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This blog is now located at: herstorshe.tumblr.com Why Anne Boleyn Was Innocent
(This is a reworked article from my old Tumblr account.) Many historians agree that Anne Boleyn was not guilty of the crimes she was accused of, and even executed for. These crimes included adultery, incest, and plotting to kill the king. In this article, I detail the main reasons that historians, and I, believe she was innocent, as well as the real reason Henry had her executed.
Consider what Anne would be like in the modern day. She would be just your usual bold, outspoken woman who isn’t a virgin. That’s totally normal! It is important to consider people from history who were in oppressed groups from the modern perspective, for it is much more free of prejudice. Resources: 1. "Anne Boleyn: Why Did She Have To Die?" History Extra. URL. 2. "No innocent victim, apparently." The Anne Boleyn Files. URL. Why Katherine of Aragon Wasn’t Lying
The argument around what happened on Katherine of Aragon and Prince Arthur’s wedding night ended up shaping the religious future of the United Kingdom. However, Henry VIII’s decision to separate England from the Roman Catholic Church was in vain, for Katherine was not lying when she said that she had not slept with Prince Arthur. First, let’s just get it out there that this whole idea of virginity is a misogynist social construct. We should not put so much time into caring about women’s sex lives -- it’s objectifying and feeds into the patriarchy. We need to stop shaming women for when, how, or how often they have sex. We don’t do that to men!* Ok, onto the reasons.
Arguments against Katherine being truthful include:
In the end, there’s no way that we can know what happened that night. The only two people that know for sure what happened have been dead for almost 500 years. The question we should be asking is why do we care? Shaming this woman for her sex life shouldn’t have been so influential to British history, and honestly shouldn’t have mattered at all.* *Yes I recognize that this comes across as hypocritical because this article is also discussing this event. But the goal of this article isn’t to shame Katherine, it is to defend her. I’m sorry if it came across as shaming -- please let me know if it did :) Resources for your Research:
Citations:
For the next 7 weeks I will be doing a series on the six wives of Henry VIII! For the last year I've been doing tons of research on these six women so I am very excited to share their stories with you all! I will be posting every Monday. May 3 - Why Katherine of Aragon Wasn’t Lying May 10 - Why Anne Boleyn Was Innocent May 17 - Why Jane Seymour & Henry VIII’s Marriage Wasn’t True Love May 24 - Why Henry VIII Was Lying About Anna of Cleves May 31 - Why Catherine Howard Wasn't "Just a Stupid Teenager" June 7 - Why Katherine Parr Was So Impressive June 14 - Historical & Modern Representations of the Six Wives Hi, all! I've decided that I will be taking a break from this blog for the month of April. See you all in May!
April 1st, 1204: Eleanor of Aquataine, queen of France, died.
April 2nd, 1931: Seventeen year old Jackie Mitchell pitched a game against the Yankees and struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. April 3rd, 1934: Jane Goodall, world’s best expert on chimpanzees, was born. April 4th, 1928: Maya Angelou, activist and author, was born. April 5th, 1887: Anne Sullivan taught the word “water” to Helen Keller, partly by pouring water on her hands. April 6th, 1931: ‘Little Orphan Annie’ aired on NBC Radio for the first time. April 7th, 1987: The National Museum of Women in the Arts opens, the first museum devoted to female artists. April 8th, 1783: Catherine the Great of Russia, the country’s longest reigning female leader, annexed the Crimea. April 9th, 1933: Ruth Bryan Owen becomes the first woman to represent the U.S. as a foreign minister. April 10th, 1930: Dolores Huerta, activist, labor organizer, and co-founder of the United Farm Workers union was born. April 11th, 1908: Jane Matilda Bolin, first African American female U.S. judge, and first black woman to earn a law degree from Yale was born. April 12th, 1533: Anne Boleyn is declared Queen of England. April 13th, 1909: Eudora Welty, writer, photographer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom was born. April 14th, 1866: Anne Sullivan, trailblazer in education and teacher of Helen Keller was born. April 15th, 2019: Aretha Franklin posthumously received the Pulitzer Prize Special Citation Honor, first individual woman to win it since 1930. April 16th, 1971: Selena, famous singer, was born. April 17th, 1983: Alice Walker won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her book The Color Purple. April 18th, 1916: Edith Wharton was appointed Chevalier of Legion of Honour for her contribution to the war effort. She was an author, and later became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Literature. April 19th, 1909: Joan of Arc received beatification by the Roman Catholic Church. April 20th, 1902: Marie and Pierre Curie isolated the radioactive compound radium chloride. April 21st, 2019: Greta Thunberg spoke at an Extinction Rebellion protest in London amid protests. April 22nd, 1976: Barbara Walters became the first female nightly network news anchor in the U.S. April 23rd, 1702: Queen Anne Stuart was crowned queen at Westminster Abbey.
April 25th, 1918: Ella Fitzgerald, singer considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century, was born. April 26th, 1933: Carol Burnett, popular actress, comedian, singer, and writer was born. April 27th, 1927: Coretta Scott King, civil rights, human rights, and peace activist, was born. April 28th, 1960: Elena Kagan, fourth female Supreme Court Justice in the U.S. was born. April 29th, 1429: Joan of Arc arrived at the siege of Orleans during the Hundred Years War between France and England. April 30th, 1997: 42 million people watch Ellen DeGeneres, TV personality, publicly come out as gay. Resources -
The month of March was very post heavy. Going forward I will be posting once a week on Mondays.
Two of the posts will be dedicated to research on Queen Anne Stuart, and the other two will just be whatever I feel like writing! See you all this coming Monday! On this day in 1776, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, reminding him to “Remember the ladies, John.” Below are five fast facts about Abigail Adams.
Facts:
“Abigail Adams.” HISTORY. Accessed March 26, 2021. https://www.history.com/topics/first-ladies/abigail-adams On this day in 1533, King Henry VIII of England divorced his first wife, Katherine of Aragon. Though this is the today in history event of hers that I am writing about, there is so much more to her story. Below are five fast facts about Katherine of Aragon.
Facts:
Citations:
Frances P. Bolton: Fast Facts
On this day in 1885, Francis Bolton, who helped remove color lines in nursing, was born. Below are five fast facts about Francis Bolton. Facts:
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the authorHello there! I'm Gemma, and I love women's history! archive
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