One of the great perils of studying Anne Boleyn’s rise to power is the frustrating paucity of sources regarding her childhood and early life. Although an unusual upbringing for a 16th century English woman, having been spent at the cosmopolitan courts of Belgium and France, it was, in the words of the late great Eric Ives, a ‘period for which we have no direct evidence’.
This makes it difficult to truly determine what childhood events shaped Anne from the ‘slender, dark-haired girl’ from Hever into the woman she would become, although it is impossible to deny that her experiences abroad aided in crystallizing the educated, cultured queen to later emerge. It is therefore little wonder that these years are dubbed the ‘forgotten’ ones in Anne’s history, a chrysalis caged in mystery that for centuries historians have sought to unravel, given both their international and domestic significance to Tudor history.
Sylvia Barbara Soberton’s latest work, ‘The Forgotten Years of Anne Boleyn’, is such that the dark voids in Anne Boleyn’s early life are illuminated by careful consideration of original documents from across the European continent. Soberton not only dispels puzzling myths, but challenges stereotypes in the historiography and provides new and fresh insights into Anne’s upbringing. By focusing on the broader context of the Continental courts rather than a narrow English-centric perspective, Soberton sheds light on the practices, customs, and beliefs that so indelibly influenced Anne’s formative years. It is, after all, impossible to follow the steps of Anne Boleyn if we begin and end in England.
Soberton posits that Anne’s seven year stint at the French court significantly influenced her eventual queenship, drawing parallels between Queen Claude’s 1517 coronation and Anne’s triumphant entry into London in 1533. Moreover, Soberton suggests that Claude’s support for Church reform may have left a lasting impression on Anne’s own beliefs. Claude’s emphasis on charity also greatly influenced a young Anne Boleyn, evident in her adoption of some of Claude’s symbols during her short reign as Queen of England. Marguerite de Navarre would also have a marked influence on Anne’s views on religion and patronage.
These intricate, easily-overlooked details form the crux of ‘The Forgotten Years of Anne Boleyn’ and make a strong case for a woman who was not merely formed by her royal mentors, but smelted. The woman who emerges is so thoroughly steeped in the ‘Continental gloss’ that after her execution, carried out by a French swordsman, her husband refuses a French bride.
This is a stunning tour-de-force and one of Soberton’s best books yet. Accessible, informative and well-paced, I highly recommend ‘The Forgotten Years’ for fans of Anne Boleyn, the period, women’s history, and/or the Tudor dynasty! Readers will not be left disappointed with Soberton’s careful examination of the shadowy, little-known childhood of British history’s most notorious queen.
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