In Burke's Peerage, there is a mention of an "Anne Boleyn", wife of Sir Robert Newcomen, baronet, and a "great-niece of Queen Elizabeth", in the seventeenth century in Ireland. This suggests that she too descended from George Boleyn and may have been the sister of Elizabeth and Mary.4
The story told locally is that Clonony Castle was given to Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Ormond and Wiltshire, father of Anne Boleyn, by Henry VIII after it was ceded to the King by John Óg MacCoghlan. When George and Anne Boleyn were executed in 1536, George's illegitimate son was moved to Clonony to keep him safe. Mary and Elizabeth Boleyn were descended from this man. When Elizabeth died young, Mary was devastated and committed suicide, throwing herself from Clonony Castle tower. The sisters were buried behind the castle and their grave eventually forgotten, until it was found by labourers digging stone for the canal which they were building by the castle. The girls' remains were reinterred in a local graveyard and the tombstone moved to the castle, where it still lies beneath a hawthorn tree. It is difficult to decipher the inscription today, due to weather damage, but rubbings have been made.5
There has often been talk that George Boleyn, Dean of Lichfield from 1576-1603, was George Boleyn's son, either with Jane or illegitimately. However, although he referred to himself as a kinsman of the Carey and Knollys families (Mary Boleyn's children's families) and named Lord Hunsdon (Mary's son) as an executor in his will, he does not seem to have ever claimed to have been George Boleyn's son, and there is no record of Jane Boleyn ever giving birth. In 1597, George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon and Mary Boleyn's grandson, sent a letter to Lord Burghley asking for advice regarding petitioning Elizabeth I concerning the earldom of Ormond. This earldom had once been held by his great-grandfather, Thomas Boleyn, and Hunsdon's claim to it was based on the belief that the title "should have passed to his father and then on to himself by virtue of their descent from Sir Thomas Boleyn's eldest daughter, Mary." If George Boleyn, Dean of Lichfield, was George Boleyn's son surely he, not George Carey, would have had claim to it, but no objection was raised at the time.
Julia Fox writes of how Sir Thomas Boleyn had been forced to pass on the Ormond ancestral horn, which he had inherited from his grandfather, to the St Leger branch of the family due to the fact that his son George Boleyn had died without issue. If the Dean had been George's legitimate son then he would have inherited it. Even if he had missed out on the horn due to illegitimacy, the Dean would surely have been recognised or helped in some way by the surviving Boleyn family after his father's death. There would also have been no reason for George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, not to recognise an illegitimate son, particularly as he had no legitimate heirs.6 The Dean appears to have been a rather colourful character, being described as having a "chollerick" nature and having a tendency to swear, and getting into trouble for threatening to nail a Dean to a wall and attacking a preacher with a dagger. He would also take his dog to church with him.7 An interesting character, but his parentage remains a mystery.
There is no evidence at all that the Boleyn girls of Clonony or George Boleyn, Dean of Lichfield, were descended from George Boleyn, Lord Rochford. There is no mention of Jane having a child when she was executed in 1542, and no mention in any records of George having an illegitimate son. It is not impossible, however, for him to have had an illegitimate son who grew up in Ireland away from the English court. It would be nice to think that George left something behind.
Figure 19 - Clonony Castle
Figure 20 - Hawthorn tree and tomb slab at Clonony Castle
Notes
Introduction
1 Warnicke, The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII, 4.
2 Carley, The Books of King Henry VIII and His Wives, 133.
PART 1 - THE BEGINNINGS
1) Family Background
1 W. L. E. Parsons, Rev. Canon, "Some Notes on the Boleyn Family."
2 Bindoff, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1509-1558.
3 Cockayne, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom Extant, Extinct, or Dormant, vol. X.
4 Nicolas, Testamenta Vetusta: Being Illustrations from Wills, of Manners, Customs Etc., II:465.
5 Ridgway, The Anne Boleyn Collection II, 236–237. Sources include: Friar William Peto; Princess Mary's confessor; Elizabeth Amadas, a woman said to have been a past mistress of Henry VIII; and the Catholic writers Nicholas Harpsfield, William Rastell and Nicholas Sander. When Sir George Throckmorton spoke to the King of rumours that he had "meddled both with the mother and the sister", Henry VIII replied, "Never with the mother". LP xii. 952.
2) Birth and Childhood
1 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 11: July-December 1536," n. 17.
2 "Letter Written by Anne Boleyn."
3 Gairdner, "New Lights on the Divorce of Henry VIII," 685. Gairdner's source is State Papers, VII, p3, Knighte to Henry VIII, 13 September 1527.
4 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 546, grant of Grimstone Manor.
5 Scheurer, Correspondance du Cardinal Jean du Bellay, 1 1529–1535:104–106. Du Bellay does not comment on George's age,; he mentions Thomas Boleyn counting on the ambassadors to treat his son as du Bellay is treated in England and that George's household will be honoured and well-kept.
6 Cavendish, The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, Volume 2, 2:21.
7 Starkey, "The King's Privy Chamber 1485-1547," 139–140. Starkey writes that the original Privy Chamber, before the Eltham Ordinances, consisted of "two noblemen (Dorset and Exeter), two Knights of the Body (Weston and Kingston), the Groom of the Stool (Compton), the Treasurer of the Chamber (Wyatt), seven Gentlemen (Tyler, Carew, Bryan, Cheyney, Norris, and Cary), the King's Physician (Chamber), two Gentlemen Ushers (Ratcliff and Palmer), four Grooms (West, Wellisburn, Brereton, and Parker), the King's Barber (Villiard), and the King's Page (Boleyn), or twenty-two persons in all."
8 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 15.
9 Bapst, Deux Gentilshommes-Poetes de La Cour de Henry VIII, 13.
10 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 6539.
11 Wood, Athenae Oxonienses: An Exact History of All the Writers and Bishops Who Have Had Their Education in the University of Oxford, 1:98.
12 Starkey, The Reign Of Henry VIII: The Personalities and Politics, 79 – This is often misquoted as him having "some of Anne's talent and all of her pride." Starkey meant the comment as a compliment, not as a snide remark.
13 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 1: 1534-1535," 198, also LP vii. 871.
14 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 450 – "per una grandissima ribalda et infame sopre tutte".
15 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 13.
16 Starkey, "The King's Privy Chamber 1485-1547," 133–181.
17 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 2: 1515-1518," 1500–1502.
18 Bapst, Deux Gentilshommes-Poetes de La Cour de Henry VIII, 10.
19 ed. Gough Nichols, The Chronicle of Calais In the Reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII to the Year 1540, 24–25. "The lady Boleyne" and "mistres Carie" are listed.
20 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 31.
3) Court Poet
1 Holinshed, Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 4:1613.
2 Wood, Athenae Oxonienses: An Exact History of All the Writers and Bishops Who Have Had Their Education in the University of Oxford, 1:98.
3 Cavendish, The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, Volume 2, 2:20.
4 Bale, Scriptorum Illustrium Majoris Britanniae Catalogus.
5 Ellis, Original Letters, Illustrative of English History, 2:58.
6 Wharton, History of English Poetry from the Twelfth to the Close of the Sixteenth Century, 4:58.
7 Arber, Tottel's Miscellany: Songs and Sonettes (1557-1587), 64
. Here, the poem is attributed to Thomas Wyatt.
8 Walpole, The Works of Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford, 1:528.
9 Harington, Nugæ Antiquæ: Being a Miscellaneous Collection of Original Papers, in Prose and Verse Written During the Reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary, Elizabeth, and King James, 400.
10 Private Correspondence of Horace sWalpole, Earl of Orford, 4:10–11.
11 Bapst, Deux Gentilshommes-Poetes de La Cour de Henry VIII, 139.
12 Ibid., 1–6.
4) Personal Attributes
1 Cavendish, The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, Volume 2, 2:20.
2 Bapst, Deux Gentilshommes-Poetes de La Cour de Henry VIII, 10–12.
3 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 70.
5) Social Pursuits
1 Nicholas, The Privy Purse Expenses of King Henry the Eighth, from November 1529, to December 1532, 72, 76, 144, 145, 195, 209, 210 and 226.
2 St Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters, 1981, 1:671.
3 Ibid., 1:672.
4 St Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters, 1981, 2:175–176.
5 Nicholas, The Privy Purse Expenses of King Henry the Eighth, from November 1529, to December 1532, 34.
6 Ibid., 37.
7 Ibid., 34, 37, 68, 72, 128, 144, 156, 189, 195, 209, 210, 226, 232, 263.
8 Wegemer and Smith, A Thomas More Source Book, 231.
9 "Royal MS 20 B Xxi, Fo. 2v and Fos. 99v-100."
10 Burke, The Book of Gladness/Le Livre de Leesce: A 14th Century Defense of Women, in English and French, by Jehan Le Fèvre, 1–23.
11 Pratt, "The Strains of Defense: The Many Voices in Jean LeFèvre's Livre de Leesce," 113–114.
12 Ibid., 127–128.
13 Brigden, Thomas Wyatt: The Heart's Forest, 100.
14 Warnicke, The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII, 218–219.
15 Ibid.
16 Carley, The Books of King Henry VIII and His Wives, p133.
17 Brigden, Thomas Wyatt: The Heart's Forest, 44–45. Also note 30 on p578.
18 Fox, Jane Boleyn: The Infamous Lady Rochford, 121 and notes on p345. The National Archives record for this manuscript, SP 9/31/2, says "MS. volume, bound in sheepskin. 'The Ordre of Knyghthod, translated out of frenche by T.W. Wyndesore H (Thomas Wall, Windsor Herald) anno 1532'. Undertaken at the instigation of Lord George Rochefort and dedicated to the King. Begun on 9th, finished on16th January. On the leather binding is a fragment of a Percy family tree."
6) Religion
1 Loades, The Boleyns: The Rise and Fall of a Tudor Family, 111.
2 Rosin, "The Reformation Response to Skepticism: Ecclesiastes Commentaries of Luther, Brenz, and Melanchthon," 260.
3 Ibid., 287.
4 Ives, The Reformation Experience, 80.
5 Hughes, Lefèvre: Pioneer of Ecclesiastical Renewal in France, ix,97, 155–156.
6 Bedouelle and Giacone, Jacques Lefèvre d'étaples et Ses Disciples: Epistres et Evangiles Pour Les Cinquante et Deux Dimanches de L'an, 2, 285.
7 Hughes, Lefèvre: Pioneer of Ecclesiastical Renewal in France, 99.
8 Lindberg, "Jacques Lefèvre d'étaples by Guy Bedouelle." Bedouelle sees him as someone who adopted "a middle position" who viewed "a renewed and unified reading of the Bible" as "enough for the needed reformation of the Church."
9 "Harley MS 6561," f. 1v.
10 "Harley MS 6561."
11 Brown and McKendrick, Illuminating the Book, sec. Her moost lovyng and fryndely brother sendeth gretyng – Anne Boleyn's Manuscripts and Their Sources by James P. Carley.
12 Ibid., 268.
13 Ibid., 267.
14 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 299, vii, also mentioned in LP vii. 923.
15 Brown and McKendrick, Illuminating the Book, 272.
16 Lefèvre d'Etaples, "Les Epistres et Evangiles." - The copy of The Epistles used by George for his translation.
17 Gruffudd, "Gruffudd's Chronicle." - The speculation as to where the account originates from is from Carley, Illuminating the Book, p. 277 n. 43.
18 Foxe, The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe, IV:657.
19 Hook, An Ecclesiastical Biography Containing the Lives of Ancient Fathers and Modern Divines, Interspersed with Notices of Heretics and Schismatics, Forming a Brief History of the Church in Every Age, V:561.
20 Eastman, Historic Hever: The Church.
21 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 2: 1536-1538," 91.
22 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 699.
23 Bentley, Excerpta Historica Or, Illustrations of English History, 263. This is just a small part of the speech laid out in Bentley's book.
7) Court Life
1 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 3: 1519-1523," n. 1559.
2 Cavendish, The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, Volume 2, 2:71. Cavendish has Lady Rochford say, "Brought up in the court all my young age".
3 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 3: 1519-1523," n. 2214 (29).
4 Williams, Katharine of Aragon, 261.
5 Ibid., 139.
6 Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, 247–250.
7 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 1939 (14).
8) Marriage
1 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 546 (2).
2 Ibid., n. 1939 (12).
3 Fox, Jane Boleyn: The Infamous Lady Rochford, 39. Fox points out that £80 payment mentioned by Wolsey can only be deciphered by using ultraviolet light on the document.
4 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 1939 (4).
5 Carley, "Parker, Henry, Tenth Baron Morley (1480/81–1556)."
6 Cavendish, The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, Volume 2, 2:72. We know that Jane was attractive because Cavendish has her say, "And when my beauty began to be shent [spent]", which suggests she had been beautiful in her youth.
7 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 1010.
8 Fox, Jane Boleyn: The Infamous Lady Rochford, 36–38.
9 Cressy, Birth, Marriage, and Death: Ritual, Religion, and the Life-Cycle in Tudor and Stuart England, 298.
10 Powell, The Victoria History of the County of Essex, 8:113–124.
11 Nicholas, The Privy Purse Expenses of King Henry the Eighth, from November 1529, to December 1532, 128.
12 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 4779.
13 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5: 1531-1532," n. 751.
14 Nicholas, The Privy Purse Expenses of King Henry the Eighth, from November 1529, to December 1532, 100.
9) Sweating Sickness
1 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 2: 1515-1518," n. 3358. The Venetian ambassador reported, "This disease makes very quick progress, proving fatal in twenty-four hours at the furthest, and many are carried off in four or five hours."
2 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 4430.
3 Creighton, A History of Epidemics In Britain, 1: From AD 664 to the Extinction of Plague:253.
4 Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, xxv.
5 Ibid., xxii.
6 It is possible that the Boleyns had built up some immunity to the disease from its outbreak in 1507 and that the disease had been responsible for the deaths of George's brothers Thomas and Henry.
7 Ibid., xxviii.
8 Ibid., 29.
9 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5: 1531-1532," 306.
PART 2 - Career and Influence
10) The Waiting Game (1527-29)
1 Kelly, The Matrimonial Trials of Henry VIII, chap. 1. This chapter goes into detail on Wolsey's trial in May 1527.
2 Guy, Cardinal Wolsey: A
Student's Guide.
3 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 88–91.
4 Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, vi.
5 Ibid., xiii – xv.
6 Ibid., xxxvii.
7 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 6513, 6514.
8 Cavendish, The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, 214–217.
9 Guy, Cardinal Wolsey: A Student's Guide.
10 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 6075.
11 Ibid., n. 4993 (15), 5248.
12 Ibid., n. 5815 (27).
13 The hospital was moved to new premises on several occasions, but merged with Maudsley Hospital in 1948 under the National Health Service. It remains the oldest psychiatric hospital in the world, but Liverpool Street station now occupies the grounds of the original thirteenth century building.
14 Ibid., n. 6073. Instructions to George Boleyn to travel on embassy to France confirm that he had been restored to the Privy Chamber by November 1529.
15 Ibid., n. 6114.
16 Ibid., n. 6115.
17 Apart from these large annuities, which formed 75 per cent of his income, by the time of his death George was only receiving just over £100 a year in royal offices, farms and grants, not including his income as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports or his income derived from diplomatic missions abroad.
18 Ibid., n. 6026.
19 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 4: Part 1, Henry VIII, 1529-1530," n. 265.
11) Reformation Parliament (1529-36)
1 Lehmberg, The Reformation Parliament 1529-1536, vii., quoting Kenneth Pickthorn in "Early Tudor Government: Henry VIII, 133
George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier & Diplomat Page 28
