Notorious: Anne Boleyn and the Great Tudor Hoax

Description:

From historian Hayley Nolan comes the explosive narrative of an audacious young girl who conned her way to the center of King Henry VIII's divorce scandal and went head-to-head with Anne Boleyn.

This gripping new analysis tells of how Elizabeth Barton, a poverty-stricken housemaid-turned-nun, became the culprit who delayed Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn for seven infamous years. Wielding unimaginable influence over the biggest names in Tudor history--from the Pope to Catherine of Aragon, Cardinal Wolsey and even the King himself--Barton spearheaded the smear campaign against Anne Boleyn that would eventually ruin her.

But was the young girl simply a victim of these Catholic power players or the dastardly mastermind behind this great Tudor hoax?

Elizabeth Barton wasn't born into power or privilege. A household servant, she shot to fame at the age of nineteen when a terrifying illness prompted apparent prophecies from God. But when a group of ambitious clergymen saw an opportunity to stop the King's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, an almighty con began. Now, as a national celebrity, the daring young girl commanded audiences with Henry VIII, threatening death and damnation if he married Anne Boleyn, whilst urging the Pope not to give into Henry's demands for divorce.

But when Anne Boleyn achieved the impossible and became Queen of England, the clock began to tick down on Barton's own demise; Boleyn launched a counterattack in support of England's Reformation, desperate to save the people from what she saw as a corrupt system of oppression and wicked schemes like these. And though Boleyn would shock the world by trying to save the young girl and the conspirators who had been plotting her ruin, she couldn't prevent the Tudor's most dangerous courtiers, Thomas Cromwell and Archbishop Cranmer, as they closed in to bring the audacious Elizabeth Barton down for good.

Notorious: Anne Boleyn and the Great Tudor Hoax is the story of Barton and Boleyn, two rivals at the center of the world's most infamous divorce and the shocking truth about how they changed history.

Brief description: HAYLEY NOLAN is a historian, TEDx Speaker, Associate of King's College London, and is currently at the University of Oxford undertaking her second master's degree. Her biography Anne Boleyn: 500 Years of Lies was The Independent 'Book of the Month' and an Amazon History No1 bestseller. Hayley trained in the archives of the British Library specialising in historical manuscripts and rare books as part of a unique collaboration for her first master's degree at King's College London in Early Modern Text and Transmission. Then in 2024 Hayley completed a two-year Associateship of King's College London, a research-led programme which focussed on theology and London's culture and history, which she passed with two Dean's Commendations. Between 2024-2025 Hayley was involved in The London Archives research project Switching the Lens, joining the team searching for Londoners of African, Asian and Caribbean heritage in over 800 local parish records between 1538-1837. Hayley's history TEDx talk is based on her specialist subject, titled Anne Boleyn and the Art of Making Unpopular Decisions, and is streaming now on TED.com. In 2019 she worked with Houses of Parliament to launch the #BeMoreBoleyn campaign, inspired by her new analysis of Anne Boleyn's work in government. Now at the University of Oxford, Hayley is conducting an original Tudor research project for an MSt in History.

Review Quotes:

"An imaginatively compelling investigation of a remarkable Tudor life, shedding sympathetic light on a world where prophecy and divine revelation unleashed dangerous political power." --Malcolm Gaskill, bestselling author of The Ruin of All Witches

"Enthralling... A timely reminder that the machinery for discrediting women has a very long paper trail, and another essential piece in the long, unfinished puzzle of Henry and Anne Boleyn." --Amanda Matta, co-host of "Off With Their Headlines" Podcast

"A well-researched historical account with a focus on Elizabeth Barton, who for a time influenced the course of Tudor history." --Library Journal