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Authors: Elizabeth Norton
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risked throwing herself away on Wyatt.
That Wyatt and Anne’s relationship was also one of flirtation and pursuit on his part and aloofness on hers is clear from another of Wyatt’s poems. This poem makes it clear that whilst Wyatt chased Anne she would never consent to be his and, as a married man, he was the least of her suitors:
‘Whoso list to hunt: I know where is an hind
But as for me, alas I may no more;
The vain trevail 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 to 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’’.
Anne allowed herself to be pursued and she enjoyed the chase, encouraging her pursuers where necessary. As Wyatt found, she was unavailable to anyone who could not offer her marriage and she certainly had other suitors. Anne Boleyn caused a sensation on her return to court and ‘she drewe all mens thoughts and sett upon her the highest, and deerest price of woorthiness’. The names of these other suitors are no longer recorded and within a few months of her return to court Anne had another, much greater suitor, who had first noticed her due to her relationship with Wyatt.
Henry VIII’s affair with Anne’s sister, Mary, had ended some time before 1526. He was therefore looking for a new mistress during the early months of that year when he first noticed the object of his friend, Wyatt’s, affections. Wyatt may not, at first, have realised how serious the king’s feelings were and he attempted to compete with the king for Anne. One day, while Wyatt was in conversation with Anne, he playfully stole a small jewel from her which she kept hanging on a lace from her pocket. Anne immediately asked for it back but Wyatt refused, wearing it around his neck as a trophy and ‘promising to himself either to have it with her favour or as an occasion to have talk with her’. Anne ignored Wyatt after her first appeals for the jewel were not successful and it was simply part of the affectionate way in which their flirtation was conducted. Anne probably enjoyed the attention, knowing that Wyatt, as a married man, was harmless and could cause her no difficulties with her other suitors.
Anne probably quickly forgot all about the jewel that Wyatt stole. Some time afterwards, while she was talking to the king, Henry also took a jewel from Anne, taking her ring to wear on his little finger. The king wore this trophy proudly, perhaps seeing it as the first sign that Anne returned his affection. He was still wearing the ring a few days later when he invited Wyatt and some other gentlemen to join him in a game of bowls. Flushed from his success with Anne, Henry was in an excellent mood and claimed to have won a game when it was clear that he was not the winner. The other team cautiously protested:
‘And yet, still he pointing with his finger whereon he wore her ring, replied often it was his, and specially to the knight he said, Wiat, I tell thee it is mine, smiling upon him withal. Sir Thomas, at length, casting his eye upon the king’s finger, perceived that the king meant the lady whose ring that was, which he well knew, and pausing a little, and finding the king bent on pleasure, after the words repeated again by the king, the knight replied, and if it may like your majesty to give me leave to measure it, I hope it will be mine; and withal took from his neck the lace whereat hung the tablet, and therewith stooped to measure the cast, which the king espying, knew, and had seen her wear, and therewithal spurned away the bowl, and said, it may be so, but then am I deceived; and so broke up the game’.
Henry was
That Wyatt and Anne’s relationship was also one of flirtation and pursuit on his part and aloofness on hers is clear from another of Wyatt’s poems. This poem makes it clear that whilst Wyatt chased Anne she would never consent to be his and, as a married man, he was the least of her suitors:
‘Whoso list to hunt: I know where is an hind
But as for me, alas I may no more;
The vain trevail 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 to 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’’.
Anne allowed herself to be pursued and she enjoyed the chase, encouraging her pursuers where necessary. As Wyatt found, she was unavailable to anyone who could not offer her marriage and she certainly had other suitors. Anne Boleyn caused a sensation on her return to court and ‘she drewe all mens thoughts and sett upon her the highest, and deerest price of woorthiness’. The names of these other suitors are no longer recorded and within a few months of her return to court Anne had another, much greater suitor, who had first noticed her due to her relationship with Wyatt.
Henry VIII’s affair with Anne’s sister, Mary, had ended some time before 1526. He was therefore looking for a new mistress during the early months of that year when he first noticed the object of his friend, Wyatt’s, affections. Wyatt may not, at first, have realised how serious the king’s feelings were and he attempted to compete with the king for Anne. One day, while Wyatt was in conversation with Anne, he playfully stole a small jewel from her which she kept hanging on a lace from her pocket. Anne immediately asked for it back but Wyatt refused, wearing it around his neck as a trophy and ‘promising to himself either to have it with her favour or as an occasion to have talk with her’. Anne ignored Wyatt after her first appeals for the jewel were not successful and it was simply part of the affectionate way in which their flirtation was conducted. Anne probably enjoyed the attention, knowing that Wyatt, as a married man, was harmless and could cause her no difficulties with her other suitors.
Anne probably quickly forgot all about the jewel that Wyatt stole. Some time afterwards, while she was talking to the king, Henry also took a jewel from Anne, taking her ring to wear on his little finger. The king wore this trophy proudly, perhaps seeing it as the first sign that Anne returned his affection. He was still wearing the ring a few days later when he invited Wyatt and some other gentlemen to join him in a game of bowls. Flushed from his success with Anne, Henry was in an excellent mood and claimed to have won a game when it was clear that he was not the winner. The other team cautiously protested:
‘And yet, still he pointing with his finger whereon he wore her ring, replied often it was his, and specially to the knight he said, Wiat, I tell thee it is mine, smiling upon him withal. Sir Thomas, at length, casting his eye upon the king’s finger, perceived that the king meant the lady whose ring that was, which he well knew, and pausing a little, and finding the king bent on pleasure, after the words repeated again by the king, the knight replied, and if it may like your majesty to give me leave to measure it, I hope it will be mine; and withal took from his neck the lace whereat hung the tablet, and therewith stooped to measure the cast, which the king espying, knew, and had seen her wear, and therewithal spurned away the bowl, and said, it may be so, but then am I deceived; and so broke up the game’.
Henry was
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