#i would be ives researched this gift and read starkey's interpretation and went *cracks knuckles* in his draft of the line | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

fideidefenswhore · 11 months ago

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It was [une étrenne] [which] Anne [gifted] Henry. He was overjoyed because the symbolism was transparent. She had remembered her journey around Brittany with Claude and Louise of Savoy in the summer of 1518, when the citizens of Nantes had presented Francis with a silver-gilt ship jewel whose meaning was that his subjects were safe in storms so long as he was at the tiller. Now she gave Henry a smaller, modified version of the same device: a 'fair diamond' set in a 'ship in which a solitary damsel is tossed about'. As the means to convey a message, it was brilliantly choreographed.

Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and The Marriage That Shook Europe, John Guy & Julia Fox

#out of context this seems way too suppositional but the letter says he's overjoyed. so. it's not #julia fox #john guy #(granted the rest is suppositional...but highly plausible. something i really loved about this book #was that it went deep into anne's background to make plausible connections about her choices of the mid 1520s through the 1530s #)#anne boleyn #henry viii #there's a reason this gift is used so often as a narrative device it's a harbinger of sorts #she'll stay in the eye of the storm and then she'll be cast out into the same storm(s) . and the weeping commences ...#i would be ives researched this gift and read starkey's interpretation and went *cracks knuckles* in his draft of the line #'sunshine and storms'#*bet #also a 'power-player and a power-dresser' (i've always imagined this gift was wearable #like a final return of all the pins he gifted her with in 1526)#you didn't generally gift someone with a piece featuring a diamond if they weren't going to wear it #(jf and jg also theorize this so my theory was vindicated)

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