Anne Boleyn: Witch or Feminist?
Anne Boleyn is one of the most talked about Queen Consorts in English History and with so many film and television adaptations of Henry VIII, she has developed a mixed view amongst fanbases. To some she is an independent reformist. For others she is a glorified whore. Now, I am not a historian, but I do read plenty on the subject of English Royalty and I have found myself quite in the middle with Anne Boleyn. Now, fans of Anne Boleyn have often come around on videos and boards about the other five wives, namely Katherine (of Aragon) and Jane asking why there is so much hate for her. Now, I don't think the hate comes from Anne herself, but rather from how fans of her have treated her in comparison to the other wives.
That is the topic of this post: The Problem with Anne Boleyn.
Now there are three problems with Anne Boleyn in my humble opinion:
(1) She is always the main focus of any Henry VIII adaptation overriding Katherine.
(2) Fans refuse to acknowledge her role in the downfall of Katherine and Mary's decent into madness.
(3) The double standards between Jane and Anne.
1) Katherine was queen for twenty years, ruled as regent for a time and played a played a role in winning the battle of Flodden. The controversial book "The Education of Christian Women" by Juan Luis Vives, which claimed women have the right to an education, was dedicated to and commissioned by her. Yet, some call her weak, a doormat and claim she is not a "feminist" queen.
She is also (more or less) the only queen Henry wanted out of love and not just lust (Anne/Katherine Howard) or comfortability (Jane/Cleves/Parr). Even after he stopped sleeping with Katherine he loved and respected her. Most of their marriage was happy until the death of their last son Henry IX.
Yet, there are no movie adaptations with her as the lead and in the adaptation The Private Life of Henry VIII she is left out completely.
Despite the long list of accomplishments to her name, her story is not widely known by the mainstream audience. Who is? Anne Boleyn. Because in nearly every adaptation of the Six Wives, Anne get the most screen-time and the most development, while the other wives stay stagnate. That might be understandable for wives we know little about, but Katherine of Aragon is not one of those wives. No matter how people might feel about her, the point is that Henry and Katherine were together for roughly twenty years and that they were happy at times.
I personally am tired of watching shows where they put Katherine and Henry at the sour part of their relationship and have Anne Boleyn come in like Venus to save Henry from withered old Katherine.
Even Martin Luther, the figurehead of the Reformation did not agree with the divorce between the traditionally Catholic Katherine and the changing Henry:
"Before I should approve of such a repudiation, I would rather let him (Henry) marry a second queen...Even if there should be a divorce, Catherine will remain Queen of England, and she will have been wronged before God and man...No, my friend, if you are bound to a woman, you are no longer a free man; God forces you to stay with wife and child, to feed and rear them".
(Heiko A. Oberman's biography "Luther" , pg 286)
2) While Henry may be the true villain in the situation, the fact remains that Anne wanted to be queen once the King's attention was brought to her doorstep and she could no longer avoid it. She didn't want to be a mistress and instead wanted to become queen. Fine. If this is so, then it is undenyable that she played a part in Katherine's undoing and Mary's hatred towards protestants.
Anne fans will say that Henry wanted to divorce Katherine before Anne came along. While this is true, it is also true that Henry was only going to make Anne a mistress until she refused and then said she would only be with him if they were married, thus propelling the "King's Great Matter" and Katherine's eventual removal. In terms of Mary, while the details are not 100% certain it is know that she was very cruel to the young disowned princess.
Yes, Anne did attempt to reach out to Mary, but she handled it wrong. Mary was a ill teenager due to the divorce and was barred from seeing her mother. Anne comes in and says she will return Mary to her father's favor if she will acknowledge her as Queen. No daughter would spit in the the face of their mother's suffering.
Also in terms of Anne and Katherine: Anne was reported to have said about Katherine: "[I] wish that all Spanards were at the bottom of the sea...[I] care not for the Queen or any of her family, and that [I] would rather see her hanged then have to confess that she was her Queen and mistress"
(Starkey, "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" pg.434-435).
In contrast, when one of her ladies began to curse Anne, Katherine commanded her instead to 'pray for her' because the time would come when 'you shall pity and lament her case."
(Weir, "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" pg. 255)
3) Alright, now for the thing that really pisses me off. Anne fans treat Jane like crap and place all the blame for Anne's death in Jane's hands. Yet, when the topic of Katherine's death is blamed on Anne, those same people are quick to say "It was Henry's fault." Well, then if it was Henry's fault there how is it suddenly Jane's fault here? The other thing many say is that Jane was a sneaky bitch who knew what she was doing? My response to that: like Anne wasn't when she was taking Katherine's throne. In fact there is evidence of Anne insulting Katherine while she was still queen living in the palace, not to mention wishing for her death. But that's okay because its Anne Boleyn and whatever she does is alright because she's a "feminist."
Bull.
Now on to Jane, the King offered her to become his mistress, but she denied him (hmmm sounds like someone else we know). This triggered for Henry the same thing he felt when Anne denied him the need to get another queen. Henry was unhappy with Anne, not only because she could not give him a son, but because of her attitude.
Henry had lost alot when he seperated himself for Katherine to marry Anne: he had lost the support of rome, an ally in Spain and sent his father figure (Cardinal Wolsey) and one of his best friends (Thomas Moore) to be killed. Also, his close friend, Charles Brandon,1st Duke of Suffolk and his wife, Mary Tudor (Henry's younger sister), both hated Anne. The latter was even harder to take since he had been very close to his sister. He's lost all of this for the hope of a son he still didn't have and was now be annoyed by his wife. Even if Jane hadn't come along, he was getting tired of Anne and wanted to be rid of her. Now, in comparison Henry's only real complaint about Katherine was the fact that she could not bare him a son. Meaning, Anne had to do much more to with Katherine's downfall than Jane had to do with Anne's.
Not to mention, no one could have possibly foreseen Anne being sent to death for adultery. No Queen had ever been punished in that way before. At the worst, Anne would have been sent off into the Tower for life. So when she was killed, it was a shock to everyone; including Jane.
In terms of Jane as queen, many people say Jane was a doormat and did little to the country in comparison to Anne, and seeing as Anne helped rip the country apart, I don't see why this is such a bad thing. However, it is very much possible that Jane wanted to do more, but lacked the power to do so. After Anne, Henry became much more power hungry than before and he wasn't going to crown jane queen or allow her any power until she gave him the son he wanted. In 1536, was when she asked for pardons for participants in the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion. Henry is said to have rejected this, reminding her of the fate her predecessor met with when she "meddled in his affairs."
So because of Anne's influence Jane had no power until she gave birth to Edward and she then died before anything could be done with her new power. Do Anne fans acknowledge this? No. Which leads to people talking down to Anne and treating her like the bad guy in order to show what Anne did. Everything good Jane tried to do is considered irrlevent. Like her trying to help Mary. Anne fans go "she didn't help Elizabeth." Well, I don't know maybe it was because Henry was still angry about Anne and trying to help Elizabeth out in the open without giving Henry an heir would have been....stupid? I have very little doubt that after Edward's birth she would have tried to help Elizabeth, since, with her male heir, there would be no need to keep the girls bastardized.
In fact I believe that if Jane had lived things would have been very different, especially for Mary Tudor.
In conclusion to this, I have to say this: I admire and respect all of Henry VIII wives, even though it seems like I pick on Anne. It isn't because I don't like her, its because I dislike how she has somehow become the only important wife and the only wife worth being a led character. She is just another example of how people love mean girls. Let's face it we see it all over the televison shows. On Gossip Girl, Blair Waldorf is everyone's favorite, despite the fact she has no problem runing people's lives to get what she wants. She is a bully, yet because at moment she is sympathtic people ignore he faults. Yet, when nicer characters, like Vanessa Abrams, stand up to her they are the ones who get called less interesting and stupid and all kinds of names. Yet, we wonder why there are so many women out there who try to act the Anne Boleyns, Blair Waldorfs, or Veronica Lodges of this world. We hate them in real life, but idolize them in media.