George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier & Diplomat

by Ridgway, Claire

  2 "Birth of the English Parliament: Reformation Parliament."

  3 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 119, 123. Rochford was summoned to parliament on 5th February 1533, along with Lords Maltravers and Talbot.

  4 "Folio 94 Rochford MS, a Treatise Delivered to the Convocation of the Clergy on 10 February 1531, by George Boleyn, Lord Rochford."

  5 Lehmberg, The Reformation Parliament 1529-1536, 114.

  6 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5: 1531-1532," n. 1023.

  7 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 529.

  8 Lehmberg, The Reformation Parliament 1529-1536, 258.

  9 "The Act of Supremacy 1534."

  10 Journal of the House of Lords, Volume 1: 1509–1577:58. "MEMORANDUM, quod quinto decimo die mensis Januarii, recepte sunt Litere Procuratorie, in quibus Dominus La Ware, sub Regia gratia absens, (attestante Thoma Cromewell, Armigero,) Dominum Rochford suum constituit esse Procuratorem."

  11 Lehmberg, The Reformation Parliament 1529-1536, 57. Lehmberg concludes that Cromwell arranged it.

  12 Ibid., 218.

  12) The League of Schmalkalden

  1 McEntegart, Henry VIII, the League of Schmalkalden, and the English Reformation, 6.

  2 Ibid., 18.

  3 Ibid., 20–21. McEntegart has translated the original German from PA 409, f0. 23-v, Hessisches Saatsarchiv, Marburg.

  4 Ibid., 21.

  5 Gruffudd, "Gruffudd's Chronicle."

  6 Loades, Thomas Cromwell: Servant to Henry VIII, 24.

  7 Schofield, The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell: Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant, 34–42.

  8 McEntegart, Henry VIII, the League of Schmalkalden, and the English Reformation, 27.

  9 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 8," n. 475.

  10 Ibid., n. 1062.

  11 McEntegart, Henry VIII, the League of Schmalkalden, and the English Reformation, 73–76.

  12 Ibid., 74.

  13) The King's Great Matter

  1 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 5983.

  2 Scheurer, Correspondance du Cardinal Jean du Bellay, 1 1529–1535:96.

  3 Elton, Policy and Police: The Enforcement of the Reformation in the Age of Thomas Cromwell, 161.

  4 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5: 1531-1532," 315.

  5 State Papers, Henry VIII, VII, Part V:219–224. Also LP iv. 6073

  6 "Jean du Bellay to Grand Master Montmorency, 29th December 1529."

  7 State Papers, Henry VIII, VII, Part V:227.

  8 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 6459.

  9 Bapst, Two Gentleman Poets at the Court of Henry VIII: George Boleyn & Henry Howard, 33, note 23: This emerges from a letter written three years later, on 27 January 1533, by the Duke of Norfolk to Grand Master Montmorency (Bibliothèque National, Fonds français, 3040, folio 4): "I am even further astounded how Beda, a deliberate calumniator in the matter of my master the King – and seeing that the King your master promised to my Lord of Rochford that, even were there no other cause than that the said Beda is an enemy of the just matter, not only would he banish him from Paris but from all his kingdom – has been so suddenly recalled; which is far from the expectation of my said master and his council."

  10 "Volumes Consacrés à L'histoire de l'Ordre Du Saint-Esprit. I-CXX « Minutes Du Recueil Pour Servir à L'histoire de l'Ordre et Des Commandeurs, Chevaliers et Officiers de l'Ordre Du Saint-Esprit, Par Clairambault," f. 69. Also mentioned in "Collection des ordonnances des rois de France: Catalogue des actes de François Ier", Tome Premier, p687, 3594. It is dated 1529 but the French New Year started in March. George also received a payment of 2,250 livres in April 1533 (Clairambault f. 72). See MacMahon, Luke, The Ambassadors of Henry VIII, The Personnel of English Diplomacy, c.1500 – c.1550 for more on gifts to ambassadors.

  11 Scheurer, Correspondance du Cardinal Jean du Bellay, 1 1529–1535:p122–123.

  12 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 6245.

  13 Cox, Miscellaneous Writings and Letters of Thomas Cranmer, 259.

  14 Russell, The Works of the English Reformers: William Tyndale and John Frith, 272–273.

  15 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 6539. In LP this letter is incorrectly attributed to July 1530.

  16 Friedmann, Anne Boleyn, A Chapter of English History, 1527-1536, 118.

  17 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 1: 1534-1535," n. 641.

  18 MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer: A Life, 54–59.

  19 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5: 1531-1532," 552, 563, 585.

  20 Ibid., n. 1274.

  21 Hall, Hall's Chronicle, 789–94. The festivities in Calais are set out in detail in Hall'sChronicle, pp. 789-94. It confirms that Lord Rochford travelled in the king's train. Also see, LP, v. 1484 and 1485

  22 Ibid., 794.

  14) Foreign Diplomat

  1 Cox, Miscellaneous Writings and Letters of Thomas Cranmer, 246.

  2 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 180.

  3 Harpsfield, A Treatise on the Pretended Divorce Between Henry VIII and Catharine of Aragon, 234–235.

  4 Cox, Miscellaneous Writings and Letters of Thomas Cranmer, 246.

  5 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 1427.

  6 Ibid., n. 229, 230.

  7 Ibid., n. 229.

  8 Ibid., n. 235.

  9 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 4: Part 2," n. 619.

  10 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 230, Instructions for Lord Rochford, sent to the French court.

  11 Bapst, Two Gentleman Poets at the Court of Henry VIII: George Boleyn & Henry Howard, 50.

  12 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 254.

  13 Ibid., n. 255.

  14 "Jean du Bellay to Jean de Dinteville, 20th March 1533."

  15 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 351.

  16 The French records corroborate Chapuys' mention of a gift from France. George received a payment of 2,250 livres in April 1533 (Clairambault f. 72)

  17 Ibid., n. 561, 562, 563, 583, 584, 585, 601. Anne's Coronation is also described in Wriothesley, Chronicle, pp. 17-22, Hall, Chronicle, vol ii, pp. 798-802

  18 Ibid., n. 556.

  19 Bapst, Two Gentleman Poets at the Court of Henry VIII: George Boleyn & Henry Howard, 53–54.

  20 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 613.

  21 Hall, Hall's Chronicle, 175.

  22 Head, The Ebbs and Flows of Fortune: The Life of Thomas Howard, Third Duke of Norfolk, 2.

  23 Hutchinson, Thomas Cromwell: The Rise and Fall of Henry VIII's Most Notorious Minister, 147.

  24 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 1: 1534-1535," 484.

  25 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 692.

  26 Bapst, Two Gentleman Poets at the Court of Henry VIII: George Boleyn & Henry Howard, 57.

  27 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 891.

  28 Ibid., n. 918.

  29 Ibid., n. 954.

  30 Ibid., n. 973. In a letter from Francis to Bailly of Troyes dated 12 August 1533, Francis writes that he has heard that Lord Rochford has returned from England to the Duke of Norfolk, who has now left Lyon to come to Francis.

  31 Bapst, Two Gentleman Poets at the Court of Henry VIII: George Boleyn & Henry Howard, 61.

  15) Uncle to a Future Queen

  1 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 4: Part 2," n. 1123.

  2 Hall, Hall's Chronicle, 805.

  3 "Lette
rs and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 1111.

  4 Ibid., n. 1125.

  5 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 4: Part 2," n. 1137.

  6 Thurley, The Royal Palaces of Tudor England, 186.

  7 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7," n. 214.

  16) French Alliance Put to the Test

  1 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 1373.

  2 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7," n. 363,364.

  3 Ibid., n. 470.

  4 St Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters, 2:123–124, document 167.

  5 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7," n. 546. In a letter of Martin Valles dated 26 April 1534 he confirms Rochford and Fitzwilliam had arrived at the French court on 21 April and that "they spoke with Francis and he made them great cheer".

  6 Friedmann, Anne Boleyn: A Chapter of English History, 1527-1536, 2:4–7.

  7 St Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters, 2:145, letter 182.

  8 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7," n. 662.

  9 Ibid., n. 661.

  10 Ibid., n. 922 (16).

  11 Ibid., n. 958.

  12 Ibid., n. 980. Chapuys refers to George leaving for France in a dispatch dated 15 July, "Six days ago Lord Rochford set out for France in great haste. I do not know the reason, unless the king thinks that Francis wishes to be excused from the interview, in consequence of what he has said about the Papal authority."

  13 St Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters, 2:204, letter 227a.

  14 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7," n. 958.

  15 Ibid.

  16 Ibid., n. 1013.

  17) Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports

  1 St Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters, 2:100, letter 155a.

  2 Ibid., 2:107, letter 159.

  3 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7," n. 922 (16).

  4 Ibid., 180, letter 212.

  5 Peter Fleming, Anthony Gross, and J. R. Lander, Regionalism and Revision: The Crown and Its Provinces in England, 1200-1650 (Bloomsbury Academic, 1998), 124.

  6 St Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters, 2:480–481.

  7 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 8," n. 911.

  8 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 9 : August-December 1535," n. 22.

  9 Ibid., n. 371 (4).

  10 St Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters, 2:516-517, letter 411.

  11 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7," n. 1478.

  PART 3 - The End of an Era

  18) Crisis at Home and Abroad

  1 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 1: 1534-1535," 20. Lady Rochford's banishment is mentioned in Chapuys dispatches dated 13 October and 19 December 1534, Calendar of State Papers (Spanish), 1534-35, p.280, LP, vii. 1257, 1554

  2 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 9 : August-December 1535," n. 566.

  3 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7," n. 1554.

  4 Wood, Letters of Royal and Illustrious Ladies of Great Britain, from the Commencement of the Twelfth Century to the Close of the Reign of Queen Mary, 2:196.

  5 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7," n. 1263.

  6 St Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters, 1981, 2:304.

  7 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7," n. 1416.

  8 Ibid., n. 1427. Cotton MS. Vesp. F. xiii

  9 See "The King's Great Matter."

  10 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7," n. 1554.

  11 St Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters, 1981, 3:115.

  12 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 7," n. 1554. L&P has "this favour" but Edmond Bapst, quoting from the original letter in the Vienna Archives, writes "disfavour" (Two Gentleman Poets, p78, note 9).

  13 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 324.

  14 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 8," n. 974.

  15 Ibid., n. 632 (13).

  16 Ibid., n. 662.

  17 Ibid., n. 663, 666, 726, 909.

  18 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 1: 1534-1535," 476. Also LP, viii. 826

  19 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 8," n. 760.

  20 Ibid., n. 826. Chapuys reported to the Emperor, "Before speaking to the King he went to the Lady, his sister, and conversed with her a long time."

  21 Ibid.

  22 Ibid., n. 792, 793.

  23 Ibid., n. 776.

  24 Ibid., n. 985.

  25 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 9 : August-December 1535," n. 566.

  19) Oncoming Storm

  1 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 282.

  2 Ibid., n. 141.

  3 Ibid.

  4 Ibid., n. 282.

  5 Ibid. Also Hall's Chronicle, p818, and A chronicle of England during the reigns of the Tudors, from A.D. 1485 to 1559, Charles Wriothesley, p 33.

  6 Lehmberg, The Reformation Parliament 1529-1536, 57, 218.

  7 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 597.

  8 Ibid., n. 409.

  9 Ibid., n. 54.

  10 St Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters, 3:328, letter 677.

  11 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 699.

  12 Ibid., n. 615.

  13 The Register of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (The Black Book), 394–395.

  14 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 715, 752.

  15 The Register of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (The Black Book), 399–401.

  16 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 6 - 1533," n. 555 and LP viii. 174: "Presented the letter in favor of the 'Grand Escuyer' of England, to which he replied that the said place of the Chancellor of the Order was filled by the king of Scotland, and the number of 24 could not be exceeded. On the first vacancy he would remember the said Grand Escuyer." (Palamedes Gontier to Admiral Chabot).

  17 Wriothesley, A Chronicle of England During the Reigns of the Tudors, from A.D. 1485 to 1559, 189–191. Baga de Secretis, Pouch VIII.

  18 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 736.

  20) Arrests

  1 George Constantine, Archaeologia, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, 23:64.

  2 Wriothesley, A Chronicle of England During the Reigns of the Tudors, from A.D. 1485 to 1559, 35.

  3 Ibid., 36.

  4 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 784.

  5 This theory is put forward by Eric Ives (The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 328).

  6 Cavendish, The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, 451–457.

  7 Cavendish, The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, Volume 2, 2:220.

  8 Fox, Jane Boleyn: The Infamous Lady Rochford, 192.

  9 Cavendish, The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, 458.

  10 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 878.

  11 St Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters, 3:356–7.

  12 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 898.

  13 Cavendish, The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, Volume 2, 2:31.

  14 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 2: 1536-1538," 128.

  15 Ives, "Court and County Palatine in the Reign of Henry VIII: The Career of William Brereton of Malpas."

  21) Trial

  1 Cavendish, The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, 445–446.

  2 Wriothesley, A Chronicle of England Du
ring the Reigns of the Tudors, from A.D. 1485 to 1559, 189–226, Baga de Secretis.

  3 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 876.

  4 Schauer and Schauer, "Law as the Engine of State: The Trial of Anne Boleyn."

  5 Schofield, The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell: Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant, 127.

  6 Wilson, A Brief History of Henry VIII: Reformer and Tyrant.

  7 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 2: 1536-1538," n. 61.

  8 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 873.

  9 Wriothesley, A Chronicle of England During the Reigns of the Tudors, from A.D. 1485 to 1559, 36.

  10 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 848.

  11 Ibid., n. 876.

  12 George Constantine, Archaeologia, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, 23:66.

  13 Warnicke, The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII, 4.

  14 ed. Baker, The Reports of Sir John Spelman, 71.

  15 Ascoli, La Grande-Bretagne Devant L'opinion Française Depuis La Guerre de Cent Ans Jusqu'à La Fin Du XVIe Siècle.

  16 St Clare Byrne, The Lisle Letters, 3:378.

  17 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 1036, A précis of De Carles poem relating to the trials of the Boleyns.

  18 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 331–334.

  19 ed. Baker, The Reports of Sir John Spelman, 71.

  20 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 873.

  21 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 11: July-December 1536," n. 29.

  22 Wriothesley, A Chronicle of England During the Reigns of the Tudors, from A.D. 1485 to 1559, 37–38.

  23 Ibid., 38.

  24 Ibid., 39, LP x. 1036.

  25 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 5 Part 2: 1536-1538," 126–8.