Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I: The Mother and Daughter Who Changed History is a joint biography by historian Tracy Borman. I downloaded it in digital format from Netgalley and read it on my Kindle e-reader. I'd like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy.
Before reading this book, I was a huge fan of Queen Elizabeth I because the theater flourished during her reign. Yet more importantly, she stood against the Catholic powers, Spain and France. I knew relatively little about Elizabeth's mother, Anne Bolelyn, , and I never thought about Anne's influence over her daughter.
I was interested to learn that Anne had books by women, most notably Christine de Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies. I read in the Wikipedia article on Christine de Pizan here that she thought that Joan of Arc was the fufillment of prophecies by Merlin, the Cumaean Sybil and Saint Bede. She also wrote a poem about Joan which was her last work. Christine de Pizan didn't live to see Joan imprisoned by the English and burned. I am sure that if Christine de Pizan had lived later, she would have celebrated the Tudor Queen, Elizabeth.
It's mentioned that "Solomon and the Queen of Sheba" by artist Hans Holbein, was hanging at court during Henry VIII's reign. I wonder if Anne identified with the Queen of Sheba, mother of King Solomon. If so, Anne's equivalent of the wise Solomon was Elizabeth I.
The coronation of King Charles III recently took place. The author remarks that King Charles is descended from Mary Boleyn, Anne's sister, and that his son, the Prince of Wales, is descended from Mary Boleyn through both his parents. Elizabeth, however, will always remain the only descendant of Anne Boleyn.
I enjoyed this book and learned a number of things I hadn't known previously. I will give it a B+ on Goodreads.
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