This week's Claire Chats video has been inspired by a debate that's been happening online over an image from The Black Book of the Garter which Roland Hui believes to be of Anne Boleyn.
Note: My frustration and critical comments are aimed entirely at the anonymous author's way of disputing Roland's claims. Beth von Staats and QueenAnneBoleyn.com are not responsible for that as it was published on the website in good faith and QAB is a collaborative site. It is the author who has been dishonest, misleading and unprofessional.
Images from The Black Book:
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- Henry VIII as Henry V
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- Zoom-in on The Lady of the Garter
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- The Lady of the Garter
Gable hoods:
Dress similar to the one worn by the Queen in the Black Book:
The seating plan for Anne Boleyn's coronation feast:
Sources and futher reading
- Anne Boleyn as 'The Lady of the Garter': A Rediscovered Image of Henry VIII's Second Queen - Roland Hui's initial article. This can be found at https://tudorfaces.blogspot.com/2017/04/anne-boleyn-as-lady-of-garter.html
- Is it Really Anne Boleyn?, by R. E. Bruyère - The article arguing against Roland's opinion. This can be found at http://queenanneboleyn.com/2017/05/03/really-anne-boleyn-r-e-bruyere/
- Debating Anne Boleyn as 'The Lady of the Garter' - Roland Hui's rebuttal of Bruyère's arguments. This can be found at https://tudorfaces.blogspot.com/2017/05/debating-anne-boleyn-as-lady-of-garter.html
- An update on Anne Boleyn and the Lady of the Garter image - Here, I shared a zoom-in on the Lady of the Garter image and a gallery of gable hood images. The comments on the article are well worth a read. See https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/update-anne-boleyn-lady-garter-image/
- Another contemporary image of Anne Boleyn - My first article on this. It can be found at https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/another-contemporary-image-anne-boleyn/
- A Re-appraisal of the Iconography of the Choir Screen at King's College Chapel, Cambridge by Lucy Churchill - A fascinating article on the choir screen that features Henry VIII's and Anne Boleyn's heraldic devices and ciphers. Read at http://www.sculptureinstone.co.uk/Notesandqueries2014.pdf
- Regarding Anne Boleyn's pregnancy, Chapuys wrote of her pregnancy on 28th January 1534 too, so she was thought to be pregnant from January to the end of July 1534, a good portion of that year. References: Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7, 114, 556, 958 and 1013.
- Two New Faces: the Hornebolte Portraits of Mary and Thomas Boleyn? - Roland's articles on Lucas Horenbout's (also known as Hornebolte) miniatures which he believes might be Mary and Thomas Boleyn. See https://tudorfaces.blogspot.com/2011/10/two-new-faces-hornebolte-portraits-of.html
- Notes on several of the Portraits described in the preceding Memoir, and on some others of the like character by George Scharf in "Archaeologia, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity", Volume 40, Issue 1 January 1866, p. 88. This can be found on Google Books.
- ed. Starkey, David (1998) The Inventory of King Henry VIII: The Transcript, Brepols Publishers.
- Carley, James (2005) The Books of King Henry VIII and his Wives, The British Library.
- Hayward, Maria (2007) Dress at the Court of King Henry VIII, Routledge.
Hello Claire and Tim,
Thank you for putting together this video presentation. It encapsulates the debate over the ‘Lady of the Garter’ image very well.
What I appreciate is that interesting new observations beyond my own are being made – for example Claire’s comment that the lady is wearing royal ermine, and Lucy Churchill’s about the imperial crown. As well, while I myself had never brought up the pregnancy issue in my original article, it is well worth considering.
It is by such input that we can get a better understanding of this image.
Roland Hui