Night at the Tower
Yesterday evening, I attended a fantastic lecture at the Tower of London, “Anne Boleyn: her life in the shadow of the Tower”, featuring Tudor Historians George Bernard, Suzannah Lipscomb and Lauren Mackay. All three were discussing the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn from different perspectives.
Lauren, who was promoting her book “Inside the Tudor Court” discussed Anne Boleyn’s triumph – her Coronation – and the events through the eyes of Eustace Chapuys. We often view Chapuys as a bit biased and very much Team Catherine of Aragon, however, Lauren showed how even Chapuys was shocked by Anne’s sudden downfall in May 1536 and admired her courage. It was also revealed that, contrary to popular belief, he only began to refer to Anne as “the Concubine” in 1535 – up to that point, he referred to her in his letters as the “Lady Anne”.
Lauren also talked about how Thomas Boleyn is always perceived, for example, how he is always viewed as abandoning his children in 1536. However, she said that the King was the law, and he had to go along with it. He had no choice. Also, Thomas is viewed as a bit cowardly and not very confrontational. However, Thomas was quite athletic and took part in the jousting, so was obviously not someone to back down or hide from a fight.
Suzannah and George focussed on Anne’s fall, three years after her coronation and the different theories behind it. Suzannah said there were four different camps:
Those that believed Anne may have been guilty (George Bernard)
Those that believe that Anne was the victim of a coup orchestrated by Thomas Cromwell (Eric Ives)
Those that believe that Henry simply needed to get rid of Anne (David Starkey)
Those that believe that Anne went to the Tower as a result of things she had said and for being the very person that attracted Henry in the first place. (Suzannah Lipscomb)
Suzannah, who was promoting her book “1536: The Year that changed Henry VIII”, said she belonged to the fourth camp. She referred to Anne’s quote to Henry Norris “You look for Dead Men’s Shoes” and this alone was treason as it predicted the King’s death and would have put her in the Tower on its own. She also said how Anne was very flirtatious and had mastered the art of courtly love. It was what attracted Henry to her, but on the flip-side it would also be used against her, associating her with more than one man.
An interesting point was made about Mark Smeaton too – there was the possibility that maybe he may have had special needs, making him a vulnerable adult. In the court, there were people with special needs brought in and they would appear as entertainers, for example as Court Fools, and there is a possibility that Mark may have been brought in in this way as a musician. I do think this idea is very plausible as a vulnerable adult being interrogated in the way he allegedly was in 1536 would not have been able to defend himself and probably would have confessed to anything. He would have been an easy target for any enemy of Anne.
George, who promoted his book “Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions”, believes that Anne may have been guilty. He based this theory on a poem by Lancelot De Carle, which hinted at Anne possibly committing adultery. The poem refers to Elizabeth Browne, Lady Worcester making accusations about Anne after being chastised by her brother on her morals. Elizabeth was pregnant, but the child belonged to a man that was not her husband and while being reprimanded by her brother Anthony Browne, she responded that her Queen was worse as she was sleeping with her own brother. I have read George’s book and even though this idea is controversial, it is a very good book which I do recommend and goes straight back to the beginning, reassessing Anne’s life and looking at all the evidence that still survives.
There was a Q&A afterwards and I got to meet George and Suzannah afterwards. Suzannah signed my copy of her book and I got to tell her about my book which she was interested in seeing! It was a great evening and we managed to leave the Tower on time before they locked the gates….
