The Swiftboating of Anne Boleyn

Let me say this up front: Anne Boleyn was no angel. From her tenderest years she was weaned on scandal and intrigue, schooled in Machiavellian politics, and came of age in the licentious court of Francois I. Unlike her sweet, malleable sister Mary, Anne -- the Boleyn girl who really mattered - had a great head on her shoulders. That, sadly, was the foulest crime a woman in the sixteenth century could commit, and reason enough for the all-male establishment to ensure she was parted from it.

Here was a girl who had the temerity to fight for a marriage not of convenience but love with her first sweetheart, Henry Percy, and to spurn the sexual advances of an already-married man, Henry VIII. What nerve to demand she be wed before she gave birth to their children! Who did she think she was helping bring the Protestant Reformation to England? She ought to be ashamed that her only offspring was history's favorite queen -- Elizabeth I.

For daring to survive and thrive in one of the bloodiest, back-stabbingest cultures of all time, Anne Boleyn acquired a reputation as a (gasp!) ambitious woman, a scheming, traitorous, marriage-wrecking, brother-humping, child-stealing whore. Oh, and let us not forget...witch. It was understandable that Renaissance spin doctors might be inclined to do the bidding of their half-mad, ax-happy boss, King Henry.

But what excuse have author Philippa Gregory in The Other Boleyn Girl and screenwriter Michael Hirst in TV's The Tudors for perpetuating the scurrilous rumors and trumped-up charges that insured one of history's most remarkable women end her life on the wrong end of a sword?

Maybe the answer is that every good story needs a villain. And who better to target for that role than a beautiful, too-big-for-her-britches woman that ends up with her head on the chopping block? As far as I'm concerned, Anne Boleyn was the first feminist. The first woman with the strength and convictions to face-down the London Boys Club and have her own way. At least for a while.

Despite her untimely demise, this young lady's indomitable spirit and her not insubstantial accomplishments have been an inspiration in my art, as well as my life. So I say to her detractors, "Take your swiftboats, sail back into history and find someone else to pillory."

In my book, Anne Boleyn rocks!

Read more about author and screenwriter Robin Maxwell at robinmaxwell.com

Comments

[Birdbrain]

Hey Pythia, I wrote the Swiftboating blog as well as the novel THE SECRET DIARY OF ANNE BOLEYN, which describes in some detail Anne's execution, via a French swordsman's blade, and not the ax. If you re-read my blog, you'll see that I write that Anne ended her life "on the wrong end of a sword." I was simply taking a little literary license in the next paragraph by using the phrase "chopping block." That's my right, as a writer. According to you, I don't do my homework, use cliched phrases, and don't know better. Rather a harsh assessment, I'd say.

[Myrrhis]

A silly definition of feminism.

Anne, like many of the historical figures cited by other posters, acted for selfish reasons, not to better the lot of women in general. Where did this idea that strong woman=feminist come about? Even the bigger-club-wielding-cavewoman was not a feminist unless she was doing something to uphold the rights of cavewomen in general.

Think of any other "ism". It refers to a group and to that group's struggles or issues. Anne may have played a boys game, but she, like Eleanor of Aquitaine some 400 years earlier, played it for her own betterment AND, let us add, harmed a number of women on her way.

Just because some modern female politicians want to make the strong(violent, angry) woman=feminist argument doesn't mean we have to accept it.

[sassafra]

robin, you said, "As far as I'm concerned, Anne Boleyn was the first feminist.". while i agree she's a fine example of a strong sister i would guess a closer aproximation to the first true feminist wiuld have been a neandertal riot grrl witl attitude and a big club.

[VicksieDo]

I agree with you, but I think The Tudors is doing a good job of showing how difficult it was for Anne to deal with Henry's immediate mistresses, his ruthlessness etc. I love the character, in fact she's my favorite character on the show. She seems like a very real person, with intelligence and ambition, passion and devotion. You can see how the charges will be trumped up against her unfairly, and how Henry plays a part in all of his own problems. Natalie Dormer has brought Anne to life for me.

[jaybone23]

I gotta agree with the comments made by Pythia & DocManhattan. Attempting to create a 21st century feminist icon out of a 16th century historical figure is, at best, a pointless exercise in graduate student buffoonery. " In my book, Anne Boleyn rocks!" Maxwell writes, sounding like a Paris Hilton-ish girl whose only appreciation of history comes from Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette. This current trend of trying to turn history into popular culture will only have merit if the scholarship behind the dramatization is valid and as close to the "truth" as possible.

[Pythia]

Thank you jaybone, in the meantime, I hope (but have a good feeling) that "The Tudors" will portray Anne Boleyn's beheading by a special swordsman with as much historical accuracy as possible. Robin isn't the first person to get it wrong, there have been worse before her. For approximately one year, I waged a veritable crusade with The Discover/History/Learning Channel to PLEASE remove an article from their web site, that not only claimed Anne Boleyn was executed by guillotine (which hadn't been invented for hundreds of years yet), but that the offensive machine was on display at the Tower of London!!! Telling me with as much disdain as they could muster that they'd have to "research my claims", at long last I received an apology and assurance the offensive article was removed. One year later it was still there, and Melinda Egan is still being paid for Jayson Blair journalism, I actually saw her as a pundit on tv not too long ago. News to the ignorant: you can't fool ALL of the people! And some of us will expose you.

[lisakaz2]

I suppose you read that book on Anne Boleyn as a politician -- and playing the man's sport got her executed. In this book, Anne suggests marriage as a way to rid herself of Henry VIII because she felt more sexually harrassed than enamoured of him. Very interesting work.

I can't say who the "first feminist" was. You'd have to be very careful in your definition, esp. if you need to include some sense of self-awareness (and of what). If it's fighting for the category of "womankind" I'll stick with Olympe de Gouges.

[DocManhattan]

Anne Boleyn the "first feminist"? What about Joan of Arc? What about Boadicea, Cleopatra, Hatshepsut ...?

It's a silly statement that doesn't stand up to the slightest scrutiny. I wish writers would stick to writing stuff they actually mean, rather than things that seem like they'd make a good sound bite.

[Pythia]

Oh Robin... Another writer who either refuses to do the most basic of homework (research),or chooses cliche phrases instead. I have less problem with your 'opinion' of Anne as the "first feminist" than I do with you describing her as a "woman who ends up with her head on the chopping block". For you see, the real way she was executed was FAR more dramatic. Henry granted her last request, that an expert swordsman be imported from France, who smote off her head in one blow as she stood. She considered the chopping block unsuitable for a queen, and never had her head on one.

THIS, from a woman who wrote a book on Boleyn? Don't you know better? The true story would have justified your feminist claims far more effectively...

[lisakaz2]

How the heck can you be decapitated by a sword if your head isn't placed on a block of some kind? That's what Catherine Howard did.

[fred123]

Anne played the politics of the day and lost - she got Henry to make her queen, and bet her life that she could produce a son. We know how that came out. Yeah, she was framed but that was a pretty common fate for those men and women who disappointed Henry VIII (see Thomas Moore). I really do not see a feminist angle here. If you are looking for an early English feminist, why not try Queen Eleanor? Now there was a woman ...

[wm1066]

Ya I can by that, Eleanor Aquitaine was quite formidable, and knew how to keep her head, didn't she live to be about eighty years old?

[MrsGreebers]

And let's remember that she presided over the downfall of Catherine of Aragon and likely lost not a minute of sleep. Just as Thomas More burned some heretics at the stake, and is now considered a martyr because he died extremely well (as did Anne when her time came).

We need to separate what we know historically from what we see in dramatic depictions. Anne is ALWAYS depicted as very shrewed while she is reeling Henry in... only to forget herself and go all jealous and demanding at the exact moment she should have been at her most accommodating.. during that second and third year after producing a mere daughter, when she was miscarrying her sons. Could she have bought herself more time... at least one more try, if she had kept Henry's affections a little longer?

I don't know whether she really passed a deformed male fetus and if so, it's possible that nothing could have saved her at that point given that birth defects were "proof" of wrongdoing, witchcraft, etc. But in all these dramatic depictions she's almost going out of her way to alienate Henry.

[somethingamiss]

Of course, everyone tries to laud Anne Boleyn as some feminist icon. I would ask that one please consider Catherine of Aragon as better qualified for that title.
For almost twenty years, she was Henry's consort, and the favorite of her adopted English subjects. From her cradle, as the daughter of queen regnant Isabella, she was raised to rule and given lessons in statecraft. When Henry went to France for his public relations-inspired skirmish known as the Battle of the Spurs, he left Catherine as regent in his place, and he owed his crown to her for so doing. For while he tilted at windmills in northern France, Scotland decided it would invade England. Catherine was a more than able general, dispatching forces to meet and crush the Scottish advance, killing the King of the Scots in the end. In other words, Catherine was general, statesman, diplomat, and politician. What she was not was a mother of sons, and she was past childbearing years.
Enter Anne Boleyn, who stakes her life on one premise: that she can and will bear sons for Henry. Catherine had transcended gender with her rule as queen consort (and regent). Anne reminded us all that women have only one function in affairs of state: a biological one. She chose to live by the womb, and when she could not deliver on her promise, she died by the womb.
So who is the better example for women?

[alsm9]

"Anne reminded us all that women have only one function in affairs of state: a biological one. "

What a sexist statement. Ms. Maxwell (and the history books) show, Anne Boleyn played a significant role in bringing the Protestant Reformation to England. She may not have fulfilled her "biological function", which was in turn used against her, but she did help to achieve something far more grand....defeating the Catholic Church.

[lisakaz2]

What is sexist about that line? How did 16th century queens NOT have an essential biological function.

I'd suggest you read Joan Kelly-Gadol's groundbreaking essay "Did Women Have a Renaissance?" which maintains that, unlike the earlier medieval period, women's biological function was the principal contribution to state affairs. Therefore, her answer to the question in the title is a big fat "no."

[mbh78213]

As far as Henry's six wives go, my vote for the most impressive goes to Catherine Parr.

[wm1066]

Anne had an extra finger on one of her hands so she wore long sleeves to hide this, thats one reason she was called a witch. And those sleeves inspired the song "Greensleeves" that Henry had written.
But I think the Lady Jane Grey was also to be admired, she was also of that time period, or a few years later.

[boleynfan]

There is no solid evidence that Anne had a sixth finger. This story circulated as they started piling on to the "witchcraft" theory to support Henry's efforts to divorce her.

[wm1066]

My source was Jane Pliady ,AKA Eleanor Hibbert, who wrote 200 historical novels.
Quite well known, not one to make things up since she was writting to an English audience.

[gonavy]

How about the swift boating of Mary Magdoleon (sp). Men have been ruining womens reputations since the dawn of man. We only gave it a name when it was done to Kerry.

[Valkyrie]

And how about the swiftboating of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Anna Nicole Smith. Many women have been swift-boating themselves recently.

A little perspective, please.