The Anne Boleyn Chair

The Beginning

In 2022, antiques dealer Paul Fitzsimmons, a renowned specialist in rare Tudor-era artifacts, discovered an extraordinary early 16th-century chair. It is believed that the chair was made for young Anne Boleyn while she served at the French royal court between 1514 and 1521.

The unforgettable saga of Anne Boleyn—an English woman raised in French high society who returned home, attracted a powerful king who moved heaven and earth to marry her, made her Queen, and had her executed mere years later—is compelling, even today.

Research on the chair illuminates the obscure yet significant early years of Henry VIII's second wife, during which she served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Claude of France from 1515 to 1521. Its iconography provides an enticing insight into the maturing Anne Boleyn; perhaps more prescient, an impression of the core values held by the future Queen of England.

Paul Fitzsimmons established Marhamchurch Antiques in 1991; he is widely recognized as one of the UK’s leading specialists in early oak furniture and works of art, with a particular focus on the Tudor and early Stuart periods. With a lifelong passion for the history and material culture of the 16th century, Fitzsimmons combines deep research with connoisseurship to uncover and document rare pieces. Most recently, he found and restored an English oak-carved falcon badge, a remarkable and hence important representative symbol in the heraldry of Queen Anne Boleyn. The wooden carving, still possessing its 16th-century gold leaf and silver pigment, is widely believed to have been part of the decorations at Hampton Court Palace, a favored residence of King Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn.

Descriptions and interpretations of the symbols featured on the chair will be published in a series. Each motif will be described, accompanied by photos and a discussion of its meaning.

What becomes eminently clear when viewing this particular chair, with its distinctive and unusual bas-relief carvings, is that it intends to present a message or a story. Unlike many other chairs of this style and era, whose carvings are purely decorative, these images make an unmistakable statement about the chair's purpose. It is therefore up to the viewer to read the information offered and determine what it may reveal about the life versus the legend of Anne Boleyn.

The Rose and the Dolphin

The chair's construction features a carved walnut backpanel, a wood preferred by early French furniture makers. The remainder of the structure is oak and measures 32 1/2” wide, 76 1/2” high, and 19 3/4” deep. Style and finish indicate sourcing from the Loire Valley region of France. It is of the early Renaissance cathedra type, with an exceptionally arresting sculpted panel.

The most conspicuous element on the pictorial includes two naked putti-like figures, incised in the hybrid Late Gothic–Renaissance manner, which flank and hold a shield inscribed with the initials Ab. A knotted cord, or more accurately a cordeliére, entwines the monogram. Beneath the figures, a pair of dolphins rise symmetrically; from their bound tails springs a precisely rendered English Tudor rose. It is a Tudor rose articulated as described in heraldic terms: 'a Tudor rose, slipped and leaved.' Its position on the backrest is significant: it lies directly behind the sitter's heart. The rose's stem is clasped by the splayed tails of the two dolphins. Dauphin, the French word for dolphin, is the historical title for the heir to the French throne. Binding the stem and tails is a band that may represent a wedding band. In this case, the symbolic dolphins securing a newly sprung English rose can mean little else than the union of the French throne with the English; a merger of two dynasties.

The Grand Celebration 

French King Louis XII had two daughters, born of his second wife, the legendary Anne of Brittany: Claude and Renée. Claude, the elder sister, was married to Francis, son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and the formidable Louise of Savoy. When Louis XII died lacking a male heir, the throne passed to his son-in-law, Francis. He was crowned François I, King of France, in January of 1515, and Claude became queen consort.

Examining available documentation listing women who served Claude, the new Queen, Anne Boleyn's name does not appear. Instead, we find records of 'Mademoiselle Boleyne' and another of 'Marie Boulonne' in the French archives; both seem to refer to Mary, Anne's sister. It is unclear why Anne's name is not reflected in these documents. 

Yet we do have a reliable record that Anne Boleyn served Claude. It comes via Claude's younger sister Renée, who married Ercole II d'Este, the Duke of Ferrara. Renée, Duchess of Ferrara, lived in Italy for many years. But after her husband died, she returned to France. There, in 1561, she told Nicholas Throckmorton, the English ambassador to France, that she had known Anne Boleyn at court when Anne served her sister, Claude. 

Sir Thomas Boleyn, K.B., was a trusted diplomat and multilingual, proficient in French. Evidence shows that he was well-liked by the mighty French female triumvirate consisting of King Francis' mother, Louise of Savoy; his sister, Marguerite d'Angouleme; and his wife, Queen Claude. As a result, Thomas was able to secure a much-sought-after place for his daughter, Anne, as a demoiselle in Claude's household. Anne and Claude were about the same age, and the fact that Anne remained in France for seven years, serving Claude, suggests a positive relationship between the two young women. 

Anne, by this time, had acquired fluency in French, and her bilingual abilities were undoubtedly employed throughout her years of association with Claude, as Claude reportedly spoke little or no English. It seems logical that Anne would have been regularly in demand as an interpreter, especially at key occasions when English ambassadors were in attendance with the French royals and courtiers.

By late 1517, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and Papal Legate Lorenzo Campeggio were busy arranging a desired and critical treaty between France and England. It was to be called the Treaty of Eternal Peace, and its agreements were to be secured by the betrothal of the nine-month-old Dauphin, son of François I and Claude, with two-year-old Mary, the princess daughter of Henry VIII and Queen Katharine of Aragon. 

As English ambassador to France in 1518, Thomas Boleyn played a significant role in planning the event, including establishing the embassy that represented Henry VIII at the French celebrations. Those ambassadors included the Earl of Worcester, Sir Thomas Docwra, Sir Nicholas Vaux, the Bishop of Ely, and twenty other high-ranking English gentlemen. This party of delegates attended the preliminary events, especially the spectacular banquet that François hosted to celebrate the betrothal in the most glorious style possible. He ordered a specially constructed venue in the central courtyard of the Bastille on the evening of the 22nd of December, 1518. A description of the fantastic event was recorded by Edward Hall and by eyewitness Marino Sanuto, the Venetian statesman and diarist.

The grand soiree, specifically designed to honor the betrothal of the Dauphin and the Princess Mary, was attended by the magnificently attired, once-again pregnant Queen Claude, as well as by other noblewomen of the French court. Claude—Queen and the mother of the Dauphin—sat in a specially constructed gallery to afford her broad view of the proceedings:

...The Most Holy Queen and the Most Illustrious Madame stood continually to watch the celebration above one of the altars on the side of the tribunal, and Her Majesty was richly dressed, and had around her neck a chain of countless very large pearls, each of great value. This celebration was truly superb and pompous, and one of the most beautiful ever given in Parma at the trial of the old men of long memory; it gave not only pleasure but great admiration to the aforementioned orators and the others of their company .

Each English ambassador would have visited Queen Claude in her place of honor and greeted her with respect. She conversed with them. Not only were there private conversations throughout the long night of celebration, but also many speeches and salutations from both the French nobles and the English delegates:

... the principal tables being drawn over a rib eminent for three or so degrees, placed at the head, and on the side in the background the majesty of the King; To her, on the left side, was the most illustrious Duchesse d'Alençon, her sister; on the right was the Most Reverend Legate, and on each side, in order, a man and a woman; at which tables, however, only the princes of the royal blood, the Duke of Ferara, the cardinals, and the orators were present.

Claude was required to handle the politically charged interactions with the Englishmen deftly; she needed an interpreter fluent in English and French who understood the nuances of Englishmen's behavior and culture. Claude, we know, spoke no English. By necessity, Claude's interpreter would have been seated next to her.

Sir Thomas Boleyn played a critical role in organizing and executing the event. Ambassador to France during a delicate time in the flourishing relationship between the two countries, it would have been politically advantageous for him to have trusted eyes and ears within the French court, particularly at such an important event. Given Thomas Boleyn's importance to members of the French court and the likelihood that his daughter, Anne Boleyn, had developed a trusted relationship with her mistress, Queen Claude, it is proposed that Claude's interpreter was Anne Boleyn. And as interpreter for the Queen, she would have been appropriately seated, in a place of some honor, adjacent to Claude in the chair to be used for that very purpose.