Warnicke's biog has some theories I disagree with: Anne was the eldest, not Mary, brother George was possibly gay and the premature son Anne miscarried was probably malformed(therefore in those days deemed a monster)and Anne's fault(its always the woman's fault!)which led Henry to believe she was a witch. Warnicke, however, does give a convincing argument for the traditional 1507 birthdate for Anne, although that would make Mary very, very young to have an affair with Henry. Most historians nowdays think Anne was born between 1500-1502.
My own theory is that Anne was probably born in 1507 and went first to the Burgundian court at age 6 or 7. Warnicke points out that another of Henry's courtier's sent his daughter Jane to the Burgundian court at the same age. The regent Marguerite had English blood through her descent from Edward IV's sister.Henry VIII's younger sister, Mary, was originally engaged to Marguerite's nephew(?), so it could be that Mary Boleyn would have been a lady-in-waiting or maid of honor to Mary Tudor, a higher position than just being in the household of Marguerite. When the Burgundian marriage plans/treaty failed, Mary Tudor was made the bride of Louis, King of France, and Mary was in her household that traveled to France. Sir Thomas Boleyn swiftly removed Anne from Burgundy and secured her a place in the French royal household. However, the whole Anne as a scheming Monica Lewinsky and Henry as a besotted Bill Clinton(it is glaringly obvious in the novel)was Gregory's take. Cindy Abel -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dor Mous Sent: Friday, December 22, 2006 4:18 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [h-cost] re: The other Boleyn girl That's the problem for me.They make out Philippa Gregory practically IS a historian now and a lot of people believe the hype. The novel was based on the highly controversial work of real historian, Retha Warnicke, whose crackpot theories have been lambasted many times. All the factual inaccuracies were Ms Gregory's, and there are plenty: basic facts, English culture, clothing etc. Even Mary Boleyn's not knowing how to make cook or make cheese was all wrong. Running a household was standard training for any English gentlewoman in the 16th century, even social climbers like the Boleyns. The distant, 'not getting her hands dirty' lady was a development of later ages, and Tudor ladies knew how to do everything, even when they could afford to pay someone else to do it. I understand that this is a film, based on a work of fiction. I'm happy that some changes will be made to cover dramatic license and furthering the story. This applies to costume too so I'm happy with some costume inaccuracy. But these costumes are just ugly. The French hood fronts are too small. Plain unflattering to both lead actresses. 'Anne of the Thousand Days', for all its many factual and costume inaccuracies, at least did Genevieve Bujold the courtesy of costuming her elegantly, and her inaccurate French hood fronts suited her. Never mind the dresses, I'm not sure I can bear a whole film watching Nathalie Portman and Scarlett Johannson with those things on their heads. I don't think it will have the comedy value of 'Shakespeare in Love' or the fine performances of 'Elizabeth', two other glaringly inaccurate but fairly enjoyable films. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Message: 4 Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 11:26:50 -0500 From: monica spence Subject: RE: [h-cost] re: The other Boleyn girl To: Historical Costume Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii I read the book too, but it did not make me crazy. It is so easy to make a mistake about clothing when you are a writer with little or no background in clothing history. I pretty much ignore that stuff. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
