Product Description

This definitive biography of Anne Boleyn establishes her as a figure of considerable importance and influence in her own right.

• A full biography of Anne Boleyn, based on the latest scholarly research.
  
• Focusses on Anne’s life and legacy and establishes Anne as a figure of considerable importance and influence in her own right.
  
• Adulteress or innocent victim? Looks afresh at the issues at the heart of Anne′s downfall.
  
• Pays attention to her importance as a patron of the arts, particularly in relation to Hans Holbein.
  
• Presents evidence about Anne’s spirituality and her interest in the intellectual debates of the period.
  
• Takes account of significant advances in knowledge in recent years.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18981 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Review
"[Ives is] splendidly successful... Ives′s Boleyn, a portrait at all points supported by the evidence he gives, is clever, independent–minded and politically astute. Ives has gone as far as anyone can... in solving the enigma of Boleyn in a narrative at once profoundly researched and lively." Antonia Fraser, The Sunday Times

"Eric Ives has made it unnecessary for anyone else to even make the attempt [to write a biography of Anne Boleyn]. The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn is a stunning portrait of the most controversial woman ever to have been queen consort of England." The Independent on Sunday

"Eric Ives, a scholar utterly at home in early Tudor politics, has been writing about the Boleyns for more than two decades. His book represents a triumphant culmination of all that research, presented with clarity, wit and human sympathy." Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Telegraph

"Ives has written an excellent book on Anne Boleyn. Its great strength is its sophisticated understanding of aristocratic women′s involvement in 16th–century politics, and precisely how this worked in practice. ...Ives rises effectively to the human drama of Anne Boleyn′s life and in the process illuminates both the inner workings of the Tudor court and its relationship to the larger dramas of the Reformation and European politics." Jane Stevenson, Scotland on Sunday

"The best full–length life of Anne Boleyn and a monument to investigative scholarship." David Starkey

"Magnificently researched. Eric Ives has written the finest, most accurate study of Anne Boleyn we are ever likely to possess. He leaves no stone unturned in his quest to discover the truth. Never has the historical Anne been so satisfyingly portrayed." John Guy

"What is most exciting about The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn is not just that it has confirmed and solidified Ives′s earlier work and presented it in a more accessible format. (Like John Guy, Ives has discovered that the Starkey model really does work and that popularisation –– ′to place among the people′ –– should not be a term of opprobrium.) Rather, it is the development in methodology, the indication that cultural studies and the history of the book have provided us with new ways to evaluate evidence, to interpret the past." The Spectator

"Eric Ives achieves the notable feat of combining magisterial historical authority with a gripping style, and sets the reader′s mind buzzing with debate about the complex reasons behind the astounding events of Anne′s life." Times Literary Supplement

"[Ives] delicately pieces together a believable identity ... [and] gives, too, a lucid and coherent exposition of the circumstances that led to Anne′s death." The Guardian

"What Ives doesn′t know ... about the high politics and court life of Henry VIII′s England will either never be known or is not worth knowing. If there is a truth about Anne Boleyn′s rise and fall, he will tell it to us." London Review of Books

"There is no questioning the impact of Professor Eric Ives on the historiography of Tudor England. There is a keen sense of the evidence, of diplomatic affairs, of the minutiae of the record and its context. The writing is fluent and well–paced, drawing the reader along." The Tyndale Society Journal

"This is a moving and compelling account by an author who is the absolute master of his subject. I read it with great excitement and admiration." Susan Brigden, Lincoln College, Oxford

"Ives demonstrates triumphantly the potential of the biographical approach in a pre–modern setting. He evinces a deep empathy for his subject without ever becoming an apologist for her, and ... he provides a narrative which is genuinely moving. He has also given us a fully rounded and persuasive account of Anne’s life as a whole, and its significance for understanding the politics and political culture of the early Tudor decades." Reviews in History

"The best book on Anne Boleyn ever written. This is a must for all lovers of Tudor history, academics and general readers alike." Alison Weir, BBC History Magazine Books of the Year

"Eric Ives has cut through the myths and misconceptions. The result surpasses all previous work.When Ives describes Anne herself. he is utterly convincing." Renaissance Quarterly

Antonia Fraser, The Sunday Times
[Ives is] splendidly successful... in solving the enigma of Boleyn in a narrative at once profoundly researched and lively.

Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Daily Telegraph
A triumphant culmination of all [Ives's] research, presented with clarity, wit and human sympathy.

Customer Reviews

Probably the best biography of Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn is sometimes referred to as "that woman" by Tudor historians. She has "provoked trench warfare" amongst experts in the field and it is almost impossible to remain impartial to her story.

Professor E.W. Ives, the author, is an acknowledged expert in Tudor history - specialising on the Boleyns. His 1986 biography, "Anne Boleyn," became the standard work on Anne's life - and deservedly so. It provoked two historical responses - George Bernard's "The Fall of Anne Boleyn" (which was quickly discounted) and Professor Warnicke's controversial "The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn" - which challenged much of what Ives had said.

The new book is an updated version of the 1986 copy, with extra chapters elaborating on Anne's role at Court and incorporating all the new research on Anne Boleyn's life and times. Ives writes well and the book (although long) is witty, insightful and extremely well-researched.

While I don't agree with everything Ives says in this book - I tend to believe she was born around 1507, not 1501 as Ives suggests and I think his famous version of her fall from the throne is a little too "neat" - it's clear that this book is the best currently in print about Anne Boleyn's life and death.

Ives convincingly shows that Anne was one of the most important women ever to sit on the throne of England and that she was far from the wicked-witch of legend. His greatest achievement is his complex exploration of her religious views.

In the end this book got 5* because of Ives' research, writing style and well-argued case. No-one who is interested in any of the Boleyn children or the era of Henry VIII should miss this book. Carlsberg-style, it is, probably, the best biography of Anne Boleyn in the world.

The power behind the throne...
Eric Ives' book `The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn' is a must read for people interested in British history, the British Royal Family history, the history of the Tudor period, and particularly for those interested in one of the key figures around that most colourful of English kings, Henry VIII. Anne Boleyn's influence in court, which dominated state and church affairs at a critical moment in European affairs, is shown here, in addition to the personal strife that Anne Boleyn both caused for others (her rival for Henry's affections, Katherine, is but the least of these) as well as the strife she herself endured.

Ives contrasts Anne Boleyn with Katherine of Aragon in terms of overall worldviews that they represented - Anne being far more a child of the Renaissance, intellectually curious and passionate, independent and full of ideas; Katherine of Aragon was representative more of the `old order', which included a staunch piety and adherence to Roman Catholicism in principle and political loyalty. This contrast is in part why Ives can state with reasonable certainty that Anne Boleyn was the most controversial woman ever to have been a queen of England (which, given that she's up against the likes of Eleanor of Aquitaine, among others, is saying something). Part of this controversy stems from the sources historians have for details about her life; being a pivotal person in the Catholic/Protestant split during the Tudor and post-Tudor world, she was constantly reinterpreted, and rarely for the better. Even the glorious reign of her daughter, Elizabeth, did little resurrect her image in popular or short-term historical opinion.

Ives' writing is lively and full of passion, as befits his subject. Ives also introduces new interpretations and contexts to the events of the time. For example, he describes the fall of Anne Boleyn as a coup, normally a term reserved for the removal of a reigning monarch or primary executive; it is a testament to the power of Anne Boleyn's influence over King Henry VIII that his advisors, such as Thomas Cromwell, saw need to remove her, for their own safety, as well as (possibly) the safety of the king. Ives concludes with Wyatt's elegy and a brief epilogue of the Tudor aftermath, not drawing too many conclusions, but rather, as a responsible historian, asking a few questions and leaving the reader to ponder the outcomes.

There is a good middle section of photographic plates, 64 in all, which includes many paintings, engravings and pictures of artifacts of Anne Boleyn. He also includes handy lists of titles and offices, genealogy charts of the European royal families, the Tudor court, and the Boleyn/Howard families (Henry VIII's last wife, Katherine Howard, was a cousin of Anne Boleyn). Scholars will appreciate the extensive endnotes, bibliographic/historical references, and index, together which comprise nearly 100 pages. However, this is a book for general readers as well as scholars, accessible and well-paced.

The best book about Anne Boleyn ever written!
Anne Boleyn is a very misunderstood character in English History. She is seen as an "evil" woman who tore Henry VIII from his wife and Catholic Church- Anne is a highly significant historical figure in her own right- not only for being the mother of the great Queen Elizabeth I.

Eric Ives captures Anne's personality and gives explanations for the events in Anne's life. It is a highly enjoyable read - especially if you enjoy Tudor History. I highly recommend this book.