Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the Marriage That Shook Europe

Absolutely fascinating book

I borrowed this book from my local library last year and found it rather hard going. Anne Boleyn is a fascinating subject but I felt this book was overly long so did not finish it as the library had a reservations waiting list. John Guy's style is very scholarly, if rather dry, and I have read him before. I am currently reading Eric Ives's The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn and find his style much more accessible. Now that Hunting the Falcon is out in paperback I may give it another try to see if my estimation of the work improves. John Guy has also written books on both Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots.One final thing?: the publisher have a glaring spelling mistake in its review by Andrew Roberts. The name is WOLF Hall and not WOLD hall. as in the short review.

If you like your research scholarly and your view of Tudor history is not entirely romantic, this is a brilliant new look at the ever-fascinating rise and fall of Anne Boleyn and her family. The approach is scholarly, the research is detailed and thorough and very well-documented, but the pace reads like a really good historical novel. The book is a page-turner despite the fact that we all know many of the details of the story and exactly how it ends. The authors never really take sides in the tale of the central protagonists, yet it's easy to see how Henry VIII turned from a somewhat spoiled and arrogant narcissist into a full-blown murderous tyrant, and how Anne gambled that he would never tire of her but was very wrong indeed and paid with her life. Anne comes across as a very bright and ambitious woman, not an altogether pleasant person - she made enemies easily and bore grudges - but the background to her education at the French court and her interest in religious reform is detailed and fascinating and makes much sense of the complex woman who has come down to us through legend and minsinformation. Those looking for tales of romantic intrigue, silk gowns and lavish jewellery will not find it here, but if you want a sense of what Anne was like and what drove her and the breathtaking political ambition which she displayed, this is a really good place to start. What I especially liked was the respect the authors have for Anne's courage and that of her brother George which comes across well. They were accused of crimes so terrible it seems reminiscent of Putin's Russia, but they never admitted guilt and defended themselves brilliantly in a kangaroo court where the judgement was a foregone conclusion. Only a few niggles: why call the King of France Francois I 'Francis' throughout, and sometimes the admirable attention to creating a fast-paced readable narrative becomes too much like slang, whereby someone is accused of 'milking it' when trying to take advantage of a situation and other such clunky modernisms, which grate. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone interested in the period who thinks they know about Anne Boleyn and her role in the King's Great Matter - I guarantee that you will discover much that is new. A really brilliant read.

This is the clearest and least partisan work I have read on Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. It depicts them and England throughout in a European context, and has gripping and highly relevant chapters on their early lives, particularly Anne's youth in France.It is scrupulously fair towards all parties, from Chapuys to Jane Rochford, and all the more convincing for it.The authors' new analysis of primary evidence helps give the 'story' as much of a fresh feel as is possible - although inevitably the necessary questioning of so much of the material slows down the narrative. I found it easier to grasp the context of certain events, e.g. the timing of the disastrous sermon Anne engineered attacking Henry and Cromwell in April 1536.A highly scholarly work that is however unpretentious (it references the tv series The Tudors) and enjoyable to read. It manages to justify yet another book on Anne Boleyn. I would love to see these authors work together again, and perhaps on something less well known. Recommended!

Really enjoyed the book. Informative. Made me want to find out more about the wider personalities, particularly the strong female role models of the French court. A side issue but loved the cover

A very readable and at times authoritative treatment of a subject that has inspired so many writers

This is engrossing and well considered. It is not a hagiography by any means but you feel it tells the truth.There are many details and connections which are new and the research feels sound.There is one glaring error which doesn’t detract but is a shame.It states that the exhumation and re-burial of the executed lying in St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower of London in 1876 was ordered by Prince Albert. He died in 1861.

Nothing new here.Reads like a cut and paste disertation.

My freind loved it and she is a European History buff!

Get it elsewhere

Any doubt that the authors are making a special pleading for Anne Boleyn ('self-assured, articulate, defiant') is settled by their treatment of her purported letter to Henry VIII after her arrest for treason. The no-holds-barred letter contains, they gushingly proclaim, 'just what we would love her to have said' (p. 377). Except, she never did not write the letter -- a fact they must also concede. Guy and Fox have an agenda: 'Anne was an extraordinarily modern woman, a supremely talented, captivating spirit comfortable in her own skin and confident in her destiny,' such is their gender-correct summing up. As part of this 'reconstruction' of her life, the authors make claims about Anne's 'ideas' on religion and theology and about her piety and charity that are largely based on the statements of the 16th-century partisan observers John Foxe and William Latymer who deliberately sought to portray her as a Protestant 'martyr'. But can they be relied upon? Foxe is quoted as saying that Anne handed out 100 pounds a week to the poor every week of the year before her marriage to Henry, i.e. 5,200 pounds (p. 321), and yet we are told elsewhere (p. 283) that the entire income from Anne's vast properties in 1535 amounted to less than 5,100 pounds. Are we to believe she actually gave away all her rents and then some? In support of Anne's piety, the author's quote Latymer as saying that when Anne and Henry sat down to a meal at court, they almost always discussed Scripture. How credible is this when the other evidence of the book suggests that games, sex, music and court gossip were what both greatly preferred? Indeed, the book is serious and scholarly enough to provide more than enough evidence to support a contrary impression of Anne Boleyn as scheming, avaricious, vain and vindictive. It is curious to me that the authors' attempt to contrast Anne's 'modern' self-assertiveness with Katherine of Aragon's supposedly conventional womanhood. But it was Katherine, not Anne, who organised an army to put down a Scottish attack during one of Henry's absences in France, and Katherine's refusal to surrender her right to be acknowledged as queen, in the face of much cruel intimidation, showed her to be 'comfortable in her own skin' at least as much as Anne. Too many double standards are applied to make this a satisfactory read. For example, the much-quoted source the Spanish ambassador Chapuys is 'honest' when it suits them (as when he doubts the prosecution evidence at Anne's trial) but venal and unreliable when his observations do not fit the authors' agenda. Similarly, too many guesses are advanced in the livery of fact to make this a fully reliable history/biography.

Detailed analysis and fresh perspective. Not an "easy read" but, for the Tudor enthusiast, worth the effort. Important new discussion of Anne's theological position and how it impacted the events of the day.Explains why this story was anything except the frivolous romance that many writers have portrayed it to have been.

Frankly, I’ve gotten a bit bored— horror of horrors—with Anne Boleyn. Too many historians and “Anne-fans” end up going over the same old ground too many times, regurgitating it all for public consumption without adding anything new. Enough. Then along comes John Guy and Julia Fox’s masterful biography. The authors have uncovered fascinating new details of Anne’s life in France, her upbringing, travels, and socialization at the French court, and the network of influential royal women who helped shape her world view and religious impulses. It was a world view that would have an enormous impact, not only on Henry VIII, but on the English elite at court as well. The authors’ extensive archival research makes clear how unusual she was for her time, and although they do not portray Anne as some anachronistic feminist model, they make a persuasive case that Anne’s intellectual experience at the French court, much more than the fashions or the flirty ways she may have brought home with her, helped ensure that she was virtually doomed to fail in Henry’s England. Hunting the Falcon puts Anne into broader European political and intellectual setting and gives us perspectives missing from many other works. Deftly written and deeply researched, this reassessment of Anne reads almost like a novel, which makes her story all the more compelling. Just a great read!