Hunting the Falcon
Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the Marriage That Shook Europe
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Hunting the Falcon
Narrated by:
Stephanie Racine
Buy Now for £18.19
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Narrated by:
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Stephanie Racine
A TLS, TIMES, PROSPECT AND WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR
A groundbreaking examination of how the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn sent shockwaves across a continent and changed England forever.
'In many places, where once we had speculation, we now have certainty. This book is at once an education and a joy to read' LITERARY REVIEW
'Combines meticulously researched history and contemporary voices with narrative flair' SUNDAY TIMES
'Anne Boleyn comes alive in this impressive study . . . Moves and informs' THE TIMES
'The most cogent narrative reading of the evidence to date' SPECTATOR
The story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn is one of the most remarkable in history: a long courtship followed by a shotgun wedding and then a coronation, ending just short of three years later when a husband’s passion turned to such hatred that he simply wanted his wife gone. In Hunting the Falcon, John Guy and Julia Fox examine the most recent archival discoveries and peel back layers of historical myth to present Anne and Henry in startlingly new ways. They show how Anne and Henry's relationship was tied almost completely to the major events of international politics at one of the great turning points of European history, and dispel any assumptions that a sixteenth-century woman, even a queen, could exert little influence on the politics and beliefs of a patriarchal society. Anne was in fact a shrewd and ruthless politician in her own right, a woman who steered Henry and his policies – and whom Henry seriously contemplated making joint sovereign.
Hunting the Falcon sets the facts and some completely new finds into a wide frame, unearthing the truth about these two extraordinary lives and their tumultuous times. It pays particular attention to the seven 'missing' years that Anne spent in France, and explores how she organised her side of the royal court in novel ways that ultimately sowed the seeds of her own downfall. In this feat of historical research and analysis, Guy and Fox offer a sumptuous retelling of one of the most consequential marriages in history and an exhilarating portrait of love, lust, politics and power.
'Better than Wolf Hall because it's all true' ANDREW ROBERTS
'A sumptuous drama of lust, intrigue and betrayal, underpinned by the harsh reality of politics' AMANDA FOREMAN
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Critic reviews
The prologue is indicative of the book as a whole, which combines meticulously researched history and contemporary voices with narrative flair . . . The Guy/Fox approach is fresh partly because they are a married couple writing about a marriage, but more because they reframe the story in the context of continental European politics, in contrast to the parochial English exceptionalism that pervades writing about this era. The authors have uncovered a fair bit of new material in their scouring of the archives and libraries of Europe, the most interesting relating to Anne’s teenage years on the Continent (Gavanndra Hodge)
The vivacious Anne Boleyn comes alive in this impressive study … In Hunting the Falcon, the husband-and-wife team John Guy and Julia Fox have returned to the contemporary sources to place the marriage in its European context. Guy, a Cambridge historian, is one of only a handful of scholars capable of deciphering some of these manuscripts, while Fox has written a groundbreaking book on Boleyn’s sister-in-law, Jane Parker. The result of their efforts moves and informs, improving our understanding of “the marriage that convulsed a continent” and revitalising the biography of Anne … In Hunting the Falcon we see [Anne] quick, bright in flight, her eyes still keen and her talons sharp (Leanda de Lisle)
Traces the diplomatic threads of the story with skill . . . Guy and Fox do Anne the courtesy of taking her seriously as a political agent – even if a disastrously unsuccessful one . . . A serious and compelling study (Rowan Williams)
[Hunting the Falcon] is not another unavailing attempt to unravel Anne’s psyche or the secret of her appeal to Henry … It is an attempt, and a successful one, to reintroduce her as a player on the European political stage … Guy and Fox’s research has also produced significant new evidence on the complex web of European negotiations surrounding Henry’s efforts to shake off one wife and marry another. The diplomatic world springs vividly to life here … Anne’s role on this European stage has long been almost ignored … But Guy and Fox foreground her placement here and both the advantages and perils that it brought … In many places, where once we had speculation, we now have certainty. This book is at once an education and a joy to read (Sarah Gristwood)
Provides the most cogent narrative reading of the evidence to date. It leaves us in no doubt of the momentous consequences of Henry’s pursuit of Anne Boleyn . . . Fox and Guy achieve this by emphasising the influence of France on the formation of Anne’s personality, her ideas and even on the circumstances of her fall. This they set against the backdrop of international alliances (Mark Bostridge)
A necessary corrective to the old, broad-strokes story that paints Henry as a fickle child and Anne as the essential Boleyn-dynasty machiavel (Daniel Brooks)
A political context to Anne’s downfall has often been suggested, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it so well explained before. I think it would have been an interesting addition to look into Cromwell’s own motives a bit more for getting Anne and the men out of the way, to look at what I think of as the ‘Wolf Hall theory’, ie that Cromwell might have wanted to destroy Anne and the men in revenge for the loss of his dear Thomas Wolsey in addition to his desire to do what Henry wanted, as I believe is likely, but I’m sure this would be difficult to prove. I’d also like to have seen a bit more questioning of Henry’s opinions on the charges against Anne and the men. I don’t believe for a moment Henry ever thought the charges were true. I think he believed what he wanted to believe because he wanted Anne not only out of his life, but out of existence.
Those minor observations said, my only real objection to this, the audiobook, is the narrator. It might have been helpful if she’d done a bit of research to find out how to pronounce names. Her pronunciation of Boleyn as ‘Berlin’ throughout the book soon becomes grating. ‘Bullen’ would have been close because it’s possible it is how the name was spelt at the time, allowing for the non standardisation of spelling and how people heard and pronounced names, but ‘Berlin’ is just wrong, as is the pronunciation of Paulet as ‘Powlet’. These things could have been put right, but I have to admit they don’t spoil the enjoyment of an excellent book.
Excellent take on a person we think we know
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Beautifully narrated and meticulously researched the story was so compelling I finished it in days.
Fantastic value for money.
Enthralling
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In this phrase from his reflective poem written in prison in the year of Anne Boleyn’s execution, Sir Thomas Wyatt encapsulated the savagery of Henry Vlll’s reign.
In all of English history this period must be the most often chosen by academic researchers and by fiction writers . But what makes Hunting the Falcon such a tremendous addition to the existing catalogue is the authors’ use of recently uncovered sources, particularly in French, and the depth of their analysis of the royal courtship and marriage, not just in personal terms, but also in their detailed political contexts. Refreshingly real, Anne Boleyn is first portrayed as an highly intelligent young demoiselle in the opulent court of Queen Claude wife of Francis I of France. A description of her move to England and the six years of Henry’s courtship of her follows. So entrenched in French court ways was she and so deeply had she embedded herself in affairs of state, that after three brief years of her marriage during which she failed to give the King the son he craved, Henry tired of her. He turned to gentle, modest Jane Seymour and shockingly in 1536 he sanctioned Anne’s execution.
Both detailed and clear is the authors’ analysis of Henry’s fraught and politically complex relationship with Rome and France as he struggled to free himself from his 20 year marriage to Catherine of Aragon at the same time as maintaining existing alliances and forging new ones. Even before the time Anne and Henry finally married, the seeds of her downfall had been sown. Despite the cascade of outrageously princely gifts of goods and lands showered on the woman with whom he was besotted, Henry realised she was threatening his own control of affairs and causing dissension. The English court became a fearful place of plots real and imagined, conspiracies, spies and informers as Henry became increasingly suspicious and violent. It was a place where no-one was safe.
The Epilogue provides an excellent exploration of Henry’s deteriorating body and mind, almost certainly exacerbated by a near fatal fall from his horse early in the marriage. He must have known that the charges against Anne and against the host of others he similarly condemned were fabricated, but his monstrous need for absolute control enabled him to have them executed with apparent equanimity.
No wonder Wyatt wrote in the same poem that ‘the times have broken my heart’.
Stephanie Racine’s narration is outstanding. She reads with admirably subtle expression and sails through the French quotations (of which there are a great number) with aplomb – a rare feat in narrators!
"These bloody times"
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Great book, irritating narration
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To be afforded a different angle on a story we all think we know was such a gift. I found it so relevant and fresh. Thank you.
Fantastic story telling and beautifully narrated.
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