The Life And Death Of Anne Boleyn ('the Most Happy')

By (author) Ives Eric
Short description/annotation:
This definitive biography of Anne Boleyn establishes her as a figure of considerable importance and influence in her own right. A full biography of Anne Boleyn, based on the latest scholarly research. Focuses on Anne''s life and legacy and establishes Anne as a figure of considerable importance and influence in her own right.
Description:
This definitive biography of Anne Boleyn establishes her as a figure of considerable importance and influence in her own right.

• A full biography of Anne Boleyn, based on the latest scholarly research.
• Focusses on Anne’s life and legacy and establishes Anne as a figure of considerable importance and influence in her own right.
• Adulteress or innocent victim? Looks afresh at the issues at the heart of Anne''s downfall.
• Pays attention to her importance as a patron of the arts, particularly in relation to Hans Holbein.
• Presents evidence about Anne’s spirituality and her interest in the intellectual debates of the period.
• Takes account of significant advances in knowledge in recent years.

Table of contents:
Preface.

List of Illustrations.

Part I: Background and Beginnings.

1. A Courtier’s Daughter.

2. A European Education.

3. Debut at the English Court.

4. The Sources.

5. Passion and Courtly Love.

6. A Royal Suitor.

Part II: A Difficult Engagement.

7. A Marriage Arranged.

8. Anne Boleyn and the Fall of Wolsey.

9. Stalemate, 1529–1532.

10. The Turning-point, 1532–1533.

11. Wedding Nerves.

12. A Coronation and a Christening.

Part III: Anne the Queen.

13. A Royal Marriage.

14. Anne the Queen: Influence, Power and Wealth.

15. Anne Boleyn: Image.

16. Anne Boleyn: Art and Taste.

17. Anne Boleyn: Life at Court.

18. Anne Boleyn and the Advent of Reform.

19. Personal Religion.

Part IV: A Marriage Destroyed.

20. The Rival, 1535–1536.

21. The Coup, April–May 1536.

22. The Response, January–April 1536.

23. Judgment.

24. Finale.

Epilogue.

Bibliographical Abbreviations.

Review quote:
"[Ives is] splendidly successful... Ives''s Boleyn, a portrait at all points supported by the evidence he gives, is clever, independent-minded and politically astute. Ives has gone as far as anyone can... in solving the enigma of Boleyn in a narrative at once profoundly researched and lively." Antonia Fraser, The Sunday Times

"Eric Ives has made it unnecessary for anyone else to even make the attempt [to write a biography of Anne Boleyn]. The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn is a stunning portrait of the most controversial woman ever to have been queen consort of England." The Independent on Sunday

"Eric Ives, a scholar utterly at home in early Tudor politics, has been writing about the Boleyns for more than two decades. His book represents a triumphant culmination of all that research, presented with clarity, wit and human sympathy." Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Telegraph

"Ives has written an excellent book on Anne Boleyn. Its great strength is its sophisticated understanding of aristocratic women''s involvement in 16th-century politics, and precisely how this worked in practice. ...Ives rises effectively to the human drama of Anne Boleyn''s life and in the process illuminates both the inner workings of the Tudor court and its relationship to the larger dramas of the Reformation and European politics." Jane Stevenson, Scotland on Sunday

"The best full-length life of Anne Boleyn and a monument to investigative scholarship." David Starkey

"Magnificently researched. Eric Ives has written