The Fall of Anne Boleyn (Day 5): The Arrest of the Gentleman Poet

Above: An incomplete sketch by Hans Holbein the Younger (d. 1543) believed to show Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder (1503 - 1542), a Tudor courtier, diplomat, politician and adventurer, who is perhaps best known nowadays for being one of sixteenth century England's most influential poets. He was arrested on May 5th, 1536 under apparent suspicion of being Queen Anne Boleyn's sixth lover. He was a close friend of her brother, Lord Rochford, "a tall, muscular, multi-lingual Oxford graduate with a passion for poetry, power and Protestantism," who was also currently a prisoner in the Tower.

"... Sir Thomas Wyatt, was a 32 year-old poet, who had known the Queen since her arrival in England as a debutante fourteen years earlier. His sister, Lady Lee, was one of the Queen’s chief ladies-in-waiting and in the days before she had come to Henry VIII’s attention, Wyatt had apparently been in love with Anne Boleyn, “this new beauty.” By the accounts of all those who actually knew them, this love was unrequited and we have some haunting poetry from that time expressing Wyatt’s pain at the situation. Upon hearing of Anne’s betrothal to the King, he had returned to his rooms, packed his bags and gone to Italy for several years on a diplomatic mission to the Vatican. The kind of overblown and melodramatic gesture one might expect from a poet and an indication of why he made so many women go weak at the knees - all except Anne, of course, and his own wife, who openly despised him."

For this blog's full account of the day on which Wyatt was arrested and escorted to the Tower, click HERE. 

The Fall of Anne Boleyn (Day 4): A Tudor Sex Scandal

A look at the public's initial reaction to the news that Anne Boleyn had been imprisoned in the Tower and the arrest of her fifth "lover," Sir William Brereton.

"By May 4th, the news that the Queen had been arrested and was imprisoned in the Tower was spreading rapidly throughout London and its surrounding areas. It was known that several men had joined her in captivity, although there was some degree of confusion about who they were and if they were all charged with the same thing. Some assumed that the Queen was accused of treason, not adultery, and that she had been caught attempting to plot the assassination of her husband. In a letter to his brother in Wales, the London lawyer, Roland Buckley, incorrectly asserted that the Queen had been imprisoned on a charge of High Treason, along with her father, the Earl of Ormonde, her brother, Lord Rochford, her friend Sir Henry Norris and several of her favourite ladies-in-waiting."

The Fall of Anne Boleyn (Day 3): The First Day in Prison

Today marks the anniversary of the first full day that Anne Boleyn spent as a prisoner in the Tower of London.

"The last time she had frequented these palatial Tower rooms, Anne had been on the cusp of her greatest triumph and the rooms had played host to a series of elaborate parties to celebrate. The Queen’s audience chamber, her dining room, her bedroom, her bathroom and her private oratory were all as she remembered them – the last word in luxury and style. However, this time there were no flashing jewels and smiling faces as the Queen entered the apartments, instead only the grimly disapproving faces of those who had been assigned to watch over her throughout her captivity."

For my full account of May 3rd, 1536, click HERE.

Above: British actress Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn in Season Two of the Showtime series The Tudors.

"I don't care about the Royal Wedding. So I'm going to complain about it constantly."

Elena Maria Vidal, author of Trianon, Madame Royale and The Night's Dark Shade, comments on the interesting (I'm playing fast and loose with the word) phenomenon of Royal Wedding killjoys.

"I found it rather amusing how so many people on Facebook, Twitter and around the internet kept proudly proclaiming: "I don't care, I don't care, I don't care about the royal wedding....I happened to be up at 5 am and turned it on for a few minutes but I REALLY don't care. I'm an American and I'm above such medieval nonsense and besides...who cares? Have I told you that I DON'T care?" And so on and so forth. Finally, someone on Twitter said: "I am really not interested in the fact that you are not interested in the royal wedding.""

For Elena Maria's full article, click HERE.

The Fall of Anne Boleyn (Day 2): To the Tower

Today marks the anniversary of Anne Boleyn's arrest at Greenwich Palace and her transportation into prison in the Tower of London (above.)

"As she sailed into captivity, the cannons of the Tower fired out a salvo to announce the incarceration of a great personage within its walls and it was this sound, coupled with seeing the imposing walls of the Tower rise up around her, which finally shattered Anne’s preternatural calm. Henry VI and Edward V had both vanished into the Tower, never to emerge - as had several of Anne's opponents in days gone-by."

For this blog's full post on the events of May 2nd 1536, click HERE.

The Comeback of Calling Cards

Thanks to Elena Maria Vidal for this excellent series of links on the come back of calling cards. I'm currently looking for engravers in London or Dublin to get mine done, along with a set of business cards. So if anyone knows of any they would recommend, do let me know. Business cards are a great idea in the modern age and Laura Schwartz's book Eat, Drink and Succeed has a fantastic section on how to personalise them and make the most of their potential through modern networking and social events. If you're wondering how to capitalise on business cards, both in terms of aesthetics and impact, check Eat, Drink and Succeed out.

However, I'm also a big fan of calling cards for more personal or social situations and I'm looking into have a batch done either with Smythson's in London or, potentially, with Dempsey and Carroll in the United States. Although I'm sure I must be able to find one closer to home!

"And a personalized card acts as a quiet rebuttal to the white noise jabber-jawing of Twitter and Facebook. A rectangular symbol of restraint, the well-conceived card provides its recipient with just enough information."

For Elena Maria's post on calling cards, click HERE.

The Fall of Anne Boleyn (Day 1): The Last Day of Freedom

"Sitting next to one another, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn still cut an attractive – even a magnificent – pair. Admittedly, the King was no longer the “perfect model of manly beauty” that he had been when he came to the throne twenty-seven years earlier, but neither had he degenerated into the monstrous, sweating man-mountain of his later years. In 1536, the muscles on the 6ft 2ins monarch were only just beginning to turn to fat; with the boyish good looks gone but the repulsive obesity still some way off, the 44 year-old King looked every inch the absolute monarch."

Today is the anniversary of Anne Boleyn's last public appearance as a free woman. For the full anniversary post, click HERE.

Above: A portrait of Henry VIII painted by Joos van Cleeve sometime around 1533, when the King was forty-two years old. In his hand, he holds an extract from the Gospel according to Saint Mark.