Blog Tour: Claire Ridgway

I am delighted to welcome Claire Ridgway to the blog as part of her tour for her new book, Tudor Places of Great Britain. Claire Ridgway is the author of the best-selling books George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier and Diplomat (co-written with Clare Cherry); On This Day in Tudor History; The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown; Sweating Sickness: In a Nutshell and both instalments in The Anne Boleyn Collection. Claire was also involved in the English translation and editing of Edmond Bapst's 19th century French biography of George Boleyn and Henry Howard, now available as Two Gentleman Poets at the Court of Henry VIII. 

Claire worked in education and freelance writing before creating The Anne Boleyn Files history website and becoming a full-time history researcher, blogger and author. The Anne Boleyn Files is known for its historical accuracy and Claire's mission to get to the truth behind Anne Boleyn's story. Her writing is easy-to-read and conversational, and readers often comment on how reading Claire's books is like having a coffee with her and chatting about history. Claire is also the founder of The Tudor Society.

Edits, writing, research and trips

Beautiful Portballintrae on the Northern Irish coast, where I've been doing a lot of my writing

I have just returned from a flying three-day visit to London to carry out research for my next book, Young and Damned and Fair, a biography of Queen Catherine Howard. It was a macabre but fascinating trip, which gave me the opportunity to look at some of the original documents concerning Catherine and her tragic fate. 

I wanted to apologise for posting so infrequently over the last few months; they have been manic. My play, The Gate of the Year, a modernised imagining of the French Revolution, was revived in Belfast in December, and since then, my schedule has been consumed. I adore being busy, so I'm enjoying myself. I've also released my book with Made Global, A History of the English Monarchy from Boadicea to Elizabeth I, which is available now, and we're currently organising a blog tour for it. I've been giving talks in London and Belfast - one about The Gate of the Year and the interactions between history and fiction, and another about the Harden-Eulenburg Affair and the crisis of personal monarchy in Wilhelm II's Germany. I'm also thrilled and delighted to say that my first novel Popular is being adapted for a 10-part radio series in Northern Ireland, and there is some very, very exciting further news in the pipeline about another potential theatre tour - and a documentary about the novels! Which I'll be able to give more details about, very soon.

From this summer, I've also taken over as editor of the e-magazine Tudor Life, which is a subscription magazine featuring articles from experts, enthusiasts, art critics and reviewers, all of whom are writing about the Tudor, early modern and medieval world. I've been writing a column for the magazine since its first edition and it is so exciting to be involved in this next stage!

Over the next few months, our issues' themes will include vulnerability in Tudor Britain - for which I've contributed an article entitled "The Love That Dare not speak its name?: Homosexuality and moral complexity in Tudor England". (There's a short extract at the end of this post!) As well as issues on coronations, the Tudors in movies and fiction, attitudes to death and the afterlife, and the impact of the Protestant Reformation. Along with the magazine's wonderful regular contributors, we'll be hosting articles from people like Leanda de Lisle, Amy Licence, Toni Mount, Dominic Pearce, Conor Byrne, and Kathryn Warner.

At the end of the month, I'll be undertaking another research trip in England, so I've decided that I'll post a few videos and short articles to this blog while I'm there. My next few proper-length articles for this blog will be a few pieces I have musing on the nature of being British in the 21st century and answering the questions of if the national identity is in crisis and, if so, why.

I also have an Instagram and Facebook page, which I post on regularly. It has been such a pain not being able to post as often as I used to on this blog, although it's certainly for the best reasons. I don't want to post anything too distracting or half-hearted, so thank you for bearing with me and for all your encouragement with pursuing this biography. I hope it lives up to your faith in it, and your wonderful wishes!

Gareth 

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An excerpt from The Love that Dare not speak its name?: Homosexuality and moral complexity in Tudor England by Gareth Russell - published in the July 2015 edition of Tudor Life magazine

Within the aristocracy, attitudes were also much more heterogeneous than we might suppose. In the early 1600s, the Countess of Suffolk could discuss the King’s affair with the Duke of Buckingham with discretion and minimal embarrassment. A typical Renaissance education was heavy on the study of the Classics. This meant that young royals and nobles grew up being familiar with a few Classical myths that dealt with same-sex relationships, like the story of Jupiter and Ganymede, or Achilles and Patroclus in the Trojan saga – or even unambiguously homosexual historical figures, like the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Traditional moralists in Italy and France certainly blamed over-exposure to pagan histories in the classroom and universities for the alleged rise in ‘sodomy’ among young upper-class men in the late 1400s and early 1500s.

"Mary Boleyn" by Sarah Bryson: giveaway and a look at Mary in popular culture

I am delighted to host a guest article from writer Sarah Bryson, who has just published her new book Mary Boleyn, a biography of Elizabeth I's longest-surviving aunt. The book has been released by Made Global, as part of their "In a Nutshell" series that provides short but thorough accounts of historical people, issues, and phenomenon (Claire Ridgway's instalment on the horror of the "sweating sickness" strain of plague in early modern England inaugurated the series.) 

As part of promoting her book, Sarah has stopped by to Confessions of a Ci-Devant with an article on changing perceptions of Mary Boleyn, who died in 1543, fifteen years before her niece succeeded to the throne and seven years after her younger sister lost her head in such hideous and murky circumstances. We are also giving away a copy of Sarah's book, with a question to be answered at the end of this article.

With that, over to Sarah!

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A later portrait of Mary Boleyn

The Changing Perceptions of Mary Boleyn by Sarah Bryson

Mary Boleyn has gained quite a reputation for herself over the years - mistress of kings, whore, schemer, giddy girl with little intelligence, a fierce rival to her sister... Yet upon what are all of these perceptions based?

When first beginning my research on Mary Boleyn I was bombarded with modern day perceptions of the woman. but I wanted to wade through these to find out what the true Mary Boleyn was like. Unfortunately during her lifetime there seems to have been very little written about her personality, let alone her thoughts, feelings and beliefs.

Mary is described by Antonia Fraser in her book The Six Wives of Henry VIII as “a high spirited, rather giddy girl who enjoyed all the pleasures of the court on offer” (Fraser 1992, p. 124), yet when I looked up where exactly Fraser had gained this information about Mary Boleyn’s personality I could not find a single source. David Starkey in his book Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII describes Mary as “a placid and unremarkable girl. But she was very attractive to men, and found them irresistible too – or, at least, her resistance never seems to have lasted long” (Starkey 2004, p. 258). Once more when I tried to find out where Starkey had gained this information there was no source provided. So why is this perception of Mary Boleyn taken for granted?

First and foremost, it does not seem that during most of her life Mary Boleyn was ever considered to be a whore. She was acknowledged as King Henry VIII’s mistress from around 1522 to approximately 1525 and yet there were no recorded whispers or conversations about the young woman being a whore. In fact, there were families at the time, including the Boleyns, Howards and Seymours who openly pushed their female family members before the king in hopes of gaining his attention. It was hoped that through the woman’s relationship with the king the woman might have some influence in helping to further elevate other members of the family. Instead of being considered as a whore for sleeping with the king, it was often seen as quite beneficial and as a means of progressing members of the family.

It seems that the rumours and thoughts of Mary Boleyn being a whore came into play around the time that Anne Boleyn fell from power and was executed. Rodolfo Pio, Bishop of Faenza wrote a letter on March 10^th 1536 stating that:

“Francis said also that they are committing more follies than ever in England, and are saying and printing all the ill they can against the Pope and the Church; that “that woman” pretended to have miscarried of a son, not being really with child, and, to keep up the deceit, would allow no one to attend on her but her sister, whom the French king knew here in France ‘per una grandissima ribalda et infame sopre tutte.’” - “a great prostitute and infamous above all”. (L&P x. 450)

The first thing that should be pointed out about this letter is that it was written with the sole purpose of discrediting Anne Boleyn during her final months. Pio writes that ‘that woman’ (Anne Boleyn) pretended to have miscarried a son. First and foremost, we know that Anne Boleyn did in fact miscarry a male foetus of approximately three and a half months in gestation on 29 January 1536. Secondly, it should be noted that he writes that Anne would let no one attend her but her sister. Mary Boleyn was banished from court in 1534 for not only marrying beneath her status but also for marrying without her sister and the king’s permission, and not to mention for being pregnant at the time. With two blatantly incorrect pieces of information written in this letter how can we believe what Pio is writing when he himself is getting the facts wrong?

Author Sarah Bryson

In reference to the French King ‘knowing’ Mary Boleyn in France and referring to her as a great prostitute, how did he know her? Did he know of her, as he was aware of her presence at the French Court, or had he physically known her? The word opens up a Pandora’s box of interpretation. Was the French king assuming she was a prostitute or did he know that for a fact? Was the French king even telling the truth? It may have been that twenty years after Mary was at the French court the king was simply boasting about a woman he barely remembered. This letter, riddled with falsehoods, does not provide enough evidence to suggest that Mary Boleyn even had any relationship with the Francis I,  let alone having been his mistress or whore!

Unfortunately, it seems that this perception of Mary Boleyn has filtered into modern portrayals of the woman. In the TV show The Tudors Mary is portrayed as a slightly dim-witted, giddy young woman, who loved all the excitement at court and who caught the attention of Henry VIII and was used until he grew tired of her. There is little more story development regarding her except that she appeared at court pregnant and her sister was disgusted and banished her. These perceptions of Mary seem to be based upon so-called facts which have little or no evidence to back them up.

The television mini-series Wolf Hall has done very little to help portray Mary Boleyn in a positive light either and has seemed to grasp these negative perceptions of Mary with both hands. Mary is shown as being quite rude and as having a fierce rivalry with her sister Anne. Then, quite shockingly, she is shown on more than one occasion trying to seduce Thomas Cromwell! There is not a shred of evidence to suggest that Mary Boleyn had any interest in Cromwell, never mind her trying to actively pursue or seduce him. This addition into the series only added to the perception that Mary Boleyn had loose morals and that she used her sexual appeal and persuasion to get what she wanted.

Scarlett Johansson starring as Mary Boleyn in the 2008 movie The Other Boleyn Girl

The movie The Other Boleyn Girl, based on Philippa Gregory’s novel, did a slightly better job at portraying Mary Boleyn. Played by the stunning Scarlett Johansson, Mary was shown as a woman with thoughts, feelings and desires. Instead of a one-dimensional character, she was shown to care about those around her, including her sister Anne. The movie does portray a strong rivalry between the sisters, although much of that comes from Anne Boleyn’s desire to attract Henry VIII’s attention for herself, or as it seems to ‘steal’ Henry from Mary.

There is no evidence at all to suggest any sort of rivalry between Mary and Anne.  In fact, after her banishment from court, Mary wrote to Thomas Cromwell, right hand man of Henry VIII, asking for his assistance to “recover the king’s gracious favour and the queen’s”. Mary also wrote that “her grace is so highly displeased with us both that without the king be so good lord to us as to withdraw his rigour and sue for us we are never likely to recover her grace’s favour: which is too heavy to bear” (Howard, A Collection of Letters, p. 525-257). Clearly Mary is upset that she has lost the favour and love of her sister, so why are the sisters portrayed in modern media as having such a fierce rivalry?

When there was so little recorded about what Mary Boleyn was truly like, why has such a negative perception of her developed over the centuries?  In modern times, she has become a woman often shown as having loose morals, using her sexual charms to gain what she wants, having a fierce rivalry with her sister Anne and more often than not being rather unintelligent. I wonder where these changing perceptions of Mary have come from and more importantly why? Have these ideas of Mary Boleyn grown out of misconceptions and not checking facts correctly? Or have they simply been generated to create a better story for modern viewers? If so, then I would argue that is a great shame as when all the false perceptions are stripped away Mary Boleyn is a fascinating woman. She travelled to France at just fourteen years of age, became a mistress to King Henry VIII, had two healthy children and defied all the social rules of the time and married for love. This is a far better story than that of a dim-witted whore! 

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Win a copy of Mary Boleyn by Sarah Bryson

To win, simply answer the question below by leaving your answer and contact e-mail address in the comments section. Neither will be published, but instead they'll be used in a random generator to pick a winner from all those who get the answer correct!

Question: What was the Christian name of Mary Boleyn's mother?

The competition will stay open until 20th April 2015. 

"Manages to bring history alive in an entertaining way. The entertainment, however, is never at the cost of history."

There have been two reviews of An Illustrated Introduction to the Tudors - from Stephanie A. Mann, author of Supremacy and Survival: How English Catholics Endured the Reformation, and from Claire Ridgway, author of The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown and creator of The Anne Boleyn Files website.

Thank you to both for taking the time to read and review the book, which is available now.

Review: "George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier and Diplomat"

Diana Mitford once reflected that when reviewing a friend's book, the reviewer is inevitably predisposed towards a favourable conclusion and that only the disingenuous would pretend otherwise. In a similar spirit, I should begin this article by pointing out that I am a friend and, via my novels Popular and The Immaculate Deception, a colleague of one of the authors of George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier and Diplomat - Claire Ridgway. Both our books are published by the same press and I helped lead two of her beautiful Tudor tours in 2012. So I approached this, the first full-length modern biography of the third Boleyn sibling, with a sympathetic eye and hopefulness that it would prove an enlightening read. 

Passion and scholarly probing saturate this book; the authors' excitement and fascination with their subject is underpinned by years of research into the compelling story of his life and the awful trajectory of his demise. Having made a career by inviting people to experience her ongoing research and education into the Tudor court with her, Claire Ridgway uses the same tactic in this book. There's a touch of Antal Szerb here, the great Hungarian-Jewish historian, who began his 1942 study on the court of Marie-Antoinette by informing the reader that "if he absolutely insists that a writer should address him in the scholarly manner, from on high, in ex cathedra tones, then he should simply toss this book on the floor. My way is to speak as one human being to another, looking to fine kindred spirits and good company." Ridgway and Cherry adopt this tactic in George Boleyn and it's very successful. If a reader finds a conversational tone grating or jarring, then this book mightn't be for them, but for many it's likely to prove, as the English say, a tonic - a refreshing and enjoyable change.

The lack of any surviving portraits of Boleyn or much in the way of letters and, crucially given the book's subtitle, his poetry, makes it difficult to flesh him out in too much detail, but both writers work with what has remained to paint a relatively convincing portrait of a headstrong but pious courtier with a passion for living and a solid mind. If George doesn't quite pop out as being as much fun as some might imagine him, it's a relief to see why he was nothing like the horror imagined in later fictional adaptations like Bring Up the Bodies or The Other Boleyn Girl. By shifting through all the available information and crucially being able to admit where Boleyn was guilty of hard-heartedness and even outright cruelty, Clare Cherry and Claire Ridgway are able to present a biography that is sympathetic without being hagiographic. Rather like the latter's website which has, wholly unjustly and in a spirit of sweeping reduction, been described as a Boleyn "fan site." Empathy is not a whitewash and sympathy or identification is not always a bad thing - as shown by beautiful biographies like Antonia Fraser's on Marie-Antoinette, Lauren Mackey's on Eustace Chapuys, William Shawcross's on Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon or David Starkey's on Elizabeth I.

There are a few flies in the ointment - I would have liked to see a bit more of how George has been reimagined in culture after his death. We have seen a pious George, George the buffoon, gay George, bisexual George, kind George, saintly George, George the rapist and an incestuous George. His afterlife is fascinating and it would have been nice to see a little bit more of that, but that's a personal preference and in a biography that seeks to liberate George Boleyn from the shackles of cultural history, perhaps a facetious and contradictory one.

All things considered, George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier & Diplomat is a gem of a book. Thoughtful, erudite, charming, passionate and clever, it helps set George Boleyn centre-stage and to paint a fascinating portrait of an aristocratic career that ultimately sailed too close to the Sun and paid a tragically unfair price for it.