by Heather R. Darsie

There is not much to this letter, and it is perhaps one of the more frustrating letters because Anne’s letters surrounding this one of Henry’s do not exist. The letter is all of one complex sentence long. Henry writes,

“Though it is not fitting for a gentleman to take his lady in the place of a servant, yet, complying with your desire, I willingly grant it you, if thereby you can find yourself less uncomfortable in the place chosen by yourself, than you have been in that which I gave you, thanking you cordially that you are pleased still to have some remembrance of me.Henry then closes with a curious set of letters, “6. n. A. I de A. o. na. v. e. z.”

Did Anne beseech Henry to appoint her as some sort of servant in his household (as opposed to Katharine of Aragon’s)? Or has she simply pledged to serve him, but not as his mistress or lover? What do those letters mean?

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Sources & Suggested Reading

 1. Luce, John W. and Company, with designs by Florence Swan (1899). Love Letters of Henry Eighth to Anne Boleyn. P. IV. Boston and London: John W. Luce & Company (1906).