Did Anne Boleyn really play the role of Perseverance in the Chateau Vert pageant in 1522?

 

 In March 1522, Anne, that “fresh young demoiselle”, as she was dubbed by one observer, made a debut at court during the Chateau Vert pageant.[1] She was among the eight ladies impersonating qualities that a perfect mistress of chivalric tradition should possess. It is usually assumed that Anne played Perseverance, a role that is historically appropriate for the story of Anne’s rise. Contemporary chronicler Edward Hall listed the roles noblewomen played in the Chateau Vert pageant but did not specify who played who. Hall lists: Beauty, Honour, Perseverance, Kindness, Constancy, Bounty, Mercy and Pity.[2] 

A list of ladies who received costumes they wore as mementoes after the pageant appears to be the source of who played whom:

“These things remain with the French queen, the countess of Devonshire, Mistress Anne Boleyn, Mistress Karre, Mistress Parker, Mistress Browne, Mistress Danet and Mistress [blank].”[3]

Someone has apparently merged these two accounts together, resulting in the assumption that Beauty was played by Mary Tudor (Henry VIII’s sister); Honour played by Gertrude Courtenay, Countess of Devonshire; Perseverance played by Anne Boleyn; Kindness played by Mary Carey (Anne Boleyn’s sister); Constancy played by Jane Parker (soon to become Anne Boleyn’s sister-in-law); Bounty played by Mistress Browne; Mercy played by Mistress Danet; and Pity played by an unknown woman. It would not have been impossible for these women to play these exact roles; Mary Tudor, for instance, was praised for her physical attractiveness, so the role of Beauty seems apt. She was also the former queen consort of France and highest in rank; the role of Beauty would have been assigned to her as she was the other women’s social superior. Ultimately, however, we cannot be sure who played whom. 

The ladies wore satin gowns cut in Italian fashion, close-fitting golden cauls and bejewelled Milan bonnets. Each woman’s role was sewn onto her costume for everyone to see.

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[1] William Dunn Macray, The History of Grisild the Second, p. 53.

[2] Edward Hall, Hall's Chronicle, p. 631.

[3] Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, Volume 3, 1519-1523.