Anne Boleyn: Henry VIII's Obsession Read Online Free PDF Page B

Marguerite of Angouleme. Marguerite later became known for her reformist views and Anne may, perhaps, have first become exposed to these ideas through her proximity to Marguerite. It has been suggested by one critical writer that it was while she was in France that Anne first ‘embraced the heresy of Luther’.
    Anne would also have had a number of opportunities to see her father whilst she was in France. Thomas Boleyn had continued to rise in prominence during Anne’s absence from England and was frequently sent on missions to France. In early 1519, for example, Thomas was part of a mission to France headed by the Bishop of Ely and the Earl of Worcester. This mission coincided with the birth of Claude’s son Henry, Duke of Orleans, and Thomas Boleyn is known to have attended the christening. Anne must have enjoyed seeing her father on his visits and he was probably pleased with the way that her education and deportment had progressed during his absences. Anne would also have had the opportunity to see Thomas and several other members of her family at the major event of the early years of Francis’s reign, the Field of the Cloth of Gold.
    In October 1518 Francis concluded a treaty of perpetual friendship with Henry VIII which included a marriage alliance between Francis’s infant son, the Dauphin Francis, and Henry’s daughter, Mary. As part of this treaty it was agreed that the two kings would meet for the first time, something that both kings were eager to do. Both kings were of a similar age and they were fascinated by each other. One account, written just after Francis’s accession to the throne, shows just how anxious Henry was to ensure that he was the superior of the two kings. According to the account:
‘His Majesty [Henry] came into our arbour, and addressing me in French, said “Talk with me awhile! The King of France, is he as tall as I am?” I told him there was but little difference. He continued, “Is he as stout?” I said he was not, and he then inquired “What sort of leg has he?” I replied “Spare”. Whereupon he opened the front of his doublet, “look here! And I have also a good calf to my leg”’.
     
    Francis was as eager as Henry to impress and he would have been long used to hearing reports of Henry’s handsomeness and his athletic prowess. According to one writer, who saw Henry in 1515:
‘His Majesty [Henry] is the handsomest potentate I ever set eyes on; above the usual height, with an extremely fine calf to his leg, his complexion very fair and bright, with auburn hair combed straight and short, in the French fashion, and a round face so very beautiful, that it would become a pretty woman, his throat being rather long and thick’.
     
    Henry cut a very impressive figure. He could speak French and Latin fluently, as well as a little Italian. He could also play the lute and harpsichord and sing from a book at sight, as well as being an athlete with a bow or at jousting. Both kings were determined to outshine the other at their meeting in France between 7 June and 20 June 1520. The meeting was so renowned for its splendour that it has always been known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold.
    Anne Boleyn is not recorded at the Field of the Cloth of Gold but she was almost certainly present. As one of Claude’s ladies, Anne’s presence would have been required and her ability to act as an interpreter would also have been in demand. Anne prepared for the meeting with excitement, both for the spectacle and for the chance to see family and friends from England again. The French party were scheduled to stay at Ardres, a town near the English possession of Calais, and Claude and her ladies began their slow progress towards the town in April. Claude’s household reached Paris on 5 May and was joined there by Francis on 17 May. The court as a whole then moved on to Abbeville and then towards Ardres, arriving there on 31 May. The French were represented by over 6,000 people and they must have