How Do Historical Details Survive?

[Tarser]

I have always been baffled about certain details in history books- i.e. how they could have come to be written down. There are many examples, but here is one: When Henry VIII was about to be married to Anne of Cleves:

"..Beckoning his minister closer, Henry whispered with Malice: 'My Lord, if it were not to satisfy the world and my realm, I would not do that I must do this day for any earthly thing' (From Tracy Borman's book on Thomas Cromwell)

So, the king whispered in Cromwell's ear, ensuring no-one else would hear. What he said expressed his great displeasure to Cromwell, and yet Cromwell must have memorised these damning words and written them down at the earliest opportunity after the wedding so that future generations could see what a mess of things he had made for the king....It makes no sense to me why he would admit to such a thing. He could have ignored the comment or made something up - no-one else could have heard what his master said.

Also, how did so many letters and documents get preserved? Did nobody ever throw anything away? Who acquired and who decided to keep Henry's love letters and Anne Boleyn's replies? It's as if these people knew that all this would be important 'history' in years to come and they stored as much as they could in a box. Wouldn't Henry demand that all his love letters be destroyed once Anne Boleyn had 'betrayed' him?

[jourdain2]

Fortunate chances. I'll cite how little we know of Jane Austen because her sister decided to protect her reputation by destroying diaries. All one can find are snippets which have been extrapolated upon. That's part of the fascination of History. :)

Not sure that Henry would have demanded that letters were destroyed; he was a supreme egoist and, anyway, someone with an eye to the future would probably have squirreled them away. Possibly someone related to the Boleyns?

[woofgang]

Sometimes the oral stuff is hearsay, sometimes its hearsay of hearsay. Sometimes its apocryphal ( a lie :) ). Remember that even in affluent circles, letters were valuable things. parchment was handmade and reused, reading and writing were rare skills.
If you are intersted in the subject, there is a fiction book called The Daughter of Time about the truth about Richard III. The book was written by Josephine Tey in 1951. The issue about truth in reported history is not a new one!