Part 2, The 'Great Matter': Chapter 7 Summary and Analysis

Chapter seven begins with commentary by the author on how Anne Boleyn has been viewed and/or portrayed by biographers and historians. She suggests that whether she's viewed as a heretical, manipulative witch or as an enlightened reformer depends at least in part upon which religious faction a biographer and/or historian belonged to—to Roman Catholics she was an embodiment of evil, but to Protestants she was a wronged near-saint. The author contends that the true Anne was somewhere in between—she had flaws of personality (arrogance, volatility and vindictiveness the most prominent), but she also encouraged religious tolerance and demonstrated considerable courage.

The author then discusses Anne's childhood and youth—born to an ambitious father, sent to attend the French Queen at a young age, schooled early and...