In this minicast we discuss the life of of Henry VIII’s most talked about wife-Anne Boleyn. Of all the six she lives on in story, speculation and fascination although she had a longer run attracting the Queen’s crown than she actually wore it. Anne died only four months after Henry’s first wife! (and by “died” we mean Henry had her executed.)
Anne was the daughter of Sir Thomas and Elizabeth Boleyn. While she was of noble birth, very little is know about her early years. We know that she was one of three children born to the Boleyns. We know that she was raised Catholic, but converted to Protestantism at some point.That her father was a diplomat serving under Henry VII and, later, under Henry VIII and, while it was probably expected that the Boleyn children would land at court and that they would have been educated for that role-the details are lost. There is not even a consensus as to what year Anne was born! Maybe 1500, maybe 1509, probably close to the former, but you want exact? Good luck.
It is known that she was presented and served under the Archduchess Margaret of Austria. That she accompanied Mary Tudor ( the sister to Henry VIII) to France for her marriage to Louis XIII, and that she stays there to serve Queen Claude. But, like her early years, not a lot is recorded about her age, and these years.
What else is known? When she returned to England she was very Frenchified. Anne had learned a great deal in France about court life: dress, dance, etiquette, languages. Her sister Mary had a similar court based education and had “matriculated” earning honors in horizontal games. ( Yes, we are being childish and euphemistic, we’ll own that!)
Mary Boleyn, the more"giving" sister
Anne did not see that method as her key to attaining the position she desired. She attracted several suitors and even had a rather scandalous betrothal that did not culminate in a marriage. We go into details during the podcast, but let’s just say Anne’s methods of attaining position had little to do with giving in, and everything to do with attracting.
Upon her return from France, her father sends her to court to be a lady in waiting to Queen Katherine. There, the already married King Henry VII quickly falls for her charms. What ensues is the history that is known about her life.
How she would not give in to the Kings advances, unlike her sister Mary. (Oh, we love us some smutty tales!)
Speaking of smutty tales...we like Showtime's, The Tudors, but as entertainment, not entirely historically accurate.
How she kept her eye on the prize: the Queen’s Crown although it rested on the head of Katherine of Aragon at the time.
How she played this game with Henry for years while he attempted to leave Katherine, and how she ultimately aided the King in breaking from the church, Katherine and marrying her.
Once crowned Queen she wasn’t exactly the most popular, especially riding the heels of the adored Katherine. But part of Anne’s allure, part of the carrot she dangled to snare Henry was that she could do what Katherine had failed: Produce and heir.
Well, she did, but not what Henry had in mind. He wanted a son and the only living child to come from Anne was a daughter, Elizabeth.
Soon, Henry was dipping into the affair pool that was the ladies- in- waiting to the queen. He has several affairs and finally spies his next wife among them- Jane Seymour.
But he has to get rid of Anne before he can marry this beauty who surely will give him the son he so desires. Being King he gets his people on it. Soon many are arrested -including Anne- on grounds that she had an affair. The charges? Incest! Adultry! Treason! Included in the pack: Anne’s own brother George! Oh you have to listen to the podcast, we go into much more detail and specualtion and drama. Oh, the drama! But this was swift justice on trumped up charges and the final outcome for Queen Anne?
Off with her head!
On May 19, 1536, Anne Boleyn is beheaded.
It was a short reign, but the changes to England that took place during it changed the course of history. And, think what you will about Anne, but she gave birth to the woman who would one day change England again, Queen Elizabeth I.
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Books!
Can't go wrong with some historical fiction by Philippa Gregory!
Or some Alison Weir!( Yes, this is about Mary, not Anne, but we thought you might be interested in her,too.)
Blogs? There are QUITE a few out there, but here are a couple that might get you started learning more about Anne Boleyn. ( Just because she wasn’t our favorite wife, doesn’t mean that everyone agrees. Come on, plenty of wives to go around!) Check out The Anne Boleyn Files and On the Tudor Trail .
As fodder for drama, none come close to Anne Boleyn. Romance, intrigue, allure, politics, religion, scheming…and more all swirled around the fast life of this woman whose motto was, “The Most Happy”.
As we continue in our Tudors series, we take some time to discuss the life of Henry VIII’s first wife, Katherine of Aragon. She was born from royal stock, had a wicked awesome role model for Queenly duties in her Mama, and lived the life that was planned for her from a very young age. Ok, so maybe she didn’t have exactly a storybook Queen’s life, but a Queen she was born to be, and a Queen she became.
Katherine of Aragon
Born in 1485, Katherine (“Catalina”) was the youngest of five surviving children of King Ferdinand of Aragon, and Queen Isabela of Castille. Joint rulers of Spain. (And honestly, Isabela had a bigger piece of the pie.) Isabela was smart and fearless and lived her early years under the control of an older brother. She fought off arranged marriage after arranged marriage and eventually created a betrothal of her own on the sly, snuck out of the castle and married Ferdinand.
Mama, beautiful Queen Isabela of Castille
Once crowned joint rulers, this power couple took the fam on the on the road and began to acquire real estate all over what is modern day Spain. They tossed out Moor ( the Muslims of the area) and Jew alike in a period called, The Spanish Inquisition. We discuss what life was like during this time, the education of a young Princess, and some of the challenges of life, but young Katherine grew up not only on the road, but knowing where she would eventually put down roots. England. From the age of three she was promised to Arthur, first son of King Henry VII and the future ruler of England.
Ferdinand and Isabela of Spain: Power Couple
And, BTW, this is the same Queen Isabela who bankrolled a young startup named, Christopher Columbus. (We hear the bells going off in some of you! Nice!)
Young Katherine by Juane de Flanders
You thought she looked like this, didn't you?
Eventually, young Katherine left her warm, tropical homeland and set sail for cold, damp England. She was met with much fanfare (after a rather strenuous journey) and married her Prince.
Katherine by Michael Sittow (She was a blue eyed Ginger!)
Who died on her a few months later.
What WHAT?
But, have no fear, Dowager Princess of Wales! King Henry has another son, you can marry him! In seven years, if we don’t find a better match for him first. And oh, do you mind living in less than regal living conditions until then? Great, thanks.
For whatever reasons, once Papa Henry passed, and Henry VIII was crowned, he made good on his betrothal and married Katherine. For a while they seem quite content. She is advising him on political matters, while sewing his shirts and getting on the Baby Train.
But the tracks are a little bumpy. Of seven pregnancies in nine years, they only have one living child, a daughter named Mary.
But Henry is needing that heir. And he has a woman in his sights who he thinks can provide that. But first, he has to get out of this marriage. He thinks he has a loophole! Katherine had been married to his brother! That makes her his sister! And, yes, the Pope had agreed to the union, but Henry thinks he is being punished by God for it. At least that is what he claims.
Yada Yada…England breaks from the Catholic church, Henry becomes Head of the Church of England and his marriage to Katherine is ended.
Except Katherine is having none of this! Oh, it’s very dramatic, she is trying to save her place with the man she sees as her husband, AND trying to keep her daughter from becoming illegitimate. She tries to holds tight to her title as Queen. Unfortunately, she can’t hold tight enough. Henry is moving on to Wife number two, Anne Boleyn.
As always, we go into much more detail in the podcast, and answer some of the common questions of this time, introduce you to a few more key players (Wolsey) fill in a little more to this very sad, Royal Soap Opera. But Katherine is shuttled from one dark and dreary home to another and dies of a broken heart. Ok, not really, she had a massive tumor on her internal organs. (But our ending is more dramatic, right?)
On the day of her funeral, Wife Number Two, Anne Boleyn gives birth to a stillborn son.
Interestingly, only four months after THAT, Anne Boleyn’s reign as Queen ends. Badly. But that’s a story for another episode!
TIME TRAVEL WITH THE HISTORY CHICKS
We start off our recommendations with some historical fiction.
It's like we have a thing for Philippa Gregory! The Constant Princess
Non-fiction more your thing? We also liked this one:
Here is a fantastic one…that is in good condition, unlike the one Beckett brought back to the library.
The Wives of Henry VIII, by Antonia Fraser
We did tell you that you can get character tweets from “Katherine” but she hasn’t tweeted since November, so we can’t vouch for info in your feed. Here is a Henry VIII to fill the void.
Luminarium.org is a wonderful online resource for all things British history!
BBC’s Supersizesr Go! Elizabethan is on Youtube, here is a link to their channel. The episodes are broken up into parts (Elizabethan is six parts) but well worth the time. Funny and educational you don’t even know you are learning something! We love that!
Music courtesy of Music Alley, visit them at music.mevio.com
Our subject for this minicast is a woman who let her adventurous life soar! High above France, Sophie Blanchard was the first female professional balloonist and given the title “Aeronaut of the Official Festivals” by Napoleon Bonaparte during his reign.
Sophie Blanchard
Born March 25, 1778, Marie Madeleine-Sophie Armant was, by the few accounts of her, a nervous, petite and unremarkable woman…that is until her marriage to Jean-Pierre Blanchard. Blanchard, a professional balloonist was looking for a new gimmick and found it in his wife. We speculate as to what type of conversation it would take to get a woman like this into a balloon basket, but up she went, the first woman to take to the skies in this new -fangled, and dangerous, contraption. She as the first woman balloon pilot as well as the first professional female balloonist.
Hold on tight, Sophie!
We discuss early ballooning, what type of antics the competition of the Blanchards were up to, and exactly how scary these flights must have been during this time. In 1809 Jean-Pierre died in a ballooning accident and Sophie took over his business.
For as brave and daring as her husband was, he left his business in a financial pickle. Sophie did her best to cut corners and created some new ballooning stunts which she performed all over Europe, sometimes, to disastrous results. We cover those in the podcast, of course. But none were more disastrous than her last flight over the Tivoli Gardens in Paris in 1819. And by “last flight” yeah, we mean last anything. Sophie perished at the age of 41 doing the one thing that she had excelled in before any other woman.
A daylight ascension – 1810
The last show, 1819.
TIME TRAVEL WITH THE HISTORY CHICKS
We discuss an indie, animated documentary about Sophie that is in production. Here is a link to the site about this project. We have not seen it, have not contributed, were not asked to talk about it but are very excited about the premise so we link you up here!
Interested in finding out a little bit more about the history of ballooning?
And we know you like books! Here is one you might enjoy!
For this episode we focus on a woman who embodied sass, drive, creativity, brains, bravery, and heart. She was a journalist, a novelist, an adventurer, an inventor, an advocate for social reform and did it all under a name that wasn’t her own!
The most famous image of Nellie Bly headed off around the world (we think her bag is small, but very cute!)
Elizabeth Jane Cochran was born May 5, 1864 in Cochran’s Mill, PA. Her father, Judge Michael Cochran was a self made man with a lot of power, money and not a lot of forethought: When little Elizabeth (who the family called “Pink”) he died without a will.
SWOOP! (That’s the sound of his children showing up with their hands out.)
Mary Jane was forced to sell their beautiful home, and the family moved to much less lush surroundings. Of course, we will tell you the rest of the tale in the podcast, but let’s just say that the family hit some hard times. Mary Jane had a less than successful marriage, Pink had a less than successful education, and the family saw a gritty side of humanity.
It was during the floundering years that Pink read an article in the Pittsburgh Dispatch that would change her life. Enraged with the message, she penned an anonymous letter signed, “Lonely Orphan Girl”. The letter led to a job, and a nom de plume based on a Stephen Foster Song, Nelly Bly.
We chat about her days at the Pittsburgh Dispatch and her first adventure in Mexico as a correspondent, the nerve of her move to New York, her wit and schemes that landed her first undercover assignment, “Ten Days in a Mad House”.
Nelly may have been trying to earn a living, stand out and survive in a male dominated world, but her daring adventures led to social reform, too. BONUS!
The professional life of Nellie Bly was legendary and personally, she had some adventures and very quick romance that led to marriage to a man 40 years her senior and a second career as a head of industry.
The latter years subjects of Nellie’s stories were more about social reform than attention-grabbing gimmicks. She rallied for poor women and mothers and was a champion for orphans. She worked tirelessly…really, as in: she worked herself sick. She neglected both her health and her medications until Elizabeth Cochran, Nellie Bly, died at the age of 58 in 1922 from pneumonia.
Nellie shortly before her death
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Both of us began our adventure with Nellie by listening to the Librivox recording of Around The World in 72 Days . Download from itunes or check out their website! You can read that as well as 10 Days in a Madhouse online .
Yes, we know, some of you are more visual learners! There is a PBS American Experience for that!
Is there a Nellie Bly website? Of course there is! Right here It seems aimed at a youngish demographic, but there is a lot of research material on it that is not all juvenile.
Gee, we wonder if a certain podcast/website that we adore and is based in New York ever did anything about Nellie since she lived there? Well of course the Bowery Boys did, here is a piece about the asylum where she got her start. Wait, that sounds bad…
Books! Here is what we felt was the best biography about Nellie that we found:
Nellie Bly: Daredevil Reporter Feminist by Brooke KroegorAnother one we would recommend
A Bio of Nellie Bly by Kathy Emerson
And for the younger crowd (or those of you who like lots of pictures…no shame in that!)
National Geographic, Bylines: Nellie Bly
You know what would be neat? If someone made a musical out of Nellie’s story! Oh wait, they did! If anyone has ever seen this, we would love to hear what you thought! Stunt Girl! The Musical!
We attempt to be as PG13 as possible during this episode’s discussion of a woman who won the favor of a King, and is remembered as one of the most influential mistresses France has ever seen.
But before she could hold such a lofty position, Madame de Pompadour was a fair maiden with an interesting family. Jeanne Antoinette Poisson was born December 29, 1721 to Madeleine de La Motte and Francois Poisson. Or maybe to Madeleine and Paris de Montmartel. Or maybe Madeleine and le Normant de Tournehem. Ah, yes, Mama got around. But Francois was her husband and the father of record , so we shall call him,Papa. Tournehem was a very important part of Jeanne Antoinette’s life, so we shall call him, Uncle. And de Montmartel? He doesn’t show up much in our tale, so we don’t call him anything (although he was, technically, her Godfather.)
We discuss the education of this young woman. What was life like in this time for a child of a not titled, but wealthy family? We also discuss various versions of her early years that are floating around. How long did she study with the Urseline’s just outside of Paris? How much influence did her father have in her life? Did she really visit a fortune teller at the age of nine and what did that woman say?
But this we know: Thanks to a number of people, she got a very fine education despite Papa being sent to Germany for ten years for a financial scheme gone very wrong, and Mama losing most of their fortune in his absence. Hey! She was pulling single mom duty for not only young Jeanne Antoinette but also a younger son, Abel. She did the best she could given her circumstances, connections and, er, talents. Jeanne Antoinette was raised to be a delightful, well spoken, dignified, entertaining and educated young woman who charmed with a beauty from within. Not too shabby for growing up Kardas…Poisson.
Eventually Papa returns to Paris, Mama decorates a new beautiful home, and our girl Jeanne Antoinette is married to the nephew of potential daddy, Le Normant de Tournehem. All is well, although Jeanne Antoinette has set her sights a liiiittle higher than her husband, the father of her child. She wants the King.
And by “wants” we mean…claim his heart and serve France at court.
This is the King she has her sights on. Louis XV
Snares him she does. We go into the juicy details, but basically he just so happened to have an opening for a Maitress en Titre ( the chief mistress to the king), and Jeanne Antoinette (although married…and with a child) is the woman for the job! But she needed a title. He gets his people on it, finds one that wasn’t being used, and voila! Marquis de Pompadour. A little training in life at Versailles, a presentation to court and she moves into the palace and gets to work. Such as it is.
by Francois BoucherHard at work (Boucher)
For the next twenty years she is at the King’s side. Oh, yes, he had a Queen….but Madame de Pompadour understood and inspired the King like no other woman in his history. He listened to her on matters of state, of design, of art, of leisure, of just about anything that he was involved in- so was she. Sometimes the endeavors were successful, sometimes notsomuch.
We try to not get too bogged down with the wars and the politics, but those were just two of the things that Mme de Pompadour’s opinion was sought by Louis. We do name drop a little during the podcast, seriously, when the woman’s bestie is Voltaire, you KNOW there are going to be some A list parties!
She suffers sadness, uncertainty, a lot of bad press, a loss of sexual abilities but maintains a close, deep friendship and love with Louis for the remainder of her days. In 1764, at the age of 42, she dies in Versailles (which was forbidden, btw) of either lung cancer or tuberculosis.
Final portrait begun just days before death, finished after it (by Francois Hubert Drouais)
Time Travel With The History Chicks
As always, there is so much more to the life of this woman than we can cover in an hourish. If you are intrigued, we suggest your first stop should be over to Madamedepompadour.com (There really is a dotcom for everything, isn’t there?) Lots and lots of info and links to get you cruising along.
If you are as fascinated with Versailles as we are, or even just a little, here is a direct link to purchase the book we told you to get waaay back when we talked about Marie Antoinette: Versailles, A Biography Of A Palace, by Tony Spawforth. Get it now, you are going to want it. (And, we do not get paid by Amazon, or anyone else that we recommend in this section, but that’s how much we want you to have this book!)
Get this book.
Not Mme de Pompadour specific, but we also would recommend The Bourbons: A History of a Dynasty by J.H. Shennan
Want some historical fiction to go with your newfound Mme de Pompadour knowledge? The book Beckett recommended is To Dance with Kings, by Rosalind Laker; the book that Susan’s friend Melissa recommended is The Philosopher’s Kiss by Peter Prange.
Here is a link that we promised to l’ecole Royale Militaire, the military school begun by Louis XV, ( with the encouragement of Mme de Pompadour, of course). L’ecole Militaire.
And finally, what discussion of Madame de Pompadour would not be complete without a TARDIS?
We are not endorsing this product. We don’t have one, don’t know if it works well, know nothing about it other than…how cool is that?!
