#the imperial lady and then madge shelton .

[fideidefenswhore]

There is a saying that when Anne Boleyn was not the queen, she had greater power than the queen's three years. What do you think?

I think this rather limits the sphere of influence of royal woman (or, as it was for the former period, royal-in-waiting, Anne was a noblewoman, not a royal one, until she became Queen); to, how to put this...the 'domestic'?

Ie, it's known that Henry had mistresses while Anne was Queen, but not queen-in-waiting; I feel like when this is argued that's mainly what the gist of the argument is, she was his ultimate priority and singular love, then they married and the 'chase ran out' and the disillusionment was quick and debasing. And so her influence reduced concurrently.

And...while I find that summary rather specious anyways on whole, for the sake of argument, even if the former part were true, political power is something else. Queen-in-waiting was Anne at "I beseech your grace with all my heart to remember the parson of Honey Lane for my sake shortly", Queen Anne was Anne at seven of her own evangelical clients appointed bishops. After the fall of Wolsey we get "above all, the Lady Anne" re: Henry's councilors from the French ambassador, after Anne becomes Queen we get the contemporary remarks that she has the most influence with the King, beyond any other person, her time in power is referred to as her "reign". Even contemporary remarks after her fall are testament to the influence she had as Queen, "the fall of Queen Anne was like the fall of Lucifer", a parallel to God's most favoured angel being cast down...nobody remarks that it was evident her power had diminished once she married Henry.

Tl;dr, even following the paradigm of loss of love = loss of influence, I don't think...we have that much evidence of the former; the narrative is popular...well, because it's popular, if that makes sense? There's not much of an attempt to understand Henry as his own person, as an individual, particularly when it comes to his relationships with his wives. He was very ostentatious about what he felt for Anne: he "preferred the love of the queen to half his realm", he would "beg alms door to door" before he would forsake her, it's easy to dismiss this all as Henry being glib, knowing the ending, however...I believe he felt and meant these sentiments in the moments he said them, despite that, I think even had the ending been different, these expressions were both to Anne's benefit and detriment, really-- she was regarded as someone whose favour it was important to gain and keep circa as early as 1528, at the latest, all the way through to the end... but because of the common bruit of them, she was also, sometimes solely, blamed for Henry's unpopular decisions.

[intriguingpeoplebyangelafloyd]

MADGE SHELTON

MADGE SHELTON

d. c. 1555

MISTRESS OF KING HENRY VIII OF ENGLAND

Madge Shelton (Margaret Shelton) was the alleged mistress of Henry VIII as well as the lady-in-waiting to her cousin Anne Boleyn

Madge (Margaret) was the younger sister of Mary Shelton, who was believed to have been the actual mistress of Henry VIII (and not Madge). Their mother Anne was the sister of Thomas Boleyn, who was the father of Anne Boleyn. Madge became an attendant of Anne Boleyn on Easter Eve, 12 April 1533.

Madge was said to have had an affair with Henry VIII in 1535, however, historians aren’t sure whether it was Madge or her sister Mary who was the mistress of the king. This was because the Imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys referred to the king’s mistress as ‘Mistress Shelton’. Madge was believed to have been the king’s mistress for 6 months starting in February.

Madge was with Boleyn when Anne miscarried her son. Madge was Anne’s closest companion but was later dismissed. When Boleyn was arrested on charges of treason, Boleyn told one of her lady attendees that she had reprimanded Francis Weston for flirting with Madge Shelton, as she was to be married to Henry Norris. Boleyn questioned aloud why Norris had not married Madge yet. Weston replied that Norris came looking for Anne’s bed rather than seek out Madge. Norris and Weston were both executed after being accused of being Boleyn’s lovers.

Madge married Thomas Woodhouse and had two children.

#madgeshelton#anneboleyn#HenryVIII#thetudors#laurajanelaughlin

[rbperiodcostumes]

Rumoured and Confirmed Mistresses of Henry VIII

Anne Hastings:

1510/1513: Anne Stafford, Lady Hastings, sister to Edward Stafford, third 3rd Duke of Buckingham. Her affair with the King was only rumoured, it was also rumoured that she had an affair with Henry’s stool, Sir William Compton instead.

Elizabeth Blount:

1516-1520: Elizabeth “Bessie” Blount was a confirmed mistress to Henry VIII. He recognized her son, Henry Fitzroy as his own.

Mary Boleyn:

1523/1525: Sister to future Queen, Anne Boleyn, Mary was a confirmed mistress to Henry VIII. It was also rumoured that she was a mistress to French King, Francis I.

Elizabeth Harvey:

1534: When Anne was pregnant, both the Imperial and French ambassadors reported that the King had taken a mistress who was popular with the “conservative” faction of court. Her affair with the King was rumoured but Anne did try to dismiss her from court but her sister in law, Jane Parker, who was aiding her was dismissed instead.

Margaret Shelton:

1535: Margaret “Madge” Shelton was Lady-in-waiting and cousin to Anne Boleyn. While in service to her, it was rumoured that she was mistress to Henry VIII for 6 months, starting in February 1535. Some argue that it was her sister, Mary Shelton who was his mistress, not Madge. In fact, Mary Shelton was rumoured to be a “contender” when Henry was looking for a 4th wife.

Anne Basset:

1537/1538: Anne entered Jane Seymour’s service in September 1537. She spent most of her time with Jane during her confinement. When Jane died of childbirth complications, Henry kept her ladies employed at court. It was rumoured that during this time he took Anne as a mistress. Anne was also a allegedy a contender for both his 4th and 6th wife.