Between Two Kings (37 page)

“Probably,” Péronne replied. “I think that King François married Queen Anne for political reasons and later he fell in love with her. If it was a marriage for politics, she might be the enemy of the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of England because François hates these two monarchs,” Anne de Pisseleu speculated.

Péronne laughed. “I have always adored your crafty mind.”

Duchess d’Étampes nonchalantly flicked dust from her sleeve. “If Queen Anne is the enemy of the Emperor or of the King of England, I might ally with one of them, but I must know who she is. Then I will be able to develop the plan of action.”

“It would be high treason,” her sister objected.

Anne smile and her lips thinned with that smile. “I can just give these monarchs some information about the Queen of France. It should be enough.” A hateful flame flared up in her blue eyes. “I want revenge because she stole François from me. I cannot forgive it.”

Péronne de Pisseleu didn’t like her sister’s ideas. “It would be treason anyway.”

“Péronne, I am not a fool. I will be careful not to lose grace with the King of France.” Duchess d’Étampes smiled intentionally when she saw her sister still watching her. “One day François will be mine again.”

Anne de Pisseleu d’Heilly had a cunning plan in her mind. She was determined to make Queen Anne suffer for taking King François from her. Little did the French royal couple know that the king’s former mistress was prepared for them and how dangerous she was. One day François would be hers again, Anne de Pisseleu took an oath, whatever the cost was.

AUTHOR’S NOTES

In
Between Two Kings
, Anne Boleyn is portrayed as close to historical reality as possible. The historical Anne Boleyn was an epitome of grace, charm, elegance, wit, and, of course, intelligence. Raised in the French court and the court of Archduchess Margaret of Austria, Anne was impeccably educated and well learned in the arts; she was a true Renaissance woman. She also had a practical, cunning mind, and she and the whole Boleyn family were ambitious and hungry for power.

However, the old Anne Boleyn is dead as she has changed a lot after her dreadful near-death experience in England when King Henry VIII of England almost had her executed. She had learnt a hard lesson and realized that she had committed many mistakes when she had been the Queen of England. The new Anne Boleyn is a cold, reserved, and calculating woman, who controls her emotions and behavior much more than she has ever done before.

There are numerous things and historical tidbits I want to tell you about some of the events and people described within the pages of this book.

I think it would be best to begin by mentioning that I chose to change the method of Anne’s execution for certain reasons. It is known that Anne could have been either beheaded or burnt at the stake at the king’s pleasure, and I decided to choose the second option because this event makes it easier to stage her death.

Because the exact date of Anne Boleyn’s birth is not known and is assumed to be somewhere between 1500 and 1508, I took liberty in assuming that she was born around 1508 or a little earlier. I didn’t want to make Anne older than François’ mistress Anne de Pisseleu d’Heilly, Duchess d’Étampes, or older than Jane Seymour.

In this novel, Anne leaves England and starts her life under secret identity in Venice, using the name of Anne Gabrielle Marguerite de Ponthieu; she becomes the granddaughter of Jean Frédéric Roger de Ponthieu, Count de Montreuil. Jean is a fictional character, but his name and title are linked to historical reality. Indeed, there was County of Ponthieu in France, but in the 16
th
century it was a part of the royal domain and there were no nobles holding the title of Count de Ponthieu. Therefore, I felt free to use this name for a fictional character in my novel.

The physical appearances of the main characters don’t always coincide with those in real history. In this novel, the characters are portrayed as they were in the Showtime television series
The Tudors
, so Anne has blue eyes, François has amber eyes, and Henry has aquamarine eyes.

As this book creates the alternate reality for Anne Boleyn, some historical events were changed; yet, I tried to be as close to real historical events of the 16
th
century as I could. The descriptions of Renaissance clothing and the fashionable Renaissance meals are historically correct, as are those of royal palaces and châteaux.

The facts mentioned about Anne Boleyn’s romance with Henry Percy, the Earl of Northumberland, and about Anne’s infamous meeting with King François in Calais in October 1532 are historically correct. The presented information about Leonardo da Vinci is correct, except my assumption that he didn’t die in François’ arms and that it was a myth; yet, we don’t know for sure how the maestro died.

The first important historical inaccuracy is that King François I of France’s marriage to Eleanor of Austria, the emperor’s older sister, was never annulled in real history. Yet, in this novel, King François travels to Rome and has his marriage to Eleanor of Austria annulled as he was forced to enter into that matrimony after the devastating defeat of France at Pavia in 1525 and his subsequent captivity in Madrid. In history, François didn’t discard his wife, although it is true that he never liked her and preferred to spend time with Anne de Pisseleu d’Heilly, Duchess d’Étampes, his long-term
maîtresse en titre
. In some books, it is written that François and Eleanor never consummated their marriage. Most likely, François only rarely shared a bed with his unwanted wife. In this novel, I assume that there is no consummation of their marriage because this event makes it easier to annul this union.

The fateful meeting with King François is a turning point in Anne’s life. Striving to have a political advantage over the Holy Roman Emperor, François arrives in Venice to conduct negotiations with the Republic of Venice for a potential alliance. I wanted their meeting in Venice to be dramatic, and I introduced the plotline that Anne saved François’ life in the church when the King of France made a short stop at the church to listen to pray.

When François marries Anne, they become political allies and combine their strengths to take revenge on King Henry VIII. I didn’t want to join Anne and François in matrimony under the secret identity that Anne uses during her life in Venice. A secret identity for the Queen of France is a dangerous thing, and I decided that the name of the Queen of France will be kept in secret for some time. The fact that François marries Anne Boleyn will be announced in the next novel, in this novel.

The regicide attempt on the life of King François in Venice is a fictional event, and it is implied that Holy Roman Emperor Charles V is behind the attempt. I also introduced the twist that King Henry financially supported the Italian campaign of Emperor Charles when King François was defeated and captured. In history, François was indeed taken prisoner by the emperor, but Henry had nothing to do with that Italian war and many conspiracies against François related to the war. These twists are necessary to make François the mortal enemy of Henry.

Another very important change in the historical events mentioned in this alternative universe concerns Jane Seymour’s deaf and dumb child. My decision to introduce this twist is the result of my desire to be original regarding Jane’s fate. The birth of the child happens on a special date – one day before Jane’s actual death in history. A symbolic meaning is that she is in trouble, but she is not dead.

I want to explain my choice of the name for Jane’s child. For some reason, it seems that Richard is kind of an unfortunate name for English kings. King Richard III is known to have had a visible spinal deformity; he also possibly murdered the princes in the Tower, declared the marriage of his brother King Edward V to Elizabeth Woodville null and void, and later died at the Battle of Bosworth Field, fighting with Henry Tudor, the future King Henry VII. King Richard II, the son of the legendary Black Prince and the grandchild of Edward III, may have suffered from a personality disorder, was finally deposed, and died in captivity the year following his deposition; he was probably murdered. King Richard I the Lionheart rebelled in Poitou against his father, King Henry II of England; was rumored to be homosexual; also spent much time in captivity; and died relatively young. All of these Richards died without leaving legitimate male heirs. Similar to my choice to make Jane’s child deaf and dumb, I chose the name Richard, instead of Edward.

There was an historical alliance between France and the Ottoman Empire. It is also historically accurate that Mary de Guise’s married King James V of Scotland to strengthen the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland. The Franco-Venetian alliance is fictional; I introduced this twist because the plot will develop amid the Italian war in the second novel.

In
Between Two Kings,
Anne Boleyn and Thomas Wyatt were lovers as per the storyline on
The Tudors
. While this is not confirmed fact I have described Thomas Wyatt as being Anne’s lover when she was free from Henry Percy and before she fell in love with King Henry. Undoubtedly, Anne Boleyn wasn’t an adulteress during the time of her marriage to Henry, but we don’t know whether she was a virgin when she became Henry’s wife. She surely wasn’t a woman who liked amorous escapades more than anything else; she was a pious woman and she understood that she couldn’t have betrayed Henry with any other man during the time of their long courtship and her queenship. Yet, Anne was no angel, and this is the reason why she has a secret affair with Thomas Wyatt.

In one of the chapters, I gave some historical information about King François I’s love affairs. The long list of King François I’ mistresses is consistent with real history. François had only two official mistresses – Françoise de Foix, Countess de Châteaubriant, and then Anne de Pisseleu d’Heilly, Duchess d’Étampes. Françoise de Foix was discarded after François’ return from captivity. Anne de Pisseleu was the most infamous favorite of King François; it is fair to say that she was the king’s grand favorite.

All the facts about the family of King François and about his closest entourage are historically correct. The names and short biographies of the two French poets, who are said to have written pamphlets and books compromising Thomas Cromwell, are historically correct; I myself composed the text of the pamphlets.

I can only hope that reading this novel provided you with some enjoyable time. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for coming along on the journey.

Olivia Longueville