Anne Boleyn Research Paper

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Anne was the daughter of courtiers Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard. It is not know when exactly Anne Boleyn was born. The two main years to be considered are 1501 and 1507. Eric Ives, her primary biographer, posits that Anne was born in 1501, at her family's house of Blickling Hall in Norfolk. He gives several pieces of evidence for this: a letter from Thomas Boleyn detailing the financial difficulties of his wife's multiple pregnancies (he inherited his father's fortune in 1505, so this suggests that all the children were born before 1505); Anne's appointment to the position of lady-in-waiting for Mary Tudor in France in 1514 (a position which would not have been available to a seven year old); and one of Anne's early letters from the Austrian court in 1513 (her handwriting, Ives says, is too sophisticated for a six year old). As such, 1501 is typically accepted as the year of Anne's birth. …show more content…

With her impressive pedigree and powerful position, she was one of the most important women in Europe at the time. For Anne to be accepted into her service was not only a coup for the ambitious Boleyns, but also a testament to Anne's intelligence and precocity. Margaret herself wrote to Anne's father, whom she had met during one of his ambassadorial trips to Austria, that she "found her [Anne] her so bright and pleasant for her young age that I am more beholden to you for sending her to me than you are to me. Where is this quote from?" Anne's idyllic life at Margaret's court was, unfortunately, cut short only 15 months later when she was chosen to accompany Princess Mary Tudor to France for her marriage to King Louis XII. She was chosen for her fluency in French and her impeccable courtly manners. Although Mary's time on the throne was short lived, Anne remained in France, serving the new French queen, Claude, and her sister-in-law, Marguerite of

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