Alison Weir on Tudor Feminism, Norah Lofts, and the Cult of Anne Boleyn

About 2o years ago I read Alison Weir’s Six Wives of Henry VIII.  I remember starting it, laying in my bed in my attic bedroom when it was snowing outside.  I was immediately hooked on this saga of drama and the way lives could be forever changed because of the inability to bear a son.  Little did I know that I would go through my own struggle to have a living child, in which I would identify more than I wanted to with Katherine of Aragon.  I only knew that the stories touched me.  Added to that, I was already immersing myself in the world of early English choral music thanks to my English Renaissance album by the King’s Singers, and I was set up for my lifelong passion.

I recently had the chance to interview Alison Weir for my podcast, and it was an extraordinary conversation for me.  Below is the full interview, in which we talk about the way 16th century women are portrayed in popular culture, early feminism (Christina Pizan), the historical fiction of the 1950’s (Norah Lofts), and a teaser on new information she’s discovered about Anne Boleyn.

I’m particularly interested in this early feminist movement she referenced.  Margaret of Austria, at whose court Anne Boleyn spent much of her time early on, had books by Christina Pizan in her library.  Christina Pizan was arguably the first feminist writer, from the early 15th century, and one of her most famous books is about an allegorical city for women using examples of contributions that women have made to Western Civilization, and arguments that prove their equality to men.  It’s tantalizing to think that Anne Boleyn might have read Christina, and been influenced by her in some small way.

I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed recording it.

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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop.

She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 30 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history (how exciting when she got to interview Alison for the first time!). In addition to history, she is passionate about travel, and has lived in 3 countries and 4 states (not counting her perpetual state of confusion), and her family (who help her host her YouTube channel occasionally).