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9 | <title>Primary Sources - Letter from Anne Boleyn to King Henry VIII, late summer
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10 | 1526 </title>
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30 | <td valign="top" width="70%" height="610" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
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31 | <p align="center"><b><FONT size=+1>Letter from Anne Boleyn to King Henry VIII<br> late
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32 | summer 1526</FONT> </b> </p>
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33 | <p><FONT size=-1><b>Background </b> <br></FONT>
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34 | <IMG height=194 alt="Queen Anne Boleyn"
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35 | src="anne2.jpg" width=139 align=left><FONT size=-1>Seventeen of
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36 | Henry VIII's famous love letters to Anne Boleyn exist; they can be viewed at
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37 | the Vatican Library. However, only one of Anne's love letters to the
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38 | king has survived. It is undated, but its contents place it in late
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39 | summer/early autumn of 1526. How? She thanks the king for
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40 | personally appointing her a maid of honor to his queen, Katharine of Aragon,
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41 | but also - and more importantly - she acknowledges the king's serious
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42 | declaration of love for her. As students of Anne's life know, this
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43 | subtle but vital shift in their relationship occurred in summer 1526. We
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44 | also know that she returned to court as a maid of honor to Katharine of Aragon
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45 | at the same time. Interestingly, this letter reveals that Anne owed her
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46 | position at court entirely to the king's favor.</FONT> </p>
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47 | <p><FONT size=-1>This
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48 | is believed to be the first love letter Anne wrote to Henry, and is rarely
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49 | included in any biography of the queen. However, its authenticity is not
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50 | in serious doubt.</FONT> </p>
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51 | <p><FONT size=-1>One should remember that Henry's
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52 | brief relationship with Anne's sister, Mary Boleyn, had only ended a year
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53 | before (in July 1525.) On 4 March 1526, Mary gave birth to a son called
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54 | Henry, widely assumed to be the king's son. Anne's feelings about this
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55 | awkward situation were never made clear, but she was not close to her
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56 | sister.</FONT> </p>
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57 | <p><FONT size=-1>Please note that Anne spelt her surname
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58 | 'Bulen' in this letter. This is the third variation of the name I've found.</FONT> </p>
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59 | <hr>
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60 | <p>Sire, <BR>It belongs only to the august mind of a great king, to
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61 | whom Nature has given a heart full of generosity towards the sex, to repay
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62 | by favors so extraordinary an artless and short conversation with a
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63 | girl. Inexhaustible as is the treasury of your majesty's bounties, I
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64 | pray you to consider that it cannot be sufficient to your generosity; for,
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65 | if you recompense so slight a conversation by gifts so great, what will you
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66 | be able to do for those who are ready to consecrate their entire obedience
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67 | to your desires? How great soever may be the bounties I have received,
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68 | the joy that I feel in being loved by a king whom I adore, and to whom I
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69 | would with pleasure make a sacrifice of my heart, if fortune had rendered it
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70 | worthy of being offered to him, will ever be infinitely greater. <BR>The
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71 | warrant of maid of honor to the queen induces me to think that your majesty
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72 | has some regard for me, since it gives me means of seeing you oftener, and
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73 | of assuring you by my own lips (which I shall do on the first opportunity)
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74 | that I am, <BR>Your majesty's very obliged and very obedient servant,
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75 | without any reserve, <BR>Anne Bulen.</p>
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76 | <p> </p>
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77 |
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78 | <BLOCKQUOTE>
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79 | <P>
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80 | <HR width="100%">
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81 | </BLOCKQUOTE>
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82 | <p align="center"><FONT size=-1><A
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83 | href="letters.html">to Letters of the Six Wives
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84 | of Henry VIII</A></FONT></p>
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85 | <p align="center"><FONT size=-1><A href="primary.html">to
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86 | Primary Sources</A></FONT><BR><FONT size=-1><A
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87 | href="http://englishhistory.net/tudor.html">to Tudor England</A></FONT><BR><FONT size=-1>
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88 | <a href="monarchs/boleyn.html">to Anne
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89 | Boleyn website</a></FONT></p>
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