i have nothing against jane seymour but it's annoying to me when people compare her to anne and list why she's better than her, am i the only one or?
I’ve been thinking about whether I should answer this message or not—I have no desire to encourage this strange rival mentality that seems to exist between people devoted to Henry’s wives. However, since this isn’t meant do discredit Jane Seymour or her qualities, I’ve decided to post it.
It irks me to no end when Anne and Jane are compared because their situations were almost entirely different.
It seems like they were almost identical—both were ladies-in-waiting to the king’s present consort when they caught his eye, both refused to become his mistress and in doing so contributed to him discarding his current wife in favor of marrying them.
When Anne became Henry’s wife, she had her supporters, of course, but the majority of the people still considered Katherine of Aragon to be his lawful wife, and Mary the only heir to the throne.
When Jane became Henry’s wife, Katherine of Aragon was dead. Anne was never thought of as being lawfully married to the king by many, and they saw Elizabeth as a bastard. Jane was a Catholic known to be sympathetic towards Katherine of Aragon and her daughter, which earned her numerous supporters as well as those who simply saw it as an opportunity to get rid of Anne.
And then people have the audacity to insinuate that Anne was a dullard that had no clue on how to behave. There’s no denying that her fiery temper didn’t do her any favors at times, but the fact that people think she could have changed her fate if only she behaved like the perfect obedient wife is absolutely ridiculous.
Henry had torn his country apart to marry Anne—because he wanted a son above everything. And then she had the gall to be unable to give him one! Of course it isn’t his fault, so he moves on to his next obsession, and she is undeniably the opposite of Anne.
He’s been through this before, though, and his patience has been exhausted. He spent over seven years trying to annul his marriage, and even when he finally did as he pleased, his former wife was a nuisance and, to some extent, a danger to him. While Anne did not have as many supporters, he wasn’t going to take the risk, and Henry also wasn’t getting any younger—he needed to get rid of his wife that didn’t keep her promise now, and permanently.
Does anyone really believe that this could have been prevented by Anne bowing her head, nodding and smiling dutifully? That’s laughable.
Jane had asked something of Henry once and if what is reported is true, he indirectly threatened her by reminding her what had happened to Anne when they haven’t even been married for a year.
I wouldn’t say that Jane was lucky to die in childbirth, because she did give the king his long-desired son, which undoubtedly would have put her firmly at his side, but it’s absolutely naive to believe that it would have been so if she hadn’t just because her personality differed from Anne’s. She might have escaped with her life, but there is no way that Henry wouldn’t have tried to get rid of her in an attempt to look for someone else who could give him a son—and again, I don’t say this to discredit Jane, I say this because Henry was a vile person, and he didn’t deserve any of his six wives.
prguitarman
2087
discoholicmusic
origamiaround
tangentwithtanner
gummygunk
