Thomas Wyatt | Kit Perriman

Witch Crime #4: Anne Boleyn was presented as a seductress by her early suitor, Sir Thomas Wyatt.

In Poem XI he writes –

“Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,

But as for me, hélas, I may no more.

The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,

I am of them that farthest cometh behind.

Yet may I by no means my wearied mind

Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore

Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,

Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind.

Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,

As well as I may spend his time in vain.

And graven with diamonds in letters plain

There is written, her fair neck round about:

Noli me tangere, for Caesar’s I am,

And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.”

Wyatt is thought to be describing his own romantic pursuit of Mistress Anne, in direct competition with the reigning “Caesar” (King Henry). With his characteristic play on words he presents “an (Anne) hind (deer)” – “Dear Anne” as their beautiful prey. But as Karen Lindsey points out, “everyone knew what happened to the wild creature at the hunt’s end”(59) – it was captured, possessed, and destroyed. Further, by alluding to the ingrained imagery from the Malleus Maleficarum, Wyatt’s line, “Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind” unfortunately conjured up the witches described by the two Catholic Inquisitors: “Their face is like a burning wind . . . and when it is said that her heart is a net, it speaks of the inscrutable malice which reigns in their hearts” (46). Yet while Wyatt’s word-choice was most likely an unconscious literary device intended to portray the beloved as an illusive free spirit, his subliminal portrayal of Anne as a wild woman was not in her best interests, especially when the courtiers familiar with the Malleus, who had access to his early manuscript poems, were most likely the same men who sat at her trial. The pretty doe of the hunt soon turned into a dangerously seductive temptress.

Even Wyatt’s enigmatic riddle (Poem LIV) implicates the Queen –

“What word is that that changeth not,

Though it be turned and made in twain?

It is mine answer, God it wot,

And eke the causer of my pain.

It love rewardeth with disdain:

Yet is it loved. What would ye more?

It is my health eke and my sore.”

Again, not intentionally associating his “answer” (Anne, sir) with witch craft, the poet’s ambiguous phrasing lends itself to a potentially sinister interpretation. For although both the “causer of my pain” and “my sore” are common terms from the Courtly Tradition, they are also reminders of the Inquisitor’s warning that, “a woman is beautiful to look upon, contaminating to touch, and deadly to keep” (46), and one of her many “injuries towards men” is the agony of “bewitching into an inordinate love”(47). Wyatt’s poems stand in acknowledgement of Anne Boleyn’s seductive powers. They may further have reminded her enemies of the old Queen Catherine because of this statement from the Malleus: “. . . how many adulterers have put away the most beautiful wives to lust after the vilest of women!” (51).

Perhaps one of Wyatt’s most damning poems is XXV –

“The lively sparks that issue from those eyes

Against the which ne vaileth no defence

Have pressed mine heart and done it none offence

With quaking pleasure more than once or twice.

Was never man could anything devise

The sunbeams to turn with so great vehemence

To daze man’s sight, as by their bright presence

Dazed am I, much like unto the guise

Of one ystricken with dint of lightning,

Blinded with the stroke, erring here and there.

So call I for help, I not when ne where,

The pain of my fall patiently bearing.

For after the blaze, as is no wonder,

Of deadly ‘Nay’ hear I the fearful thunder.”

It is thought that “The lively sparks” may be a reference to Anne Boleyn’s “striking and unusual” dark eyes (Chapman, 21). The second line, “Against the which (witch) ne vaileth no defence,” suggests that the lover has no protection against the sorceress, and the phrase, “Have pressed mine heart ” recalls one of the punishments dealt to witches when their bodies are “pressed” under heavy stones to extract a confession. The speaker of the poem is “ystricken with dint of lightning” as if falling under a spell, and though he should say “Nay”(No), her power over him is too strong to resist. Ironically, this young man’s heart-felt love poems may have helped pave the way for his sweetheart’s execution.

It is doubtful if any of the Queen’s friends actually believed she was a witch. And though she was condemned for treason and adultery, her own conscience was apparently clear. Shortly before her death Anne told her jailor that she “would be a saint in Heaven, because I have done many good deeds in my days” (Lindsey, 100). But unfortunately, over the centuries, Wyatt’s damning words have reached far more ears than her last cry of innocence.

Sources for Part Four:

Chapman, Hester W. Anne Boleyn (London: cape, 1974)

Kramer, Heinrich; and James Sprenger. The Malleus Maleficarum (New York: Dover, 1971)

(Worldwide: Addison-Wesley, 1996)

Wyatt, Thomas. The Complete Poems Ed. R.A. Rebholz. (Worldwide: Penguin,1978)

(Photos: Public Domain)

In today’s enlightened age, few would believe that Anne Boleyn was actually guilty of witchcraft. She may have had traces of an extra nail growing on her little finger, and possibly a mole on her neck, as reported by early biographer George Wyatt (grandson of Sir Thomas) who based his information from interviews with Anne’s former attendants. But who does not have any form of blemish on their body? Such flaws were obviously acceptable to King Henry when he desired her, but they appear to have been greatly magnified by her detractors in later years. By the time Nicholas Sanders gave his account a half-century later, the disgraced Queen was said to have buck teeth and a whole extra finger on her right hand! Yet the remains of a body thought to be Anne Boleyn’s, exhumed in the nineteenth century, showed no signs of skeletal abnormality. Of course, after three hundred years there would be scant trace of a mole or extra finger-nail remaining, but the evidence suggests that any imperfections Anne had were minor. So why were they interpreted as signs of devilry? A clue may be found in the English language.

The Malleus Maleficarum states that “The word ‘woman’ means ‘the lust of the flesh'”(43), which today can be understood as a psychological projection of blame onto the object of male desire. Women were seen as fickle, seductive creatures who would lead good Christian men astray. They made easy prey for demons to recruit, and then these familiar spirits would claim their victims with “witches marks” (moles, skin tags, supernumerary nipples, or birth marks) – places on the body where they could suckle human blood. Therefore every sexually-active woman was potentially the devil’s gateway.

Unfortunately, the dual concepts of wickedness and blame worked their way into everyday language. If a man found a woman attractive it was because she was consciously bewitching, beguiling, enchanting, charming, captivating, or seductive. Now as part of every day speech, such terms were harmless. But when certain courtiers wrote them into love songs and sonnets, then they became exceedingly dangerous. Especially for a suspect Queen.

It seems unlikely that Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542) and Anne Boleyn ever consummated their close relationship, despite the fact he was an ardent suitor of Mistress Boleyn before King Henry started noticing her. With the reputation for being one of the best poets of his age, Wyatt used clever wordplay and an ambiguous “I” speaker in the poems thought to have been written with her in mind: “Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,” “What word is that that changeth not,” “If waker care, if sudden pale colour,” and “Sometime I fled the fire that me brent.” The poet was arrested in May 1536, charged with committing adultery with the Queen. Five other men were also accused, but he was the only one who escaped execution – proof enough that Henry believed his relationship with Anne was platonic.

And yet the beautiful words in Wyatt’s love sonnets may have ultimately helped to condemn his lady. Find out how in Part Four.

Sources for Part Three:

Daalder, Joost. Sir Thomas Wyatt: Collected Poems (Worldwide: Oxford UP, 1975)

Foley, Stephen Mirriam. Sir Thomas Wyatt (Boston: Twayne, 1990)

Kramer, Heinrich, and James Sprenger. The Malleus Maleficarum (New York: Dover, 1971)

Wiatt, William H. “Sir Thomas Wyatt and Anne Boleyn” in English Language Notes, Vol. VI (December, 1968). Colorado: U of Colorado, 1968. 94-102.

(Picture: Public Domain)

Kit Perriman

The Hill – A Historical Novel About Witches

Tag Archives: Thomas Wyatt

Anne Boleyn, the Witch: Part Four

Anne Boleyn, the Witch: Part Three