Written
By: Katelyn Abbott
Here are some legends about Queen Anne Boleyn of
England that I found interesting and I thought that other people might like to
see.
A picture of Queen Anne Boleyn of England
- After King Henry VIII
divorced Queen Katherine of
Aragon (favorite daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella) and
married Anne Boleyn,
there was intense disgust in Spain, and to show their abhorrence, for years
they carried round annually in procession a huge alligator (la tarasca, which
means a serpent) and out of the back of this animal sprang a female figure
signifying Boleyn. This figure they called the "Anavolena" (the B and V being almost interchangeable
in Spanish). The idea, of course, was that the Protestantism personified by Anne Boleyn
sprang from a foul beast of slime. The tarasca is shown to the curious, with
the Anavolena complete, in the hall of the "Gigantes" which is
approached from the gallery round the cloisters of the cathedral, the most
interesting one in Spain.
-A legend about Anne
Boleyn is that after her death hares ran wild which was seen as a symbol of
witchcraft just as the candle on Katherine of Aragon’s tomb
apparently flickered and burned blue for a few hours after Anne had been
beheaded as a sign that she had been vindicated.
-Another legend is that
Anne was secretly buried in Salle Church in Norfolk under a black slab near the
tombs of her Boleyn ancestors and her body was said to have rested in an Essex
church on its journey to Norfolk.
-A third legend about
Anne is that her heart at her request was buried in Erwarton (Arwarton) Church,
Suffolk by her uncle Sir Phillip Parker.
-In 18th
century Sicily the peasants of Nicolosi believed that Anne Boleyn, for having
made King Henry VIII a heretic, was condemned to burn for eternity inside Mount
Etna which was a legend that was often told for the benefit of foreign travelers.
-Many people have
claimed to have seen Anne’s ghost at Blicking Hall, Hever Castle, Marwell Hall,
Salle Church, and the Tower of London. The most famous account of a reputed
sighting of Anne Boleyn’s ghost has been described by paranormal researcher
Hans Holzer. In 1864 Major General J.D. Dundas of the 60th Rifles
regiment was quartered in the Tower of London. He had been looking out of the
windows of his quarters were he noticed a guard below in the courtyard in front
of the lodgings where Anne had been imprisoned at behaving strangely. He had
appeared to challenge something which to the General “looked like a whitish,
female figure sliding towards the soldier.” General J.D. Dundas had seen the
guard charge the form with his bayonet and then he fainted. He was saved only by the corroboration at the
court-marital and the General’s testimony from a length prison sentence for
having fainted while he was on duty. In 1960 Canon W.S. Pakenham-Walsh, vicar
of Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, reported having conversations with Anne.
