Anne Boleyn's Falcon Badge

Roland Hui thinks the one with inscribed limning is by far the finer. 'Of the two copies of the miniature, the Royal Ontario version is the finer, implying it was the original taken from life. The features of the sitter are livelier, and her jewelry more elaborate with the addition of a golden pendant set with pearls hanging from her necklace.'

An informal survey shows that I am quite alone in my preferance of the first miniature. She has a quite different expression – gentler, kinder – than the second one. Now, that is admittedly hardly a strong point in favour of her being Anne Boleyn, lol. The other woman has a quite sharp expression.

Had it not been for the similarity in costume I would never have believed them to portray the same sitter.

I do, however, agree that that they both are miniatures of the same lady.

There are, however, a few interesting differences between them. The lady on the right with the inscribed limning has an addition of a golden pendant set with pearls hanging from her necklace, and the flowers on the sprig in her gable hood are blue rather than yellow. Also – and this could be wholly subjective – the subject of the brooch looks on the lady on the right with the inscribed limning looks more like a woman, as if the painter was uncertain of the subject and just made something that rather looked like it without capturing the essence of it.

While on the lady on the left I think I can make out Anne Boleyn's falcon symbol on the brooch.

If is indeed of Anne Boleyn, could it be possible that Queen Elizabeth I ordered a copy of a miniature in somebody else's possession of her mother?

But first, could this miniature really be of Anne Boleyn?

I agree that at first glance the miniatures bears little likeness to how we are used to thinking of Anne Boleyn. I am thinking of course of the NPG picture of Anne Boleyn and the Hever painting of Anne Boleyn, and of all the paintings made after the same pattern, like the John Hoskins miniature.

There is, however, a different tradition for portraying Anne Boleyn.

In her only authenticated image, the Most Happi medal from 1534, the prototype for a series of medals made to celebrate the birth of a son that was not to be, Anne Boleyn is wearing an English gable hood in the style of the mid-1530’s.

In the Nidd Hall portrait she is wearing the same type of hood.

And if you compare the two miniatures to the Nidd Hall portrait and the Most Happi medal side by side we can see a clear likeness.

In the British Museum there is a sketch by Holbein inscribed in a seventeenth-century hand Anna Bullen de collata / Fuit Londini 19 May 1536. This sketch was engraved in 1649 by Wenceslaus Hollar as Anna Bvllen Regina Anglia.

Alison Weir makes the excellent point that Hollar’s engraving may have been based on the original, finished portrait from the sketch by Holbein, and that someone then recognised the sketch from the engraving and wrote Anne's name on it.

That is actually a really good theory.

(For further discussion about this sketch – often called the Bradford sketch after an earlier owne, the Earl of Bradford – please see our pages The Buccleuch Miniature and Engravings)

In any case, this engraving proved to be enourmously popular, and many artists have made their own version of a finished portrait of the sketch.

Two of the finest examples of these can today be seen at Hever Castle, Anne Boleyn's childhood home and Petworth House.

This tradition appears to have fallen into abeyance, whether because of changing tastes, or because of the more tentative mode of the identication, but Anne Boleyn-in-a-gable-hood appears to have been firmly replaced with Anne Boleyn-in-a-French-hood.

For these miniatures to be Anne Boleyn, however, she must have been 25 years of age or in her 25^th year in or around 1527, when, as we can see, these fashions were at their most ... well, fashionable.

Furthermore, her relationship with Henry VIII must have progressed to the point where it would have felt natural for him to commission a miniature of her from the court painter.

As always, I turn to the excellent The Anne Boleyn Files – Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII – When did they get together? There is some disagreement and no certain sources as to when Henry VIII's courtship of Anne Boleyn began. The «first solid evidence we have of Henry VIII being in love with Anne is Henry’s request to the Pope in August 1527 for a dispensation to allow him to marry “one with whom he had already contracted affinity in the first degree through illicit intercourse”, i.e. a dispensation to cover marrying a woman whose sister or mother he had already had sexual intercourse with.»

The Anne Boleyn Files – Henry VIII Falls in Love with Anne Boleyn – «David Starkey dates the start of Henry’s feelings for Anne to Christmas and New Year 1524/1525, shortly after he had stopped sleeping with his wife, Catherine of Aragon.»

That would fit perfectly with our miniature being painted in the summer of 1525, alongside with her fathers, the miniature Sir Thomas Boleyn. It would make sense for it to take two years for Henry VIII's ardour to deepen to the sort of commitment that he wished to replace his Queen with her.

As we can see, both of these points in time fit perfectly with the fashions of the lady in the minature.

However, the miniature being Anne Boleyn hinges on her being at the right age, 25 or in her 25^th year, when the miniature was painted.

Unfortunately we do not know precisely when Anne was born. «Anne Boleyn was born between 1500 and 1507, but the likeliest date for her birth remains unclear.» Today most historians seem to favour either 1501 or 1507 as a birth year for Anne. I seem to recall a time when 1503 was also popular.

If Anne Boleyn were born in 1507, she would have been 24 or 25 in 1531–1533, a time when this garb would have been hopelessly passé.

However, a birth year anywhere from 1500 to 1505 works nicely. She would then have been 25 or in her 25^th year from 1524 to 1530.

Even a birth year as late as 1506 might work. She would have then been in her 25^th year, 24 years old, in 1530, which might do for a strech, though I hold this to be unlikely.

So, the miniature being Anne Boleyn hinges on her birth year being closer to 1501–1503 than 1507.

For a comprehensive overview of what information we have about how old Anne was and for a discussion of that information, please see the following articles:

The Anne Boleyn Files – The Early Life of Anne Boleyn Part One – Beginnings

The Anne Boleyn Files – When was Anne Boleyn Born?

Claire of The Anne Boleyn Files concludes her excellent article The Early Life of Anne Boleyn Part One – Beginnings with: «Although the arguments of Retha Warnicke and Gareth Russell did sway me for a while towards 1507, I still believe in the 1501 birth date. The main reason for me believing in 1501 is that I cannot believe that a 7 year old would have been chosen to accompany Mary Tudor to France, it just does not make sense, never mind a 6 year old being sent to Margaret of Austria’s court. I realise that one of the main arguments for 1507 is the evidence of Jane Dormer, who may have heard of Anne’s age from Mary I, but then Mary I also stated on a few occasions that Mark Smeaton fathered Elizabeth! As far as Thomas Boleyn’s “la petite Boulain” comment, that could just be his pet name for his youngest daughter, I know my father’s pet name for me has no bearing on who I am! Gut feeling tells me 1501 and I’m sticking to that for now.»

I did discover that Lady Anne Brandon, later Baroness Grey of Powys, the daughter of Charles Brandon, was sent to Margaret of Austria's court in 1514. In fact, her time there might have shortly overlapped with Anne Boleyn’s. We do know that Anne Brandon was born around 1507, so she was about seven at the time. (Claire mentions this elsewhere also, I found it independently.)

In spite of this, my instinct agrees with Claire. It does not make sense to me that Henry VIII would have executed a 29-year-old only to replace her with another 29-year-old. Especially when the first 29-year-old had already given birth to one healthy child, the hearty and hale Elizabeth.

After the series of stillbirths and miscarriages with Katherine of Aragon and the sickly Mary and the sickliness of Henry FitzRoy, that alone ought to have been encouraging. I cannot believe, if Anne was 29, that the king would not have given it at least a few more years to see if the same might not be achieved with a boy.

Mary Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII, was born at Sheen Palace, most probably in March 1496. 

On the 9^th of October 1514, at the age of 18, Mary married the 52-year-old King Louis XII of France. She was accompanied to France by four English maids of honour. One of those maids of honour was Anne Boleyn.

Though the marriage was short – Louis died on the 1^st of January 1515, less than three months after marrying Mary – Anne Boleyn's tenure as her maid of honour was apparently enough to make Mary mislike Anne for the rest of their lives.

It would be curious if a child of seven could spark such dislike in a girl nine years her senior.

But a girl of fourteen … ?

There was, however, something very young about Anne Boleyn. Her carelessness in creating enemies, her belief that what she and Henry VIII had together was True Love, and her consequent expectation that he would be true.

It has been said that a lot of the mess Mary, Queen of Scots got herself into, was because of a lack of experience due to her charmed ubringing in France.

Well, Anne Boleyn was raised at the French court, too.

Like Mary, Queen of Scots, she was adept at court intrigues, and abysmally bad at politics.

Comments

It looks like The Tau cross derives from the Egyptian Ankh and basically they are wearing it around their necks, life rebirth, salvation mirror. sun.Stonehenge looks like it is made up of Ts to form c

are wearing the symbol on effigies at Ingham church Norfolk and Henry StanleyD1528 at Hillingdon Middlesex.Countess Jacquline of Hainaut and husband Frank Borsele are also wearing the insignia others

These Queens could of been members of the order and i think the Tau cross is a symbol of the Holy Trinity also.These pendants could of been reliquaries.Lady margaret de Bois and Roger de bois

I think the Tau cross that they are wearing could be linked to the(knights) order of St Anthony, Mary 1st collar looks like it may represent the knotted girdle/waist cord of st Anthony .

In the rose portrait of Boleyn at Hever Castle Regina has been misspelt (misspelled?) with a C instead of a G.. An odd mistake even if it is a Latin word.

Hello Site Owner.If interested in Elizabeth Seymour check painting by Holbein in the Vienna Museum and check her brooch.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/199706564700021059/

Spelling needed re-boot

Hello Site Owner.If interestedc in Elizabeth Seymour check painting by Holbein in the Viena Museum and check her broach.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/199706564700021059/

randomStuff

In the old photo of the Henry & Catherine of Aragon with the monkey framed as a pair, the inscription on Henry's miniature is "ANO XXX" rather than the current "HR*VIII* *ANO XXXV*" Any thoughts?

An HD photo of the Royal Ontario miniature show that it was reworked. The lapets were originally as long as the Buccleuch version.

Very interesting site, and thanks for mentioning some my findings.

If you're interested, I've created a companion Facebook page to my 'Tudor Faces' blog at: facebook.com/TudorFaces-100733881750006

Thank you so much! How great to hear from you 😊 It was your article about those miniatures that made me first create this site. I have always found your theories very interesting, and some of them

have been absolutely key to my own theories 😊 I will absolutely be cheching the Facebook page out!

Falcon on Ontario Anne closeup with Butler falcon imposed.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/453878468675949464/.

I want thank you so much for creating this and for linking me to it. It is very cleverly and impressively done. I have incorporated it into the text (with link and full credit to you, of course!)