Discussion: Why Thomas Boleyn Survived

"Only the good die young...

I was a bit miffed that they didn't show anne's mother. I would have loved to see her, being a howard born-and-raised. I would have loved to see her reaction to what her husband had done."

"Parenting was so different then. I would kill for my kids too, and most parents today feel the same, i.e. "soccer moms." However, I think that parents then dealt with the reality of a very high rate of stillborns, and most children rarely lived through toddler stages. Today, childhood diseases are alsost non existant. I remember having measles, and croop, and mumps etc, but with modern medicine, most of the children in the modern age never even get these things. They were fatal, and so parents were prepared for the inevitalbility of their child not surviving. past infancy.To deal with that, they had multipled children, and hoped for the best.
In addition, they had servants who wet nursed them, tutored them, surpervised their activites, and generally were their parents. I just finished Alison Weir book The Lady Elizabeth, and she had her nanny until and after she was coronated. How could a parent have the same attachment, compared to today's standards. Most parents have total responsibility for their children, even with help, and Fathers take a very active role in their upbringing. We are applying modern outlooks, to a completely different time, and reality. Children were rarely a source of pride, but just a link to continue a family dynasty, and prosperity. But, I still think Thomas was a monster, but he did make sure that Anne had the finest education by having her trained in the courts of Austria and France. He knew Anne was brilliant and accomplished, that's why he turned away from her sister Mary, who was more beautiful, and sweet tempered. She wasn't tough enough, to make the grade in a viscious court."