Retha Warnicke

Rowan · Post by **Rowan** » Thu October 16th, 2008, 2:49 pm

I was wondering if anyone has heard of Dr Warnicke. I happened to come across her Wikipedia entry while doing research about Mary, Queen of Scots and noticed that she is considered an expert on politics and protocol in the Tudor Court, Gender Issues in the Early Modern Period (1400-1700) and Jacobean Funeral Rites for Women. I decided to ask if anyone here has heard of Dr Warnicke because of the last paragraph in the Wikipedia entry:

"Her [famous and controversial] theories [of the life of Anne Boleyn] were severely distorted in Philippa Gregory's novel The Other Boleyn Girl. Gregory's author's note claimed that her novel's conclusion was based upon Warnicke's findings in The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn, but Warnicke has publicly distanced herself from the novel and its presentation of the Boleyns."

princess garnet · Post by **princess garnet** » Thu October 16th, 2008, 3:22 pm

I've heard of her work but haven't read anything of hers.

diamondlil · Post by **diamondlil** » Thu October 16th, 2008, 7:38 pm

I hadn't heard of her before.

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Thu October 16th, 2008, 8:03 pm

She's written a great deal about the Tudors, and I think Gregory's presentations of Anne's having borne a deformed fetus and of George Boleyn's homosexuality do owe a lot to Warnicke's Anne Boleyn book. I've dipped into the Anne Boleyn bookbut never read it straight through. It in itself is quite controversial.

cw gortner · Post by **cw gortner** » Thu October 16th, 2008, 8:32 pm

I've read Warnicke's book. I actually used it as research for my first unpublished novel, which I wrote 13 years ago, about - yes, you guessed it! -Anne Boleyn.

She's right. TOBG does distort what she presents. While she does argue that George might have been gay and Anne could have miscarried a fetus that was considered "deformed" in the 16th century viewpoint (they wouldn't have known of the lack of genital differentiation at an early stage in pregnancy, etc), none of her arguments support the incest rumor. In fact, she makes considerable effort to disprove the lurid rumors surrounding Anne's downfall to present a far more unbiased and realistic look at the woman she might have been, and the reasons Cromwell went to such lengths - with the king's approval - to destroy her.

siouxzee · Post by **siouxzee** » Wed August 12th, 2009, 5:08 am

I have heard of her and was under the impression she is well respected in her field - but that may just because she teaches at my university (Arizona State University).
I have two of her books, but haven't gotten around to reading them yet... I need to get on that!

Telynor · Post by **Telynor** » Fri August 14th, 2009, 2:06 pm

I've read her book on Anne Boleyn, but not the one on Anne of Cleves. I found some of her ideas interesting, but some of it way off base. Having Mary Boleyn be younger than Anne just doesn't make any sense once you look at the overall life, especially when it comes to figuring out who Henry was messing around with. With the exception of Catherine Howard, Henry seems to have preferred mature, adult women for his partners, not a very young, barely pubescent teenager. But that's just me...

Melisende · Post by **Melisende** » Sat August 15th, 2009, 10:44 am

Read her Anne Bolyen book a few years ago, when stuck for something to read - and enjoyed it.