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Title: Anne Boleyn by Eric W. Ives ISBN: 0-631-16065-5 Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Pub. Date: June, 1988 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.95

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (4 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: The Greatest Witch-Hunt Ever
Comment: Anne Boleyn was accused of essentially the same catalog of crimes used against every powerful woman since (and probably before) Jezebel - sexual infidelity, witchcraft, heresy, capriciousness and foul temper. As Ives explains, she may not have been physically the most beautiful woman at court, but her intellect, sophistication and worldliness (she had served at the Austrian and French courts) made her by far the most attractive. What is incredible about her courtship with Henry is the sheer number of missed chances to get a proper annulment of Hal's earlier marriage to Katharine - which, of course, would have removed the impetus for the English Reformation, and all the carnage that followed. What makes this a great read is Ives' ability to translate renaissance history into modern terms: Anne's rise and fall were inextricably linked to larger political and religious forces in Henry's court: her demise was the direct product of a temporary court alliance between the hard line crypto-Protestants (Thomas Cromwell et. al.) and the equally hard line Catholic sympathizers (Norfolk, plus the former followers of Thomas More). Once Anne was off the scene, they happily returned to their ideological trenches and resumed ploting against each other. Anne's was a vibrant life in a world which punished the vibrant and the intelligent.

Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating and informative
Comment: I found this an excellent read when I was studying Anne Boleyn. While never becoming too bogged down in details, it tells her story compellingly and with the necessary human touch which makes Anne's story so engrossing.

Focusing on faction as one of the major causes of Anne's downfall, we are taken from her contested date of birth to her final end, through the whims of the king, life at court and her dubious romances. Ives gives the legends a brisk working over and gives the facts clearly with all the available evidence. This is THE book on Anne to read and I strongly recommend it to anyone studying her life.

Rating: 5
Summary: The best biography of Anne Boleyn I have read.
Comment: Scholarly but not stuffy, Eric Ives' book is the best biography by far I have read of Anne Boleyn. It is packed with original research and serious scholarship but at the same time is readable and easy to follow. The average intelligent layperson would enjoy reading this. Ives, Antonia Fraser and Alison Weir are all MUST READS for Tudor scholars and history buffs.

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