I Beseech You Now With All

This line comes from Henry VIII's love letters to Anne Boleyn, written around 1527–1528 and now preserved in the Vatican Library — where they were apparently sent by supporters of Catherine of Aragon as evidence in the divorce proceedings. Seventeen of Henry's letters survive, all in his own hand and written in French; none of Anne's replies are known to survive. The letters reveal Henry in an uncharacteristically vulnerable register, pleading with Anne to reciprocate his affections at a time when she apparently kept him at a distance — a negotiation that would eventually reshape the religious landscape of England.