As yesterday was Valentine's Day, I thought I'd have a look at some love letters or letters to do with love from the Tudor period. A belated Happy Valentine's Day to you!
You can also click here to read a bit more about Valentine's Day and how it was marked by the Tudors.
You can view my Claire Chats talk on Robert Dudley's "last letter" by clicking here.
The love letters from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn in the original French and translated into English can be found at https://archive.org/stream/harleianmiscella03oldyiala#page/50/mode/2up.
For Papal Agent, I read a maid paid by Eustace Chapuys and he passed them to someone from the Papal Court.
Henry’s letters are so romantic and also show he did love Anne. They also mention that Anne had written to him but now he hasn’t heard from her for a year and he is desperate.
Henry is rumoured to have wept when he received Katherine of Aragon’s last letter. Of course she wrote it, even though there is a minority doubt of her writing it. She must have dictated it as she was dying. It is such a beautiful letter. Who doubts it, if you don’t mind me asking? What proof do they have or is it just their opinion? It is the last letter of a woman who was devoted to her husband and King and still wants him to be with her. She commended their daughter to him and her ladies.
I find that Elizabeth kept the last letter of Robert Dudley very moving and proves she really did want to marry him but couldn’t. Very sad.
Thank you.
I think Catherine wrote it, it is definitely in keeping with other things she said. There are a few who doubt it, I think Giles Tremlett felt that it wasn’t authentic in his biography of Catherine but I can’t remember what his reasioning was.