The Final Year of Anne Boleyn

Natalie Grueninger

• Publisher: Pen & Sword History
• Year: 2022
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526776990
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

"Skilfully unravels the myths surrounding Anne Boleyn's downfall, and presents the most compelling account of her final months to date. A triumph."—Dr Owen Emmerson, Historian and Assistant Curator, Hever Castle
There are few women in English history more controversial than Queen Anne Boleyn. She was the second wife of Henry VIII, mother of Elizabeth I and the first English queen to be publicly executed. Reinvented by each new generation, Anne is buried beneath centuries of labels: homewrecker, seductress, opportunist, witch, romantic victim, Protestant martyr, feminist.
In this engaging account of the triumphant and harrowing final year of Queen Anne Boleyn's life, author Natalie Grueninger reveals a very human portrait of a brilliant, passionate and complex woman. This telling period bore witness to one of the longest and most politically significant progresses of Henry VIII's reign, improved relations between the royal couple, and Anne's longed-for pregnancy.
But the tide turned in late January 1536 when Anne received news that her husband had been thrown from his horse in his tiltyard at Greenwich. Just days later, as the body of Anne's predecessor, Katherine of Aragon, was being prepared for burial, Anne miscarried her son. The promise of a new beginning dashed, the months that followed were a rollercoaster of anguish and hope, marked by betrayal, brutality and rumour. What began with so much promise, ended in silent dignity, amid a whirlwind of scandal, on a scaffold at the Tower of London.
"A must-read for fans and students of Tudor history." —Sandra Vasoli, author of Anne Boleyn's Letter From the Tower; A New Assessment
"Genuinely ground-breaking." —Gareth Russell, Historian and author of The Ship of Dreams and Young and Damned and Fair

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Prologue
• Part I: Spring 1535
• Part II: Summer 1535
• Part III: Autumn 1535
• Part IV: Winter 1535–1536
• Part V: Spring 1536
• Epilogue
• Appendix I: The 1535 ‘giests’
• Appendix II: Anne Boleyn’s Letter from the Tower
• Appendix III: The Alleged Offences
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgements
• Plates