The Anne Boleyn Collection II: Anne Boleyn & the Boleyn Family Read Online Free Page B

Youth of Anne Boleyn."
    5 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 24.
    6 Ibid., 23.
    7 Paget, "The Youth of Anne Boleyn."
    8 The Manuscripts of J. Eliot Hodgkin, Fifteenth Report: Appendix, Part II:30.
    9 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 28.
    10 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 1: 1509-1514," n. 3357.
    11 "Tour d'Anne Boleyn."
    12 Warnicke, The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII, 246.
    13 Sander, Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism, 25–26.
    14 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 32.
    15 Sander, Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism, 25.
    16 "The Prayer Book of Claude de France."
    17 Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme, Illustrious Dames of the Court of the Valois Kings, 24.
    18 Ibid., 30.
    19 Garrett Fawcett, Five Famous French Women, 58.
    20 Wellman, Queens and Mistresses of Renaissance France, 120.
    21 Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme, Illustrious Dames of the Court of the Valois Kings, 166.
    22 Garrett Fawcett, Five Famous French Women, 70.
    23 Cholakian and Skemp, Marguerite (Queen, Consort of Henry II, King of Navarre): Selected Writings (Bilingual Edition), 73.
    24 Garrett Fawcett, Five Famous French Women, 81.
    25 Ibid., 84.
    26 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 32.
    27 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7," n. 958.
    28 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 9 : August-December 1535," n. 378.
    29 Garrett Fawcett, Five Famous French Women, 251–252.
    30 Warnicke, The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII, 21.

5. Did Anne Boleyn actually go to Mechelen and France?
    That Anne Boleyn spent time at the courts of Margaret of Austria and Queen Claude of France (wife of Francis I) has never before been disputed. Historians argue over how old Anne was when she was sent to Mechelen - whether she was six or twelve years of age – and whether she served as a maid of honour there or whether she was simply being educated in Margaret's household, but the general consensus is that she was in Mechelen (in the Low Countries) from 1513-1514 and in France from late 1514 to late 1521. However, one author, Sylwia Zupanec, has recently challenged this belief, saying "Anne Boleyn simply could not have had [ sic ] served Margaret of Austria [or] the Queen Claude" and that "the assertions about Anne Boleyn's early years are based on rather shaky references." 1
    In this chapter I will share those "shaky references" and the reasons why I am convinced that Anne did serve both women.

Evidence for Anne Boleyn serving Queen Claude of France
    It has been argued that Anne did not serve Queen Claude because the household lists of Queen Claude make no mention of either Boleyn girl, Anne or Mary, and that "the Boleyn sisters were probably confused with "Anne de Boulogne" and "Magdaleine de Boulogne" who were in the Queen Claude's household from 1509". Zupanec even doubts that Anne served Mary Tudor. She believes, instead, that Anne was sent by Thomas Boleyn to relatives in Briis-sous-Forges because "she may have indeed been guilty of some kind of a scandal", as Nicholas Sander, the 16th century Catholic recusant, believed.
    Regardless of whether or not Anne's name appears in Queen Claude's household lists and whether or not she has been confused with other women, there is plenty of other evidence to back up the view that Anne served Mary Tudor then Queen Claude:
     
• A "Madamoyselle Boleyne" is in the list of "gentlemen and ladies retained by the King (Louis XII.) to do service to the Queen": "Le conte de Nonshere," Dr. Denton, almoner, Mr. Richard Blounte, "escuyer descuyerie," the sons of Lord Roos, Lord Cobham, and Mr. Seymour, "enfans d'honneur"; Evrard, brother of the Marquis, Arthur Polle, brother of Lord Montague, Le Poulayn, "pannetiers échansons et valetz trenchans"; Francis Buddis, usher of the chamber, Maistre Guillaume, physician, Henry