From the Telegraph:
Salacious details of how Anne Boleyn was said to have cheated on Henry VIII with her own brother are contained in documents which have been put on the internet for the first time.
An official account of her trial in 1536, including graphic claims of incest, features in an online exhibition to mark the 500th anniversary of the Tudor monarch's accession to the throne.
Anne's relationship with Henry set the course of British history, triggering England's split with Rome amid his divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon.
The collection also includes a court document relating to that divorce and a letter dealing with his later plans to cut ties with his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, because of disappointment in the bedroom.
There is also a section of Valor Ecclesiasticus, the valuation of church lands before the dissolution of the monasteries, which has been described as Henry VIII's equivalent to the Domesday Book.
They have been digitised as part of an online exhibition showcasing parchments from Henry's reign which are held by National Archives to mark the anniversary of his accession in 1509.
I think it's great that so much historic evidence is being put on view to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Herny VIII's accession to the throne - great for Tudor history fans!
ReplyDeleteIt may seem that Anne had a scandalous life, but her fall from grace was all a conspiracy plotted by Thomas Cromwell and these "salacious details" were blatantly untrue. Anne even had solid alibis for the times when she was meant to have cheated on Henry. A complete miscarriage of justice!