Catherine and Anne: Queens, Rivals, Mothers
Catherine and Anne: Rivals, Queens, Mothers
By Dr Owen Emmerson, Kate McCaffrey and Alison Palmer.
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Catherine and Anne were more similar than they might have liked to agree, Anne and Catherine had the same book of hours. Owen, Kate and Alison have curated an exhibition on the books of hours that Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon both owned.
Dr Owen Emmerson has kindly agreed to have an interview with me on his new book and exhibition.
So, Owen, please tell us a bit about yourself first!
I am a social and cultural historian and, quite frankly, a bit of a nerd. I completed three degrees at the University of Sussex under Professor Claire Langhamer and Professor Lucy Robinson. While at Sussex, I volunteered at and then worked for the Mass-Observation Archive, which I enjoyed immensely. One of my enduring fascinations is with the minutiae of everyday life, both for the privileged few in society and for the more 'ordinary' people. I am very fortunate to live on the former estate of Lord Sheffield in Sussex, and many generations of my family worked in the 'big house'. Being surrounded by the most wonderful relatives who worked in service really gave me a love for listening to stories. The University of Sussex allowed me to expand upon that interest and learn how to analyse life history. Beyond history, which admittedly takes up most of my life, I very much enjoy family life at home, reading trashy novels, listening to an eclectic variety of music, and playing with my kitten, Figaro.
Where did your interest in Anne Boleyn start? And when did you know you wanted to make it a career?
I first fell in love with Anne when I was four, specifically on Saturday, 17th September 1988. On that day, my lovely mother sat me down on a Sunday afternoon to watch Anne of the Thousand Days on television, and I can remember the excitement that I felt being absorbed in the glorious narrative of that rather marvellous film. It gave me a love for Anne and her family home of Hever Castle in Kent, where a third of that film was shot. My parents patiently took me on many birthday visits to Hever and the Tower of London. I cannot really remember not being besotted with the many stories about Anne's life. I think this almost obsessive attention allowed me to understand the mechanics of history and see how the layers of mythology built around Anne and her family were constructed over time. I quite quickly became fascinated by the variations in Anne's story and found conflicting narratives. It also gave me an enduring love of the shifting cultural images of Anne, which very much underpin how her image and reputation have changed over the centuries. Anne has shaped my life, and it has been an honour to incorporate my passion into a career.
Why do you think we find Anne Boleyn so alluring 500 years later?
I think there are many reasons that all kinds of different people have such an enduring fascination with Anne Boleyn. One of the reasons that Anne continues to fascinate us is that there is just enough of her left in the historical record to give us a flavour of her character, but not quite enough to complete the puzzle. Just as you think you have grasped an aspect of Anne Boleyn's life or personality, she manages to slip away from you. Partly, this is because so little survives of Anne's story written in her own words. We continually rely on other people's observations of her actions rather than hearing them from her. This makes her a perpetually mercurial character and one who never fully satiates our thirst.
How has the process been in creating this exhibition?
This exhibition was a particularly wonderful one to work on because so much of the research was completed by the brilliant historian and Assistant Curator Kate McCaffrey as part of her MA thesis. That gave us a brilliant grounding by which we could develop into a physical experience.
What was particularly helpful for us was that the Hever collection is wonderfully rich and contains, for example, portraits of all the key players of this fascinating original research. We broadened the scope of Kate’s research by asking if the famed rivalries between Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn simply mapped onto the undeniably tested relationship between their daughters, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. Or, as we hopefully show, there was more that united these women than divided them. That allowed us to fulfil one of Kate’s dreams: to reunite the ‘same but different’ copy of Catherine of Aragon’s 1527 Book of Hours with Hever’s own 1527 printing, once owned by her great rival, Anne Boleyn. Reuniting the pair was no mean feat, as Catherine’s book is part of the renowned collection of The Morgan Library in New York. Still, thanks to the determination of Kate and the generosity of Hever’s owners, the Guthrie Family, Kate’s dream was realised when the book was safely delivered to Hever earlier this year.
Have you found it easy to find the similarities between Catherine and Anne?
It was certainly easier for us to find synergies between these two extraordinary women than people might imagine because they are so often seen as sworn enemies. We often forget that Anne was in Catherine’s service for four years before Henry turned his attention toward her. That early relationship is often overlooked in favour of the more divisive and scandalous period of their time together. I think Catherine and Anne were far more alike than we are often encouraged to recognise. They both received extraordinary educations, were fiercely intelligent and cultured, and both were deeply pious. They both enacted agency in a patriarchal society and helped to shape the courts they inhabited. They were also both devoted mothers to their daughters and profoundly shaped their children’s lives.
How does it feel to have Anne and Catherine's books of hours in the same building?
Quite honestly, it was the most extraordinary feeling to see Catherine’s book arrive at Hever and be placed just a few feet away from the book owned by Anne. They likely haven’t been in the same room for nearly five hundred years, and when they were last together, they were probably in the hands of those two extraordinary queens, who were likely using them together in prayer. Just an extraordinary feat on Kate McCaffrey’s part to reunite these extraordinary books owned by these extraordinary queens.
Why do you think Catherine and Anne get pitted so much against each other?
I think it is easy to see why Catherine and Anne have been pitted against each other so frequently in the past. Catherine was a loyal queen and wife who was cruelly set aside by her husband in favour of Anne. Catherine, of course, is famously often cited as having called Anne the ‘scandal of Christendom’. However, less often cited is the time when Catherine rebuked one of her ladies for criticising Anne and suggested that Anne would one day be in her position. Catherine proved to be astute in her judgement here and showed great dignity and compassion at that moment too. One thing that Catherine and Anne shared was being married to a ruthless, mercurial king who ultimately rejected them in the most humiliating and brutal way. Rather than pitting them against each other, we should perhaps shift the focus to the source of why these queens became great rivals: Henry.
Do you think there was a time that Catherine and Anne got along?
I think this is entirely possible. The fact that Anne was employed in Catherine’s household for four years before Henry turned his attention toward Anne would suggest that they had at least a working relationship. Sadly, we know little about their broader relationship during these years – Anne only appears in the court records more fully when Henry began pursuing her. Looking at Catherine and Anne's many interests and qualities, I think it’s entirely possible that they maintained a good relationship before Henry divided them.
What do you hope people will take from reading the book and visiting the exhibition?
I very much hope that people get a fresh sense of who these extraordinary women were and learn something new about them. I think it’s entirely possible to admire both of these women, and it would be just wonderful if readers of and visitors to Catherine and Anne could get a sense of why they are both worthy of our respect and attention.
Have you got any exciting opportunities or events coming up?
We have many very exciting projects and new books in the works here at Hever, sadly of which I can say very little about! One aspect of our work in progress that has been announced is that we are currently in the process of re-curating Hever Castle over several years. This will create a new visitor experience and will give dedicated space to fascinating owners and occupants, such as Queen Anne of Cleves, who have been largely absent from the castle’s narrative. We will also return the Boleyn apartments to how they most likely looked during their tenure. It is an exciting, once-in-a-generation project, and I am honoured to participate in it.
Have you got any advice for people wanting to start a career in Tudor history?
My best advice is that there are many routes into history, all of which are valid. There is the more traditional route of higher education. Still, many of my colleagues have worked at heritage sites through the visitor services and curatorial departments and are amongst the most gifted historians and curators I know. Many of my friends in the Tudor history world work on hugely successful podcasts and blogs and are hugely valued and respected by those in the more academic world. There is no one correct route to studying history, and there should always be room for new routes into it.
To finish, here is a fun one, what is your favourite historical fact?
My favourite historical fact about Anne Boleyn is that she was not fond of either monkeys or peacocks but loved her small dog, Purkoy.
Until next time,
Unholytudor 💜
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