fuckyeahtudorwomen:

While it is important to mention that Anne Boleyn was innocent of every charge laid against her—

It’s also important to talk about the kind of society that allows for people to be executed for adultery, and it’s extremely important to talk about the kind of society where if you want to kill a woman you need only levy charges of adultery, where politics allow charges to be trumped up for personal gain. Anne Boleyn was not only a victim of Henry VIII—she was a victim of a patriarchy that condemned her for having her own opinions and ambitions, condemned her for being unable to produce an heir. Condemned her to death. And in a very real way, still condemns her today whenever some uneducated person mouths her off as a whore or a bitch.

Remember Anne today, of course, but also remember this context so we can understand what made her so great:

That in the face of great opposition, great sexism, great misogyny, she was a charitable, intelligent, ambitious, and political woman with great acumen and personal integrity. And that she knew what kind of society she was living in, she knew the risks that she took, and she took them anyway.