Team Catherine or Team Anne?

Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn are two of 16th-century England’s most recognisable names: the first two of Henry VIII’s six wives. For centuries, they have been pitted against one another, with historical narratives delighting in their famed rivalry and perpetuating their differences. They were adversaries in love, in power and in religion. While they may have shared a husband, they shared little else.

This traditional history, which has often painted Catherine of Aragon as the scorned Catholic wife and Anne Boleyn as the bewitching reformist seductress, has never been a fair portrayal of either queen. It is a reductive tale that succeeds by tapping into the outdated social dynamic of praising