter Marshall

Literary Review

''Bernard has worked his fingers deep into the greasy corners of the sources, like a man picking a chicken carcass for one last oyster of meat. And this book is pleasantly written … certainly an attention grabber.'' — Dan Jones, The Spectator

— Dan Jones

The Spectator

". . . the book is a useful resource and an eloquent assessment of the times."--Carol Herman, The Washington Times

— Carol Herman

The Washington Times

Anne Boleyn's sex life forms the basis of a new biographical snapshot by scholar Bernard (early modern history, Univ. of Southampton; The King's Reformation). In this brief, gossipy tome, Bernard digs into the historical record to present an alternative view of the short but tumultuous life of Henry VIII's second and most famous wife. He gives Boleyn less credit for having major influence on the religious and political upheaval of Tudor England and more for being a sexually confident and provocative woman entangled in a soap opera life that found her winning a hard-fought battle to become queen of England, only to find herself sentenced to death on charges of adultery a few years later. While definitive source material is thin, Bernard has mined it for every clue to produce this unusual melding of scholarship and what is essentially 500-year-old celebrity gossip. VERDICT The exploits of British royals remain popular, and Anne Boleyn's story is among the juiciest. This book will intrigue an avid crowd.—Elizabeth Goldman, Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont.

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