New Book - Ladies-in-Waiting: Women Who Served Anne Boleyn by Sylvia Barbara Soberton (Pages 1 - 37)

 First Published: 2022

This book is a non-fiction account of Anne Boleyn and the women who were her ladies-in-waiting.

Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII. In her youth he got a post as maid of honour of Margaret of Savoy. Archduchess Margaret of Austria was Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1507 to 1515 and again from 1519 to 1530. She was the first of many female regents in the Netherlands. 

When Anne returned to England, her sister Mary Boleyn (c. 1499 – 19 July 1543)   was Katherine of Aragon's lady-in-waiting, and mistress to Henry VIII. When the liaison ended, Mary married William Carey.

William Carey (abt. 1495 – 22 June 1528) was a courtier and favourite of King Henry VIII of England. He served the king as a Gentleman of the Privy chamber, and Esquire of the Body to the King. 

When Anne returned to England, there was talk about Anne marrying James Butler, Earl of Osmond, but the marriage never happened. James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond  (c. 1496 – 1546)was in 1541 confirmed as Earl of Ormond thereby ending the dispute over the Ormond earldom between his father, Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond, and Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire. Butler died from poison in London.

Anne became one of Katherine's ladies-in-waiting. The book mentions that one of the privileges of these women was called teh Bouche of Court, which was the right to food, drink and day-to-day materials. The bouche of court, or vulgarly budge of court, is generally free food and drink at a royal court, or specifically the monarch's allowance of sustenance to their knights and servants during active duty. This privilege was sometimes only extended to bread, beer, and wine. It was an ancient custom not only in royal courts, but also in the houses of the nobility.

The Boleyns were a powerful family, and their home was Hever Castle. Hever Castle is located in the village of Hever, Kent, 48 km south-east of London. It began as a country house, built in the 13th century. From 1462 to 1539, it was the seat of the Boleyn (originally 'Bullen') family.

Henry VIII was a womaniser. One of his mistresses was Bessie Blount. 

Bessie had a child by the king, named Henry Fitzroy. Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset was the son of Henry VIII of England and his mistress Elizabeth Blount, and the only child born out of wedlock whom Henry acknowledged.

Henry married Bessie off to Gilbert Tailboys. Gilbert Tailboys or Talboys, 1st Baron Tailboys of Kyme (c.1497/98 – 30 April 1530) was an English courtier and Member of Parliament during the reign of Henry VIII of England.

The book mentions the sweating plague that made Henry leave the court and send Anne to her family home. Sweating sickness, also known as the sweats, English sweating sickness, English sweat, was a mysterious and contagious disease that struck England and later continental Europe in a series of epidemics. The onset of symptoms was sudden, with death often occurring within hours. 

William Carey died of the sweats in Pleshey Castle, and Mary returned to the court when Anne and Henry VIII were in a relationship. Pleshey Castle is a man-made motte and bailey castle in Pleshey in Essex. It was built in the 11th century and it is one of the best preserved motte and bailey castles in England.

One of the books that Anne used as a source of her beliefs was William Tyndale's The Obedience of a Christian Man. Tyndale claimed that the Pope had no authority over a king, and every man should be able to read the Bible in their own tongue. 

Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio, a papal legate, went to England to hear Henry VIII's case. Lorenzo Campeggio (7 November 1474 – 19 July 1539) was an Italian cardinal and politician. He was the last cardinal protector of England. 

The divorce trial took place in the priory at Blackfriars in 1529. 

Elizabeth Howard, Anne's stepaunt, disapproved of Anne's behaviour. Lady Elizabeth Stafford (later Duchess of Norfolk) (c. 1497 – 30 November 1558) was an English aristocrat. She was the eldest daughter of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Lady Eleanor Percy. By marriage she became Duchess of Norfolk. 

Her husband, Thomas Howard, took Bessie Holland as a mistress. However, in 1527 Norfolk took a mistress, Bess Holland, the daughter of his steward, with whom he lived openly at Kenninghall, and whom the Duchess described variously in her letters as a bawd, a drab.