Music from Anne Boleyn's songbook performed for first time in 500 years

Music from a songbook believed to have belonged to Henry VIII's second wife Anne Boleyn has been performed for the first time in 500 years.

The songbook disappeared five centuries ago and has only recently been discovered.

Dr David Skinner, Director of the Alamire Choir, said: "It gives us a glimpse as to who Anne Boleyn was before Henry VIII, before the tyrant".

The book is signed by the monarch and contains the motto of her father 'Nowe Thus.'

Dr Suzannah Lipscomb, a Tudor historian, said: "The most interesting thing about Anne is what this music represents. She was a woman of great talents, of huge depth of intellect, real interests, who was pursuing all that was fashionable."

Read more: Ten facts about Henry VIII's second wife Anne Boleyn