George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier & Diplomat

by Ridgway, Claire

  Eventually, in April 1531, Wiltshire published the opinions of the European universities, which his son had canvassed on his mission to France in October 1529. Despite his success with Francis, the universities had not reversed their opinions while George had been in France. It took until July 1530 for this to happen. The publication formed part of a collection of documents entitled The Collectanea Satis Copiosa (The Sufficiently Abundant Collections), which was written and collated by Thomas Cranmer and Edward Fox.18 The full title, "The determination of the most famous and most excellent universities of Italy and France, that it is unlawful for a man to marry his brother's wife; and that the Pope hath no power to dispense therewith", speaks for itself. The Collectanea confirmed what the Boleyns had been telling Henry all along - that each state had its own jurisdiction, independent of the Pope. It went further by stating that Henry had no superiors on earth, including the Pope, and therefore he already exercised supreme jurisdiction in his realm.

  Yet Henry VIII still prevaricated in pushing forward his advantage. Despite the frantic efforts to rid himself of her, over the Christmas and New Year period 1530-1, the King and Catherine of Aragon remained on reasonable terms, irrespective of her continuing implacability towards an annulment. She was still at court, and at times she even dined with Henry. It was not until July 1531 that there was a final break between Henry and Catherine. Although George was out of the country over Christmas 1529-30, as one of the King's closest aides he would certainly have been at court on other occasions when the Queen was present. He had travelled to Waltham with Henry and Catherine in June 1528, at the time of the sweating sickness outbreak, and was certainly at court for the Christmas festivities of 1530-1. George was royal cupbearer and would in any event have been present on all state occasions to serve the King. Catherine would have known George Boleyn since he was a little boy, and would have been fully aware that his sister was the woman attempting to usurp her. Under normal circumstances it would be incredibly awkward to be forced into the company of a woman whose husband is in a relationship with your sister, particularly when that woman is Queen of England. George, however, was a Boleyn, with a self-confidence and self-assurance bordering on the arrogant, and with a total belief in himself and his own family. Brazening out a difficult situation was unlikely to be a problem for him. After all, Anne was not the first of his sisters to have caught the King's eye. George had been playing "the little brother in the middle" for years.

  During this period of indecision and uncertainty, courtiers began to take sides as Catherine's supporters realised they had helped oust the power-crazed Wolsey only to have him replaced by Anne. Nicholas Carew had always been a Boleyn opponent, albeit a covert one. He was now joined by the likes of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and later the Duke of Norfolk himself. On the surface, as long as Anne remained in the King's favour, these people had no choice but to continue supporting her, but once that situation changed, the Boleyns would discover exactly where their supposed allies' loyalties lay. These were all powerful enemies to acquire. The defection of certain courtiers was obviously due to their abhorrence of Reform, about which the Boleyns were so passionate, and their allegiance to Catherine, but some of it had to do with a dislike of Anne personally. As her influence grew, so did her temper, pride and haughtiness. She treated important and powerful men with arrogance and contempt, believing herself to be invulnerable. Although there is no extant record of her brother demonstrating the same behaviour, he was invariably linked to his sister by his unerring support of her, and by his own air of pride. They were raised together, and they would eventually fall together.

  By Christmas 1531 matters were no further forwards and opinion was turning against Anne. By now, Henry had been formally separated from Catherine for six months, and neither she nor her ladies were at court for Christmas. Despite his formal separation from Catherine, and the fact that Anne was now acting the part of queen-in-waiting, the issue of the annulment was no further forward. It was to be a miserable Christmas for everyone. The New Year of 1532 brought the re-opening of Parliament, which refused to accept that matrimonial causes were a Crown matter rather than a church matter. This meant the Boleyn approach was now the only alternative; eventually, after a year of prevarication, Henry was propelled into taking matters into his own hands.

  As we have seen, in May 1532 Convocation was forced into acknowledging Henry as head of the Church of England by enforcing the earlier agreement of 1531 regarding the Submission of the Clergy. This revolutionised Anne's position. Thomas Audley replaced Thomas More, who had resigned as Chancellor, and Thomas Cromwell became the key man in Parliament. George was one of the two noblemen in the Privy Chamber, and Wiltshire was Privy Seal. There were now Boleyn family members and supporters in all areas of government and the court. A marriage seemed imminent, and to emphasise the point, on 1 September 1532 Anne was created Marchioness of Pembroke, making her the first female peer in her own right.19 A ceremony was held at Windsor Castle, during which Anne was conveyed to the King, and in the presence of the noblemen of the day, "the king invested her with the mantle and coronet".20 It is not known whether her brother was present at the ceremony. Although his father and uncle are listed as two of the witnesses, George's name is not mentioned, but it would be surprising if he were not in attendance. The title marked the approaching end of the long drawn-out affair.

  In the autumn of 1532, a conference was held in Calais between Henry VIII and Francis I in a face-to-face meeting.21 Ostensibly the meeting was to discuss the defence of Christendom against the Turks, but in reality it was to discuss the steps necessary to bring about the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and to enlist the King of France's active support. Francis I's sister Marguerite of Angoulême, the Queen of Navarre, was to have been hostess but she was ill. This resulted in a delay in the travel arrangements while it was decided who should replace her. The journey to Calais should have taken place in July, but did not begin until 11 October. Anne was present as were a large contingency of courtiers. The Dukes of Norfolk, Suffolk and Richmond had 40 men each in attendance on them. The Earls of Surrey, Oxford, Derby and Wiltshire, together with the Bishops of Winchester, London, Lincoln and Bath had 24 men each. Then there were the Lords Montague, Grey, Sandys, Rochford, Daubeney and William Howard. There were also 48 knights, including John Dudley, Edward Seymour, William Fitzwilliam, William Kingston, Anthony Browne and Richard Page, and 30 unnamed esquires. This was an extremely lavish affair. Nothing of the kind had been seen since the Field of Cloth of Gold meeting in 1520, and it confirmed the importance to Henry of obtaining Francis's support.

  The meeting between Henry and Francis took place on the 21 October in the company of the King's men, including George Boleyn. It would have been the first time George had come into contact with Francis since February 1530. No ladies were present on this occasion. Henry and his entourage rode to Sandingfield to meet Francis, while Anne and her ladies remained at Calais. The French and English then rode on together to Boulogne where Francis entertained them royally. This was essentially a royal stag party, and it lasted four days, with much wine, women and song. On 25 October, they rode back to Calais, where the French were entertained with equal lavishness. According to the chronicler John Stow, there were 8000 people present at, and around, the festivities. It was not until 27 October that Anne met the French King. That evening, a masked ball took place, at which Anne danced with Francis before she and her ladies were unmasked. In addition to Anne, the ladies present on this occasion were Anne's sister Mary Carey, Lady Derby, Lady Fitzwalter, Lady Lisle, Lady Wallop and George's wife Lady Rochford. This was the only formal occasion upon which George and Jane Boleyn would have travelled abroad together, although Jane would have remained throughout with Anne's train while George obviously followed the King on the 21st to his meeting with Francis, and to the four days of entertainment at Boulogne.

  When face to face with Henry, Francis appeared sympathetic to Henry's cause and was prepared to
give a guarantee of French protection against Charles V. By now, Henry was not prepared to wait on the Pope any longer and his only concern was to prevent an excommunication. Although Henry disingenuously promised Francis that he would take no immediate steps to marry Anne, it was clearly his intention to do so upon their return to England. Chronicler Edward Hall records that the couple married on Thursday 14 November 1532, St Erkenwald's Day, the day after they arrived back in England. Certainly some type of pledge must have been made to Anne, because it was either in Calais, or shortly after their return to England, that her relationship with Henry was finally consummated and the couple began living together.22 Given Anne's stance during the previous seven years, it is highly unlikely that she would have surrendered her honour to the King unless an assurance of marriage had been made.

  14 - Foreign Diplomat

  Henry VIII officially married Anne Boleyn on 25 January 1533 in a secret ceremony at Whitehall.1 Following his meeting with Francis, Henry decided to seek papal consent after the marriage, presumably believing the Pope would not object after the deed was done. The wedding itself was a very private affair with only Anne's parents, brother and two favourites mentioned by Chapuys as being present.2 Chapuys does not name these two favourites, but Nicholas Harpsfield later recorded that Henry Norris and Thomas Heneage attended, along with Anne Savage, Lady Berkeley.3 There is no specific mention of either Mary Boleyn or Lady Rochford being in attendance. Although she was Anne's sister, Mary Boleyn's absence is easily explained. She had been the King's mistress, and her attendance may well have caused embarrassment – indeed, she may have chosen not to be there.

  The absence of George's wife at the wedding of his beloved sister is more difficult to explain, but the King may well have wanted to keep the ceremony as private and low-key as possible. As George's wife, though, Jane must surely have known about the wedding.

  Although it was rumoured that Archbishop Cranmer performed the marriage ceremony, Cranmer dispelled these rumours in a letter to Archdeacon Hawkyns, and it appears that it was Dr Rowland Lee, the King's chaplain, who officiated.4 It was now essential that matters progress as quickly as possible. Although nobody could have known for sure at the time of the marriage, Anne was already pregnant. It has been suggested that Elizabeth was conceived in Calais, but if she was born on or around her due date then she was conceived in mid-December, a month after the couple's return. When the wedding party came out of the small chapel, Anne was Queen Consort and George was brother-in-law to the King of England. More importantly from their perspective, shortly afterwards, when Anne's pregnancy was confirmed, they believed they would be mother and uncle to the next King of England. Their excitement and relief at the successful conclusion of a campaign that had started seven long years ago had to have been tangible. They had no way of knowing that their troubles were just about to begin.

  It was not long after the marriage that George's diplomatic career was once again given a kick-start. Throughout the protracted annulment negotiations, Henry relied heavily on the alliance he had formed with France, and it was this reliance on Francis I which provided George with all his experience in foreign diplomacy. English foreign policy had previously been to maintain neutrality between France and Spain, while encouraging disputes between them and not forming a firm alliance with either, but with the Emperor in league with the Pope, the annulment had thrown this policy into chaos. Henry needed an alliance with France in order to obtain a legal justification for his second marriage, and became hell-bent on securing Francis's in his "Great Matter". It was only Henry's continued obsession with Anne that protected her and the rest of her family from those who continued to support Catherine and Catholicism, and who could not countenance such an alliance. France was seen as the old enemy by many people in England, including Cromwell and the Duke of Norfolk.

  Despite his defiant marriage, Henry was still seeking papal approval, and negotiations with Rome continued. Irrespective of this, the marriage effectively threw away the agreement Henry had with Francis, who later complained, "as fast as I study to win the Pope, ye study to lose him".5 By the beginning of March 1533, Henry realised he could not keep Francis in ignorance of his wedding any longer. On 11 March, George Boleyn received a warrant from the King to travel to France and give a message to Francis informing him that Henry and Anne had married, and to ask Francis to order his representatives in Rome to join those of England in urging the Pope and Cardinals to accept the marriage as a fait accompli.6 As Henry had previously induced Francis to assure the Pope that he would take no immediate steps to marry, it was anticipated that the French King would not take the news well. George's instructions, therefore, are full of hyperbole and self-justification. It was anticipated that his mission would last for 14 days, for which he received a huge income of £106, 13s, 8d.7 Amusingly, when on foreign missions the ambassadors' income is denoted as being for their diet. It would indeed have been a feat had he managed to consume food worth just over £106 in a period of two weeks. George left for France on 13 March, arriving on the 16th.8 9 The details of the mission were kept secret, much to the annoyance of Chapuys, and there was much speculation at court as to the reason for the embassy.

  For Henry to have chosen George for a foreign mission to Francis, in the sure knowledge that the French King would not take kindly to the news being imparted, is a testimony to the confidence Henry had in his brother-in-law and George's relationship with the French king. But there was obviously the additional advantage of George being Anne's brother and therefore best suited to break the news of his sister's marriage to Francis. George had already developed a good relationship with the Francis and his sister Marguerite during his first mission to France. Perhaps it was hoped that George's natural exuberance, and his obvious delight in the marriage of his sister to the King of England, would be infectious.

  His specific instructions were to present Francis with letters written by the King, "and express the delight he [Henry] feels at the friendship and offers of service," - especially regarding Francis asking for Henry's advice concerning the marriage of the Duke of Orleans with the Pope's niece. He was required to tell Francis that, according to his advice given at their last interview, and out of Henry's anxiety to have male issue for the establishment of his Kingdom, Henry "has proceeded effectually to the accomplishment of his marriage, trusting to find that his deeds will correspond with his [Francis's] promises, and that he will assist and maintain the King in the event of any excommunication from the Pope." This was in fact untrue, as Francis had given no such advice. George was instructed to further advise Francis that by demanding that Henry appear before him, the Pope was threatening his royal dignity: "that a prince should not submit to the arrogance and ambition of an earthly creature [i.e. the Pope] and that this would pervert the order which God ordained", and would be as prejudicial to Francis as to Henry. Therefore, by playing to Francis's own egotism, George was to demand that Francis refuse to allow the Pope to proceed against Henry. He was ordered to request that Francis should not consent to the marriage of the Pope's niece to his son, unless the Pope held that Henry's cause was just. If not then "the friendship of princes was nothing but dissimilation". Finally, he was charged with a discussion of Scottish issues, which were to be explained to Francis by George himself.10

  Henry was attempting to bend Francis entirely to his will. He even went as far as providing George with a letter that Henry proposed Francis should send to the Pope, urging him to grant the English king's divorce on account of the scruples which he entertained in consequence of his pretended marriage to Catherine. The intended letter included a threat to the Pope that failure to comply would result in Francis, as well as Henry, being obliged to have recourse in other ways and means, "which would be less agreeable to the Pope".

  Unsurprisingly, George had a poor reception from Francis, who was unhappy with Henry's hasty decision to marry first and receive papal blessing later. Francis felt that Henry had duped him into being used as an instrumen
t to deceive the Pope, and he was also angry at being expected to bend to Henry's will. George, as Henry's mouthpiece, was in an unenviable position. He, as much as Henry, must have anticipated the negative reaction his news would initially provoke, because he appears to have gone into the discussions with Francis particularly forcefully. Enemies of the Boleyns erroneously blamed his poor reception on his unreasonable behaviour. The reception was purely down to Henry's deception and subterfuge, and his attempts to coerce Francis into a cause of action designed solely to assist the English King. In reality the young Boleyn, in compliance with Henry's confidence in him, actually managed to turn the situation around within a matter of days by deploying "uncommon audacity and obstinacy".11 Before leaving France, George was presented with a litter and three mules, which was a wedding gift for his sister from Francis. George arranged to bring them home with him so that he could present them to Anne himself.

  After informing Francis of the marriage of his sister to Henry, George, as per his instructions, strongly urged Francis to write a letter to the Pope in support. This seemed almost a replay of January 1530, when George had convinced Francis to write to Pierre Lizet for the support of academic opinion. By requiring Francis to support every move he made, Henry was running the risk of permanently alienating the French king. Sure enough, Francis was initially indignant at the suggestion and refused to write, feeling himself being used by "his good brother" the English king. A letter written by Francis to the Bailly of Troyes and dated 20 March confirms his indignation. Francis wrote that he had "already written about the arrival of Viscount Rochford, who has begged him, in the name of the King of England, to write a letter to Cardinals Tournon and Grammont, according to a memorandum".12 However, Francis did not think it was reasonable, and said he had told Lord Rochford that he could do nothing to break the affair. Francis was due to have an interview with the Pope, of which he hoped Henry would be a part. However, George Boleyn persisted, and eventually persuaded Francis that the Pope was encroaching on his own sovereign rights. As in January 1530, Francis composed a further letter, although somewhat different in tone to the one suggested by Henry, requesting that the cardinals urge the Pope to pronounce in favour of the English King. In his letter, Francis states that Rochford had come from the King of England and informed him of the Pope's refusal to admit the excusator. Francis indicated that this would be an insult to all Christian princes. and that the cardinals must urge the Pope to admit Henry's excusator in accordance with the privilege of him and other princes. He warned that at present, princes barely suffered the Pope to infringe on their privilege and pre-eminences; any refusal would seem a further attempt to suppress these. Refusal would further cause displeasure to Francis, and should not be proceeded with until the hoped-for meeting between the Pope and the two kings.13 Francis gave a copy of the letter to George to show Henry, to establish whether Henry was happy for it to be dispatched.