Le Temps Viendra: A Novel of Anne Boleyn (51 page)

However, the scene in which Margery Wyatt visits her at Hever on Christmas Eve, 1527 is entirely fictional.

The description of Margaret Wyatt comes from the 16th century portrait of her, which is currently housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The description of Anne and her mother visiting Allington Castle for the Christmas festivities is purely fictional.

In George Wyatt’s
Life of Queen Anne Boleigne
he describes Thomas taking a jewel from Anne’s pocket whilst she was ‘earnest at work.’ (Rather than during the playful pastime which I describe in the novel); and refused to return it. We do not know exactly when this incident happened, but from George Wyatt’s account, it seems to have been sometime around the time that Anne and Henry pledged themselves in marriage. Interestingly, Wyatt says that ‘. . . in the end [the king] fell to win her by treaty of marriage, and in this talk took from her a ring, and wore it upon his little finger.’ Thus the scene in which the King and Thomas Wyatt argue over Anne at bowls must have been sometime after Anne consented to marry the King, as Henry deliberately pointed toward the bowl, clearly displaying Anne’s ring upon his finger.

The letters described in this chapter are two of the seventeen ‘love’ letters written in Henry’s hand to Anne Boleyn, which are now held in the Vatican archives. The letters which survive bear testament to the amount of time that Henry and Anne spent apart from each other in the early days of their romance. From the end of the 1520s, when Anne began to spend more time at court, and Katherine was eventually supplanted, these letters naturally came to an end. The letter written from Anne to Henry is fictional, but is inspired by phrases used by Anne in other letters she is known to have written.

Chapter Fourteen:

Sometime in early February, 1528, Drs Stephen Gardiner and Edward Foxe arrived at Hever Castle. They had been sent by the King on a mission, as described in the novel. The letter is genuine; it was written by Henry and seems to have accompanied his two ambassadors. (NB:
Ultra posse non est esse
– ‘what is beyond possibility cannot exist’).

The description of Stephen Gardiner is taken from a contemporary portrait, painted late in his court career when he was Bishop of Winchester.

As far as I am aware, no known portrait of Edward Foxe (c. 1496 – 8 May 1538) exists. Whilst there are descriptions of Gardiner’s character, I was not able to find similar for his companion. However, it seems that Foxe was a strong supporter of Anne. He is described as ‘an English churchman’ Bishop of Hereford (created at Winchester in 1535, alongside two other churchmen of reformist leanings). He was the most Lutheran of Henry VIII’s bishops, and assisted in drafting the
Ten Articles
of 1536.

In 1527, Rome was sacked by the Emperor’s forces and the Pope taken captive. Eventually, Pope Clement was exiled to Orvieto.

The scene that takes place between Anne and Dr Foxe in the long gallery at Hever is entirely fictional. However, we do know that Tyndale’s,
The Obedience of a Christian Man
was printed in 1528, and that Anne had a copy in her possession that same year. It was seized by Cardinal Wolsey, as we shall later see.

Chapter Fifteen:

The location of Hampton Court Palace, its dimensions and the buildings that could be seen from the south bank of the River Thames, are taken from contemporary, 16th century drawings of the Palace.

Cardinal Wolsey was infamously a butcher’s son from Ipswich in Suffolk, who had risen to be arguably the most powerful man in England, next to the King.

After four months in seclusion at Hever Castle, Anne returned to court at the end of February 1528. She was the King’s guest of honour, and appears to have been no longer in Katherine’s service.

The scene in which Henry greets Anne on arrival at Windsor is entirely fictional.

We know from Henry’s suit of armour that the King was approximately 6 feet 2 inches in height. We do not know Anne Boleyn’s exact height, only that she was of ‘middling’ stature’, which would be about 5feet 2 to 4inches, an average height for a woman in the 16th century.

We do not know the exact nature of the lodgings in which Anne was housed when she arrived at court in February 1528. Nor do we know exactly when the first members of her household were appointed (only that this occurred sometime during 1528). We do know that Nan Gainsford was one of the first ladies appointed to attend upon Anne. The appointment of Mary Fiennes, Lady Norris is fictional.

The description of the interior of the lodgings in this chapter is based on Wolsey’s lodgings at Hampton Court Palace; such lodgings were clearly meant to accommodate a person of very high status at court. I used these as an inspiration to describe Anne’s accommodation at Windsor. (NB: Wolsey’s apartments can still be seen today at Hampton Court). It is however possible that Anne was not lodged at Windsor Castle, but in one of the hunting lodges in Windsor Park. Further research has uncovered that the banquet that Henry held in Anne’s honour was at the ‘lodge in the little park’ at Windsor and not in the Castle, as is described in the novel. The little park is now known as ‘Home Park’ and we know that a Lodge of some description did exist in the grounds, although it is no longer standing today.

Questions which arise are: Was Anne housed here at a discreet distance from Katherine and the rest of the court during her entire stay at Windsor? Did this allow Henry and Anne a degree of privacy that could not be obtained at the Castle? Did this help maintain the pretence that Henry was seeking an annulment only on account of his conscience?

The description of the dress worn by Anne (and its various layers) has been verified by an expert in Tudor costume. I have always found the dress of the Tudor noblewoman slightly mysterious and wanted to include this detailed account to convey how Anne would have been dressed every day.

As I have mentioned, we do not know exactly where Anne was lodged whilst at Windsor. The novel describes lodgings within the castle itself. However, as ever, the layouts of the rooms in the King’s apartments at Windsor Castle are as they would have been. This information has been taken mainly from four plans included in Simon Thurley’s,
The Royal Palaces of Tudor England
.

Joan Champernowe was pregnant again in early 1528.

As described above, on 25 February, 1528 Henry put on a lavish banquet at ‘the Lodge in the little park’ at Windsor in honour of Anne. In the
Letters and Papers of Henry VIII
an account for this day survives which details the costs of this banquet, and includes a list of the food that was served. This is reflected in the novel.

The wardship issue between Sir Thomas Cheney and Sir John Russell is accurate and is an example of one of Anne’s earliest interventions in court politics. It made an ally of Sir Thomas Cheney who Anne supported in gaining the wardship of Anne Broughton, but a long-term enemy of his adversary, Sir John Russell, who would later speak of her in spiteful terms.

The scene in which Anne rides out hunting with Henry from Windsor is completely fictional. Engine Court can still be seen at the Castle today.

The encounter between Anne and Katherine is purely fictional. However, the place in which this scene is described did exist within the 16th century Castle.

Chapter Sixteen:

On the 3 March, 1528 Anne did have supper with Thomas Heneage, who was no doubt being courted by Anne as a proxy for Cardinal Wolsey. At the time, Thomas was part of Wolsey’s household and a rising man at court, soon to be transferred to Henry VIII’s service, where he would later supplant Sir Henry Norris as Groom of the Stool in 1536.

The letter from Cardinal Wolsey to Anne in this chapter is entirely fictional. However, it is constructed from the influence of other contemporary letters and signed as Cardinal Wolsey often signed his letters. (NB: Ebor is an abbreviation of
Eboracum
, the Latin name for ‘York’. It is a title that the Archbishop of York is permitted to use to sign his name with instead of his surname).

Chapter Seventeen:

At some point during the court’s stay at Windsor Castle, the King and Anne picnicked at Windsor Manor. It is not entirely clear which lodge this was, as more than one existed within Windsor Park. I chose the ‘old Manor of Windsor’ which appears to have been a medieval hunting lodge buried deep in the heart of Windsor Great Park, and close to what is now called Virginia Water. Some of the earthworks which formed the moat can still be seen today. The lodge itself no longer exists. The King in fact did borrow tables and stools from the townsfolk of Windsor; whilst food and kitchen equipment were brought down from the Castle.

The Ankerwycke Yew is an ancient tree which still stands today. It is an ancient yew tree, to be found close to the ruins of St Mary’s Priory, near Wraysbury in Berkshire, England. St Mary’s was the site of a Benedictine nunnery built in the 12th century. It is a male tree with a girth of eight metres (twenty six feet). Various estimates have put its age between 2,000 and 2,500 years. It is believed that the Magna Carta was signed here. For Anne and Henry, it is associated with the stuff of legend, as it is believed that the couple courted beneath its very branches in the early days of their romance. Both events have been captured in the following poem:

‘What scenes have pass’d, since first this ancient Yew

In all the strength of youthful beauty grew!

Here patriot Barons might have musing stood
,

And plann’d the Charter for their Country’s good;

And here, perhaps, from Runnymede retired
,

The haughty John, with secret vengeance fired
,

Might curse the day which saw his weakness yield

Extorted rights in yonder tented field
.

Here too the tyrant Henry felt love’s flame
,

And, sighing, breathed his Anne Boleyn’s name;

Beneath the shelter of this Yew-tree’s shade, The royal lover wood’d the ill-

star’d maid; And yet that neck, round which he fondly hung, To hear the

thrilling accents of her tongue;

That lovely breast, on which his head reclined
,

Form’d to have humanized his savage mind;

Were Doom’d to bleed beneath the tyrants steel
,

Whose selfish heart might doat, but could not feel
.

O had the Yew its direst venom shed
,

Upon the cruel Henry’s guilty head
,

Ere Englands sons with shuddering grief had seen

A slaughtere’s victim in their beauteous queen!’

The detail of the picnic at medieval Manor of Windsor, and the scene in which Anne dances for Henry, is entirely fictional. However, the
Letters and Papers of Henry VIII
indicate the food that was eaten at that picnic; as is written in the novel.

Apparently, Anne was famed for creating new dance steps and was clearly a most accomplished dancer who was noted for her grace and elegance.

Chapter Eighteen:

As was often the case, the court found itself at Greenwich for the annual May Day joust. It would be at this very same joust in 1536 that Henry would receive a message which would cause him to depart immediately, never to see Anne again.

In 1528, Anne lent Nan Gainsford her copy of William Tyndale’s
The Obedience of a Christian Man
. This book was proscribed as an heretical text. It was in turn taken from Nan by her beloved, George Zouche and subsequently seized by the Dean of the Chapel Royal on behalf of Cardinal Wolsey as described in the novel. We do not know the exact circumstances in which Nan was lent this book; therefore, the detail of this particular scene is entirely fictional.

It is known that Anne often marked particular tracts which interested her in a text with her thumbnail.

Chapter Nineteen:

We do not know exactly when Wolsey seized a copy of
The Obedience of a Christian Man
, nor the specific circumstances in which Anne found out the news. However, we do know that she was audacious and bold in her response; clearly confident in the King’s love for her, Anne took the initiative, going immediately to Henry before the Cardinal could reach his ear.

In writing this book, I have come to understand how pivotal this moment was in setting England on its course to break from Rome. Anne’s quick thinking and courage brought to the King’s eye the book which would change his thinking forever about the relative position of King and Church in England.

Once more, we do not know the exact details of the moment in which Anne confronted Henry with Wolsey’s treachery. Yet some of the words Anne used, and which were recorded by 16th century contemporaries, are included in the text. We also know that the Henry gave Anne his ring to deliver to the Cardinal, ensuring that his first minister knew that the request to return it was by the King’s command.

Chapter Twenty:

The scene in which Anne talks with her father in the gardens at Greenwich is entirely fictional.

There was an outbreak of measles at Greenwich Palace in May that year, which affected the Princess Mary. Henry was concerned, and as a result, moved Anne and her mother to alternative accommodation in the Tiltyard Towers—at a distance from the main Palace buildings. The description of the Tiltyard Towers is taken from contemporary sketches, known archaeological evidence, and descriptions of modern day historians including, Simon Thurley and David Starkey. The latter describes the following:

‘In 1515 work started on the tilt-yard. It was as well equipped as any modern stadium with two five-storey viewing towers, a spectators’ gallery, a sort of ‘hall of fame’ in which armour for horse and men were displayed on wooden dummies, and nearby, the royal armour manufactory.’