George Boleyn:
Tudor Poet,
Courtier & Diplomat
George Boleyn:
Tudor Poet, Courtier & Diplomat
Copyright © 2014
MadeGlobal Publishing
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Dedications
For David, for putting up with me and my George Boleyn obsession. George has definitely been the other man in my life.
Clare Cherry
For Tim, Christian, Verity and Joel, for their ongoing love and support, and their acceptance of the Boleyns in our daily life.
Claire Ridgway
Now cease my lewte! This is the last
Labour that thow and I shall waste,
And endid is that we begunne;
Now is this songe both sunge and past,
My lewte be still, for I have done!
(attributed to George Boleyn, Lord Rochford)
Contents
Introduction
Part 1 - Beginnings
1 Family Background
2 Birth and Childhood
3 Court Poet
4 Personal Attributes
5 Social Pursuits
6 Religion
7 Court Life
8 Marriage
9 Sweating Sickness
Part 2 - Career and Influence
10 The Waiting Game (1527-29)
11 The Reformation Parliament (1529-36)
12 The League of Schmalkalden
13 The King's Great Matter
14 Foreign Diplomat
15 Uncle to a Future Queen
16 French Alliance Put to the Test
17 Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
ILLUSTRATIONS
Part 3 - The End of an Era
18 Crisis at Home and Abroad
19 Oncoming Storm
20 Arrests
21 Trial
22 Lady Rochford and the Fall of the Boleyns
23 Execution
24 Aftermath
Part 4 - Additional Information
Chronology
Appendix A - George Boleyn's Poetry
Appendix B - George Cavendish's Metrical Visions
(Relating to Lord Rochford)
Appendix C - George Boleyn's Scaffold Speech
Appendix D - The Execution Poetry of Sir Thomas Wyatt
Appendix E - The Clonony Boleyn Girls and George Boleyn, Dean of Lichfield
Notes
Illustrations
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Introduction
There has never been a detailed biography of George Boleyn, Lord Rochford. The closest we have to a biographical record of his life was written by Edmond Bapst; entitled Deux Gentilshommes-Poètes de la Cour de Henry VIII (Two Gentlemen Poets of the Court of Henry VIII), it was written in 1891, but also includes the life of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. The absence of a record of George's life is primarily because he is so closely affiliated with his sister Anne. Their stories are so integrated that any study of the Boleyns naturally focuses on Anne, whose name will always be remembered thanks to her status as one of the wives Henry VIII had beheaded.
In 1536, a concerted effort was made to effectively wipe the Boleyns from history. In the case of Anne, this was halted upon the accession to the throne of her daughter Elizabeth I in 1558. The same did not happen to George Boleyn, who to a large extent was lost to history. There are no known portraits of him, and, if there ever were any, they were either destroyed in 1536 following his execution, or were simply lost over time. As we have no idea what he looked like, it may be possible that there is a portrait of him somewhere that has not been identified as such. It may also be possible that there is a portrait of him in a private collection, but as time goes by, this seems more and more unlikely.
Likewise, although he was an official court poet, none of his poetry is known to have survived (although it has been argued of various pieces that they might be attributed to him). Although George Boleyn's poetry was supposed to rival that of Thomas Wyatt the Elder and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, it is they who are lauded for their talent because their poetry can be identified. Similarly, although he was a gifted politician and diplomat, as a result of dying so young, little credit is given to George, who at the time of his death had only been prominent in those spheres for six years.
Due to Henry VIII's love for her and her position as queen, Anne was able to achieve significant influence in politics and religion. Her brother, who was equally evangelical and dedicated to reform of the church, was a huge influence in his sister's life and worked tirelessly in support of not only her cause but also his own religious convictions. He was a looming presence at court and in Anne's life, yet his role has, to a large extent, been overlooked just as his famous sister overshadows him.
There is of course substantially more contemporaneous information regarding Anne Boleyn than is available for her brother. This makes her life story much easier to tell. Source material relating to George Boleyn is not so easy to come by and is nowhere near as voluminous. However, in gathering information for the purpose of this book, a surprising amount of source material relating to him emerged. By piecing together the information from various sources, including foreign, it is possible to assemble a biographical record for a young man who was unjustly executed.
What is more difficult to ascertain is what George Boleyn was like as a man - his personality and character. As with Anne, this is often contradictory, as much of what has come down to us through history derives from the Boleyns' enemies and rivals for power. The general consensus is that like his sister, he was proud and arrogant, but also that he was intelligent, witty and charming. On the one hand, he was a talented poet and interpreter, a highly intelligent and respected courtier and diplomat, and a man who was capable, loyal and earnest in his genuine religious convictions. On the other hand, he enjoyed a range of frivolous pastimes, and had a reputation as a charming womaniser with a mocking, disrespectful sense of humour bordering on the reckless. A possible reason for his multi-faceted personality was that he was a very young man raised early into high offices of responsibility, and his natural exuberance could only be kept in check for so long. Yet ultimately, how he was viewed was correlated with the political and religious attitudes of the beholder. Catholics loathed him while Reformers adored him. From the contents of Henry VIII's Privy Purse expenses, in which George Boleyn figures prominently, we can see that he lived life to the full, whether for good or bad. The difficulty in pin-pointing his personality is that his character appears to have been as complex as his sister's.
This account tries to adhere strictly to the actual evidence available as much as possible. Unfortunately, there are gaps in George's life, particularly with regards to his childhood, adolescence and personal life. For instance, despite age-old debate, there is no contemporaneous documentation relating to the state of his marriage. To try and establish what his day-to-day personal relationship with his wife was like is impossible. Over time, various assumptions have been made in order to fill the gap. Such assumptions are based on the fact that his wife allegedly provided evidence at the trials of the Boleyns, but in reality it i
s extremely difficult to assess precisely what evidence, if any, Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, provided at her husband's trial. The sources are vague and contradictory. The available evidence regarding her involvement is set out in Chapter 22, and although she clearly provided the prosecution with a damning statement, her involvement with respect to the incest charge is inconclusive. Weighing the available evidence, it seems appropriate to give her the benefit of the doubt. However, the exact truth of the matter, like many other instances in the lives of people so long dead, will probably never be established unless a previously undiscovered treasure trove of source material comes to light.
Lack of knowledge of George Boleyn as a person has led to an interesting, but unfounded, theory as to his sexuality. A 1989 biography of Anne Boleyn suggested that the men who were executed as her alleged lovers and co-conspirators were "libertines", men who "were expected to move in a progression from adultery and fornication to buggery and bestiality".1 These men included, of course, Anne's brother. This theory is not based on fact, and there is no evidence whatsoever to prove it. The suggestion has, however, been perpetuated in works of fiction, and as there are some people who learn their history solely from works of fiction, the theory is rapidly gaining momentum. Proponents of this viewpoint argue the impossibility of knowing for sure what the sexual preferences of these men were. Of course the same can be said of any dead person, particularly when they have been dead for nearly 500 years. Yet relying on this argument ignores the actual evidence, which suggests the total reverse of these theories. It may be argued that because these people have been dead for so long, why would they care what we write about them and likewise, why should we care? That is not the point. If we take the trouble to write about real people from history, we have a responsibility to write about them as accurately as we can, taking into account the actual evidence available. We cannot look at sixteenth century historical personalities and give to them our twenty-first century morality. Homosexuality in the sixteenth century was not only illegal, it was also considered an offence against God. George Boleyn, a deeply religious young man, would have been horrified and appalled at any suggestion of homosexuality or bisexuality, and to suggest that this does not matter is a sad indictment on us.
George, like every other successful person in the sixteenth century, was no saint. He shared his family's corrosive and ultimately dangerous ambitions, and just like them he was selfish and ruthless when necessary for the furtherance of those ambitions. Anne and George Boleyn's joint commitment to religious reform triggered the deaths of many people. Although there is nothing to say they supported those deaths or delighted in them, likewise they made no stance against them, turning a blind eye just as a blind eye was turned to their own deaths in 1536. Yet none of this means that they were bad people. Much of the hatred directed at them was due not only to their evangelism, but also to their closeness to the throne. This gave them unprecedented power and influence, and in turn created envy and malice in those who aspired to greatness. The siblings, like their father, were people of their time, and whether they were loved or hated largely depended on factors that seem alien to the vast majority of us today.
It is difficult to think of people who lived so long ago as real personalities - hence the cavalier attitude to the way they are often portrayed. But these people were real, with the same feelings and emotions that guide our own actions. The Boleyn siblings were capable of genuine affection and loyalty, particularly towards each other. Their very human responses to the situation of their lives were the very things that could be used against them so effectively. They proved themselves to be spirited and courageous in the face of adversity, but while Anne has always been admired for this in the majority of biographies written about her, little recognition has been given to George.
George and Anne Boleyn were, in the words of historian James Carley, "an immensely attractive pair, intellectually and physically, and after their fall the court became a much less glamorous place without them."2
Part 1 - Beginnings
1 - Family Background
The origins of the Boleyn family have caused debate and controversy for centuries, and there still does not seem to be complete agreement over them. Some historians and authors see the Boleyns as social upstarts or nouveaux riches, while others regard them as an ancient French family, even descending from the Norman Counts of Boulogne. The general consensus in ancestry groups concerned with the Boleyn family is that Simon de Boleyne, who held lands in Norfolk around 1252, descended through an illegitimate line from Count Eustace II of Boulogne. Rev. Canon Parsons, Rector of Salle, used primary sources, such as contemporary wills and the Court Rolls of the manors of Salle and Stinton, to build up a family tree for the Boleyn family, and was able to link Queen Anne Boleyn back to Simon de Boleyne.1
Whatever the truth about their ancient origins, the family into which Anne and George were born was one of the most respected in the English aristocracy. George and his sisters were the children of Thomas and Elizabeth Boleyn, both of whom were from an aristocratic background.2 3 Their paternal great grandfather was Geoffrey Boleyn, the son of a tenant farmer. It was Geoffrey who made the Boleyn family fortune as a mercer. He married into the aristocracy by taking as a wife Anne Hoo, the daughter of Thomas Hoo, 1st Baron Hoo and Hastings. Helped by the respectability his marriage brought, and through his own achievements, Geoffrey worked his way up to become Lord Mayor of London in 1457. Geoffrey and Anne had a number of children, including William, the grandfather of Anne and George Boleyn. When Geoffrey died in around 1462, William received a substantial inheritance, including numerous estates and manors accumulated by his father.
William Boleyn was born around 1451. He married Margaret Butler, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond, an Anglo-Irish peer owning substantial land in England. The Butlers were a wealthy family in Ireland, and Margaret was descended from men who had been magnates, landowners and justiciars of Ireland. She could trace her roots back to Edward I, and ultimately to Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II. Through his marriage to Margaret, William brought further wealth and social standing to the Boleyn dynasty. William and Margaret had a total of ten children, four daughters and six sons. The eldest son was Thomas Boleyn, Anne and George's father.
William Boleyn died on 10 October 1505, leaving the majority of his estate to Thomas. William's estates were substantial; the scale can be seen from the provisions of his will, which states, "I will that my son Thomas Boleyn, according to the will of Geoffrey Boleyn, my father, have the manors of Blickling, Calthorp, Wykmore and Mikelbarton, to him and his male heirs... my manors of Hoo, Offley, Cokenhoo, Fylby, West Lexham, Stiffleby and Betingham in Norfolk, and my manors of Heber [Hever] and Seale in Kent".4
Thomas Boleyn was born around 1476/7 and became a very wealthy man upon his father's death. Furthermore, his mother had no brothers, and as the eldest of only two daughters of the Earl of Ormond, was heiress to the Ormond estates. Upon the Earl's death in 1515, Margaret's eldest son Thomas therefore received a further substantial inheritance through his mother. Although the title of Earl of Ormond was not settled on him until 1529, in 1515 Thomas Boleyn inherited various estates from his grandfather, including the Palace of Beaulieu, which had been granted to the Earl of Ormond in 1491. It was also in 1515 that Boleyn inherited the honour of Rochford and acquired the estate of Rochford Hall in Essex.
Through the connections of his extended family, and through his own diligence, hard work, ambition, gift for languages and intelligence, Thomas Boleyn became one of Henry VIII's leading diplomats. In 1512, he was appointed ambassador to the Low Countries, at the court of Margaret of Austria, and acted as ambassador to France between 1519 and 1521. Thomas was closely involved in arrangements for the historic Field of Cloth of Gold meeting between Henry and the French king, Francis I, in 1520. He was sent on many diplomatic missions abroad, including those relating to the King's desire for an annulment of his marriage with Catherine of Aragon, which
would enable him to marry Thomas's daughter, Anne Boleyn. Thomas was created Lord Rochford in 1525 and Earl of Wiltshire on 8 December 1529. It was also in 1529 that the title Earl of Ormond was finally settled on him.
Thomas Boleyn's wife Elizabeth was born sometime between 1476 and 1480, and was one of the many daughters of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey (and later Duke of Norfolk), and his first wife Elizabeth Tylney. Elizabeth Boleyn's brother was Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, the man who presided over the trials of his niece and nephew in 1536. The Howards were one of the premier families in England, coming from ancient stock and having a long history of service to the monarch. Elizabeth's father had been attainted and stripped of his titles and lands after the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 because he had fought on Richard III's side, but he managed to work his way back into favour with Henry VII, and by 1497 had been restored as Earl of Surrey. In 1514, he was finally restored to the title of Duke of Norfolk. Traditionally, it is said that Elizabeth joined the royal court as a young girl, serving as lady-in-waiting to Queens Elizabeth of York and Catherine of Aragon, but evidence is lacking. She met and married Thomas Boleyn around 1498-9, and it is likely that the couple met at court. Rumours circulated that for a time Elizabeth Boleyn was the mistress of the young King Henry. The King always denied this, and it is more likely that the rumour began by confusing her with Henry's mistress Elizabeth Blount (who bore him an illegitimate son), or simply through the desire to vilify the Boleyns following their rise to power. Indeed, all of the sources for the alleged affair are hostile.5
Like all courtiers, Thomas's purpose in life was to obtain wealth and power, which meant getting as close to the throne as possible. His children were brought up accordingly, and certainly Anne and George shared many of their father's motivations, including his ambition. Thomas Boleyn was very much a man of the age he lived in, a self-serving survivor. Looking at his actions in 1536, this would seem a compassionate assessment of a man prepared to sacrifice his children in order to save himself. Likewise, Elizabeth Boleyn appears to have made no attempt to save her children or even to send a comforting word to them while they were awaiting trial, and later sentence of death. Compassion in the sixteenth century was an unaffordable commodity. No plea for clemency has ever been discovered, and it appears that both mother and father accepted that their children were beyond help, and were able to cut them off, irrespective of what their personal feelings may have been. To survive court life, families had to pick themselves up, dust themselves off and move on. Their priority was to serve the King loyally so that they could rise and benefit once more.
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