Anne Boleyn's Book

This modestly-sized but beautifully written book contains sacred motets by some of Europe’s most famous composers, specifically those associated with the French royal court of the early–16th century. An inscription in an English hand reads “M[ist]res A Bolleyene Nowe thus”; that she is styled “mistress” indicates that the inscription was certainly made before Anne Boleyn (ca. 1501–36) became queen in 1533; “nowe thus” was the motto of her father. Despite considerable interest by musicologists in past decades, the book remains something of a mystery because it was clearly made in France, but is associated in a yet-to-be-determined way with second wife of Henry VIII (1491–1547) and mother of Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603). It is one of the most significant books of Renaissance music in Britain and it stored in the Royal College of Music in London under the shelf mark MS 1070. Like many codices of the era, it was rebound in the 19th century, which protects 42 compositions from 13 composers. These are written in a clear, elegant hand with decorative medallions in red and blue.