What do you think of Anne Boleyn?

Question: What do you think of Anne Boleyn!?

What do you think of her!? And why!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

She was a clever woman who held an amorous king at bay for six years, but in so doing set a precedent that led to her own downfall!.

Don't believe all the foolishness about her having committed adultery and incest; Henry was just so tired of her ill-tempered ways that he wanted to malign her character as much as he could!.

Henry was having doubts of the validity of his marriage when they met, so I really see her as less "the other woman" than as a catalyst for the king's middle-aged craziness!. He was married to a woman six years older than himself, who was everything a queen should have been, except able to produce a healthy son!. He was convinced that Anne could succeed where Catherine had failed, and was prepared to move heaven and earth to be shed of his wife and marry Anne!.

Trouble is, men of that time often had little problem with a woman showing spirit or even bad temper during courtship, but they expected their wives to be meek, docile, and obedient creatures!. Anne was nothing if not true to herself, and what was amusing in a sweetheart was not so entertaining in a wife!.

Jane Seymour, Anne's successor, played the same game of refusing the king his desire until they were wed, but at the same time behaved as differently from Anne as she could, always agreeing with Henry on almost everything!.

When Anne miscarried their third child, a boy, Henry decided to get rid of her and trumped up a charge of adultery!. He alleged that six different men had been her lovers, including her own brother!. Talk about overkill!

Anyway, I like to think that Anne had the last laugh after all (at least firguratively)!. Her first child by Henry, Elizabeth (the only one to survive), became one of the greatest rulers in English history!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Well, she wasn't very kind to Princess Mary, and she seems to have taken advantage of the troubles in Henry's marriage to maneuver to become his wife instead of his mistress!. Still, Henry had arbitrarily broken up her hopes of marrying Henry Percy, the man she loved, so it was rather arrogant of him to expect Anne to become his mistress, especially when he had earlier had an affair with, and then dropped, her sister!. As Queen, Anne was a patron of the arts and of Protestantism, and although the only child she bore Henry was of the wrong sex, that child grew up to become the greatest monarch England ever had!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Anne Boleyn was one of the greatest characters in the English court!. She showed us raw ambition, greed and betrayal!. She is the epitome of what a strong woman is, and that is in some measure the cause of her catharsis and loss of dignity!.Www@QuestionHome@Com