Author Robert Parry has written a series of articles over at The Elizabeth Files – see Cambridge Connections and Cambridge Connections Part 2 – where he examines what Anne Boleyn was actually doing when she asked her chaplain Matthew Parker to make sure that her daughter, Elizabeth, was looked after if anything happened to her. She was not just putting her daughter into the hands of a chaplain, she was putting Elizabeth’s future into the hands of a man with important connections, a set of men with humanist and Protestant ideals who would influence and help her daughter – John Cheke, Roger Ascham, William Cecil, William Grindal and John Dee.
After reading Robert’s wonderful articles, I’m left wondering if Elizabeth was more her mother’s daughter than the “lion’s cub”, and whether Anne Boleyn should actually take some credit for the Elizabethan Golden Age – her influence definitely extended beyond the grave. An interesting thought and one which should not be dismissed lightly.
You can read both articles at The Elizabeth Files:-
and we are busy discussing the question “Was Anne responsible for Elizabeth becoming queen?” on our forum at https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/forum/anne-boleyn-forum/, so please do join us.
I continue to rave about Robert Parry’s wonderful book, “Virgin and the Crab”, which is a fictional account of Elizabeth I’s rise to the throne and the Cambridge set of men who helped her. I adore this book and have no qualms about saying that it is better than the Philippa Gregory ones I have read, it’s brilliant. Read my review at http://reviews.theanneboleynfiles.com/the-virgin-and-the-crab-by-robert-parry/184 for more details.
