Cait said

I’m writing my senior thesis on Anne, and was going to add a section discussing her physical appearance. For some reason, I wanted to write that no contemporary portrait exists because Henry made sure to have all inklings of her existence demolished. However, I do not remember where I read this, or if I had read it at all and it was all in my imagination . Does any of this ring true in regards to Henry? Thanks!

As far as I know there are only a few comtemporary likenesses of Anne. One is the Moost Happi medal(http://www.theanneboleynfiles……ppi-medal/). And there is the Checkers Ring made for Elizabeth(http://www.elizabethfiles.com/…..ring/3185/)

Claire has some articles here on Anne’s appearance(http://www.theanneboleynfiles……ppearance/).

However i suspect that most if not all portraits of Anne were either destroyed shortly after her death, lost due to various reasons by the owner or mis-identifed over time as other ladies. While I would love to see an original Tudpr painting of Anne, i really can’t see that happening any time soon.

My favourite Picture of Anne is the John Hoskins miniture to me at least this is the most likely picture of Anne. To me at least if you put the accepted picture of Mary B and the John Hoskins pic of Anne B side by side there are many simularities that say that yes they are sisters. Hobien’s portrait seems too sharp if that makes sence. I can see nothing in it which even remotely resembles anyone in her immediate family.
If I’m asked to which sister I find more attractive based on the portraits then I have to be honest here, Mary is by far the prettiest. but Anne just has that certain something in her face that draws you to her.
Again if you look at Holbein’s accepted protrait of Anne the shape of the face is all wrong when it comes to looking at Mary’s accepted portrait. Yes I agree that you can have 2 people in a family looking very different to each other, only have to look at Dinosaur and his brother too see that. Dinosaur is short, stocky with dark hair and dark eyes, whereas Martin (his brother) is tall, skinny with blonde hair and blue eyes. But I can see certain simularties in their facial features.
I see nothing of that in the Holbien’s portrait of Anne and Mary’s portrait. We all know that Holbien was a little to free with his brush at times, (A.O.C’s portrait being a prime example) but I think in this case Holbien went just a little too far with his artistic licence and made Anne look very different to what she actually looked like in truth. I cannot find any pictures of Elizabeth Boleyn Anne and Mary’s mother,(are there any of her?) but I have found a picture or I should say a picture of who is believed to be their Grandmother Elizabeth Tilney. I’ve have looked now at all 3 of them together and I can see a likeness between all 3.
If you have a look at the picture of Thomas Howard (odious jumped up cretinous poppingjay) Elizabeth B brother again it’s a simular shaped face that both of his nieces have. Again if you look at Holbiens accepted portrait of K.H, the facial structure is the same. (granted I believe the portait of K.H and that of A.O.C were painted by the younger Holbien as the older Holbien had kicked the bucket by then I think?)
Anyway it just seems to me that the Holbien accepted portrait of Anne is not her, that’s purely an opinion mind you.

Lard arse is very strange when it come to pictures etc. He kept many little keepsakes which had sentimental value, to him so I believe.
I think he had kept a picture of Christina of Denmark, despite the fact she was rude to him when he asked to marry her. I believe he also kept a picture of Anne Bassett too. One actually wonders if hidden amongst his belongings somewhere at the back of a drawer, he had kept Anne.B necklace or the ring she gave him, or perhaps some of the love letters they exchanged. Maybe even he had a locket with a lock of Jane’s hair in it.
K.O.A’s last letter to him etc. He did his best to eradicate all traces of his wives in one way or other, and more so Anne.B but Anne was a very difficult and still is, person to forget. She turned heads that’ for sure but not because of the fact she was the most beautiful person in the world, it’s her personality that was her true beauty and it’s that, that has lived on and still continues to charm the known world today. Lard Arse called her a witch, well perhaps n a way she was because we are all still held spellbound by her after nearly 500 years. Vivat Anne …

Shae said

If I remember correctly, and admittedly I research Katherine Howard, not Anne, so I could be wrong, but I recall that the witchcraft charges, and the claim made by Henry that she bewitched him, only appear in historical documentation from the Victorian era, and that there is no contemporary evidence of it. The Victorians are unreliable like that. (I love them, and my favourite biographer of KH is Victorian, but they are certainly not the most accurate accounts for history…)

We know that Elizabeth was in possession of one of Anne’s necklaces, the ‘A’ one, so Anne was not totally eradicated. Indeed most of the wives’ possessions were not eradicated, but often recycled. Often, the destruction of objects were not committed by Henry, but by the wives themselves. Jewellery would be melted down and redesigned, for example. But yeah, as for the original question, finding a reliable historian’s account of this is difficult. I’d suggest avoiding Weir, she is very poor at referencing/sourcing and so if you’re looking for evidence she is the worst to consider. I can only suggest Starkey, and possibly Bordo. I don’t study Anne so I have little books on her.

I meant my mention of witch craft as a joke Shae. Although I feel if Lard arse could have used it against her he would of done. I believe he did try it though.

The Victorian’s do love to dress things up somewhat don’t they. I guess their lives were so dull straid and boring, turning a molehill into a mountain was their way of having fun. Certainly the idea of showing an ankle in public was considered immoral etc. I tell you given the amount of undergarments the woman wore I should imagine it was a little like peeling an artichoke when they went to bed, and by the time they did get in bed the husband had either gone to sleep or forgotten what it was he wanted.

Yes I knew about the A necklace being in Elizabeth possession, the B necklace however has disappeared completely. Some believe it was buried with her? possible I suppose. But then it’s equally as possible that Lard Arse kept it, as a keepsake. Some killers like to keep a trophy of the person they have killed, makes them feel good about themselves. He could have had it broken up and reused etc, wasn’t uncommon. Or as I mentioned kept it hidden away somewhere, who knows it may well be still hidden away somewhere. I inclined to think that Anne’s B necklace was perhaps given to her sister Mary. That would to me, would seem logical.
If my lousy memory serves The Scottish Crown jewels that Jimbo 1st brought with him were locked away in a forgotten room in the Tower. Survived Olly Cromwells destruction etc, and were only discovered by accident about 20 years ago, I believe.

I’m not a lover of Weir’s books as it goes, and yes Iagree her research does seem to be a little on the scanty side of things at times. In fact I think I’ve only read one book of hers and that P***ed me off. This was pre chipmunks, so I couldn’t give it to them to read. I chucked it out of the window into the Orchard that backed onto the garden of the house I was living in at the time instead. (Sorry Olga)

How is your book comming along, by the way? K.H is an enigma to be sure. I often call her a silly giddy girl but I really don’t mean it the way it sounds. I think the real K.H was actually very different to what we believe, she just made some very bad choices in life, and chose the wrong people for freinds, but she wasn’t a bad girl or evil in anyway. In fact, she showed a lot of kindness towards others, and I have to give her a lot of brownie points in the way she was towards A.O.C she showed a lot of respect, and I believe the Christmas of 1540, had given her many gifts. She even tried to save Margeret Pole, who she had sent many parcels of warm clothing, food and wine, so that she would at least find the tower a little more pleasent. She didn’t deserve her fate, she was just a teenage girl thrown into a lions den, by ambitious men (mainly Norfolk who I detest, the odious cretinous jumped up poppingjay.) I do have a theory to why K.H was sacrificiously murdered however, it come down to one thing, Lard Arse’s ego. I know the poor French ambassador got a bit of a beating by Lard Arse, when he dared deliver a letter to Lard Arse from the French King Francois. In it Francois had stated that “he was sorry to hear of the Queen’s wanton and naughty behaviour” Lard arse went purple with rage and belted the ambassador for daring to deliver such a letter.

Thank you Anyanka. It’s all the rain we’ve had it’s rusted up the inside of my nut, and drowned the the rabbits in there working the controls..Yeah I know it’s always the bunnies. LOL..Just chalk it down to me being a mad as a matchbox full of arse****s.
Guess it must have been a lot longer than than just 20 years.

Boleyn, the Scottish crown jewels were hidden from Oliver Cromwell and his cronies, but were brought out of hiding when the monarchy was restored under Charles II. They were then locked away in a chest in Edinburgh castle and didn’t resurface until 1818…so considerably longer than 20 years! Lol

Chapuys tells a story which was third hand to him about Henry. The story goes that Exeters told Chapuys that Henry had told a courtier that Anne had bewitched him and therefore he felt that the marriage was void and that God had showed him this by not giving him a male heir. The quote can be found in Cal SP Span 1536-1538 p 28. Henry made many cruel comments at this time. He said Anne had slept with a hundred men. He told Richmond that Anne had planned to poison him and Mary. This is all from Chapuys. I don’t think these comments were anything more than a very angry king voicing his frustration. No accusations of witchcraft were brought against Anne at the trial.

I wish there were contemporary portraits of Anne. It would seem since she was a patron of Holbein that one would have been commissioned. Unfortunately, if there was one, it is either hidden or it was destroyed. The only positive picture we have today of Anne was the medal that Anyanka mentioned. I think there is a question about the ring, but wishful thinking here, I’d like to believe it is Anne and Elizabeth. Henry did keep a few of Anne’s things. Ives says he repurchased a gold bowl which had the her sapphire upon the top cover. He had a dust bowl of gold (blotter) with a crown lid and on the lid H and A in the enamel. He also had a tablet of gold bearing the monogram HA which was set with emeralds, pearls and one diamond. Elizabeth wore a string of pearls which is similar to those in the portrait of Anne, which seems to suggest that they belonged to Anne, and then there is the A pearl choker worn by Elizabeth in the family mural portrait. Several pieces were found in a desk and inventoried after her death, but many would have been melted down to be made into jewels for other queens.

Sharon said

Chapuys tells a story which was third hand to him about Henry. The story goes that Exeters told Chapuys that Henry had told a courtier that Anne had bewitched him and therefore he felt that the marriage was void and that God had showed him this by not giving him a male heir. The quote can be found in Cal SP Span 1536-1538 p 28. Henry made many cruel comments at this time. He said Anne had slept with a hundred men. He told Richmond that Anne had planned to poison him and Mary. This is all from Chapuys. I don’t think these comments were anything more than a very angry king voicing his frustration. No accusations of witchcraft were brought against Anne at the trial.

I live in Petiteville Qc, and a friend of a freind is getting divorced. To hear what her soon to be ex is saying about her is so reminisent of Henry’s rantages about Anne..

Although I don’t know either of this couple very well, I know that the lady involved isn’t the piece of work the male is trying to make her out to be…

If Jane Boleyn was entirely responsible for Catherine’s relationship with Thomas, then presumably Jane managed to talk Catherine into it. Why she would do so is a mystery. But in any event if Catherine to allowed herself to be talked into such a dangerous situation, doesn’t that rather contradict with your picture of her as a strong, politically astute women?