NOTORIOUS

Revisiting the English Reformation.

Historian Nolan offers a plausible alternative explanation to the events and motivations behind a turbulent period in English history. She mines documents to unearth the story of a novice nun and a queen-in-waiting. According to her well-presented and thorough research, Henry VIII was not seeking a divorce from Catherine of Aragon simply because he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn. His actual motivation, Nolan asserts, was that he believed the lack of a son and proper heir was a sign of God’s displeasure at him for marrying his brother’s widow. Henry feared that his marriage to Catherine would condemn him to hell—or a lengthy stay in purgatory. Anne, on the other hand, was not some seductive harpy using sex to attain wealth and power, in the author’s view. She agreed to marry Henry solely for a royal platform to push her reformist agenda, bypassing the clergy by making Bibles available in English and opening direct access to God. Enter Elizabeth Barton—a novice nun making a reputation for herself as a visionary, a conduit for messages directly from God—who tells Henry, “The angels say the vengeance of God will plague you for eternity” if he continued to challenge the pope. Barton and her clergy “handlers” published pamphlets castigating Henry and blaming Anne’s wiles for his actions. The nun’s prophecies greatly contributed to the seven-year delay before Henry, tired of waiting, defied the pope and married Anne, creating profound religious division in England. As history reveals, it doesn’t end well for anyone, with Barton and her handlers confessing in public that the visions and messages were all a hoax before being brutally executed. But her smear campaign had lasting effects, with her “prophecies” added to the many other “facts” that led to Anne’s own conviction for treason and beheading just two years later.

Ably challenging a historical legend that has stood the test of time.