Stuff movies are made of

There is only one period of English history that I studied with genuine interest–the reign of Elizabeth I. Because she was the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, whose three-year reign ended when Henry ordered her beheaded, it was natural that I would get to read about them too. If I had come across the name of Mary Boleyn in the past, it never left a lasting impression. Henry was a notorious womanizer and it wasn’t unreasonable to assume that he had mistresses in-between his marriages but I never really thought much about Mary Boleyn until I picked up a book from the shelves of National Bookstore while buying Christmas gift wrappers two weeks ago.

Philippa Gregory’s “The Other Boleyn Girl” is about Mary and Anne Boleyn, sisters who served as courtiers in the court of Henry VIII. I spent an entire night getting through the first half of the book, alternating between turning the pages and surfing the Web and reading the encyclopedia to cross-reference names, dates and events. Reading the second half was much easier after reviewing England’s Tudor dynasty.

While Gregory presents an impressive bibliography at the end of her book, I failed to find clear references elsewhere that Mary Boleyn, Henry’s mistress before he married her sister Anne, bore him two illegitimate children, as Gregory claims in her novel. Mary did have two children, a son and a daughter, but whether they were the king’s is uncertain. Henry VIII fathered an illegitimate son with one Elizabeth Blount and acknowledged him. It would be more than a little curious why Mary’s son was not acknowledged if he were in fact Henry’s. That’s one thing about reading so-called historical novels–a reader can get lost in the drama and the lines between fact, fiction and theory can get really, really blurred. That’s why, as I said, I spent a lot of time cross-referencing names, dates and events.

Mary and Anne were daughters of an ambitious family. The Boleyns and the Howards (the maternal branch) used both girls to get close to the king, win favors (lands and titles) and amass power in court. This is the thrust of Gregory’s novel–the ruthless ambition and manipulation. I have a feeling that the author over dramatizes that angle but even history books tell us that there was a time when female daughters, especially from noble houses, had little use except to make good marriages–and good marriages meant those that brought good political alliances. In fact, how much dowry a girl’s parents were willing to hand over to the groom-to-be’s family was often determined by the importance of the political alliance the marriage would bring. History books likewise tell us that for a long, long time, marriages were arranged and daughters had no right to choose whom they would marry.

Historical accounts are uncertain as to whether Mary was the younger or the older of the Boleyn sisters. They do agree on one thing though–Mary was Henry’s mistress before Anne. Gregory follows this line but diverts on many other aspects. For some reason, Gregory seems determined to paint Mary as the “good Boleyn girl,” probably to highlight even more the picture she paints of Anne–an overly ambitious young woman who would stop at nothing–murder, adultery and incest included–to become queen and secure her throne. Gregory’s Mary, the other Boleyn girl, is young and innocent and her role as king’s mistress is borne out of her obedience to her parents’ wishes. Maybe so, but it is curious why Gregory does not mention the well documented story that Mary Boleyn was also the mistress of the king of France, Francis I, even before she went to Henry’s bed.

This is the puzzling slant of Gregory’s novel–all the scandals that history attributes to Mary, she imputed to Anne. The only things that history and Gregory agree on about Anne is that she was very ambitious and she avoided having sex with the king until she was sure that he could, and would, marry her. Gregory even goes so far as to say that Anne was the beauty of the Boleyn family, while historical accounts say that Anne was rather plain and it was the blonde, blue-eyed Mary who was the prettier of the two.

It just seems to me that Gregory wants her readers to picture Anne as the ultimate femme fatale–beautiful, sensual, intelligent, ambitious and utterly deadly. This is further bolstered by Gregory’s interpretation and dramatization of the events that led to Anne’s execution. Most historians agree that the charges of adultery and witchcraft against Anne were trumped up so that Henry could get rid of her after she failed to produce the much-desired male heir to the English throne. Gregory agrees but only up to a point. She puts forward that notion that the charges were not entirely baseless by suggesting that Anne slept with her brother George after Henry started showing signs of impotence just to become pregnant.

There was likewise the persistence that Henry was actually a good and conscientious king until he fell in love with Anne and she turned him into a tyrant, filling his head with the ideas of the radical writers of the time in order to effect the break with the Roman Catholic Church to pave the way for the annulment of his first marriage and her own ascent to the throne. That a woman can exercise so much power and influence over a man, even if the man is a king, is titillating and not altogether improbable but Henry VIII was not exactly a wimp of a king.

Philippa Gregory’s illustration of Anne and Mary Boleyn is the very stuff that movies are made of. Is it such a surprise that the novel has, in fact, been made into a movie? It’s coming out next month–Natalie Portman as Anne, Scarlett Johansson as Mary and Eric Bana as Henry VIII. Perhaps, it is relevant to mention too that Philippa Gregory is a radio and TV writer.

However much Gregory’s interpretation and dramatization of the Tudor era may differ from more popularly accepted versions, “The Other Boleyn Girl” is still a very entertaining read. A real page-turner and a good starting point to review European history, even if only to point out that historical novels are not exactly good substitutes for a more sober study of history.

In the archive

• I have a lot to thank manga for
• Revisiting Manderley
• Entertain me
• Love and lawsuits
• Encourage your kids to read…
• The birds of prey and Batjay
• Simpler language for better understanding
• The relevance of homework
• Halloween and All Saints’ Day
• My bucket list