These two episodes break down the ways that Anne Boleyn continued to influence Princess Elizabeth, even after her death, and they come from the new book by Tracy Borman, Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I: The Mother and Daughter who Forever Changed British History. (Tudorcon plug: we are thrilled that Tracy Borman will be speaking at Tudorcon this year!)
Buy the book here:
Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I: The Mother and Daughter Who Forever Changed British History
(it comes out in the spring, but you can preorder now!)
Get your Tudorcon tickets here
Transcript for Episode 184:
Hello and welcome to the Renaissance English History Podcast, a part of the Agora Podcast Network. I’m your host, Heather Teysko, and I’m a storyteller who makes history accessible because I believe it’s a pathway to understanding who we are, our place in the universe, and being more deeply in touch with our own humanity. This episode is the second on Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I, based on the new book by Tracy Borman, Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I: The Mother and Daughter Who Forever Changed British History. I’ll put up a link in the show notes at englandcast.com/ElizabethAnne. That’s englandcast.com/ElizabethAnne. It’s actually the second in the series, and looks at how Anne continued to influence Elizabeth after her death, throughout Elizabeth’s early life. If you didn’t listen to the first part, stop now and do that.
Before we get started, though, Tudorcon. Unbelievably, we’re 10 and a half months away from Tudorcon 2023 because time flies. We have some new speakers confirmed, including the fabulous Adrienne Dillard, who has a new book out that you should check out as well. Remember, go to englandcast.com/Tudorcon to grab your tickets – englandcast.com/Tudorcon to join us in Lancaster Pennsylvania next September 8-10.
So now, Anne and Elizabeth. We had left off with Henry VIII and Jane Seymour getting married, and people potentially questioning Elizabeth’s paternity. Jane Seymour wasn’t doing much to help Elizabeth, given that she was the daughter of Jane’s rival. So Elizabeth may have been quite lonely. But as all of the trauma and stress of the summer of 1536 began to subside, Elizabeth found some much needed stability in her life. Her new household wasn’t nearly as grand as it had been before, but it was settling into a routine.
There were signs that Henry was beginning to regret his marriage to Jane, whose plainness and modesty were a contrast to Anne Boleyn, but now, comparing her to all the glittering and beautiful women at court, Henry may have begun to wonder if he made the right choice. Plus, Jane wasn’t pregnant yet.
Elizabeth was brought to court for Christmas in 1536, and something extraordinary happened between Elizabeth and Mary there. Mary seemed to pity Elizabeth now that Anne Boleyn was gone, and asked their father to be kind to Elizabeth. Though Henry wasn’t convinced – the tragedy with Anne was still too fresh, and she reminded him too much of his executed wife. That Christmas Mary sat across from Henry at the dinner table, while Elizabeth sat out of his sight, though other reports do mention that he was affectionate towards her.
By early 1537 Jane Seymour became pregnant, which would have changed things for the girls yet again. While Elizabeth had already been declared illegitimate, as long as there was no son, there could be a potential hope that her status might at one point be restored to her. Now though there was a son, and she would likely just be an extra princess.
But as far as her relationship with her father was concerned, now that Henry had a son, he was much more loving towards his younger daughter. When Jane Seymour died, Elizabeth probably wasn’t particularly affected. But she would have been much more upset at the loss of her Lady Mistress, Margaret Bryan, who was moved to the household of the new prince. Lady Margaret was one of the few women who had been a mother figure to Elizabeth, and with whom she had truly bonded and formed a close relationship. At first Prince Edward lived in the same household as Elizabeth, so she could have still seen Lady Margaret, even though they were no longer constant companions.
One new woman who did enter the household was Kat Astley. She became Elizabeth’s governess, though she was still in her teens, so she was much closer in age to Elizabeth. Kat had been given an education that was much more liberal than most women, and her intelligence and sense of fun was a good mix for Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was notorious for not letting her women marry, but when Kat fell in love with John Astley, Elizabeth supported the match. Probably because they were actually kin – John’s mother’s sister was Anne Boleyn’s aunt. His tomb actually says, “he was justly acknowledged to be allied to the most illustrious Princess Queen Elizabeth (by her mother’s kindred).”
Balance Parry, Elizabeth’s nursemaid, also took on a greater role with Lady Margaret’s departure. She wasn’t as intelligent or vivacious as Kat, but she was a steady and stabilizing force for Elizabeth, and never showed any interest in marrying or pursuing her own ambitions.
Yet one more maternal figure for Elizabeth during these years was her sister Mary, who actually spent a lot of time and effort in Elizabeth’s education, and given that she didn’t have any children of her own, she grew to love Elizabeth the way she might her own daughter. Elizabeth also became close with her brother, often sharing lessons and faith with them.
When Henry married Anne of Cleves, Elizabeth wrote her a letter – remember, she’s only 6 and a half here, writing, “I hope Your Majesty will have as much goodwill for me as I have zeal for your service.” Anne loved the letter so much, she asked Henry if Elizabeth could come to court, though Henry turned it down immediately, writing to Cromwell, “tell Elizabeth that she had a mother so different from this woman, that she ought not to wish to see her.” What a terrible way to treat your kid, but Henry wasn’t known for being a loving father.
Of course soon enough things went to hell for Cromwell, and there was a new wife, Katherine Howard. Elizabeth’s status improved with this marriage given that she was a cousin of the new Queen, and in fact at the celebratory banquet Katherine asked that Elizabeth be placed opposite her because she was of “her own blood and lineage.” Mary had shown disdain for the new marriage, and wasn’t well received at court.
Yet another stepmother would go before Elizabeth had turned 10. Katherine Howard’s death deeply affected her given how similar it was to her own mother’s – which she would have heard about and understood by this point in her life. This is the point at which she supposedly made her famous vow to never marry. Royal marriages, she could tell, were a dangerous business, and she was scarred.
Elizabeth became quite close with Anne of Cleves, who was living at Hever Castle, during this period. Anne wrote that “to have had Elizabeth for a daughter would have been greater happiness to her than being queen.” But then in 1543 Henry chose a new bride, Katherine Parr, a member of his daughter Mary’s household. In 1543 they were married, and Elizabeth seems to have struck up a close relationship with her new stepmother right away, referring to herself as Katherine’s ‘humble daughter.’
Katherine was also committed to the religious reform that Elizabeth was being raised with, and the Katherine would invite Elizabeth to read the works of Marguerite of Navarre, with whom her mother Anne had been so close. Marguerite had gifted Anne an original manuscript of her controversial poem, the Mirror of the Sinful Soul, published in 1531. Reading these writings of a woman who was so close to her mother would have given Elizabeth an insight into her mother, as well as also becoming closer in the Protestant faith. In 1544 Elizabeth translated the work from the French into English as a New Years gift for her stepmother.
Elizabeth may have had a revealing slip in her translation. There is a part that deals with the treatment of adulterous wives, with the original saying that no husband could forgive such a wife, and many would have them judged and put to death. Elizabeth changed the gender in her translation so it said, “there be enough of them, which for to avenge their wrong, did cause the judges to condemn hum to die.”
This may have been a simple mistake, but the rest of her translation is perfect, so one can wonder whether this was some kind of subconscious condemnation of her father for the way he made her mother suffer.
Later that year Elizabeth and Mary were both restored to the line of succession. Henry invited both Elizabeth and Mary to have dinner with him while he was on a visit in Essex, and she had impressed him so much that he began making arrangements to marry her to the Earl of Arran, son of the Scottish regent. This is when Henry made his famous dynastic portrait with his three children, and Jane Seymour. In this portrait, though Elizabeth looks as if she is meek and compliant, if you look closely you can see she is wearing an A necklace. This could have been a way to remember her mother, though it would have been a huge risk. It may likely have simply been an act of teenaged rebellion that wasn’t noticed until it was too late, in part because the necklace was discreet enough.
Elizabeth continued to wear jewelry like the pearl choker and necklace that she may have inherited from her mother throughout her reign. Even if the jewelry Elizabeth wore wasn’t Anne’s, it was so similar that everyone assumed it was a tribute to her mother.
Elizabeth and her brother were together when they heard about the death of their father. Edward was now King at age 9, though he had a council to advise him. Elizabeth probably had a very complicated relationship with her father – despite what he had done to her mother, he was still her father, and she continue to speak of him with pride and compare herself to him. She may have blamed others for deceiving him about her mother.
When her father died, she and Mary were able to choose some of the items from his inventory. One of the items Elizabeth chose was a set of tapestries showing Christine de Pizan’s The City of Ladies. Anne had read the work while in France and the Netherlands – it discusses female education, and leadership, and was a huge influence on Elizabeth. It also included stories of female saints that refused to marry. The six large tapestries were delivered to elizabeth to go towards the furniture in her house. Each was 8×5 meters – a striking visual reminder of how influenced she was by them and how she honored her mother’s memory.
When Katherine Parr married Thomas Seymour three months after Henry’s death, it was a scandal at court. Mary held a grudge, and wrote to elizabeth that she wouldn’t have anything to do with Katherine after the “scarcely cold body of the King our father so shamefully dishonored by the Queen our stepmother.” Elizabeth was more circumspect, saying that they should submit with patience to that which could not be cured. After all, her father had put her mother to death. Soon, Elizabeth went to live with Katherine and Tom at their home. While some may read into this a deliberate act of disrespect to her father, it may also just have been pragmatic, seeing the possibility of a stable life with a stepmother she had grown to love. She was tutored there by Roger Ascham, a well known scholar, and Lady Jane Grey, who was Seymour’s ward, joined in – both girls were Protestants, and they grew to love the intellectual atmosphere. Her deepening faith would have been yet one more way to be close to her mother.
The trouble that happened with Tom Seymour meant a scandal for Elizabeth beyond what it would have been for a normal girl who was caught flirting and having a potential liaison with a married man. Elizabeth was the daughter of a woman who was put to death because of accusations of incest, of adultery. And here was her daughter, having a dalliance with her step uncle, stepfather, and potentially just acting out her fate as the bad seed of her mother. When Katherine Parr caught Tom and Elizabeth in an embrace while Katherine was pregnant, and sent her away, it was devastating for Elizabeth. She lost her beloved stepmother – who would die in childbirth – and her reputation was in tatters.
The whole thing blew up when Thomas Seymour made a play to marry Elizabeth, resulting in Elizabeth and her attendants being held in the Tower for questioning – the same Tower where her mother was convicted on far less evidence than was given about her. Kat was removed from Elizabeth’s service, but the attendants would be released, as would Elizabeth. Here she was, at 15, already enmeshed in a sexual scandal, held in the Tower, the same way her mother had been.
After this point, she changed her demeanor. She began dressing in a more conservative way, and became an example of modesty.
During Mary I’s reign, Elizabeth and Mary lost the closeness they had shared growing up. Mary began to worry that in the same way Anne’s mother had caused so much trouble for Mary’s mother, that Elizabeth – especially as she was a Reformer – would cause the same problems for Mary. Her suspicions were stirred by the Spanish ambassadors, and Mary’s husband.
As Queen, Elizabeth would continue to refer to the memory of her mother, and keep her Howard and Norfolk relatives close. And again, to read the entire book that goes much deeper than these two episodes, check out the show notes at englandcast.com/ElizabethAnne to get the link to buy Tracy Borman’s new book, Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I: The Mother and Daughter Who Forever Changed British History.
For now, we’re going to stop it here. Hop in to the Tudor Learning Circle (TudorLearningCircle.com) to discuss this and other things Tudor.
And grab your Tudorcon ticket at englandcast.com/Tudorcon, and plan your trip to commune with your fellow Tudor history enthusiasts in September 2023.