Page "Anne Boleyn" Paragraph 35

Various are the opinions of scholars and historians as to how deep Anne's commitment to the Reformation was, how much was she perhaps only personally ambitious, and how much she had to do with Henry's defiance of Papal power.

There is anecdotal evidence, related to biographer George Wyatt by her former lady-in-waiting Anne Gainsford, that Anne brought to Henry's attention a heretical pamphlet, perhaps Tyndale's " The Obedience of a Christian Man " or one by Simon Fish called " Supplication for Beggars ," which cried out to monarchs to rein in the evil excesses of the Catholic Church.

She was sympathetic to those seeking further reformation of the Church, and actively protected scholars working on English translations of the scriptures.

According to Marie Dowling " Anne tried to educate her waiting-women in scriptural piety ” and is believed to have reproved her cousin, Mary Shelton, for “ having ‘ idle poesies ’ written in her prayer book .” If Cavendish is to be believed, Anne's outrage at Wolsey may have personalized whatever philosophical defiance she brought with her from France.

Further, the most recent edition of Ives's biography admits that Anne may very well have had a personal spiritual awakening in her youth which spurred her on, not just as catalyst but expediter for Henry's Reformation, though the process took a number of years.