#The Boleyn Inquiries

[edwardseymour]

Charles V did not consider Jane Seymour to be the wife of Henry VIII, and Edward VI to be the legitimate heir to England? (It is said that he looked down on Mary because she did not seize Edward's throne?)

✨ terfs/zionists fuck off ✨

i think a lot of this belief actually comes from lauren mackay (i know i have cited it in the past) but looking into it more, i honestly think she came to this conclusion owing to an erroneous reading of the source material. according to lauren mackay: “it appears that charles was at times ruthless in regards to jane […] charles referred to her in several despatches as henry’s mistress rather than queen, and speculated as to whether henry would marry again, as jane had so far failed to provide an heir”. but she bases this largely on a source that, i think, is referring to anne boleyn.

i am trying to find more information about this, but here is where i think historiography (specifically, the bias against jane leading to a lack of inquiry, and the reliance on certain assumptions about her, ab, and chapuys, which i have talked about before) has left us with something of a blind spot.

[sweetbitterbitten]

little victories wring more delight than a gifted greyhound, diamond collar adorned. what are insufficiently flung insults but impotence aggrieved? a curse without winnable recourse? they drop as blossoms at her feet, an offering of her unrivaled, far-extending importance.

she's heard tell of a sultana across the seas who sips her detractors tears for supper, uses their name-calling to curl her vibrantly hued hair. anne boleyn is woman and warning, in much the same way. an uncurbed, uncensored conqueror. laid comfortable in the aftermath of e v e r y conquest.

they stride with shared purpose and pace, her lofted laugh a hellish-specked, harkening that follows her like a handcrafted train. "as well he should be. to contend so congenially with that cankersore. ah, but let her have her pinched lips and lemon squeezed cheeks..." she breathes the sigh of one well pleased by the overall performance as she bares forth into her private apartments, indicating with a soft jerk of her chin for clustered and idle attendants to busy themselves elsewhere for the time being. "they will only continue to compound the king's anger, until she learns to cast them off."

grasp finds the handle of a wine pitcher, pouring them both a celebratory serving without preamble. "until then - i will consider her faces the highest form of comedia del 'arte." a quick and quiet cheers is clinked cup to cup before she allows her body to recline for a brief respite.

she considers his inquiry for but a moment before a tender chuckle traces the air. "not before the second coming, cromwell. more's the pity." pointer finger taps the contour of her drinking vessel thoughtfully, "...if only the adoption of our roles had come earlier in her rearing. what a cunning, cultured creature i could have made of her."

the princess under anne boleyn's tutelage could have peeled W O R L D S apart as easily as a P E A R .

such a loss of i n f i n i t e possibility.

he wonders, a moment, how gregory would feel about a stepmother. would he be just as cold? though, he supposes, it would make a difference if that woman were the queen of england. he had been by the king's side as he had overseen the interaction. now, the later aftermath. "his majesty was pleased by the conversation," he tells her, though he imagines it is more so that henry can try to shift any blame off himself for the situation. that it is not he who has caused this, in part. he inclines his head, curious. a little lower now: "you don't truly think she will come to warm to you, do you?"

[sweetestrequiems]

a l l t h r e e ? ? ?

Okay, here we go. Posted late bc... headaches suck. Here’s some headcanons.

––––––––––

General (Which is what you see on @the-boleyn-inquiries. Will also be present in Clockwork Conversations when I post Chapter 1.)

Anne’s very family oriented. She’s willing to fight for the other five queens, especially Katherine Howard. 

She’s a huge coward in terms of pranks. Anne is well aware that only two people can out prank her. (Her cousin, and Anna of Cleves.) 

When she’s not busy stealing her cousin’s chocolate, or Parr’s coffee, she’s drinking tea. Safe to assume, this is the tea both Aragón and Jane drink in the morning.

The Boleyn Inquiries Only: Anne 100% took up Falconry and the other five queens are both amazed and concerned at how good she is.

––––––––––

Out of a Book (Parrlyn fluff, on my Ao3. Chapter 2 coming soon.)

The biggest nerd you will ever meet. Her apartment is littered with bookshelves and books. 

Boleyn wears contacts most days. On the days she has to wear her glasses, she is extremely careful. Sure, she has an extra pair, but she refuses to break or lose any pair of glasses. 

Give her any ingredient in the kitchen, and she’ll cook something beyond your imagination. A lot of the things she cooks at home are family recipes, which she gathered into a small notebook thanks to her mother. 

She’s as humble as they come in terms of being a model. However, if she feels like she can show off? She will show off. Anne is very prideful, but she’s also mindful of everyone around her. 

––––––––––

London Bridge is Falling (Superhero AU inspired by My Hero Academia. Will be on my Ao3. Chapter 1 is in the works.)

Boleyn is a Vigilante. While they do the work of the Pro Heroes without paying mind and attention to the law, what they do can consider them a Villain. However, because Boleyn seems to not let their Quirk go out of control, nor do they harm civilians or cause any true structural damage, they are left alone in the eyes of justice. 

Their costume keeps their identity hidden, with only their eyes visible. 

When the Pro Heroes requested Boleyn’s aide, they were very reluctant to want to work alongside them until they got comfortable thanks to Parr, the sidekick. 

In a way, after the defeat of Eight, the Pro Heroes name Boleyn a hero of sorts. This turns them from a Vigilante into an Underground Hero.

[the-boleyn-inquiries]

Katherine is a massive brat

“I’m sorry, y’said what about my cousin?”

Anne Boleyn had started out with a smile on her face, before it faded into a cold scowl. With a brief raising of her left eyebrow, the second wife let a sinister smile creep up on her lips, soon to be made just a tad scarier by the fact she bit her bottom lip. Hell normally had no wrath worse than a woman scorned, but for Boleyn? Anyone who came for the five women she considered family, and then her baby cousin?

It wouldn’t fly with her.

“Alright, y’toff. It’s funny to you, but not to me. I suggest runnin’ as many metres as you can,” the woman cracked her knuckles. “Call the miss a brat one more time. Instead of me responding, it’ll be a German, a Spaniard, and two Englishwomen. Don’t test th’ waters with us.” 

[just-jammin]

Art requests you say... wanna draw something from six?

(finally some decent fanart-)

here’s that boleyn girl!

[filmnoirsbian]

So,,, upon further review it turns out there is NOT a famous historical figure named Tierney- despite the fact that I was absolutely sure there was a queen somewhere named Anne Tierney who got beheaded soooo ignore my previous inquiry I guess??

You mean Anne Boleyn?

[myhistoryobsession]

What do u think wouldve happened if Henry VIII's other wives had kids with him? Do u think he wouldve still divorced them?

Hi, anon! That's a bit of a complicated question, but I'll do my best to answer!

To effectively answer this question, I think it is best to break it down first by wife, then by the sex of these hypothetical children.

If Anne of Cleves did get pregnant during her marriage to Henry VIII and gave birth to a son, I do not believe Henry VIII would have divorced her. He would have wanted to protect his second son's legitimacy – Henry VIII, remember, was himself was a second son with a healthy older brother. Furthermore, there was no precedent for him divorcing his wives with their children retaining their legitimacy. Both his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, lost their legitimate status and claim to the throne upon their mothers' downfall, Katharine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, respectively. Catholicism, both contemporary and modern, recognizes something called Putative Marriage. For our purposes, this means that if two parties enter a marriage in good faith, any children born from that union will retain their legitimacy, even if their parents' marriage is annulled (i.e., was never valid). Henry VIII did annul his marriage to Anne of Cleves based on a contract she had with Francis I, Duke of Lorraine, and could have in theory claimed that his union with Anne of Cleves was a putative marriage. This would allow their hypothetical son to retain his legitimacy. However, Henry VIII had broken from the Catholic Church to marry Anne Boleyn (sometime in late 1532 or early 1533), and, so far, there was no precedent for putative marriage in the Church of England. While illegitimacy did not automatically disbar someone from England's throne, it was a serious impediment that a claimant would have had to overcome, especially when facing other legitimate heirs. Therefore, to protect the legitimacy of his son with Anne of Cleves and the validity of its claim to the throne of England, Henry VIII would most likely have not divorced his fourth wife.

If Anne if Cleves gave birth to a daughter, I imagine that Henry VIII would have still divorced her. Their daughter would probably lose her legitimacy and status as a princess and most likely would have been equal to her half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth's rank. But, she would probably have enjoyed similar privileges afforded to them.

Kathryn Howard is a bit more complicated, but I'll do my best! For this purpose, I'm assuming that Kathryn's enemies would still have conspired to bring about her downfall and that all else in that scenario remains equal, just that Kathryn had given birth to a child.

If Kathryn Howard had given birth to a son, I imagine that Henry VIII would still have arrested her and that an investigation would have gone forward. However, Kathryn would most likely have been found innocent and been allowed to return to her place as queen. For reasons I've already stated, Henry VIII would have wanted to protect the legitimacy of his son with Kathryn, and accusing Kathryn of adultery would have put a serious stain on the child's paternity, even if Kathryn never slept with another man during her marriage to Henry VIII (side note, I don't believe she did). Henry VIII would probably have arrested Kathryn, likely keeping her in the Tower, and ordered a formal investigation into the charges. Given his probable strong desire to remain married to Kathryn in this scenario, the inquiry would probably declare the accusations baseless and formally absolve Kathryn. However, she would have had to put on a great show of her innocence for the rest of her life to protect her son's legitimacy as well as any future children she might have with Henry VIII to prevent any slander against her son, who – if he existed – would likely have succeeded his half-brother Edward VI.

If Kathryn had a daughter at the time and not a son, I believe that the result would be similar. She was very young at the time, 19 at the oldest, and would have proven her fertility by giving birth to a daughter. There would be no reason as to why she could not have produced a son in the near future. I could still Henry VIII maybe divorcing her, but I believe he would have kept his marriage and, as I said above, put on a great show of his faith in her and her innocence.

Since Henry VIII displayed his unwillingness to divorce Katherine Parr several times, I'm going to skip her. Children would only have strengthened his desire to stay married to her.

I know that was a long post, but I hope I answered your question! Thanks for the ask!

[bluify]

The Six Queens as Stand-Up Comedian Quotes

Catherine of Aragon - Anjelah Johnson

When I first started telling people that I got married a lot of people were surprised, they were like “What? Oh my god I didn’t even– I thought you were a lesbian!” ... Surprise! Ponytail is ‘cause I’m lazy. Not a lesbian.

Anne Boleyn - Joel Kim Booster

When you’re a bad driver with this face it’s a nightmare. Let me tell ya it is no fun. I feel like I’ve seen every version of “Of course!” face, and I don’t appreciate that face. Every time I see it I just wanna roll down my window and be like “Excuse me sir, no no no, I’m not a bad driver because I’m [female], I’m a bad driver because I won’t wear my glasses and I text!”

Jane Seymour - Iliza Shlesinger

I genuinely feel that when women ask me “How did you guys meet?” it’s less about a genuine personal inquiry for me and it’s more like they’re digging for clues, like “WHERE DID YOU FIND A SUITOR? TELL US! WE WISH TO KNOW!”

Anna of Cleves - River Butcher

I am butcher than all of you. And by like, a lot. I can tell. When I got here a valet came running across the street and said, “Oh my god! Thank god you’re here! We have a bunch of manual transmission cars and none of us can park them! Please help us!” So I said, “How many ya got? 10? I’ll take two at a time, let’s get this thing done.”

Katherine Howard - Mae Martin

I’m having a weird year, I just got out of a long-term relaysh’. No really, like a 5 year relaysh’. I was in a long-termie. I was engaged, I was gonna get married! But I feel like the first sign that you’re not mature enough to get married is that you’re abbreviating relationship to “relaysh.” But we broke up in Decembs.

Catherine Parr - John Mulaney

I normally don’t notice people. I zone out constantly. Have you ever zoned out for a few minutes? I’ve been zoned out since [1543]. I just– all day long I wander into traffic walking like Charlie Chaplin listening to a podcast while thinking about a different podcast.

[mygoodqueenbess]

"David Starkey has discussed this formative episode (Thomas Seymour affair) in Elizabeth’s history, noting that ‘Almost all the men that she subsequently loved, or pretended to love, resembled Seymour. And all the affairs ended in the same way, in frustration and, in the case of the last [Robert’s stepson, Essex], again in death.’ To a psychologist - he says - Elizabeth might seem the victim of abuse, who herself would become a kind of abuser. To the eyes of a religious age, on the other hand, she would simply have learnt a great truth: that sex is sin and sin is danger. Both explanations, as he says, are far too simple. But there can be no doubt that her relationship with Thomas Seymour both affected and foreshadowed that with Robert Dudley - and perhaps not least in this: that marriage with royalty had been too dangerous an advancement for Seymour’s rivals to stomach; a rehearsal for the way Robert Dudley’s contemporaries would regard the possibility of Elizabeth’s marrying him. (Anne Boleyn, too, of course, had died for daring to mate too high.) Nor can the similarities have failed to strike Elizabeth herself: is it conceivable that, in the curbs she would eventually place upon Robert, she was trying to protect him in some way? Aspiring to marry her, after all, had brought Thomas Seymour to the block, as well as bringing Elizabeth herself into the spotlight of a dangerous and damaging inquiry. Paradoxically, the episode can only have reinforced the link in her mind between sex and danger: teaching not only that sex brought danger, but that the dangerous was somehow sexy. It is possible that Robert would not have held her interest so long had she not known he was both forbidden fruit, and a man from an ambitious family."

From Elizabeth and Leicester by Sarah Gristwood.

[the-howard-suspicions-blog]

kat where'd you get your icon from?

“We had headshots done when we all started doing the show! It was one of my faves, but Annie actually helped me settle on the specific picture I used! I think she did the same, a headshot. You can ask her over at @the-boleyn-inquiries!”

[sweetestrequiems]

also i am in an ask mood so:

boleyn’s blog if you want chaos or something

my writing blog if you want answers about my WIPs and what not

this blog for literally everything else lmao 

[the-boleyn-inquiries]

would you ever throw a punch and if so what would be the quickest thing to cause it?

“Would I ever?” A scoff. She did find herself a little offended at it, but... she had to shrug it off as well. “For me at least... just don’t talk ‘bout my beheading. I should also mention I would swing a fist for the other ladies in a heartbeat, too. They’re all my family.”

“Now... as for what would cause it? Well, if you constantly nag Aragon about the whole nunnery thing, or Mary, that’s enough for me to start chewing y’out. But if she starts crying? I’ll have ‘ese knuckles flying at you. If you make Jane upset at any given point, it won’t even be just me comin’ for you. It’ll be the other five o’ us. Cleves is difficult to upset, but I don’t even worry much ‘bout her because she’ll swing for herself.”

Boleyn backs up for a moment. “If you make Kitty anxious, mention her beheading, mention her death date, or purposefully make her uncomfortable even with a look? Run. It's like that... what was it, TikTok... I think that’s what it was, anyways... that audio that goes somethin’ along the lines of ‘this the part where I’m gonna get hurt’. Long story short, if I find out my cousin is upset, someone’s going to get hurt.”

The brunette hums for a moment. “And Parr’s normally running off of a day or two without sleep, so she’ll pro’ly throw a book at you or somethin’.”

[ladyniniane]

“Nolan’s new book, Anne Boleyn: 500 Years of Lies, is part biography and part historical exposé, challenging the conventional sources often used to explore Boleyn’s life while highlighting the queen’s humanitarian, religious and political efforts. 

Many popular histories paint Boleyn as setting her sights on Henry in pursuit of power, and the king making the ultimate sacrifice for love in choosing to break with Rome in order to wed her. Much has been made of the love letters Henry VIII wrote to her. Although undated, the surviving letters of their correspondence (only Henry’s remain; Boleyn’s have not survived) are thought to span almost three years.As Nolan’s account makes clear, however, the king had been making inquiries in secret about divorcing Katherine of Aragon years before Boleyn came on the scene, and Boleyn actually resisted the king’s advances. She ran away from the royal court for a year starting in the summer of 1526 to escape, and those love letters appear to encompass the time when she was absent from court, distancing herself from his advances.

 “The historians who do acknowledge this say it was a calculated tactic and sexual blackmail — the ultimate example of ‘when a girl says no, she really means yes,’” says the historian. “There are historians who are calling Henry’s harassment love letters and claim that he sentenced the queen he loved to death. I’m sorry, but the manner in which a man kills a woman does not prove his love for her. If it can end in decapitation, it was never love.””

[sugarcoated-eloquence]

HAHA I MEANT TO EDIT THAT POST AND DELETED IT DUMBASS JOEY HAHA

i’m taking a short break leave me asks on @the-howard-suspicions and i’ll answer them when i get back i’m just stressed and need to process some stuff. feel free to message me on discord! also leave kit some stuff on @the-boleyn-inquiries !

stay golden, i’m signing off now.

[actionbookz-blog]

Get 'Heartstone' on OFFER for a Limited Time Only!

Here: https://www.bookzio.com/heartstone/

The epic fifth novel in the Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery series by the bestselling author of Winter in Madrid and DominionSummer 1545. A massive French armada is threatening England, and Henry VIII has plunged the country into economic crisis to finance the war. Meanwhile, an old servant of Queen Catherine Parr has asked Matthew Shardlake to investigate claims of “monstrous” wrongs committed against a young ward of the court. As the French fleet approaches, Shardlake’s inquiries reunite him with an old friend-and an old enemy close to the throne.This fast-paced fifth installment in C. J. Sansom’s “richly entertaining and reassuringly scholarly series” (Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review) will enchant fans of Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Other Boleyn Girl.

Free and Bargain-Priced Action Books Daily

[poor-cromwell]

Would Anne Boleyn have survived if she was less open about her political opinions? Would Cromwell and Henry VIII feel the need to kill her, if she didn't disagree with them in public, or have her almoner criticize them in church?

Thanks for the question, anon!

Anne’s personality and her politics did definitely play a role in Henry’s feeling the need to have her executed instead of just putting her in a nunnery, but to say that she would have certainly survived had she been meeker politically would disregard many other things that played into her execution and over simplify the matter entirely.

In my opinion, the beginning of the end for Anne came with Catherine’s death. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Anne was executed just five months after Catherine died. As early as the month following Elizabeth’s birth, Henry was asking Cromwell and Cranmer if he could rid himself of Anne without having to go back to Catherine. With Catherine’s death, Henry could marry without the taint of illegality. To remarry Anne after Catherine’s death was to admit that his first marriage was legal, which he couldn’t do without looking like a fool, but to remain as he was meant that all the Catholic kings and princes would never accept his issue as legitimate. Although Edward’s place as legitimate heir came into question – mostly because some wanted the very Catholic Mary as queen, it was because Jane was never crowned and anointed as Queen, not because there was any question about the legality of her and Henry’s marriage. He was already courting Jane Seymour by the December before Catherine’s death, and after her second miscarriage, Henry’s hope in Anne was disappointed again. By 1536, Henry was already 45, and only had a bastard son and two daughters.

Had Henry left Anne alive, there would also be the question the legitimacy of a subsequent marriage, even if few accepted the marriage was legal in the first place. Obviously, Henry couldn’t execute Catherine, who was a member of the Third Franciscan Order, deeply religious, and whom even Cromwell spoke admiringly of on several occasions, without giving her nephew cause for war. England couldn’t have withstood an Imperial invasion, especially with the execution of a beloved Queen like Catherine. Anne was an Englishwoman, and no one cared enough to get stirred over a Queen whose legitimacy was in question. Thus, quarrelsome politically or not, Henry had little reason to keep her alive either way if he wanted to secure the legitimacy of subsequent children, whom he hoped would be male.

Regardless, what would Henry have done with a living Anne, simply set aside with or without accusations of adultery? Especially considering most agree that the accusations were fabricated by Cromwell’s dubious methods of inquiry, which included torturing the ones who he could and taking the word of Lady Somerset, who was known to hate Anne deeply. As a result, letting her live would allow her to continuous deny the charges and assert herself as Henry’s legitimate wife. The dead can’t talk, and Henry was able to make a frightening example of Anne. Killing his own wife, someone he had once deeply loved, would let everyone know that no one was safe, and not to count of the king’s “love” if they planned on disappointing him. A living Anne would have probably continued an opposition of Henry’s, and by extension Cromwell’s, policies and all around would have made herself a nuisance. Since it was largely believed that Anne and her family had a hand in Catherine’s death, a living Anne would have posed a threat to Henry, his new wife, and all their children. Let’s not forget, Anne may not have been beautiful, but she possessed great wit and charm and when they would listen to her, could turn enemies into friends. Even if she was left in a nunnery, she no doubt could have, in Henry’s paranoid mind, found money and men. With a daughter who had those red York locks, she could have raised an army in rebellion.

Her character was, of course, a part of it. Would someone have ever imagined Jane Seymour at the head of army or poisoning her enemies? Probably not. Anne’s temper was equal to Henry’s. She was fearless and vocal. Though perhaps her actual objections to Cromwell’s and Henry’s politics may not have made them sweat, the very character that compelled her to vocally oppose Henry and his first minister may have. As Queen Consort, she had very little actual legal powers, basically only those Henry gave her. But her influence is what they feared, and why Henry would have felt resolute in having her executed and why Cromwell would have had little qualms in orchestrating the downfall of his former Patroness.

It’s important to always keep in mind that history is mostly in the nuances, and big strokes come from thousands of tiny bristles. There’s almost never one reason that one thing happens, nor one thing that could have prevented it, especially in the multifaceted world of Tudor English.