George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier & Diplomat

by Ridgway, Claire

  Queen Jane gave birth to the long-awaited son, the future Edward VI, on 12 October 1537, but died on 24 October after contracting puerperal, or childbed, fever. Henry VIII was not at her bedside, but he was devastated by news of her death and hid himself away at Windsor, refusing to see anyone. He wallowed in his grief for three weeks and wore full mourning for three months after Jane's death.

  Henry's illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, died on 23 July 1536, probably of consumption. He was just 17 years old. Of Henry's four children, not one of them had children of their own to carry on the Tudor dynasty. So much brutality had been carried out, and so many innocent people had died, to ensure that the King had a legitimate son, and in the end it was all for nothing. Henry's only success as a father was Elizabeth, who, had she been a boy, would have saved the lives of her mother and uncle.

  Elizabeth Boleyn, George and Anne's mother, died in April 1538, two years after the deaths of her youngest children. Thomas Boleyn was forced to relinquish the Privy Seal to Cromwell and retire to the obscurity of the country following the disgrace of his children, but quickly set about working his way back into royal favour. He helped suppress the rebels in autumn 1536 at the Pilgrimage of Grace, was present at Edward VI's christening in October 1537, and even lent Cromwell his chain and Garter badge at one point. By January 1538 he was back in court, but ill health overtook him, and he died in March 1539. The Boleyns' world completely crumbled in 1536, but at least Thomas had been spared his life. It is difficult to claim that Thomas was not proud of his son's accomplishments. George had met, and exceeded, all expectations; Thomas must have been grief-stricken at his death.

  As we have seen, following William Carey's death in 1528, Mary Boleyn secretly married William Stafford in 1534. Stafford was a commoner with a small income and no rank. For marrying below her station, Mary and her husband were banished from court by her sister. Although Anne later helped her sister financially, it is possible that the sisters never met again, and Mary made no known attempt to contact either Anne or George following their arrests. It is not known where Mary was in 1536, but she and Stafford were in England from January 1540, when Stafford became an Esquire of the Body. After her parents' deaths, Mary inherited some of the Boleyn properties in Essex, but she died on 19 July 1543.

  The appalling experiences of the Boleyn family did not prevent Mary Boleyn's children from forging court careers of their own. Mary's daughter Catherine became Maid of Honour to Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard. She married Francis Knollys, a favourite at Henry VIII's court, in 1540; Francis was knighted by Edward VI in 1547. The Knollys' Protestant beliefs led to them leaving England in 1553 when the Catholic Mary I came to the throne, to live in exile in Germany. In 1558, Catherine and Francis returned to England; Francis became a member of Elizabeth I's Privy Council, and later Vice-Chamberlain of the Household and Captain of the Halberdiers. Catherine became one of Elizabeth's Ladies of the Privy Chamber, serving her cousin as the Chief Lady of the Bedchamber. Catherine was taken ill in late 1568 and died on 15 January 1569 at Hampton Court Palace, having served her queen up until her death. Elizabeth I gave her good friend a lavish funeral and Catherine was buried in St Edmund's Chapel, Westminster Abbey.

  Mary's son, Henry Carey, was knighted by Elizabeth I in 1558 and then made 1st Baron Hunsdon in January 1559. He was one of the Queen's favourites, holding many prestigious offices, including Privy Councillor and Lord Chamberlain of the Household, and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1561. He died on the 23 July 1596 at Somerset House; it is said that on his deathbed, Elizabeth I offered him the title Earl of Wiltshire, a title once held by his grandfather Thomas Boleyn, but Hunsdon refused Elizabeth's offer, saying, "Madam, as you did not count me worthy of this honour in life, then I shall account myself not worthy of it in death." He was buried at Westminster Abbey on the 12 August 1596 in St John the Baptist's Chapel, in a tomb which is the tallest in the Abbey, measuring 36 feet in height.

  Henry VIII married Anne of Cleves in January 1540. Thomas Cromwell had orchestrated the marriage in an attempt to form an alliance with Germany. Henry hated his bride on sight, which resulted in Cromwell's position becoming untenable. Cromwell was beheaded for treason in 1540, shortly after Henry's marriage to Anne was annulled, and on the same day that the King married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard. This choice of date was obviously intentional. By involving George Boleyn in Anne's downfall, Cromwell had destroyed his principal noble supporter on the council. The irony is not lost on historian Rory McEntegart, who suggests that George was "the man best placed to offset the anti-Cromwellian feelings of conservative noblemen such as the Duke of Norfolk."2 In the long term, the deaths of Anne and George had considerably weakened Cromwell's position.

  Cromwell had been created 1st Earl of Essex in April 1540. This honour no doubt lulled him into a false sense of security; he was put to death on 28 July that same year. As Henry married his fifth wife, it is unlikely that he spared a compassionate thought for the man who had served him so diligently for so many years. Cromwell had a particularly gruesome death. The executioner was an inexperienced, nervous young boy who took three strokes of the axe to remove his head. The chronicler Edward Hall said of Cromwell's death, "Many lamented, but more rejoiced", and went on to say, "For in deed he was a man that in all his doings seemed not to favour any kind of Popery."3 Whatever Cromwell's personal religious persuasions may have been, he had played a major part in the English Reformation. On the scaffold, Cromwell stated that he died "in the Catholicke faithe, not doubtyng in any article of my faith, no nor doubtyng in any Sacrament of the Churche", and although this has been used by some to argue that he was a closet Catholic and had used Reformist beliefs for political gain, John Schofield believes that Cromwell was using the word "catholic" to refer to the "Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church", rather than the Church of Rome, and that it was effectively gallows humour and irony.4 He finished by declaring, "I waver nothyng in my faithe."

  Prior to his death, Cromwell wrote to Henry from the Tower begging the King for mercy, "with the heavy heart and trembling hand of your highness's most heavy and most miserable prisoner and poor slave. Most gracious prince. I cry for mercy, mercy, mercy."5 Following the Boleyns' deaths Cromwell had praised their sense, wit and courage. Unfortunately, he was not able to emulate their courage or their dignity when faced with his own misfortunes.

  Jane Seymour's brothers came to an equally sticky end. Thomas Seymour was executed for treason on 20 March 1549 and Edward Seymour on 22 January 1552. A number of Jane's other supporters also suffered unpleasant deaths, including Nicholas Carew, who had coached Jane on how to capture the King's heart. He was beheaded for treason in 1539, just three years after the executions of Anne and George.

  Shortly after her husband's death, Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, returned to court and became one of Jane Seymour's ladies. This was despite the fact that she had been married to a man who was not only a convicted traitor, but had also been found guilty of the unnatural and perverted crime of incest. For her to have retained her position she would, at the very least, have had to renounce her husband for his alleged crimes. Unless she had been prepared to acquiesce in his death, and confirm that her allegiance and loyalty lay with Henry, and not the Boleyns, it is inconceivable that she would have been brought back to court in such a prominent and privileged position. Jane Seymour would surely have baulked at the notion of the widow of the man she had partly helped destroy becoming her lady-in-waiting. Lady Rochford would have had to have hidden her grief, and any hatred of those who had a hand in her husband's death.

  When Jane Seymour died, Jane Boleyn was prominent at her funeral, travelling in the "second chair" at the funeral procession with other ladies of superior rank, whilst Elizabeth Boleyn was entirely absent. Indeed, at the funeral Jane was second only to the Princess Mary, whose train she had the honour of holding.6

  Following the deaths of the Boleyns, Jane developed a good relationship with the Princess Mar
y. Jane gave the Princess the gift of a clock for New Year 1537, and she regularly featured in Mary's Privy Purse expenses. As early as January 1537, only eight months after her husband's death, she received a gift of ten shillings from the Princess, and in February Mary gave Jane four pounds ten shillings to purchase 12 yards of black satin. There are a further five entries between April 1537 and January 1540, concerning Mary's gifts of money to Jane's servants.7 For her to have gained the Princess's trust and friendship, Jane would have had to make her own loyalty to Mary and her late mother obvious. No sorrow for her deceased husband could have been shown or even hinted at. Jane obviously had no difficulty in appearing completely uncaring as to her husband's fate, judging by the regard in which she was held by Mary, Jane Seymour and the King. However, there is an interesting line in George Cavendish's verses, which refers to Jane:

  I aspied a wydowe in blake full woo begon...8

  This could be taken simply as Cavendish emphasising that Jane was George's widow, rather than literally meaning that she wore mourning clothes and was woebegone at her husband's death. However, the phrase is more meaningful when considering the inventories taken of Jane's possessions. An inventory taken in 1536, at the time of her husband's execution, shows a multitude of different coloured clothing (crimson satin sleeves and placards, yellow satin sleeves, white placards and sleeves, russet placards etc.), but the inventory taken at the time of her own death in 1542 shows that, without exception, all of her clothes were black.9 Although it could be argued that black was a sign of status and wealth, this would seem a little excessive, and Jane was of just a high status in 1536. Was she mourning her husband nearly six years after his death? Was she brave enough to exhibit mourning for him by constantly wearing black? There is no way of knowing for sure, but Cavendish's words and the difference in her preferred manner of dress between 1536 and 1541 could point in that direction.

  Under the terms of her jointure on her marriage, Jane had a life interest in manors at Aylesbury and Bierton in Buckinghamshire. In 1538, Thomas Boleyn wished to sell the properties, but needed Jane's signature to do so. Just as he had done previously, Cromwell acted as intermediary for Jane in her negotiations with her former father-in-law. Jane eventually agreed to sign the necessary documentation to enable Thomas to sell the manors in return for a life interest in the manors of Swavesey in Cambridge, Calthorpe, Filby, Stiffkey, Postwick and Blickling. These were in addition to two manors in Warwickshire, which had been granted to Jane by the King. The manors alone provided Jane with an annual income of £200. Although the Boleyn properties would revert back to the Boleyn family upon Jane's death, during her lifetime she had become an extremely wealthy woman.

  After Jane Seymour died, there was no longer a role for Jane Boleyn at court, and as soon as she acquired Blickling, she immediately moved in. The inventory of her belongings taken at her death shows that Jane had significant personal possessions and jewellery, much of which she had been allowed to retain following her husband's death. Her wealth meant that she did not have to return to the dangerous world of the court; she now had a choice. When Henry remarried, Jane was recalled to court and chose to accept the position of lady-in-waiting to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, returning to the violent, brutal court that had taken her husband's life. Jane was more than capable of surviving in such an environment. When required to do so, Jane, together with two of Anne of Cleves' other ladies, later provided evidence confirming Anne's relationship with Henry remained unconsummated after six months of marriage. This provided the grounds for an annulment, and could have resulted in Anne of Cleves' execution if she had refused to agree to it. The court was a dangerous place.

  Following Henry's parting from Anne of Cleves, he married his fifth wife, the young Catherine Howard, a cousin of George and Anne, and once again Jane became lady-in-waiting to a queen. This time, Jane did not survive court intrigue. She was beheaded along with Catherine Howard on 13 February 1542 for aiding the Queen in her illicit, albeit probably platonic, relationship with Thomas Culpeper. When approached to give evidence regarding Catherine's relationship with Culpeper, it was Jane who revealed that following Catherine's confinement to her apartments, the Queen had asked three or four times every day what had become of Culpeper. Jane also gave evidence that although she was not privy to a sexual encounter between the two, she believed they knew each other carnally, "considering all things that she had heard and seen". After such evidence, neither Catherine nor her erstwhile young lover had a chance of survival, although they attempted to blame everything on Jane and paint her as some kind of bawd.

  When faced with a decision as to whether to help the Crown and save herself, or refuse to give evidence and face ruin and possible death, Jane chose the former. In this she was no worse than Thomas Boleyn, who actively participated in the trials of the four commoners in 1536. Thomas Boleyn and Jane Rochford saved themselves by their actions in 1536. Anne and George Boleyn are unlikely to have expected them to have acted in any other way. With our twenty-first century sentimentality, we are probably harder on Thomas and Jane than either Anne or George would have been.

  On the scaffold, Jane is alleged to have said:

  God has permitted me to suffer this shameful doom as punishment for having contributed to my husband's death. I falsely accused him of loving, in an incestuous manner, his sister, Queen Anne Boleyn. For this I deserve to die. But I am guilty of no other crime.10

  However, as historian John Guy pointed out, this speech is a forgery - "the much later work of Gregorio Leti who (says historian Patrick Collinson after investigating many such stories) 'invented some of his sources and made things up'."11

  The one known eyewitness, Ottwell Johnson, makes no mention of this speech. He wrote to his brother two days after the executions saying, "They made the most Godly and Christian's end, that ever was heard tell of (I think) since the world's creation; uttering their lively faith in the blood of Christ only, and with goodly words and steadfast countenances they desired all Christian people to take regard unto their worthy and just punishment with death for their offences."12

  It is likely that Jane's words were embellished in the years following her death, just as stories regarding the nature of the evidence she gave were embellished. Jane's body was buried in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, along with her mistress Catherine Howard and near to where her husband and sister-in-law were buried.

  Henry VIII's grief upon discovering Catherine Howard's nocturnal escapades illustrates, as nothing else does, the lack of belief he actually had in Anne Boleyn's guilt. While Anne, George and the other men were in the Tower, Henry continued enjoying life to the full, showing no distress or humiliation at his supposed cuckolding. Yet for Catherine Howard he wept copious tears in front of his Privy Council. Of course, that did not stop him executing the young girl he was supposed to have adored.

  Henry married his sixth and final wife, the widow Catherine Parr, on 12 July 1543. She was lucky enough to still be his wife when Henry died four and a half years later, narrowly escaping a plot against her.

  Edward, Henry's son by Jane Seymour, ascended to the throne at the age of 9 when his father died in January 1547. He died in 1553, at the age of 15, probably from consumption. Edward had been a staunch Protestant and did not want his country to return to Catholicism. Henry had eventually re-established Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession. This meant that Mary would be Queen on Edward's death if Edward died without issue, which would mean a return to Catholicism. To stop this from happening, prior to his own death, Edward once again altered the line of succession, appointing his cousin Lady Jane Grey as his successor. Upon Edward's death in July 1553, Lady Jane Grey became queen, but ruled for only 13 days. Following an uprising in favour of Mary, Lady Jane was removed from power and Mary took the throne, having the 16 year-old girl beheaded in February 1554. Mary burned hundreds of Protestants during her reign, including Thomas Cranmer, the man who had annulled her parents' marriage and caused her to be made i
llegitimate. She died childless and largely unlamented in 1558. Only Henry himself put to death more people than his eldest daughter. In his 38-year reign it is alleged that he executed an estimated 72,000 people, although this is probably exaggerated.13 Even so, Charles Dickens described Henry as a "disgrace to human nature, and a blot of blood and grease upon the history of England".

  Unfortunately, despite his long reign and many achievements, Henry did not gain the fame he craved because of his great kingship; he gained it by breaking with Rome and by becoming a man seen by the general public as an obese, egotistical tyrant who took six wives and murdered two of those unfortunate women.

  As for the Duke of Norfolk and his son Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, they were arrested by Henry VIII in December 1546 and interrogated. Accusations had been made regarding Surrey's incorporation of the royal arms into his coat of arms, showing that he had "monarchic ambitions", and allegedly telling his sister Mary, widow of the Duke of Richmond, to try and become the King's mistress so that her family would be favoured. They were both found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Surrey was executed on 19 January 1547 but Norfolk was saved by the death of Henry VIII, which preceded the date set for his execution. He was eventually released from the Tower on the accession of Mary I and died on 25th August 1554 at the age of 82.

  George and Anne Boleyn died as traitors, their honour and reputations stripped from them. Following their deaths, nobody had the courage to speak up for them in public for fear of retribution from the King. Their names were not spoken, unless it was to abuse and vilify them. George had been a gifted courtier, diplomat and politician, respected and admired. He had been a proud man to whom honour and respectability were of paramount importance. In later years Thomas Wyatt warned his son, "Men punish with shame as the greatest punishment on earth, yea! greater than death." In George's own words, the incest charge meant that he died "with more shame and dishonour than hath ever been heard of before". Now he was, in the words of Cavendish, a vile wretch: