Nearly five hundred years after her violent death, Anne Boleyn, second wife to Henry VIII, remains one of the world’s most fascinating, controversial, and tragic heroines. Now acclaimed historian and bestselling author Alison Weir has drawn on myriad sources from the Tudor era to give us the first book that examines, in unprecedented depth, the gripping, dark, and chilling story of Anne Boleyn’s … Boleyn’s final days.
The tempestuous love affair between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn scandalized Christendom and altered forever the religious landscape of England. Anne’s ascent from private gentlewoman to queen was astonishing, but equally compelling was her shockingly swift downfall. Charged with high treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London in May 1536, Anne met her terrible end all the while protesting her innocence. There remains, however, much mystery surrounding the queen’s arrest and the events leading up to it: Were charges against her fabricated because she stood in the way of Henry VIII making a third marriage and siring an heir, or was she the victim of a more complex plot fueled by court politics and deadly rivalry?
The Lady in the Tower examines in engrossing detail the motives and intrigues of those who helped to seal the queen’s fate. Weir unravels the tragic tale of Anne’s fall, from her miscarriage of the son who would have saved her to the horrors of her incarceration and that final, dramatic scene on the scaffold. What emerges is an extraordinary portrayal of a woman of great courage whose enemies were bent on utterly destroying her, and who was tested to the extreme by the terrible plight in which she found herself.
Richly researched and utterly captivating, The Lady in the Tower presents the full array of evidence of Anne Boleyn’s guilt—or innocence. Only in Alison Weir’s capable hands can readers learn the truth about the fate of one of the most influential and important women in English history.
BONUS: This edition contains a The Lady in the Tower discussion guide and an excerpt from Alison Weir’s Mary Boleyn.
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This nonfiction book on Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir provides the research and inarguable evidence that she was innocent of the crimes laid against her before her death. Weir lays out very clearly the timeline of the dates that the Cromwell investigation uses to say that Anne was unfaithful in order to get her convicted. But then Weir provides recorded writings of the Tudor court that clearly prove that Anne couldn’t have been at any of the locations with alleged lovers because she was either miles away at another outing or she was pregnant and wouldn’t risk having affairs as she desired to give birth to the next heir to the throne. I personally feel that Weir closed the door for all argument otherwise after reading the case in favor of Anne Boleyn’s innocence in this book. I highly recommend this reading for Tudor junkies and history lovers.
Weir is always very readable despite the heavily-researched content. I enjoyed reading how further research has changed her views of what happened and why. The book could have ended with Anne’s beheading but I appreciated that it did not; the fall-out of Anne’s story and how it was perceived for decades after was interesting and rounded out the tale. I loved that the book, with its blood-soaked pages, ended on a high note. Very well-done.
577 pages
5 stars
Ms. Weir does it again! This superlative tale of the last few weeks of Anne Boleyn’s life is comprehensive and detailed. I always admire her attention to detail and historical documents (where available), that she lends to her books.
By the time of the beginning of Anne’s downfall, it seems that Henry VIII was already enamoured with Jane Seymour. Was Henry already planning to set aside Anne?
I found it very interesting that Ms. Weir posits that it was Thomas Cromwell who instigated the “investigation” and subsequent terrible end of Anne Boleyn. But Cromwell himself also stated “…he had neither said nor done anything without express command from the King.” Does this statement apply to the plot against Anne? Was Cromwell making this up to cover his own part in the affair? As of the date the book was published in 2009, Ms. Weir firmly states that Cromwell engineered the whole drama and puts forth very convincing evidence that supports her position.
The author goes on to state her proof of such a claim. It certainly makes sense to the reader, but…while I am certainly not a professional historian, I have read a great, great many books (and seen all the documentaries), on Henry and Anne and I still hold my doubts that Cromwell would have acted without some signal from the King.
As head of the Church of England, Henry could have pressed Archbishop Thomas Cranmer to annul his marriage any time he wanted. After all, Anne’s sister Mary was his mistress which makes his marriage to Anne questionable under the law of affinity.
As David Starkey points out that Anne was a “…brutal and effective politician.” After having gotten rid of Cromwell’s friend and boss Cardinal Wolsey, Cromwell had good reason to fear her influence over the King, especially after they had several conflicts. She even spoke of having him executed.
Was there some truth in Anne’s supposed behavior? She certainly was flirtatious and preferred the company of men. She had very few – if any – real women friends.
The legal process was a travesty at that time. The defendant was not informed of the charges against them until they arrived at the trial. Then they had to defend themselves as best they could. They were not even allowed a representative, for those accused of treason were not able to be represented by a lawyer. The jury would be packed with men who did not care for the defendant, or did not want to anger the king.
Thus the outcome of any treason trial was assured to be the guilt of the person being “tried.”
The book discusses what happened to those who were lucky enough to survive the events of 1536: their fortunes and failures.
Brilliantly written and plotted, this book is one of Ms. Weir’s best. (There are so many!) I did pick up a few more tidbits of information that I did not know. I enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone with an interest in Anne Boleyn, Tudor history or just history in general.
This book is wonderful. If you love the Tudors, this book will not disappoint. I have always been fascinated with Anne Boleyn. This takes you into her world and the drama of the Tudor court.
An interesting biography of Anne Boleyn with some new ideas regarding her inability to give birth to a surviving heir after her first daugher’s birth.
I have read many books about Anne Boleyn and many books by this author but I found this book particularly hard to get through. As an avid reader and fairly scholastic, I do not consider myself lazy or a reader of fluff, so found myself surprised at the difficulty I had with the way the material was presented in this book. First the author shared past historians incorrect views and then what she, the author, felt was actually correct. (Understand, I highly value this author as a historian). I will definitely give this book another try in the future but it isn’t for the faint of heart!
I have shelves full of Alison Wier books. She is my favorite author of historical fiction. Her characters are well rounded, realistic, often unpredictable and thoroughly believable. The situations they are challenged by are historically correct; her narrative adds depth and meaning to history, making the stories come alive for the reader. I highly recommend her work. — S.T. Pierce
Sheds light on real historical events and characters. Does it in readable rather than history book format. Definitely recommend.
In The Lady in the Tower, Alison Weir presents an exhaustive study of the downfall of Anne Boleyn, Henry VII’s second queen. Unlike many books that begin at the beginning and trace the king’s courtship of Anne and her strategies of resistance, this one begins when the marriage is already in trouble: Anne had experienced several miscarriages (at least two of the fetuses were identified as male and the last reported to be severely deformed), and Henry, desirous of a male heir, already had his eye on Jane Seymour. Weir details the last four months of her life, from Henry’s growing distance to the last miscarriage, from his efforts to have their marriage annulled to her trial, imprisonment, and execution, and even beyond to the various legends of ghostly apparitions. Although obviously biased in favor of Anne’s innocence of the adultery/treason charges, Weir presents strong evidence to back up her opinions. If the book has a dominant flaw, it is its repetitiveness. The author returns to the same points again and again, sometimes with additional evidence (and sometimes not), and the effect is still rather tedious at times. (I actually put the book away for a few weeks, unsure if I would return to finish it.) Overall, I did not learn much about Anne or her last days that wasn’t already familiar, but I did learn a bit more about the five men alleged to have been her lovers.