O Death, rock me asleep, bring me to quiet rest, let pass my weary guiltless ghost out of my careful breast.

Today’s personal pictures are from my week ago adventure–this is more from Black Hammock, but what you’re seeing today is from the Air Boat ride…..and yes that’s a gator in the main picture…we’ve got lots of those in Central Florida. Black Hammock is a great place for an adventure: http://theblackhammock.com/

This crown by the way: The Imperial State Crown is the most magnificent of all the Crown Regalia. It was made in 1838 for the Coronation of Queen Victoria, and then altered for the Coronation of George VI in 1937 and Elizabeth II in 1953. It is usually worn at the end of the coronation ceremony, when the newly-crowned monarch departs from Westminster Abbey. Although the crown is modern in design, it is set with very ancient gems. http://royalexhibitions.co.uk/crown-jewels-2/royal-regalia/

O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul.

Anne Boleyn

Applause Puppet Doll CHISSY COMPLETE with box, story book and tag 1990

DragonLaire

$14.99 USD

Dianna Thanks Outlanderfans http://www.ew.com/article/2016/03/07/diana-gabaldon-writing-outlander

and why Outlander’s love scenes are so good:

http://www.tvovermind.com/outlander/outlander-has-such-gratuitous-love-scenes

And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me.

Anne Boleyn

The Vermont COUNTRY STORE 1986 Commemerative Plate

DragonLaire

$4.99 USD

I’m just finishing up reading THE LADY IN THE TOWER—THE FALL OF ANNE BOLEYN https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Lady_in_the_Tower.html?id=3v4ONgWH2zUC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false

By Alison Weir http://alisonweir.org.uk/

Anne Boleyn was a attractive if not really beautiful woman, she was witty, flirtatious and intelligent and then she caught the eye of Henry VIII and so she met her doom—Henry moved heaven and hell to rid himself of his first wife (Catherine of Argon—daughter of a King and a Queen of Spain and so not so easy to pawn off), including endangering his mortal soul by breaking with the holy church of Rome to gain a divorce. Moving England dramatically into the reformation….but he grew bored and so Anne must go—so his soulless administrator Cromwell found charges–adultery with four different men–only one a lowly musician confessed/admitted to these acts and even more heinous: Incest with her own brother…again no confession from him either. None the less they all were killed and buried (4 of the men in the tower grounds) and brother and sister the first to be buried under the floor of the tower’s chapel. Henry went on to is next wife(s): Jane Seymour, who died from childbirth complications, Anne of Cleve, annulled and was grated Anne family estate Hever, Katherine Howard-beheaded for having affairs with several others also deceased following a meeting with an ax and Katherine Parr who outlived him but died in childbirth with her third husband (she was a widow when she married Henry) who is rumored to have made every effort to seduce Anne Boleyn’s daughter, Katherine’s step daughter, who would eventually become Elizabeth I.

Anne was according to Weir (and from my studies too) framed. In fact Anne who after she had replaced Katherine (out of 6 wives 3 were Katherine and 2 Anne) of Argon she was not a popular queen—being hated by the common people for usurping the older queen whom they loves, and by the Catholics including the actual church in Rome from being the cause of their loss of England from the faith. She was called the Concubine (mistress, courtesan, kept woman—or as much as many hated her Whore). If you’d like a different view (from a man of course ) Try Fatal Attraction http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/967

And what is Anne’s claim to fame:

She is the first of England’s queens to be executed. And my lead in for a look at women and the price they pay for being famous.

No English Queen has made more impact on the history of the nation than Anne Boleyn, and few have been so persistently maligned.

While some blame Anne (and her later cousin Katherine) for getting involved with Henry one must remember that the choice was probably limited once the king set eyes on you, found you attractive and then you were wined and dined until you forgot how unrewarded your sister wives had been—and in all fairness to Anne there had been no pattern yet, just one older (than Henry), unattractive–she grew fat from age and pregnancy (multiple miscarriage and still births with only one live child Mary)

Course in all fairness to Henry there were worse husbands: Nero (Roman Emperor) for instance said to have had his mother killed, banished one wife and kicked the other to death and I won’t even mentioned that he poisoned his own brother as well. And his predecessor, Claudius , that had 4 wives–murdered his third and then maligned her reputation in death so that her children were removed from succession. While Henry contemplated doing this and his daughters’ (both Mary and Elizabeth’s) status varied from day to day as far their inheriting the throne went, eventually he saw fit to put them all back in the legal column which allowed them all to be able to inherit the throne which they all did.

I have never had better opinions of woman than I had of her

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, Anne Boleyn’s pastor and Boleyn family friend.

Now a couple more tidbits about Anne: First where she is buried:

According to Weir: “we can be almost certain that Anne’s memorial stone does not mark the last resting place of her actual remains, and that she lies beneath Lady Rochford’s memorial.” In fact the bones were exhumed in Victorian times when the chapel was being refurbished under Queen Victoria and a doctor examined them, before their being buried again. Based on his description Anne’s monument may in fact hold Katherine Howard not Anne.

At my first visit to the Tower the Beef Eater that I had a long discussion with—Brits tend to think I’m not a Yank as I actually know British history and even when they find out I am I still get a telling of legends, tall tales and histories—told me that every year on the day of her death (470th anniversary this May 19th) a bouquet of roses is placed on her grave by whom they have no idea and that it has been going on forever and in secret…

“Every year on 19 May flowers are delivered to the Tower of London. Queen Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s second wife, was executed on that day in 1536. The flowers have been arriving for 40 years and no one knows who sends them. They are put on the floor of the small chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, beneath which Anne’s body – and head – were buried in a wooden chest, without a plaque or stone.” http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/anne-boleyn-drama-queen-2007616.html

My guide actually indicated that the were said to be coming by longer than that but that was one of the articles confirming the act that I found.

She (Anne) knew perfectly how to sing and dance…to play the lute and other instruments. — Lancelot de Carles

and finally this summary from Wekipedia

Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of King Henry VIII, and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right.

Born: Blickling, United Kingdom

Died: May 19, 1536, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, United Kingdom

Spouse: Henry VIII of England (m. 1533–1536)

Children: Elizabeth I of England

Siblings: Mary Boleyn, George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford

Wikipedia

Oh by the way Mary, Anne’s older (this is up for debate) sister was Henry’s Mistress prior to his marrying Anne and the grounds for his annulment of his marriage to her…something to do with intimate contact with family members..interestingly the fact that they weren’t really married (according to Henry’s self-serving logic) because of this should therefore have erased the adultery charges, but reality that did not fit Henry’s needs was never reality for Henry’s legal cases. It’s good to be the KING.

I find her so bright and pleasant for her young age that I am more beholden to you for sending her to me than you are to me.

And there’s the fact that Ann was killed only a couple of days after her trial but the French executioner (which the king offered her as they used swords which were apparently more efficient than the English Axe) whose journey from France at the time took about a week was there (and available the day after her trials ending) for the deed to be done—can you say fore gone conclusion?!