| 1 | <html>
|
|---|
| 2 |
|
|---|
| 3 | <head>
|
|---|
| 4 | <meta name="content" content="Primary Sources - Letter from Anne Boleyn to King Henry VIII, late summer 1526">
|
|---|
| 5 | <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0">
|
|---|
| 6 | <meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
|
|---|
| 7 | <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
|
|---|
| 8 | <meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us">
|
|---|
| 9 | <title>Primary Sources - Letter from Anne Boleyn to King Henry VIII, late summer
|
|---|
| 10 | 1526 </title>
|
|---|
| 11 | <style fprolloverstyle>A:hover {color: #0000FF; font-weight: bold}
|
|---|
| 12 | </style>
|
|---|
| 13 | </head>
|
|---|
| 14 |
|
|---|
| 15 | <body link="#000000" vlink="#000000" alink="#0000FF" background="http://englishhistory.net/goldback.jpg">
|
|---|
| 16 |
|
|---|
| 17 | <table border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%" height="667">
|
|---|
| 18 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 19 | <td width="15%" height="29"></td>
|
|---|
| 20 | <td valign="top" width="70%" height="29"> </td>
|
|---|
| 21 | <td width="15%" height="29"></td>
|
|---|
| 22 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 23 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 24 | <td width="15%" height="3"></td>
|
|---|
| 25 | <td width="70%" height="3"></td>
|
|---|
| 26 | <td width="15%" height="3"></td>
|
|---|
| 27 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 28 | <tr>
|
|---|
| 29 | <td width="15%" height="610"></td>
|
|---|
| 30 | <td valign="top" width="70%" height="610" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
|
|---|
| 31 | <p align="center"><b><FONT size=+1>Letter from Anne Boleyn to King Henry VIII<br> late
|
|---|
| 32 | summer 1526</FONT> </b> </p>
|
|---|
| 33 | <p><FONT size=-1><b>Background </b> <br></FONT>
|
|---|
| 34 | <IMG height=194 alt="Queen Anne Boleyn"
|
|---|
| 35 | src="anne2.jpg" width=139 align=left><FONT size=-1>Seventeen of
|
|---|
| 36 | Henry VIII's famous love letters to Anne Boleyn exist; they can be viewed at
|
|---|
| 37 | the Vatican Library. However, only one of Anne's love letters to the
|
|---|
| 38 | king has survived. It is undated, but its contents place it in late
|
|---|
| 39 | summer/early autumn of 1526. How? She thanks the king for
|
|---|
| 40 | personally appointing her a maid of honor to his queen, Katharine of Aragon,
|
|---|
| 41 | but also - and more importantly - she acknowledges the king's serious
|
|---|
| 42 | declaration of love for her. As students of Anne's life know, this
|
|---|
| 43 | subtle but vital shift in their relationship occurred in summer 1526. We
|
|---|
| 44 | also know that she returned to court as a maid of honor to Katharine of Aragon
|
|---|
| 45 | at the same time. Interestingly, this letter reveals that Anne owed her
|
|---|
| 46 | position at court entirely to the king's favor.</FONT> </p>
|
|---|
| 47 | <p><FONT size=-1>This
|
|---|
| 48 | is believed to be the first love letter Anne wrote to Henry, and is rarely
|
|---|
| 49 | included in any biography of the queen. However, its authenticity is not
|
|---|
| 50 | in serious doubt.</FONT> </p>
|
|---|
| 51 | <p><FONT size=-1>One should remember that Henry's
|
|---|
| 52 | brief relationship with Anne's sister, Mary Boleyn, had only ended a year
|
|---|
| 53 | before (in July 1525.) On 4 March 1526, Mary gave birth to a son called
|
|---|
| 54 | Henry, widely assumed to be the king's son. Anne's feelings about this
|
|---|
| 55 | awkward situation were never made clear, but she was not close to her
|
|---|
| 56 | sister.</FONT> </p>
|
|---|
| 57 | <p><FONT size=-1>Please note that Anne spelt her surname
|
|---|
| 58 | 'Bulen' in this letter. This is the third variation of the name I've found.</FONT> </p>
|
|---|
| 59 | <hr>
|
|---|
| 60 | <p>Sire, <BR>It belongs only to the august mind of a great king, to
|
|---|
| 61 | whom Nature has given a heart full of generosity towards the sex, to repay
|
|---|
| 62 | by favors so extraordinary an artless and short conversation with a
|
|---|
| 63 | girl. Inexhaustible as is the treasury of your majesty's bounties, I
|
|---|
| 64 | pray you to consider that it cannot be sufficient to your generosity; for,
|
|---|
| 65 | if you recompense so slight a conversation by gifts so great, what will you
|
|---|
| 66 | be able to do for those who are ready to consecrate their entire obedience
|
|---|
| 67 | to your desires? How great soever may be the bounties I have received,
|
|---|
| 68 | the joy that I feel in being loved by a king whom I adore, and to whom I
|
|---|
| 69 | would with pleasure make a sacrifice of my heart, if fortune had rendered it
|
|---|
| 70 | worthy of being offered to him, will ever be infinitely greater. <BR>The
|
|---|
| 71 | warrant of maid of honor to the queen induces me to think that your majesty
|
|---|
| 72 | has some regard for me, since it gives me means of seeing you oftener, and
|
|---|
| 73 | of assuring you by my own lips (which I shall do on the first opportunity)
|
|---|
| 74 | that I am, <BR>Your majesty's very obliged and very obedient servant,
|
|---|
| 75 | without any reserve, <BR>Anne Bulen.</p>
|
|---|
| 76 | <p> </p>
|
|---|
| 77 |
|
|---|
| 78 | <BLOCKQUOTE>
|
|---|
| 79 | <P>
|
|---|
| 80 | <HR width="100%">
|
|---|
| 81 | </BLOCKQUOTE>
|
|---|
| 82 | <p align="center"><FONT size=-1><A
|
|---|
| 83 | href="letters.html">to Letters of the Six Wives
|
|---|
| 84 | of Henry VIII</A></FONT></p>
|
|---|
| 85 | <p align="center"><FONT size=-1><A href="primary.html">to
|
|---|
| 86 | Primary Sources</A></FONT><BR><FONT size=-1><A
|
|---|
| 87 | href="http://englishhistory.net/tudor.html">to Tudor England</A></FONT><BR><FONT size=-1>
|
|---|
| 88 | <a href="monarchs/boleyn.html">to Anne
|
|---|
| 89 | Boleyn website</a></FONT></p>
|
|---|
| 90 | </td>
|
|---|
| 91 | <td width="15%" height="610"></td>
|
|---|
| 92 | </tr>
|
|---|
| 93 | </table>
|
|---|
| 94 |
|
|---|
| 95 | </body>
|
|---|
| 96 |
|
|---|
| 97 | </html><!-- text below generated by server. PLEASE REMOVE --><!-- Counter/Statistics data collection code --><script language="JavaScript" src="http://hostingprod.com/js_source/geov2.js"></script><script language="javascript">geovisit();</script><noscript><img src="http://visit.webhosting.yahoo.com/visit.gif?us1108082702" alt="setstats" border="0" width="1" height="1"></noscript>
|
|---|
| 98 | <IMG SRC="http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=76001524&t=1108082702" ALT=1 WIDTH=1 HEIGHT=1>
|
|---|
