Shrovetide

Shrovetide is a calendar marker that places courtly festivity within the novel’s account of dynastic and political maneuvering. Its clearest appearance is the masque in which Anne Boleyn performs as Perseverance, just as rumors link her to Henry Percy and Thomas Wolsey moves to stop their proposed marriage.

Court Performance

At Shrovetide, the ladies at court appear in a masque as Virtues, and Anne takes the part of Perseverance. Her graceful, brisk dancing and composed smile make the performance more than a passing celebration: it introduces her as a figure whose public presence is already attracting attention and interpretation. Soon, minor gentlemen follow her, along with Henry Percy, heir to the Earl of Northumberland.

Marriage Rumors and Political Intervention

The rumor of a match between Anne and Percy brings Thomas Wolsey into conflict with her father, Thomas Boleyn. Wolsey demands that Boleyn speak to his daughter, arguing that she had been brought back from France to marry the Butler heir and that the Percy connection must be stopped. Boleyn denies having encouraged the match and says Anne understands it cannot proceed. Wolsey treats the issue as one of rank and political arrangement, not simply private choice: Percy is expected to serve the realm in the north, while Anne’s marriage has already been planned elsewhere.

Significance in the Narrative

The Shrovetide masque gives the marriage dispute a public beginning. Anne’s role as Perseverance lends the festive scene an irony that becomes legible in the political struggle surrounding her: her future is debated by powerful men, while her own wishes are only indirectly represented. The episode establishes a pattern in which court ceremony and personal relationships are inseparable from dynastic calculation.