The Life And Death Of Anne Boleyn (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
This is the bible of Anne Boleyn. It is the first book I ever read completely dedicated to Anne and even today it is the first book that I refer back to when I am researching or learning about Anne. My poor copy is dog eared and tattered but to me that only gives it more character and life. If you want to know about Anne Boleyn, want to learn who the woman was who rose to be the jewel in Henry VIII’s eye and then fell shattering into history then this is the book to read. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about Anne Boleyn. It is the go to book... it is the bible of Anne Boleyn!There is so much detail within these pages. Ives starts off at Anne’s beginnings – what little we know about her first years of life. He talks about her family, where she was raised, and her family’s role at court etc. He moves onto her time spent in Europe and at France and how that period of her life would forever influence not only her sense of dress, but her style, her views on music, dancing, literature, social interactions and use of sexuality.Ives discusses Anne’s first taste of love with Thomas Percy, how her heart was broken and also the attraction that Thomas Wyatt the famous poet had towards Anne. He moves on to talk about how Henry VIII’s eye turned from Mary Boleyn to Anne Boleyn and how he started to court Anne. Ives goes into great detail about the long years now known as ‘The Great Matter’ in which Henry fought with Rome about his divorce and the beginnings of the Reformation. Ives also discusses Anne’s personal religion and her views and beliefs.There is a lot within these pages about Anne and Henry’s marriage and how it started off with great love, passion and shared interest and slowly turned sour… with Henry wanting nothing less than Anne’s death. The anti Boleyn faction is spoken about in detail and how, Cromwell and these men within the faction worked together to bring down Anne Boleyn.And of course, Ives details the Anne’s trial and the trail of her fellow accused, her tragic last days and then her final, gut wrenching moments. He talks about Anne’s burial place and her legacy and her beloved daughter Elizabeth I.My favourite and most touching line from the book is: ‘To Christ I commend my Soul!’ And while her lips were still moving, it was suddenly over. I challenge anyone who is interested in Tudor history not to feel some emotion over Ives writing!I believe that within the pages of this book Ives captures the image of who Anne Boleyn was. The spirited, passionate, vivacious, hot tempered, determined and sometimes cruel, but always bold, Anne Boleyn. If you can only get one book about Anne then I would most certainly recommend this book.She has been a remarkable woman. She would remain a remarkable woman even in a century which produced many of great note. There were few others who rose from such beginnings to a crown, and none contributed to a revolution as far-reaching as the English Reformation. To use a description no longer in fashion, Anne Boleyn was one of the ‘maters of history’. Yet historians see through a glass darkly; they know in part and they pronounce in part. What Anne really was, as distinct from what Anne did, comes over very much less clearly. To us she appears inconsistent – religious yet aggressive, calculating yet emotional, with the light touch of the courtier yet the strong grip of the politician – but is this what she was, or merely what we strain to see through the opacity of the evidence? As for her inner life, short of miraculous chace of new material, we shall never really know. Yet what does come to us across the centuries is the impression of a person who is strangely appealing to the early twenty-first century. A woman in her own right – taken on her own tears in a man’s world; a woman who mobilized her education, her style and her presence to outweigh the disadvantages of her sex; of only moderate good looks, but taking a court and a king by storm. Perhaps, in the end, it is Thomas Cromwell’s assessment that comes nearest: intelligence, spirit and courage.This is the Anne Boleyn I have come to know, admire and love.
Anne Boleyn – now more than four hundred years since her death – is it really possible to gain a sense of the woman who woke the lion within Henry VIII, the lion that More so rightly feared – the same lion that one day ripped Anne Boleyn’s own life to shreds? Can we get behind the mask Anne Boleyn represented to the world? Seen in her own times in so many guises: a goggled eyed whore, a witch, the “scandal of Christendom,” a woman of ‘stout heart, ’ a sainted martyr, like all of us, Anne Boleyn demonstrates the true complexity of the human spirit.Years ago, I read Eric Ives' “Anne Boleyn." Regarding it then as the best and most complete biography of Anne Boleyn ever written, the book remains on my bookshelf, as one of my most treasured Tudor reference books. When I heard of the release of Professor Ives’ major work, I assumed it a re-release of the original; I couldn’t imagine how Ives could improve on his pivotal, thorough study on the life of Anne Boleyn. Wrong on both counts. Ives revisits his great biography, first published in 1986, and makes it anew by using additional, fascinating material and further study, demonstrating once again what an excellent biography is all about. Although this is more than just an excellent and satisfying biography; written with an obvious passion for his subject, Ives’ study on Anne Boleyn’s life is superb.In my mind, a good biography not only introduces the reader to its subject but seeks to go beyond simply providing a cardboard cut out; a good biography opens the door and makes the reader engage with the subject. We come away from Ive's work left with an image and voice - the very humanness of its theme.As a historical fiction author focusing on the Tudor period, I particularly yearn for insights to assist me develop fully rounded characters set soundly in the context of their own times. I want to know what did they liked to wear, favourite colours, particular dislikes, what made them cry or laugh. Ives, with his vast knowledge of this period of English history and his extensive research of Anne Boleyn’s life, is a historian more than able to provide these insights. Ives’ work lifts he curtain and allows us to really glimpse her – a woman of ambition and great political ability, a woman worthy to be a King’s consort and partner, a woman who believed God meant for her to be queen.Indeed, as Professor Ives highlights in this important biography, Anne Boleyn was an intelligent, self-made woman who understood the image of majesty almost as well as her daughter, responsible for encouraging the early years of the English reformation.Professor Ives biography not only mirrors back to us a clear manifestation of Anne Boleyn but also shows behind her Henry VIII himself, leaving me pondering many questions. Despite his great mercy of a skilled French executioner, I find myself more adrift than ever in my attempts to gain empathy for a King who could so easily destroy a woman he once so loved.Whether we agree with Ives that Anne’s destruction happened so swiftly and that her ultimate failure in the birthing chamber to give Henry VIII a living son bore little weight in the final outcome, Professor Ives provides a deeper understanding as to why Cromwell, once part of Anne Boleyn’s faction but now fearing for his own survival, found it so necessary to do all in his power to take the queen from the chess board once and for all. Ives also helps us appreciate why Anne Boleyn so rightly feared Mary: “She is my death and I am hers.”In the final analysis, Ives’s work reveals Anne Boleyn who is like most of us, more good than bad – but also a gifted, intelligent woman so worthy of a King's passion, giving to history her Elizabeth. Most importantly, this biography powerfully vindicates Anne Boleyn, showing Anne and the men murdered with her wrongfully done to death - circa Regna tonat
What do You think about The Life And Death Of Anne Boleyn (2005)?
If you read only one book about Henry VIII or his infamous marriage in serial, make it this book. It's a rare thing to find a book written by a historian who A) knows his subject backwards and forwards, B) can write a compelling narrative but without being too dry or lacking in substance, C) challenge the historical reputation of even somebody written about to the extent that Anne Boleyn has and offer a new and nuianced perception of the person and the culture they came from. While most modern popular history books focus on many of the tabloid details of the Tudors (David Starkey, Alison Weir, etc.) Ives gives his readers substance and spice.
—Katherine
ISBN? - 9781405134637General Subject/s? - Anne Boleyn / History / Tudors / BiographyTitle? - Exactly what it says on the cover, life and death of Anne Boleyn.General Analysis? - Eric Ives is a historian of Anne Boleyn who I can endorse. His arguments are clear and he looks at all aspects of Anne's life in a lot of detail. This book has almost been the cornerstone of my dissertation and will be incredibly useful in my Masters degree next year. He also puts a lot of words into talking about aspects of Anne which often get overlooked - portraiture, her relationship with her daughter, and her time in the Netherlands and France. These are often overlooked because of the cataclysmic events of the divorce, the Break with Rome and her fall. Eric Ives does Anne Boleyn justice.Recommend? – Yes, one of the best books on this topic.
—Helene Harrison
Anne Boleyn is a subject that continues to fascinate four hundred years after her death, so much has been written of her, so many myths strangely believed- yet this amazing biography will challenge all you thought you knew about Anne, Henry and the fascinating world of the Tudor court...What's so good about this book is Ives takes into account his previous work on Anne and the challenges to some of his theories and addresses those- he doesn't change his views so much but presents more evidence for them then before, Ives looks at and analyses every part of Anne's life- the date she was born ( after reading this you cannot really dispute 1501 as her birth date now),her upbringing, her education in Austria, her time as lady-in-waiting to first Queen Mary then Queen Claude of France, followed by her return to England, the marriage arrangements that where made, her Religious beliefs and of course the all infamous courting of Henry VIII and the eventual split with Rome- every corner of Anne's life is looked at, every piece of evidence examined and the best picture of Anne that we'll ever have is presented to us! This book will dispel the myths of Anne over the centuries that she was "nothing more then a vindictive evil she-wolf who plotted who had a vengeance for her enemy's" and present Anne as a women far ahead of her times, with a keen interest in Religious reform of the church, her patronage of the arts and her keen interest in poor relief and her patronage of education- something which is all too often ignored in favor of the 'evil Anne' propaganda. Of course the most interesting bit is the part on Anne's downfall, Ives firmly throws away the all too often put out theory of Anne's downfall centering on the fact that she had failed to give Henry a son and Henry's desperate concern to get a male heir of another wife- instead Ives puts forward a soundly respectable theory of Anne's downfall owing to the dangerous and bloody politics of 16th century Europe and the need for a new alliance with Spain- which interestingly most Historians have started to agree or at least look at. The conclusion to this book- skipping ahead 22 years to the crowning of Anne's dismissed & bastardized daughter Elizabeth really shows that Anne had left a great legacy on England and had the last laugh after all, this book really will present you with the Tudor world and the extraordinary life of Anne Boleyn like never before and like none we will sadly probably never see again.
—James
