Read The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn Online
Authors: Eric Ives
The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn (6 page)
ads
The Regent Margaret was a meticulous chaperone. Deportment and conversation had to be correct at all times, and Madame, as Margaret was called, kept a specially strict eye on the maids of honour, forbidding gossip and any by-play with the pages or gentlemen of the court. Adept as she was herself at the game of courtly love, in her household it was to be played according to the conventions. It was an attitude Anne was to imitate when she had maids of honour of her own. As Margaret wrote:
Trust in those who offer you service,
And in the end, my maidens,
You will find yourselves in the ranks of those
Who have been deceived.
They, for their sweet speeches, choose
Words softer than the softest of virgins;
Trust in them?
In their hearts they nurture
Much cunning in order to deceive,
And once they have their way thus,
Everything is forgotten.
Trust in them?
10
Protection lay in a quick wit and a ready confidence:
Fine words are the coin to pay back
Those presumptuous minions
Who ape the lover
By fine looks and such like.
Not for a moment but instantly
Give to them their pay -
Fine words!
Word for word, that is justice,
One for one, two for two.
They are gracious so to converse,
Respond yourself graciously -
With fine words!
11
It was a lesson that Anne Boleyn learned quickly and never forgot. It carried her to the heights of courtly success only to betray her in the end, when faced by men to whom the measured conventions of Margaret of Austria meant nothing.
As well as French and the ways of the courtly world, the court of Margaret of Austria offered Anne Boleyn experience of a culture of which she could previously have perceived only pale reflections. Much though her countrymen might brag of their achievements, England was a cultural colony. Its principal debt was to Burgundy, and particularly Flanders — and for far more than the courtly expertise that she had come to absorb. For a century Flanders in particular and the lands adjacent had been the cultural heart of Europe north of the Alps. The prosperity of its cities had supported an artistic establishment which was the equal of anything in Italy. The market was threefold. First, the cities themselves: this was the era of the great cathedrals and civic buildings of the Low Countries, buildings that called for adornment. Next, as we have seen, there was the magnificent society of the duke and his court, which exploited art for princely prestige and married culture with chivalry as the
beau idéal
of every gentleman. Finally, there was the international market for painting, illumination, books and, of course, music. When Henry VIII of England turned his hand to musical arrangement, it was the Low Countries that provided his material.
beau idéal
of every gentleman. Finally, there was the international market for painting, illumination, books and, of course, music. When Henry VIII of England turned his hand to musical arrangement, it was the Low Countries that provided his material.
In comparison with the influence of the Low Countries, the direct impact of Italy upon early Tudor England was slight. The only influence which may to any degree have challenged Burgundy was that of France. This was often the closest Englishmen got to the new ideas of the Renaissance — second-hand from France if not third-hand from the Low Countries - and there was always the allure of Paris, its style and manners. The charge against Henry VIII’s minions in 1519 of undue familiarity was the more credible because they had been in France recently (and two more actually lodging at the time with Thomas Boleyn in Paris fled back to London to demonstrate that they were at heart true Englishmen).
12
But in fact the contrast between Flanders and France is easily overstated. The two were parts of one cultural entity which some critics have labelled Franco-Flemish, and the doyen of that culture was Margaret of Austria.
12
But in fact the contrast between Flanders and France is easily overstated. The two were parts of one cultural entity which some critics have labelled Franco-Flemish, and the doyen of that culture was Margaret of Austria.
At the age of 3 she had been sent to France, where for ten years she was brought up as the intended bride of the future Charles VIII. There French masters taught her to paint and draw, to sing and play the lute, to dance in the style of the French court and to appreciate the music of the royal chapel there. She learned to write French verse of considerable fluency, and French books would dominate her reading throughout life. Yet when she was jilted by Charles and returned to the Low Countries, there was no break in her education. The organist of the Burgundian ducal chapel now took over as music master; it was the art collections and illuminated manuscripts of her grandmother, Margaret of York, which now fed her taste. But it was essentially the same culture that she had always known, a contrast in no more than fashion or mood. Later experience would take her to Spain and then Savoy before she returned to Mechelen, but nothing disturbed the Franco-Flemish heart of her experience.
13
This was the woman who taught Anne Boleyn.
13
This was the woman who taught Anne Boleyn.
Anne’s base in the Low Countries was Margaret’s palace at Mechelen. The northern range, built in stone in Renaissance fashion, was begun only after Anne had left, but the southern face, despite its nineteenth-century ill-treatment, is still much as she would have known it in 1513. Built, like all the older parts of the palace, of patterned local brick, with the occasional line of stone and a prominent string course along much of its length, it hardly seems unusual — Hampton Court near London springs at once to mind. Yet in 1513 the style was strikingly novel to the English visitor. It was less than twenty years since Henry VII had imported it for the first time for his new palace at Richmond.
14
And Anne’s own palace, Whitehall, would be begun in the same style. To stand in the courtyard at Mechelen and face the southern range (plate 13) — an open arcade at ground level, now enclosed by flattened arches supported on a row of columns, the bricks laid to form a diamond pattern, rectangular windows with mullions and transoms over the prominent string course, with quoins of stone at all the angles, and dormer windows above a brick parapet making a third storey into the steep-pitched slate roof — this is to see much what Anne saw, a palace which would be recreated for her beside the Thames twenty years later.
14
And Anne’s own palace, Whitehall, would be begun in the same style. To stand in the courtyard at Mechelen and face the southern range (plate 13) — an open arcade at ground level, now enclosed by flattened arches supported on a row of columns, the bricks laid to form a diamond pattern, rectangular windows with mullions and transoms over the prominent string course, with quoins of stone at all the angles, and dormer windows above a brick parapet making a third storey into the steep-pitched slate roof — this is to see much what Anne saw, a palace which would be recreated for her beside the Thames twenty years later.
The inventories of the household of Margaret of Austria give a vivid idea of the court the young English girl had joined. The palace was resplendent with lavish fabrics of every kind. Even though the widowed duchess now regularly wore black, the material of her clothes was always of the finest; appearances mattered. Particularly striking were the tapestries on the palace walls. Anne may well have seen some of the treasures from the looms of the Low Countries that Henry VII had painfully assembled in England. Now she could assess their real worth as she watched the court
tapissier,
Pierre van Aelst, who had produced a series in praise of the Tudor dynasty for the marriage between Arthur, prince of Wales, and Katherine of Aragon, turning his hand to five genealogical designs ordered by the Archduchess Margaret as a present for her father.
15
tapissier,
Pierre van Aelst, who had produced a series in praise of the Tudor dynasty for the marriage between Arthur, prince of Wales, and Katherine of Aragon, turning his hand to five genealogical designs ordered by the Archduchess Margaret as a present for her father.
15
We know that in later life Anne was excited by fabric and colour. She would also become the patron of Hans Holbein the younger, and this too may have owed something both to Margaret, who was passionate about painting, and to a first-hand experience of her collection which included works by masters such as Hieronymus Bosch and Jan van Eyck.
16
Anne may even have seen
The Arnolfini Marriage
.
17
In manuscript illumination, the second branch of Franco-Flemish high art, ‘the Court of Savoy’, as it was called, gave Anne a taste that lasted for the rest of her life. The older masterpieces there included the
Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry,
as well as many associated with Margaret of York. There were also brilliant examples of a new style in Flemish illumination of which the Bening family from Bruges were the greatest exponents. Instead of surrounding a page of text with a patterned border, the Bening style unified the whole page, often by directing the viewer’s eyes through an almost tangible frame. Thus on one folio of a Book of Hours, over a window-sill littered with the paraphernalia of courtly life — illuminated manuscript, cloth-of-gold cushion, ring, necklaces, pomander, trinket box — we watch Christ being nailed to the cross, surrounded by a crowd, half curious, half hostile.
18
When, years later, Anne exchanged love notes with Henry in a Book of Hours, it would be one in this same ‘flower- scattered style’.
19
(plate 18).
16
Anne may even have seen
The Arnolfini Marriage
.
17
In manuscript illumination, the second branch of Franco-Flemish high art, ‘the Court of Savoy’, as it was called, gave Anne a taste that lasted for the rest of her life. The older masterpieces there included the
Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry,
as well as many associated with Margaret of York. There were also brilliant examples of a new style in Flemish illumination of which the Bening family from Bruges were the greatest exponents. Instead of surrounding a page of text with a patterned border, the Bening style unified the whole page, often by directing the viewer’s eyes through an almost tangible frame. Thus on one folio of a Book of Hours, over a window-sill littered with the paraphernalia of courtly life — illuminated manuscript, cloth-of-gold cushion, ring, necklaces, pomander, trinket box — we watch Christ being nailed to the cross, surrounded by a crowd, half curious, half hostile.
18
When, years later, Anne exchanged love notes with Henry in a Book of Hours, it would be one in this same ‘flower- scattered style’.
19
(plate 18).
Anne Boleyn would have known Margaret’s collection of illuminated manuscripts almost more as
objets d’art
than as books, but one category which received considerable use was music books. Those that Margaret owned included masses, motets and chansons by composers who determined at least half of Anne’s later taste. One of the duchess’s favourites was Pierre de la Rue, whose lifetime in Habsburg service had culminated in his becoming her court composer. Two others were from her brief time as duchess of Savoy - Antoine Brumel and Pierrequin de Therache. The most popular composer of all was Josquin des Prés, despite the fact that it now seems certain that he was never lured back from Paris to his native Picardy and, indeed, that he had no direct contact with the regent’s court at all.
objets d’art
than as books, but one category which received considerable use was music books. Those that Margaret owned included masses, motets and chansons by composers who determined at least half of Anne’s later taste. One of the duchess’s favourites was Pierre de la Rue, whose lifetime in Habsburg service had culminated in his becoming her court composer. Two others were from her brief time as duchess of Savoy - Antoine Brumel and Pierrequin de Therache. The most popular composer of all was Josquin des Prés, despite the fact that it now seems certain that he was never lured back from Paris to his native Picardy and, indeed, that he had no direct contact with the regent’s court at all.
All these composers, and others, Anne certainly listened to in later years. The evidence for this is a manuscript in the library of the Royal College of Music in London.
20
It carries on page 157 the words, ‘M
res
A. Bolleyne’, and underneath her father’s motto, ‘nowe thus’, followed by three short and one long note of Music —
.
21
Precisely what this signifies will concern us later, but the connection of the manuscript with Anne Boleyn is clear. And of the thirty items so far identified in it, half are by the favourite composers heard at Margaret’s court. The line of influence seems plain. One must assume, too, that this taste was shown in Anne’s own music-making, for somewhere in her education she was able to develop considerable musical skill; this is evidenced in a number of sources and may well have been an interest in common with Henry VIII, who prided himself on his own musical abilities. The Archduchess Margaret would again have been the example, for she was famous for her music, especially as a keyboard performer. Her organist, Henri Bredemers, was also well known — he had visited England in 1506 - and he taught music to Charles and his sisters. We do not know for sure that he took other pupils, but it seems reasonable to assume that he did teach Anne.
20
It carries on page 157 the words, ‘M
res
A. Bolleyne’, and underneath her father’s motto, ‘nowe thus’, followed by three short and one long note of Music —
.21
Precisely what this signifies will concern us later, but the connection of the manuscript with Anne Boleyn is clear. And of the thirty items so far identified in it, half are by the favourite composers heard at Margaret’s court. The line of influence seems plain. One must assume, too, that this taste was shown in Anne’s own music-making, for somewhere in her education she was able to develop considerable musical skill; this is evidenced in a number of sources and may well have been an interest in common with Henry VIII, who prided himself on his own musical abilities. The Archduchess Margaret would again have been the example, for she was famous for her music, especially as a keyboard performer. Her organist, Henri Bredemers, was also well known — he had visited England in 1506 - and he taught music to Charles and his sisters. We do not know for sure that he took other pupils, but it seems reasonable to assume that he did teach Anne.
As well as absorbing the best education Europe could offer, Anne learned by observation, and learned quickly. People’s memories of Anne as she was after some months at Mechelen were still vivid twenty years later - intelligent, self-possessed, wide awake, rapidly coming to grips with the French language and with the sophistication of European courts: ‘la Boullant, who at an early age had come to court, listened carefully to honourable ladies, setting herself to bend all her endeavour to imitate them to perfection, and made such good use of her wits that in no time at all she had command of the language.’
22
Among those she could watch were the leaders of Europe who would so affect her later career. There was, for instance, the future Charles V. Whether he noticed the young English maid of honour is to be doubted, but she, undoubtedly, was familiar with the slight, reserved prince whose characteristic lift of the head accentuated the heavy Habsburg jaw and the open gaze of one born to command. It was probably also during her stay with Margaret of Austria that Anne was first able to observe her future husband, the far more impressive Henry VIII. Not only did Henry’s 23 years make the 14-year-old Charles seem a mere youth, but the slim six-foot two-inch extrovert, who combined athletic prowess with intelligence, education, considerable musical skill and boundless energy, was hard for anyone to match.
22
Among those she could watch were the leaders of Europe who would so affect her later career. There was, for instance, the future Charles V. Whether he noticed the young English maid of honour is to be doubted, but she, undoubtedly, was familiar with the slight, reserved prince whose characteristic lift of the head accentuated the heavy Habsburg jaw and the open gaze of one born to command. It was probably also during her stay with Margaret of Austria that Anne was first able to observe her future husband, the far more impressive Henry VIII. Not only did Henry’s 23 years make the 14-year-old Charles seem a mere youth, but the slim six-foot two-inch extrovert, who combined athletic prowess with intelligence, education, considerable musical skill and boundless energy, was hard for anyone to match.
Henry was in Europe to press a joint Anglo-imperial attack on France, which had been the prize of the negotiations between the Archduchess Margaret and Thomas Boleyn. The war had opened successfully soon after Anne’s journey to the Low Countries, and on 23 August the English captured Thérouanne, south of St Omer, after defeating a French relief force in a scrambling cavalry skirmish which became dignified by the title ‘the Battle of the Spurs’. Henry then marched in company with Margaret’s father, the Emperor Maximilian (characteristically, at Henry’s expense), to the Burgundian town of Lille, where the regent met him with her court in attendance. After three days of junketing, during which Henry made great show of his musical talents, the army moved off to besiege Tournai, which surrendered on 23 September. Maximilian sent for Margaret again to join the victors, and despite her complaint that it was not done for widows to trot about visiting armies, she came and brought her ladies with her.
23
23
Even without the determination of the Habsburgs to make the greatest possible show, Anne would have been an obvious person to summon to Lille and Tournai, for her father was with the English army and French speakers were at a premium.
24
This fact comes out clearly in the story of the great scandal of the encounter, the flirtation between Margaret of Austria and Henry VIII’s boon companion, Charles Brandon. The two of them played the game of courtly love with an enthusiasm which made up for the inability of either to speak the other’s language, and eventually Henry egged Brandon on to propose to the duchess, which he did one evening, taking as a pledge one of the rings from her fingers. Margaret responded by calling him
un larron
(a thief), but he got the point only when one of the ladies in waiting offered the Flemish equivalent,
ein dief.
To finish the story, Brandon refused to return the ring and made such a fuss of his conquest that Margaret had to redeem the ring with another and issue vigorous denials of any agreement to marry.
25
24
This fact comes out clearly in the story of the great scandal of the encounter, the flirtation between Margaret of Austria and Henry VIII’s boon companion, Charles Brandon. The two of them played the game of courtly love with an enthusiasm which made up for the inability of either to speak the other’s language, and eventually Henry egged Brandon on to propose to the duchess, which he did one evening, taking as a pledge one of the rings from her fingers. Margaret responded by calling him
un larron
(a thief), but he got the point only when one of the ladies in waiting offered the Flemish equivalent,
ein dief.
To finish the story, Brandon refused to return the ring and made such a fuss of his conquest that Margaret had to redeem the ring with another and issue vigorous denials of any agreement to marry.
25
ads
Other books
Promise by Dani Wyatt
The Beginning Of Rain In December by Law, Josephine
My Indian Kitchen by Hari Nayak
Homesick by Jean Fritz
My Lord's Judgment by Taylor Law
Lessons and Lovers by Portia Da Costa
Saving Us by Jennifer Foor
Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble: A Novel by Ann B. Ross
The Night Watch by Sergei Luk'ianenko, Sergei Lukyanenko
The Memory Tree by Tess Evans
