This has always confused me. Women of nobility were raised to be chaste and pious to make a good marriage-except when the King decided he wanted you for a Mistress. What a perplexing position to be in. Bessie Blount fared better than Mary Boleyn only in the fact that she gave Henry his first viable son and she was given a good marriage. Mary Boleyn was already married and gave birth to atleast one if not two children by Henry and was totally shunned by Henry in every way. Once her husband died of the sweat even Anne’s begging Henry to provide for her did not matter. Henry told Anne that her father was to be her ward and provider and Thomas Boleyn was not at all interested in caring for her as her job was done and she was not as successful as Thomas Boleyn had hoped. She was on her own and when she did finally make a marriage for herself she was shunned by her family and considered a whore by those at court. For all my rambling here I just do not get it. It was a gamble to be the King’s mistress. Especially Henry’s and I can understand why Anne did not want to follow in her sisters shadow. She was getting old for marriage(since Wolsey put a stop to her and Percy) and she did not want to couple with the King and have bastard children Henry would not provide for as her sister did. But then again a woman like Anne was rare. Most women would not dare refuse. Duty was a HUGE thing back then and if your family told you had to bed the King you did it. Hoping in turn he would be tired of you soon enough and marry you off to a decent husband. YUCK! So I ask all the women here-would YOU be a mistress willingly, do it out of duty, or throw yourself into the Thames to avoid this scandalous situation? I know which of the three I would pick!

Filed under: The Tudors

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!