Thou wilt vouchsafe to love me

Weeey, I finished The Other Boleyn Girl today! That was like.. the second best book I've ever read (after Harry Potter, the constant winner). Seriously, Anne Boleyn is like my new idol. She was so witty and so beautiful and so persuasive and all that. The best thing about her is that even though she was only one of King Henry's six wives, one of the two who were beheaded, and even though she was hated by the people of England and in the end, hated by the King; she's still the first one people think of when they think of King Henry. It's never King Henry without Anne Boleyn. But there is at the same time Anne Boleyn without King Henry, which says quite a lot. Queen Katherine, who was set aside so that Henry could marry Anne, was the most loved one of the six queens by the people. Anne's successor, Jane Seymour, was the most loved one by Henry. But still, you can't really hear the name "King Henry" without automatically thinking of Anne. And who knows who Jane Seymour is? Catherine Howard? Catherine Parr? Anyone? They're all wives of Henry and queens of England, but Anne is the Wife and the Queen. It seems like Henry failed in his attempt to cut Anne out of his life by annulling their marriage and beheading her, because you never think the two of them apart, history didn't allow it.

I think that the reason why Anne is so very famous when really, she's only one of six, is (other than the fact that she's the mother of Queen Elizabeth I) that she was so very witty. She was the one of made the annullment of Henry's marriage to Queen Katherine of Aragon be possible, she was the one who made Henry the head of the churches of England instead of the pope. By doing so, she was sort of digging her own grave in a way. By giving Henry the head of the churches, she gave him endless power to anything he wanted. When he set Queen Katherine aside, he realized how very strong his power really was, and so he could do it again and again and again. One of the reasons he set Queen Katherine aside was because she didn't have a son. He thought there was something wrong with her, and the only wrong thing there could be was that the marriage wasn't legal. He married Anne instead, who he adored and he was certain that she should have a son. She then had Elizabeth, and then two or three miscarriages. He then thought that the only reason there could possibly be was that she had used witchcraft to enchant Henry, and that was why he married her. Now he had a reason to set Anne aside as well, and she was charged with adultery and incest (with her brother George). George was beheaded along with Sir Francis Weston, Sir Henry Norris, Sir William Brereton and Mark Smeaton for adultery and incest, and Anne was beheaded two days later, on the 19th of May 1536. On the same as that of Anne's execution, Jane Seymour picked out her wedding gown for her marriage to King Henry.

Remember the song I put on here, the Christmas song that everyone knows here in Canada but I'd never heard before, called Greensleeves? It was written by King Henry to Anne. Quite fascinating. The lyrics are:

Alas, my love, you do me wrong to cast me off discourteously
For I have loved you well and long, delighting in your company
Greensleeves was all my joy and greensleeves was my delight
Greensleeves, my heart of gold, and who but my lady greensleeves
Alas, my love, that you should own a heart of wanton vanity
So must I meditate alone upon your insincerity
Your vows you've broken, like my heart, oh, why did you so enrapture me?
Now I remain in a world apart, but my heart remains in capitivity
If you intend thus to disdain, it does the more enrapture me
And even so, I still remain a lover in captivity.
I have been ready at your hand to grant whatever you would crave
I have both wagered life and land, your love and good-will for to have
Thou couldst desire no earthly thing, but still thou hadst it readily
Thy music still to play and sing and yet though wouldst not love me
I bought thee kerchiefs for thy head, that were wrought fine and gallantly
I kept thee at both board and bed, which cost my purse well-favoredly
I bought thee petticoats of the best, the cloth so fine as it might be
I gave thee jewels for thy chest, and all this cost I spent on thee
Thy smock of sil, both fair and white with gold emroidered gorgeously
Thy petticoat of sendal right, and these I bought thee gladly
My men were clothed all in green, and they did ever wait on thee
All this was gallant to be seen, and yet thou wouldst not love me
They set thee up, they thee down, they served thee with humility
Thy foot might not once touch the ground, and yet thou wouldst not love me
'Tis, I will pray to God on high, that thou my constancy mayst see
And that yet once before I die, thou wilt vouchsafe to love me
Greensleeves, now farewell, adieu, to God I pray to prosper thee
For I am still thy lover true, come once again and love me
Greensleeves was all my joy
Greensleeves was my delight
Greensleeves, my heart of gold
And who but my lady greensleeves


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