The Anne Boleyn Collection II: Anne Boleyn & the Boleyn Family (7 page)

Fawcett goes on to describe German reformer, Philip Melancthon, as "a reformer after Margaret's own heart, gentle and moderate, desiring to reconcile rather than to estrange; earnestly working for the reform of the Church from within so as to prevent the disruption of Christendom";
²⁵
again I think of Anne Boleyn and wonder if she was influenced by Marguerite's views and her faith.

We don't know the extent of Anne's relationship with Marguerite. We know that Marguerite was influential at the French Court, sharing power in the early years of her brother's reign with her mother, Louise of Savoy, so Anne Boleyn would have certainly met her. Some, including Lord Herbert of Cherbury, have wondered whether Anne Boleyn actually served Marguerite as a lady-in-waiting, but there is no evidence of that and Anne's name does not appear in the "Comptes de Louise de Savoie et de Marguerite d'Angouleme" (the accounts), which you would expect if she was employed by Marguerite.
²⁶
Furthermore, in 1522, on her departure from France, Anne was described as one of Queen Claude's ladies. We do, however, have evidence that there was some kind of relationship between the two women: two letters from Anne to Marguerite. In July 1534, instructions were given to Anne's brother, Lord Rochford:

"1. Rochford is to repair to the French king with all speed, and in passing by Paris to make the King's and Queen's hearty recommendations to the queen of Navarre, if she be there, and say that the Queen his mistress much rejoices in the deeply-rooted amity of the two kings, but wishes her to get the interview deferred, as the time would be very inconvenient to her, and the King is so anxious to see his good brother that he will not put it off on her account. Her reasons are, that being so far gone with child, she could not cross the sea with the King, and she would be deprived of his Highness's presence when it was most necessary, unless the interview can be deferred till April next. Rochford is to press this matter very earnestly, and say that the King having at this time appointed another personage to go to his good brother, the Queen, with much suit, got leave for Rochford to go in his place, principally on this account.

2. That there was nothing she regretted at the last interview so much as not having an interview with the said queen of Navarre; and she hopes she may be able to come to Calais with her brother in April next, if the interview be deferred till then."
²⁷

In September 1535, another message was sent to Marguerite saying that, "The Queen[Anne Boleyn] said that her greatest wish, next to having a son, is to see you again."
²⁸

These words could simply be flattery and good diplomacy, but they sound like Anne was intimate with Marguerite, that they shared a friendship and that Anne was saddened to miss seeing Marguerite in 1534 and was really missing her in 1535.

Renée of France

Renée of France was Queen Claude's younger sister and a woman known for her heretical beliefs. Millicent Garret Fawcett writes that Renée "partly through the influence of her cousin, Margaret of Angoulême, afterwards Queen of Navarre, and partly through that of her friend and governess, Madam de Soubise, was very favourable inclined to the reformed religion"
²⁹
and that when she became the Duchess of Ferrara she gathered around her famous scholars like Bernardo Tasso, Clément Marot, John Calvin, Rabelais, Vittorio Colonna (a friend of Michelangelo), Lavinia della Rovere (great niece of Pope Julius II) the great Capuchin preacher Bernardino Ochino, and many more. Renée also used her power and status to protect Reformers from persecution.

1. Figure 7
   - Renée of France
   

During her time in Ferrara, Renée was actually arrested as a heretic, although she escaped with her life after recanting and receiving the Eucharist at mass. However, after the death of her husband, the Duke of Ferrara, in 1559, Renée was able to return to her home country of France. In December 1560, her nephew, Francis II, died and the power of the Catholic Francis, Duke of Guise, was broken, enabling Renée to provide Protestant worship at her estate in Montargis. Her castle became a refuge for Protestants and she earned the praise of John Calvin himself for her efforts for the cause. Renée died at her home in Montargis on 12th June 1574, aged sixty-three.

As the sister of Anne Boleyn's mistress, Queen Claude, she is bound to have come into contact with Anne, and Retha Warnicke writes that Claude's constant pregnancies meant that she, and therefore Anne, were "frequently in residence near Renée."
³⁰
Warnicke is also of the opinion that Anne shared Renée's schoolroom lessons, but if we believe that Anne was one of Claude's ladies then she certainly would not have shared lessons with a princess. Notwithstanding, Renée was intimate enough with Anne to refer to their childhood friendship with Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, the English ambassador to France, during the reign of Anne's daughter, Elizabeth I.

Diane de Poitiers

Diane de Poitiers was the daughter of Jean de Poitiers, Seigneur de Saint Vallier and Jeanne de Batarnay, and was an intelligent girl who was given a Renaissance Humanist education. She served Anne de Beaujeu, the eldest sister of Charles VIII of France, and while she was married to Louis de Brézé, seigneur d'Anet, she served Queen Claude and then Louise of Savoy. She was known for her beauty, intellect and wit, and also, later for being Henry II's mistress. It is not known whether she and Anne Boleyn were close, but it is possible; they both shared a love of learning and music, and they both served Queen Claude.

The Effect on Anne

When you look at the education and experiences Anne had on the continent, and the women she mixed with from 1513 to 1522, you can understand why she had strong Reformist views, why she stood out at the English Court, why she caught Henry VIII's eye and why he deemed her a worthy consort and mother of his children. Anne Boleyn had received a princess's education, she had mixed with royalty and met Renaissance men and women, and she was an intelligent and ambitious woman. She was on Henry VIII's wavelength, they understood each other and had shared interests and passions. I don't believe that Anne seduced Henry or that she cast some kind of spell on him. I believe that their relationship was a true meeting of minds and that they fell in love.

Notes and Sources

1 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 18.

2 Paget, "The Youth of Anne Boleyn," quoting Ghislaine de Boom, "Marguerite d'Autriche–Sauoie et la Pré–Renaissance" (Paris and Brussels).

3 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 68.

4 Paget, "The Youth of Anne Boleyn."

5 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 24.

6 Ibid., 23.

7 Paget, "The Youth of Anne Boleyn."

8 The Manuscripts of J. Eliot Hodgkin, Fifteenth Report: Appendix, Part II:30.

9 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 28.

10 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 1: 1509-1514," n. 3357.

11 "Tour d'Anne Boleyn."

12 Warnicke, The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII, 246.

13 Sander, Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism, 25–26.

14 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 32.

15 Sander, Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism, 25.

16 "The Prayer Book of Claude de France."

17 Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme, Illustrious Dames of the Court of the Valois Kings, 24.

18 Ibid., 30.

19 Garrett Fawcett, Five Famous French Women, 58.

20 Wellman, Queens and Mistresses of Renaissance France, 120.

21 Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme, Illustrious Dames of the Court of the Valois Kings, 166.

22 Garrett Fawcett, Five Famous French Women, 70.

23 Cholakian and Skemp, Marguerite (Queen, Consort of Henry II, King of Navarre): Selected Writings (Bilingual Edition), 73.

24 Garrett Fawcett, Five Famous French Women, 81.

25 Ibid., 84.

26 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 32.

27 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7," n. 958.

28 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 9 : August-December 1535," n. 378.

29 Garrett Fawcett, Five Famous French Women, 251–252.

30 Warnicke, The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII, 21.

5.
Did Anne Boleyn actually go to Mechelen and France?

That Anne Boleyn spent time at the courts of Margaret of Austria and Queen Claude of France (wife of Francis I) has never before been disputed. Historians argue over how old Anne was when she was sent to Mechelen - whether she was six or twelve years of age – and whether she served as a maid of honour there or whether she was simply being educated in Margaret's household, but the general consensus is that she was in Mechelen (in the Low Countries) from 1513-1514 and in France from late 1514 to late 1521. However, one author, Sylwia Zupanec, has recently challenged this belief, saying "Anne Boleyn simply could not have had [
sic
] served Margaret of Austria [or] the Queen Claude" and that "the assertions about Anne Boleyn's early years are based on rather shaky references."
¹

In this chapter I will share those "shaky references" and the reasons why I am convinced that Anne did serve both women.

Evidence for Anne Boleyn being sent to Margaret of Austria's Court

The first piece of evidence is an extract from Margaret of Austria's letter to Thomas Boleyn in which she thanks him for entrusting her with his daughter:

"J'ai reçeu vostre lettre par l'escuyer Bouton qui m'a présenté vostre fille que m'a esté la très bien-venue, et espère la traicter de sorte que aurez cause vous en contenter; du moings tiens que à vostre retour ne fauldra aultre truchement entre vous et moi que elle; et la treuvc si bien adressée et si plaisante suivant son josne eaige, que je suis plus tenu à vous de la m'avoir envoyée que vous à moi."
²

Translation from Eric Ives'
The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn
:

"I have received your letter by the Esquire [Claude] Bouton who has presented your daughter to me, who is very welcome, and I am confident of being able to deal with her in a way which will give you satisfaction, so that on your return the two of us will need no intermediary other than she. I find her so bright and pleasant for her young age that I am more beholden to you for sending her to me than you are to me."
³

This extract appears in the notes section of
Correspondance de l'empereur Maximilien Ier et de Marguerite d'Autriche, sa fille, Gouvernante de Pays-Bas, de 1507 à 1519, Tome Second
and is an extract from a letter written by Margaret of Austria to Thomas Boleyn. Margaret mentions "votre fille" ("your daughter"), so is quite clearly referring to a daughter of Thomas Boleyn. Although, as Hugh Paget
⁴
points out, the full letter is now not traceable in the Lille Archives, the editor of the 1839 edition of
Correspondance
quite clearly refers to the extract being part of a letter from Margaret to Thomas Boleyn. He does not cast any doubt on to whom the letter was written, so the original letter must have been clearly marked and it must have been obvious from the rest of the content that the letter was from Margaret to Thomas. Zupanec dismisses the letter entirely, believing that it could have been written to any courtier about any daughter.

The editor of
Correspondance
refers to Anne Boleyn's name being mentioned on a list of eighteen "filles d'honneur" who served Margaret. The reference given is
Chronique métrique de Chastellain et de Molinet: avec des notices sur ces auteurs et des remarques sur le texte corrigé
. The name "Bullan" does indeed appear on this list, although there is no first name given:

"Aultre plat pour les filles d'honneur et aultres femmes ordonnés par Madame de manger avec elles que sont XVIII, assavoir:-

Mesdames de Verneul, Waldich, Reynenebourg, Bréderode, d'Aultroy, Hallewyn, Rosimbos, Longueval, Bullan, les II filles Neufville, Saillant, Middelbourg, Cerf, Barbe Lallemand et la mère."
⁵