George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier & Diplomat

by Ridgway, Claire

  For the first time since his marital problems had taken over foreign policy, Henry VIII was able to invoke the position he had always intended to take – that of neutrality between France and the Empire - but this was very nearly jeopardised by Thomas Cromwell. On 18 April, Charles V's ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, was summoned to court by Cromwell to discuss an alliance with the Emperor. By doing so, Cromwell had overstepped the mark: he exceeded his instructions to maintain cordial, non-committal relations with Chapuys. Such rashness emphasised Cromwell's leanings towards the Empire, and his actions caused a major rift between him and Henry.

  When Chapuys arrived at court he was greeted enthusiastically by the Lords of the council, "especially Lord Rochford". Chapuys must have felt some wry amusement at the apparent enthusiasm of the young lord. George's potent charm was used to maximum affect, making strenuous protestations of his desire for an alliance with the Empire. Chapuys somewhat sarcastically told him that no doubt "he had as great pleasure in what was taking place as any other, and that he would assist as in a matter for the benefit of the whole world, but especially of himself and his friends". Despite the recognition of George's selfish motives, Chapuys reluctantly accepted that George displayed much amiability towards him, and that in turn he did likewise, although "avoiding all occasions of entering into Lutheran discussions, from which he could not refrain".11

  George then conducted him to mass, where Chapuys was manoeuvred into his first-ever meeting with Anne Boleyn. He had been asked by Henry, through Cromwell, to kiss Anne's hand, which he refused to do. However, George managed to place Chapuys behind the door through which Anne would enter and, on entry, Anne swung round to the ambassador and bowed. The unwilling Chapuys was forced to reciprocate, thereby recognising Anne as queen. Following the meeting, Anne, the King and the rest of the court ate in Anne's lodgings, leaving Chapuys kicking his heels. George kindly took him to the King's Presence Chamber and entertained him with the other principal men of the court. Chapuys' meeting with Anne had obviously been stage-managed, not only by Anne and George, but also the King. It is hard to credit that the King could continue plotting so closely with his wife and brother-in-law on 18 April, and that barely one month later they would both dead.

  After dining with George Boleyn, Chapuys had a private meeting with Henry, and set out to him the Emperor's terms that Mary must be returned to the succession before an alliance could take place. Henry was furious, and was openly rude to the ambassador. He wanted Anne recognised as queen unconditionally, with no acknowledgement of Mary as heir. The King's attitude no doubt lulled the Boleyns into a false sense of security, but this had nothing to do with loyalty to Anne. Henry was merely furious with the Emperor's attempt to interfere with domestic affairs and policy. Henry's refusal to negotiate with the Emperor and his ambassador caused an angry quarrel between himself and Cromwell, who was orchestrating the attempted alliance. Chapuys describes Cromwell's regret being so great "that he was hardly able to speak for sorrow, and had never been more mortified in his life, than with the said reply." Cromwell may well have blamed Anne's influence and her pro-French position for Henry's refusal to negotiate with the Emperor, and he would definitely have seen her as a threat to himself and his policies. On 2 April 1536, Passion Sunday, Anne's almoner John Skip had preached a controversial sermon about King Ahasuerus being deceived by his adviser, Haman, but Queen Esther saving the day.12 It was a public attack on Cromwell, Henry VIII's right-hand man, and the advice he was giving the King. Cromwell was being threatened by the Boleyn contingent just as Wolsey had been.

  Irrespective of his argument with Cromwell, Henry was well aware that there could be no reconciliation with Charles V while Anne lived. In turn, while there was no reconciliation with the Empire, there could be no effective policy of evenly balancing the Empire and France. Anne had failed to give him a son, he had fallen in love with another woman, and Anne's very existence was the only obstacle to England following the foreign policy that Henry had always envisaged. Henry must have considered his options, and then given leave for Cromwell to proceed against his wife. After his argument with Henry, Cromwell took to his bed for a few days, feigning illness, and began plotting. Anne had become a liability and a very real threat. When he returned to court, the ruination of Anne Boleyn and her family was planned and implemented in less than a month.

  St George's day, 23 April, brought the first outward sign that the Boleyns were losing their influence. George was expected to receive the Order of the Garter, the pinnacle honour of the realm, and his sister strongly supported him. George had been nominated the previous year and had received a reasonable amount of support, but James V of Scotland had beaten him by two votes.13 Despite Anne's championing of George, much to the delight of Chapuys the honour in 1536 actually went to Sir Nicholas Carew, a known opponent of the Boleyns and the man who was coaching Jane Seymour.14 Carew beat George soundly, receiving twice as many votes, and even Thomas Boleyn had voted for him.15 The choice was at least in part dictated by the King's earlier promise to Francis I that Carew was next in line.16 In truth, if Henry had wished for George to be awarded the honour then no previous promise made to the King of France would have prevented him granting it; furthermore, if the King had always intended to honour his promise to the King of France why did he allow George's name to be put forward in the first place? Henry must have known that by allowing George's name to be put forward, and then awarding the position to an opponent of the Boleyns, he would bring public humiliation to his brother-in-law. George was forced to swallow his very public slight, and hold his head high as the court digested the implications of the King's choice. Up until now, George had been the golden boy, and he was completely unused to personal failure and rejection. The King's decision must have hit him hard. Yet neither Anne nor George could possibly have foreseen the manner of their eventual downfall.

  It is probable that soon after Anne's miscarriage the King determined that he wanted the marriage to end. His jousting accident must have reminded him of his mortality and the urgent need for an heir. Henry now had a realistic alternative to Anne: Jane Seymour. He wanted to be rid of the wife he blamed for not providing him with a son, just as he had wanted rid of Catherine, and to move on to Jane, who came from fertile stock, with her mother having given birth to nine children. Henry wanted his next marriage to be accepted unconditionally without any suggestion of it being invalid, or any inference that its issue was illegitimate. The only way of ensuring this was for Anne to die, because, as with Catherine, she would never have agreed to an annulment.

  It is inconceivable that at any time Cromwell acted of his own volition. He may have been given a relatively free hand in devising a plan, but to plot against a queen was unthinkable, and would have been treason. Cromwell may have come up with the answer, but it was the King who set the wheels in motion. The solution has become one of the best-known stories in English history. Anne was to be charged with treason, together with those who were closest to her; that, of course, included her brother.

  On 24 April, the King approved the setting up of two commissions of oyer and terminer to investigate crimes committed in the counties of Middlesex and Kent.17 These were set up by Cromwell and Thomas Audley, the Lord Chancellor. Just eight days later, Anne and George Boleyn were arrested for crimes committed in those two counties. On 27 April, writs were issued summoning Parliament to meet at Westminster on 8 June.18 When it eventually met, the reason given was to settle the succession and to repeal statutes favouring Anne. In other words, Parliament was summoned to discuss these issues five days before Anne had even been arrested and charged. There can be little doubt that the whole purpose of the commissions was to ensnare Anne. George had failed to receive the Order of the Garter on 23 April, the day before the King had approved the special commissions; Henry had to have been aware, well before the special commissions had reported back to him, that George was going to be brought down with his sister. And if Henry was aware of that prior to receiving th
e results of Cromwell's investigations, then he must also have been aware of the details of the intended plot, even before it had been fully concocted.

  The incest charge brought against George Boleyn is one of the most cynical and spiteful attacks on an individual in English history. He was accused for a number of reasons. Firstly, the charge was brought in order to bring further shame and dishonour to Anne's name. For Henry to have been cuckolded by his wife would bring him public humiliation, especially if she was found guilty of adultery with just one man, but if she was found to have had sex with a number of men, including her own brother, then Henry would be viewed not as a laughing stock, but as a wronged man, unlucky to have been married to an evil and perverse woman. The saying "throw enough mud and it sticks" was as true in the sixteenth century as it is today. In reality, because of George Boleyn's performance in court, the incest charge did not have the intended effect on the public, and there were many murmurings of discontent that the trial was a sham. Secondly, George was one of the most prominent members of the court, and Cromwell was not naive enough to underestimate his wit and intelligence. George and Anne were known to be close, and George would have moved heaven and earth to try to save her. He seems to have been arrested doing just that - attempting to see the King at Whitehall. George was far too dangerous to be allowed his liberty. Although there was realistically nothing he could have done to save Anne, he had the verbal acumen to have protested her innocence persuasively and to have caused an uproar at court. By allowing him his freedom, there was a risk he would cause disruption to the Crown's case, and would be able to convince powerful people of her innocence. Ironically, he did this anyway due to his impressive display in court, but Cromwell was not to know that at the time. If Anne had to go then so did her brother. Thirdly, there is every possibility that, in a similar way to Wolsey's abuse of the reform of the Privy Council in 1526, Cromwell used Henry's desire to be rid of Anne as a means of also getting rid of one of the most powerful and influential members of Henry's court, and therefore one of Cromwell's greatest rivals.

  There is another, even less palatable reason, why George may have been specifically chosen as a victim. Henry was infuriated by Anne's failure to give him a son, and this fury had turned his love for her into hatred. The incest charge may well have been an opportunity to cause Anne more pain by attacking her beloved brother. Her brother's fate may also have proved to be a bargaining chip in getting Anne to agree to an annulment of the marriage after her condemnation: agree and your brother will be saved the full horrors of a traitor's death. There is no way of knowing whether this was the way Henry's mind was working, but his capacity for almost childlike cruelty means it is not completely outside the realms of possibility.

  The evangelical Anne and George could not have been charged with a crime that would have caused them more anguish, shame and dishonour than incest. Not only did they lose their lives, their reputations were completely destroyed and their names blackened for centuries to come. Even today, the Boleyn siblings are portrayed in film and fiction as committing incest in order to cement their meteoric rise at court. They were not wide-eyed innocents; they knew what the King was capable of, and they had used their influence over him to further their family and careers, but in May 1536, they were still sacrificial lambs to the King's ambition.

  20 - Arrests

  The court had been due to travel to Calais on 2 May 1536 for the arranged meeting between Henry and Francis I. As we have seen, it was George Boleyn who had been instructed to organise the travel arrangements. This was the meeting that had been rescheduled because of Anne's pregnancy two years previously. At 11 o'clock on the evening of 30 April, however, the trip was suddenly cancelled and instructions given that the King would be travelling a week later. The cancellation could have come about due to an altercation that Anne had with Sir Henry Norris on 29 April, or because of Mark Smeaton's arrest.

  On 30 April, two days before the arrests of Anne and George, a court musician, Mark Smeaton, was arrested.1 He was taken to Cromwell's house in Stepney for interrogation. Within 24 hours, he had confessed to having committed adultery with the Queen on three separate occasions. He was then removed to the Tower of London, arriving at 6 p.m. on 1 May. Whether his confession was made under torture or purely through psychological pressure, will probably be never known. Similarly, whether he was encouraged, in his fear and confusion, into implicating Henry Norris and George Boleyn is unknown, but their arrests followed swiftly after his confession.

  On 1 May, George Boleyn had been the principal challenger, and Sir Henry Norris the principal answerer, at the May Day joust.2 The watching public noticed nothing untoward until the King left abruptly for Westminster, taking Norris with him. The King had read a piece of paper which had been handed to him, and which was probably Mark Smeaton's confession. His departure effectively brought the tournament to an end. It was rumoured that the King had offered Norris a pardon if he admitted to adultery with the Queen. Horrified, the honourable Norris had sworn that he was innocent, but was immediately arrested and charged with adultery and treason. He was taken to the Tower at dawn the following day.

  George Boleyn was arrested on the afternoon of 2 May 1536 at Whitehall.3 This did not become common knowledge until the following day, which must mean it was orchestrated to be carried out as privately as possible. Upon hearing that he was in the Tower, not even Chapuys could come up with an explanation as to why he had been arrested. It was initially believed that he was an accessory to the charges brought against his sister: "Her brother is imprisoned for not giving information of her crime."4 When the charge of incest became public knowledge there was general shock and disbelief. George had been taken to the Tower from Whitehall, arriving at approximately 2 p.m.. His sister Anne arrived shortly afterwards at approximately 5 p.m.. She had been arrested earlier that day while attending a tennis match, and had initially been interrogated at Greenwich. It is not known whether George was aware of her earlier arrest, and had himself been arrested while making frantic attempts to see Henry in order to protest his sister's treatment – this would explain George being at Whitehall, rather than Greenwich when he was arrested.5 He may, however, have been completely unaware of Anne's arrest and simply walked into a trap.

  The general disbelief at the arrests was nothing compared to the shock and horror of the principal characters. On 1 May, Anne was Queen of England, enjoying a jousting competition in which her brother took a leading role. George was in his prime and one of the most envied men in England. Neither of them, on that warm May Day, could possibly have seen what was coming. The following day they were both in the Tower charged with high treason and facing certain death. The horror at their reversal of fortune, and their shock at the situation into which they were suddenly catapulted, initially had a debilitating effect on both of them.

  Anne Boleyn appears to have undergone some sort of mental breakdown following her arrest and imprisonment. She vacillated between hysterical laughter at the absurdity of the charges, and floods of tears. In her fear and distress she also babbled incessantly, trying to make some sense of what had happened to her. Lady Kingston, wife of the Constable of the Tower, and three other unsympathetic women were placed with Anne, day and night, to spy on her and report back. Anne spoke of conversations she'd had with Norris, Weston and Smeaton as possible reasons for her arrest and imprisonment. She spoke of the altercation with Henry Norris, in which she had accused him of being in love with her, and, looking "for dead men's shoes, for if aught came to the king but good, you would look to have me". With regards to Weston, she reported that he had claimed that he loved one of her house better than his wife, and that he had stated that the person he referred to was Anne herself. Anne "defied" him for his comment. In relation to Smeaton, she had found him at the window one day in a sad pose. When asked by her why he was so sad, he said it was no matter. The Queen told him off saying, "You may not look to have me speak to you as a noble man." Smeaton replied, "No madam, a look will
suffice me; so fare you well." Her comments were obviously far from confessions to adultery, but despite this they were used against her and her fellow prisoners as evidence. Anne was also unable to hide her affection for George. Her initial reaction when entering the Tower was to ask where her "sweet brother" was. When she was eventually told that he too had been arrested she felt comforted by his closeness to her, telling the Constable of the Tower, William Kingston, "I am very glad we both be so nigh together." Later, when reality hit her, she was unable to hide her anxiety and concern for George, crying, "My lord, my brother will die…" She did not show the same level of distress for any of the other prisoners, but it was natural for her to be worried about her own flesh and blood.6

  Initially, George also exhibited great distress following his arrest. On 4 May, Jane Boleyn sent a message to George via Kingston. In it, she asked after her husband and promised that she would "humbly [make] suit unto the king's highness" for him.7 The message was delivered by Sir Nicholas Carew and Sir Francis Bryan with the express permission of the King, thereby maliciously giving false hope to a man who had been the King's companion for over ten years. No evidence exists that Jane ever made the petition she mentions in her message but, as Julia Fox points out, her chances of pleading for George with the King were slim because access to the King was "virtually impossible" at that time, and carefully controlled.8

  And what of the two men who delivered the message? Sir Nicholas Carew had always been an enemy of the Boleyns. Indeed, Carew was housing Jane Seymour and, with the help of others, was coaching her on how to win the King's heart and take over from Anne. Likewise, although Sir Francis Bryan had previously been a staunch supporter of the Boleyns and Reform, he had recently changed sides. He obviously had a strong sense of self-preservation, and as we know, in December 1534 he had fortuitously argued with George. This had the long-term effect of enabling him to exhibit his change of commitment when such a change was most needed. Two obvious enemies of the Boleyns, both of whom enjoyed freedom while George was incarcerated in the Tower, delivered the message from his wife. The fact that these two in particular were chosen is an example of the depth of malicious cruelty of which the King was capable.