Discussion: The Juxaposition of Anne and Jane

"You bring up a very good point and of course none of us know for sure about someone's intelligence if we have never met someone. However, historically, there is no mention of Jane's "great wit" and she was at court as long as Anne. She wasn't new to court. She had been lady in waiting to Katherine of Aragon before Anne. All those years, she was not mentioned as being "outstanding" in anyway. Anne on the other hand was known as outstanding from the time she went to the French court as a young girl.

Even Anne's nemisis Thomas Cromwell said she was a woman of " intelligence, spirit and courage" The same cannot be said of Jane. So all we have to go on is the words of the few that knew her. Anne was known as being erudite and enjoyed discusssions about religion with her group of courtiers. She was known for her music, her poetry & her style. Jane was known for her needlework &b knowledge of housekeeping. Now it may be a leap to say she was more intelligent but somehow I think not.


"

"It may have gone against her pride and her upbringing but it was a choice. Many look at Anne of Cleves as being the smartest wife in the bunch because she did agree to take the title of "King's sister" being installed in a couple of royal mansions & given enough financially to support herself without the need of a husband. Living longer than any of the wives in relative comfort.

Katherine was past childbearing and knew that Henry was desperate for a son. If she had agreed to retire from court....Henry would have assured she lived a comfortable life the same as Anne of Cleves. As Holly said, above, her daughter could still have been recognized as legitimate. So it was definitely an option. Her pride would not let her take it however,

Anne Boleyn on the other hand was dispatched much quicker and without any options. She was judicially murdered on completely bogus charges. Katherine had a number of years to get used to her option and make the best of it and she chose not to.

(and now I am going to duck while the pro KoA muster up LOL)"

"It may have gone against her pride and her upbringing but it was a choice. Many look at Anne of Cleves as being the smartest wife in the bunch because she did agree to take the title of "King's sister" being installed in a couple of royal mansions & given enough financially to support herself without the need of a husband. Living longer than any of the wives in relative comfort.

Katherine was past childbearing and knew that Henry was desperate for a son. If she had agreed to retire from court....Henry would have assured she lived a comfortable life the same as Anne of Cleves. As Holly said, above, her daughter could still have been recognized as legitimate. So it was definitely an option. Her pride would not let her take it however,

Anne Boleyn on the other hand was dispatched much quicker and without any options. She was judicially murdered on completely bogus charges. Katherine had a number of years to get used to her option and make the best of it and she chose not to.

(and now I am going to duck while the pro KoA muster up LOL)"

"i think i'm the only person that likes as much of KOA as ANNE BOLEYN.
hehehe

i don't know much about Jane, i sympathize with her because she helped Mary, but i think that they could have shown more about Jane seymour's life, as the same way they did with Anne.

"

"KATHERINE WAS MURDEERED . EITHER ANN OR HENRY ORDERED CATHERINE TO BE POISENED"

"Look at it from Katherine's point-of-view. In that day and age, you lived and died by what the bible and the church taught, to against the teachings was basically spitting on God and the Holy community. Katherine was a very pious woman, very deeply true to her Catholic faith. Now, her husband does everything she has been taught against, she does what she can to protect her faith and what she knows to true, she has not known anything else, she view the Protestants as heretics and therefore their view was not even flicker in her mind.
It was not pride, it was her attempt to save and protect England and those close to her from what she considered to be destroying Europe. Katherine expressed this view many times, she wrote in her last letter about it too, praying for Henry's soul and how she felt his becoming Protestant was something God would have to pardon him for:
"For my part, I pardon you everything, and I wish to devoutly pray God that He will pardon you also."
"

"Look at it from Katherine's point-of-view. In that day and age, you lived and died by what the bible and the church taught, to against the teachings was basically spitting on God and the Holy community. Katherine was a very pious woman, very deeply true to her Catholic faith. Now, her husband does everything she has been taught against, she does what she can to protect her faith and what she knows to true, she has not known anything else, she view the Protestants as heretics and therefore their view was not even flicker in her mind.
It was not pride, it was her attempt to save and protect England and those close to her from what she considered to be destroying Europe. Katherine expressed this view many times, she wrote in her last letter about it too, praying for Henry's soul and how she felt his becoming Protestant was something God would have to pardon him for:
"For my part, I pardon you everything, and I wish to devoutly pray God that He will pardon you also."
"

"KATHERINE WAS MURDEERED . EITHER ANN OR HENRY ORDERED CATHERINE TO BE POISENED"

"Ooh, just had a thought regarding Elizabeth. Could the rumor-mongering that was spread accusing her mother doing away with her romantic rival have had any influence on Elizabeth later immediately distancing herself from Robert Dudley when his wife turned up dead at the bottom of a staircase? She made him leave court while ordering an immediate inquest into what she called "a tragic fall". It didn't really help; gossip spread like wildfire that Lady Dudley had either been murdered by Elizabeth and/or Dudley; or that she had committed suicide over her despair of her husband preferring the queen to her. Even though the death was ruled accidental, it brought a halt to their flirtatious behavior, and afterward Elizabeth began to seriously encourage foreign suitors, and would dangle herself (quite skillfully, and for decades) as marital bait for whichever political alliance was advantageous at the time. "