The Boleyns of Hever Castle by Owen Emmerson, Claire Ridgway

Hever Castle is a picture-postcard fortified manor house nestled in the Kent countryside. It is famous for its links with the Boleyns, an East Anglian gentry family who rose and fell dramatically at the court of King Henry VIII.

 

In The Boleyns of Hever Castle , historians Owen Emmerson and Claire Ridgway invite you into the home of this notorious family. Travel back in time to those 77 years of Boleyn ownership. Tour each room just as it was when Anne Boleyn retreated from court to escape the advances of Henry VIII or when she fought off the dreaded 'sweat'. See the 16th century Hever Castle come to life with room reconstructions and read the story of the Boleyns, who, in just five generations, rose from petty crime to a castle, from Hever to the throne of England.

 

Owen Emmerson and Claire Ridgway have combined their considerable knowledge of the Boleyn family and Hever Castle to create this luxurious book. Packed with history and full-colour images, The Boleyns of Hever Castle will educate and enlighten you.

Publisher: MadeGlobal Publishing | Genre:  Nonfiction | Source: Purchased  | Rating: 4.5 

As someone with a keen interest in the Tudors and that era, I was intrigued when I heard about this book. Then I bought it, stuck it on my Tudor bookshelf, and immediately forgot about it because it slid down the back of the shelf (hangs head in shame). I rediscovered this book whilst redoing my shelf and knew I had to give it a read.

Given the title, I knew this was going to be mainly about the Boleyn family but, given the synopsis, I was expecting a little more about Hever Castle during the Boleyn era. Out of 152 pages, only 26 are dedicated specifically to the house, which was a little disappointing, but it did offer a nice, if short, biography on Hever. While it didn’t go into the intricacies of the architecture, which I wasn’t expecting it to, it still offered a look at the original details of the castle. There’s also a short look at Hever after the Boleyns and Hever in pop culture as Anne of a Thousand Days was filmed there.

The biographies offered an interesting glimpse into the Boleyn family. It chronicles their origins, their rise to power, the rise of Anne Boleyn, as well as their downfall, and a brief bit about Elizabeth. What I found rather interesting was the origins of the Boleyn family. While I have read snippets about their start, it’s not something that I normally read, or find, in most Anne Boleyn biographies. Of course, the majority of the book does focus on Anne.

While I wasn’t surprised at the amount of information about Anne Boleyn, I was a little surprised at some of the content, such as including Karen Lindsey’s belief that Anne was a victim of sexual harassment based on Wyatt’s poem Whoso List To Hunt. I found that inclusion to be a little odd and out of place. I was also disappointed that very little was included about Mary as it would have been nice to have more about her time at Hever. There was a bit more about George but nothing that went too deep.

I did appreciate the amount of images included. There’s sketches, paintings, photographs, floor plans, and copies of letters but I think there could have been a few more photographs of Hever included. I would have also appreciated more of the discussions, such as the photograph of King Henry VIII’s personal lock. While the image description states it was ‘in Hever’s great hall’, they do not discuss why or when the lock was installed.

I want to take a minute to talk about the format of the book. This is an 8.5 by 8.5 inch paperback. While the book isn’t thick (under an inch in thickness), it’s floppy and the cover feels slightly thinner than a standard paperback. While I do like the size of the book as it allows for larger images, it’s not the sturdiest. I’m not hard on my book but, sadly, this is already showing signs of wear on the front cover (it did arrive slightly dinged up). For the price, just under $30 on Amazon, and the aesthetic, this should have been a hardback. It would have made for a lovely coffee table book.

Overall, this is a nice, if short, glimpse of Hever Castle and the Boleyn family from their origins to their downfall. It was lacking a few images as well as descriptions (and I’m not a fan of the format) but this is well worth the read.