jane boleyn the true story of the infamous lady rochford

But the cost of her loyalty would eventually be her undoing and the ruination of her name. As powerful men and women around her became victims of Henry’s ruthless and absolute power–including her own husband and her sister-in-law, Queen Anne Boleyn–Jane’s allegiance to the volatile monarch was sustained and rewarded.

After six centuries, the wronged Boleyn girl may finally be vindicated.In a life of extraordinary drama, Jane Boleyn was catapulted from relative obscurity to the inner circle of King Henry VIII. With the much-hyped The Other Boleyn Girl hitting the screens this year, court intrigue will be hot stuff. That's not to say the story isn't engaging, only that historians such as Simon Schama ( History of Britain) make those dusty pages less tedious with tricks such as referring to Mary Queen of Scots' husband as a 'homicidal nitwit.' But Schama is a pro, and this is Fox's first time at the galliard her subject has been one-dimensional throughout history, and from that, she's given depth and character to Jane Boleyn.

to determine the reasoning behind her reinstatement to court after her husband and sister-in-law's executions: She followed the money trail.įox is an English historian, an area that imbues her writing with rich detail and confident knowledge but sometimes falls short of personal style. In discovering a copy of Jane's marriage settlement, for example, Fox employed a very modern m.o. Jane Boleyn paints a portrait of the royal court with heavily researched details and heretofore unacknowledged documents that Fox uses cannily. Undone by the accusations of royal wife Catherine Howard's slutty past, Jane followed her to the axe and ultimately joined the fate of so many others on the chopping block. Yet her unexpected tenacity, resourcefulness, and guile overcame that stigma enough to keep her head as lady-in-waiting to five of Henry's notorious wives. 2 and 5, yet her attention was drawn to Anne's sister-in-law.įor hundreds of years, Jane Parker Boleyn, Lady Rochford, suffered a dreadful reputation, vilified for what was likely induced testimony that sent sister-in-law Anne and her own husband to the Tower of London for execution. For Fox, the story of Jane Boleyn came about by accident: Her intent was to write about Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, Henry VIII's wives No.

Julia Fox enters the field of historical biography on a path well-trod but littered with deadly dull tomes. Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford by Julia Fox

Jane boleyn the true story of the infamous lady rochford