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10:39 am
May 16, 2011
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What do you think their relationship was exactly? Or what was the extent of it?…
Personally, i can't come to a conclusion. Maybe it was like in 'Anne of a thousand days', they were in love and wanted to marry then Henry weaved himself in because he decided he wanted Anne now. Or maybe they flirted and then when Henry & Anne were together rumors came up to kind of push Anne away. Honestly i don't know what to think on this one, what is everyone else's thoughts?
• Grumble all you like, this is how it’s going to be.
1:52 am
January 17, 2011
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I'm pretty much on your wavelength on this one, maybe it was just film stuff but I do believe that it was like the film.
I do get the impression that they really were in love but then Henry came along and put the spanner in the works and Henry got what Henry wanted (Same old story!)
I suppose another question is would they have been allowed to marry anyway with their status so different? I know that has nothing to do with Henry noticing Anne but it is an interesting thought all the same. I think Anne and Percy's relationship was just one of a young couple in love and not thinking beyond that.
7:53 am
June 7, 2010
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I wonder if Wolsley put an end to their relationship because Anne was not viewed as a good enough catch for the Percys. Henry Percy was the heir to the Earldom of Northumberland, and was expected to marry someone who would add a significant dowry to this estate. I am not suggesting Anne was not a remarkable woman, but marriage was a business contract. Anne may have been the grand-daughter of the Dukes of Norfolk, but her father was one of the nouveau riche. Not necessarily in the same league as the Percys.
In the end, I think it was a May to December romance, which fulfilled the romantic notions of a young woman, but I doubt anything significant would have come from it. I could not imagine Anne surviving the desolate North, surrounded by devout Catholics (since she was a reformer when she returned from France), and far removed for the glamour of court life. But, I feel their romance was doomed. Neither the King nor Percy's father would approve of the match.
"By daily proof you shall find me to be to you both loving and kind" Anne Boleyn
2:21 pm
February 24, 2010
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Anne and Percy certainly thought they were in love. They were talking of marriage. If left to their own devices, I think they would have married. However, there were way too many people who thought otherwise. Percy's father would never have allowed a marriage between these two. It seems he had already planned on his son marrying an heiress.
I went back and read what Cavendish wrote about this. He claims they were very much in love, but when Henry heard about this, 'he was offended.' Henry could no longer hide his 'secret affection' and he told Wolsey his intent. He also told Wolsey to end the attachment between Anne and Percy. Wolsey told Percy Anne was not good enough for him. Percy said 'though she was a simple maid, she was descended of right noble parentage.' He told Percy that Henry had other plans for Anne, and that Anne didn't know it yet. Wolsey sent for Percy's father. Percy went home to marry a woman he would come to despise, and Anne went home to cool off.
I believe that Anne and Henry were inevitable. I don't know if Anne would have been happy with Percy. I know her as a Queen; and I cannot picture her as anything else.
2:12 pm
May 16, 2011
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Sharon said:
I believe that Anne and Henry were inevitable. I don’t know if Anne would have been happy with Percy. I know her as a Queen; and I cannot picture her as anything else.
I could see Anne as a “normal” 1500's woman. I mean she was probably used to a nice living style because her family had pretty good connections and she spent most of her life in France tending to a Queen, so yeah she was used to a pretty good life but if Henry (king) never made advances towards her then she'd be married off somewhere and to me it wouldn't be very shocking to see Anne being a normal woman. She wouldn't of been married off to someone poor…she would of have a good match, good living.
• Grumble all you like, this is how it’s going to be.
12:14 pm
January 9, 2010
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I can see Anne being content with Percy. It would have been a good match for her, plus there was actual affection between her and Percy and I think that in a marriage was always important to Anne. If Percys' father and Wolsey hadn't put a spanner in the works I don't think Thomas Boleyn would have had too much of a problem with Anne marrying into the Percy family either.
Alas, fate had different plans 
2:36 pm
February 10, 2010
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I do think Anne and Percy were in love. But to paraphrase Jane Austen she took care to fall in love with a man who was rich. 
The Percy marriage was what she was brought up to do – she was born noble the expectation would be that she would marry a nobleman. As Duchess of Brittainy says, the Percys were among the most powerful noblemen in the country, she did what she was supposed to do very well. Then she landed the biggest fish of all (even though many of the nobility considered the Tudors as upstarts as well as the Boleyns!).
Of course, if she had married Percy it opens up a whole new game of 'what if' – would we have ever heard of her and would she have living descendants today?
If Henry wasn't behind the break up of Anne and Percy then you wonder why Wolsey did it – was it to teach the upstart Boleyns a lesson, was it to teach the Percys a lesson (that however noble you were, you didn't offend the Cardinal) or was it simply because Anne and Percy didn't ask permission and he was in a bad mood that day?
2:47 pm
November 18, 2010
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Percy had been in an on/off betrothal with Mary Talbot for years.And Anne with James Butler.
It appears that Wolsey didn't like Percy as he appeared to be meddling in his affairs until shortly before his downfall(The Early Loves of Anne Boleyn , Wilkinson pps 108-112 hb).
IMHO, it was part the fact that there were already matches waiting for both of them which the king had approved in principle. The rest was Wolsey showing HIS power by making it known that HE had the king's ear and all the nobles had to use him as an emisssary.
I'm not sure that Anne would have liked living either in the north of England or Ireland and being so far from court. I think she would have encouraged her husband to remain where power was .
It's always bunnies.
11:31 pm
May 19, 2011
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I think she would have been happy to Queen it in the North. Perhaps she would bring reform there.
I too think it was fate that she marry Henry. There was no other way for Anne. She fulfilled the prophecy and was a sacrifice Queen.
"A fresh young damsel, who could trip and go"
8:19 am
April 11, 2011
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I cannot imagine for one moment that Anne would have been happy in the North, it was not only too far away from the power base that was court, but was also a stronghold for supporters of the Catholic faith. Also how would Anne have brought reform there? they were certainly not interested in changing their viewpoint on religion. The only way they were “reformed” was by Henry's cruel deeds after the Pilgrimage of Grace during 1536/7.
10:00 am
December 5, 2009
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Maybe she could have taken up knitting, Neil. If she'd tried hard enough she might have knitted herself a husband who deserved her! I agree that Anne would not have been happy out of the limelight. I wrote an article a while back where I said that I think she and George would have preferred their short time at the centre of power and influence to a long life of boredom and obscurity.
1:31 pm
February 24, 2010
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Louise,
You are our comic relief.
I cannot see Anne, marrying someone and living so far away from court. Percy and/or Butler were no match for Anne. She had spent time in two of the grandest courts of Europe. She knew the ins and outs of court life. I think she thrived at court. She was not meant for a life in northern England or in Ireland. Eventually, she would have resented the fact that she was so far away from court. She would have wanted more. I don't think she would have traded the life she had for any reason.
2:26 pm
December 5, 2009
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Sharon said:
Louise,
You are our comic relief.
Oh dear, I don't know whether to laugh or cry!
6:16 pm
May 16, 2011
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Anne was an ambitious woman but i still think she could of been happy somewhere else. She wouldn't be a complete nobody if she wasn't Queen, the Butlers were pretty high up there and so was Henry Percy. She would still see court and stuff but not reign over it which would of been okay, not the end of the world. She could of still been a popular person with people and have her name known if that's what she really wanted. Just because she married someone else who isn't King doesn't mean she wouldn't of been happy or anything. A big plus side to that story would of been her not losing her head.
I'm not trying to change anything (obviously i can't) or say her life absolutely should of been different because it was that horrible. No, Anne had a pretty good life up until her husband and supposed friends started turning on her. I'm just saying that if she hadn't became Queen then yeah, i could see her happy somewhere else.
• Grumble all you like, this is how it’s going to be.
4:59 pm
May 19, 2011
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Well, she was happy with Percy before their engagement was blocked. If Anne felt she would not have been happy with him (and I assume would have known where she would be living); I am sure she would not have been with him.
Perhaps there is more to Anne than court life. Could not she have revelled in family, friends etc?
Anne was an amazing woman. Just because you cannot see how she may have accomplished things, does not mean they could not have been accomplished.
"A fresh young damsel, who could trip and go"
10:43 am
May 16, 2011
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I agree with E, i mean there was more to Anne then just ambition and court life.
• Grumble all you like, this is how it’s going to be.
12:32 pm
January 9, 2010
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I can see Anne being content with Percy too and living some of the time away from court. She was younger then and I kinda picture Anne's ambition as something that grew with time. Perhaps sparked off by her disappointment over the Percy affair. And just because she would have been the wife of a major northern landholder doesn't mean she would never have been at court. She would have been expected to be there for all the big occasions at least.
4:53 pm
May 16, 2011
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Like Bella44 said, maybe Anne's ambitous side sparked of the disappointed over the Percy situation. What if Anne got more ambitious because she felt like maybe she couldn't marry Henry Percy because she wasn't 'good enough' for him therefore she'd wanna prove herself.
• Grumble all you like, this is how it’s going to be.
9:19 pm
November 18, 2010
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Since Wolsey was intefering with Henry Percy's life as late as 1530, would Anne be prepared to fight the Lord Cardinal as his wife with no chance of retrubtion?
I'm sure if Anne had married HP, she'd have been the power behind the throne, so to speak.She had the will-power to have made her mark over the earldom of Northumberland which was a semi-autonomous state for the time. she would have made sure they were well represented at H8's court rather than rustcate in the harsh north..
It's always bunnies.
