The Anne Boleyn Collection II: Anne Boleyn & the Boleyn Family

by Ridgway, Claire

  Anne Boleyn obviously ended up marrying King Henry VIII; but what happened to James?

  • James Butler returned to Ireland in 1528, and in 1530 he married Joan Fitzgerald, daughter and heir of James Fitzgerald, late Earl of Desmond, and then set about being a "warlord". Here are some highlights of his life and career:

  • May 1528 - After he, his father and brothers confronted the Fitzgeralds at Leinster, he was held prisoner briefly by Brian O'Connor Faly, an ally of Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl Kildare.

  • 1532-1533 - James raided the estates of Fitzgerald supporters in County Wexford. It was recorded that "John Sherlock, merchant of Waterford, did cause and procure Perse, Earle of Ossory, and Lord James Butler, to come with their great oste violently, with force and arms unto the parish of Mulrankan in the county of Wexford on the 2nd day of February the 24th year of the raigne of our soveraine lord; and then and there did feloniously take away from Walter Browne of Mulrankan, and John Devereux, and certain goods from James Keating, to the valew of £100 and more; and then the said Lord James Butler with part of the said oste did menace the commonalty of Federt (Fethard on Sea) to have coyne and livery of them; and in eschewing of the same were compelled to pay unto the said James 20 marks."27 He didn't get into trouble for his actions and instead was rewarded by being made Lord Treasurer of Ireland in July 1532.28

  • September 1532 - The Fitzgeralds retaliated by attacking the Butlers in Upper Ossory. James survived, but his brother, Thomas, was killed. In the Calendar of Ormond Deeds, there is the following record:

  "Examination of witnesses made on September 24 in the 25th year of Henry VIII at the request of Piers, Earl of Ossory, by Nicholas Wise, mayor of Waterford, and the privy council of the same, Nicholas, bishop of Waterford and Lismore, and Miles, bishop of Ossory, concerning the assault made on the Lord James Butler and his brethren, and the murder of his son, Thomas Butler..."29

  James testified concerning the involvement of the servants of the Earl of Kildare in his brother's murder, and how the Earl "rejoiced in the murder". Kildare was summoned to England by the King.

  • 1534-1535 - James fought the rebels of the Kildare Revolt and was rewarded by being appointed Lord Admiral of Ireland and Warden of the Ports in May 1535.

  • Autumn 1535 - He was made Viscount Thurles.

  • 1538 - He wrote to Henry VIII of "the longe fraudulent tradicions and detestable abusyons of the papisticall secte" and supporting his reform. He was also friends with Bishop Hugh Latimer.

  • August 1539 - James became Earl of Ormond (9th Earl of Ormond) after the death of his father.

  • 1539 - He successfully challenged Lord Deputy Leonard Grey's position, writing to Cromwell to compare Grey to Kildare, and plotting against Grey. Grey was dismissed in 1540 and executed in 1541.

  • 1544 - He gathered 300 men from Kilkenny and Tipperary to serve in the King's forces in France.

  • November 1545 - He was joint commander, with the Earl of Lennox, of the Irish army which was prepared to invade Western Scotland on behalf of Henry VIII. His biographer, David Edward, writes that "Comprising a force of 2000 kerne, it was reckoned to be the largest Irish levy to serve the English monarchy outside Ireland for 200 years. Although the invasion was aborted near Dumbarton in response to political developments in Scotland, Ormond had attained a position of great importance as one of the King's most trusted and most experienced military commanders."30

  • 1546 - A feud between Ormond and Sir Anthony St Leger, Lord Deputy, led to them denouncing each other. Henry VIII had to intervene and summoned the two men to Whitehall to attend an official enquiry.

  • October 1546 - St Leger was exonerated, but Ormond and seventeen of his followers died of poisoning after a banquet at Limehouse in London. Some believe that Ormond was poisoned by St Leger, but David Edwards writes that "a close examination of the evidence surrounding the fatal banquet does not support this suspicion, revealing that St Leger had neither the motive nor the opportunity to plot such an outcome."31 Edwards further points out that the dying Ormond named St Leger as the supervisor of his will, and so must not have suspected foul play. Chronicler Richard Stanihurst, who helped with Holinshed's Irish Chronicles (Holinshed Volume 6), recorded "For whether it were that one caitife [coward or wretch] or other did poison the meat, or that some other false measures were used."32 Edwards takes this to mean accidental food poisoning, but I don't read it as such.

  Ormond died on 28th October and his body was buried at the Church of St Thomas d'Acres in Cheapside, London. However, his heart was interred at St Canice's in Kilkenny, according to his instructions. He left a wife and seven sons. Stanihurst described Ormond:

  "This earle was a goodlie and personable noble man, full of honour, which was not onelie lodged inwardlie in his mind, but also he bare it outwardlie in countenance: as franke & as liberall as his calling required, a deepe and a farre reaching head. In a good quarell rather stout than stubborne, bearing himselfe with no lesse courage when he resisted, than with honorable discretion where he yielded. A favourer of peace, no furtherer of warre, as one that procured unlawfull quietnesse before upright troubles, being notwithstanding of as great wisedome in the one, as of valour in the other. An earnest and a zealous vpholder of his countrie, in all attempts rather respecting the publike weale than his priuat gaine. Whereby he bound his countrie so greatlie vnto him, that Ireland might with good cause wish, that either he had neuer beene borne, or else that he had neuer deceased; so it were lawfull to craue him to be immortall, that by course of nature was framed mortall."33

  His widow, Joan, went on to marry courtier Sir Francis Bryan, a cousin of Anne Boleyn. After his death, Joan married her cousin, Gerald Fitzgerald, 15th Earl of Desmond. Joan was known as a peacemaker in Ireland and Elizabeth I relied on her to keep the peace between the warring Butlers and Fitzgeralds. Joan died on 2nd January 1565. With the peacemaker gone, war broke out, notably the Battle of Affane between the two families. Joan's son, Thomas, was the victor.

  How different Anne's life would have been if she had married James Butler instead of Henry VIII. It is impossible to "what if?", but it's reasonable to assume that she would have had a life similar to James's wife, Joan.

  • Her home would have been Kilkenny Castle. It may not be as grand as Hampton Court Palace, but it is a beautiful castle with extensive grounds, covering around fifty acres.

  • Joan had seven sons, including Thomas Butler who succeeded his father as 10th Earl of Ormond. Trivia: Thomas met Elizabeth I when they were both children and Elizabeth referred to him as her "black husband". There is even a story that she bore him an illegitimate son, although there is, of course, no evidence of this.

  • Joan was widowed in 1546 when James died of poisoning and, as I have already said, she went on to marry Sir Francis Bryan, and then, after his death, the Earl of Desmond.

  Like Joan, Anne would have been an influential political figure and would have been important to the English monarch for keeping the peace between the Irish factions. However, if Anne had not married Henry VIII, Elizabeth I would never have existed. If Anne had married James Butler, then she certainly would not have been the iconic historical figure she is known as today, but she would still have been important. Papers and books have been written about Joan; I can imagine Anne, with her wit and intelligence, being just as influential as Joan, if not more so.

  Figure 9 - Kilkenny Castle

  Final Thoughts

  As I said earlier, it's impossible to "what if?" If she'd married James then she would never have been executed, but she also wouldn't have been Queen. My good friend Clare Cherry once said of Anne Boleyn and her brother, George, "I think those amazing people would rather have had those ten years in the sunlight than a lifetime in the shadows", and she may well be right. Anne has gone down in history as Queen Anne Boleyn, a saint to some, a witch to others, the subject of a multitude of history books, novels, movies and websites. I doubt that all that would have happened if she'd married
James and moved to Ireland. And who knows what would have happened with Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, and the English Reformation?

  Notes and Sources

  1 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 1: 1509-1514," n. 82.

  2 Carte, The Life of James, Duke of Ormond, Introduction, lxxxiii.

  3 Dean, "Sir Thomas Boleyn: The Courtier Diplomat (1477-1539)," 54.

  4 Carte, An History of the Life of James Duke of Ormonde, 1:xliii – xliv.

  5 Archaeologia: Or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, III:20–21.

  6 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 2: 1515-1518," n. 1277.

  7 Ibid., n. 1230, 1269.

  8 Ibid., n. 1230.

  9 Ibid., n. 1269.

  10 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 3: 1519-1523," n. 1004.

  11 Ibid., n. 1011.

  12 Ibid., n. 1762.

  13 "Calendar of State Papers, Spain: Further Supplement to Volumes 1 and 2," 30.

  14 Ibid.

  15 Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn, 372, note 71.

  16 "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography," chap. James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond and 2nd Earl of Ossory (b. in or after 1496, d. 1546), David Edwards.

  17 Dean, "Sir Thomas Boleyn: The Courtier Diplomat (1477-1539)," 95.

  18 Ibid.

  19 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 3: 1519-1523," n. 3048.

  20 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 3937.

  21 Ibid., n. 3950.

  22 "Calendar of Carew Manuscripts, 1515-1574," 37–39.

  23 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 4: 1524-1530," n. 6083.

  24 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 10 - January-June 1536," n. 1030.

  25 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 12 Part 2: June-December 1537," n. 963.

  26 Ibid., n. 964.

  27 Hore and Graves, The Social State of the Southern and Eastern Counties of Ireland in the 16th Century, 45–46.

  28 "Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 5: 1531-1532," n. 1207.15.

  29 Curtis, "Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume IV: 1509-1547," n. 191.

  30 "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography," chap. James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond and 2nd Earl of Ossory (b. in or after 1496, d. 1546), David Edwards.

  31 Ibid.

  32 Holinshed, Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 6:318.

  33 Ibid.

  7. Anne Boleyn's Love life

  In May 1536, while Anne Boleyn was imprisoned in the Tower awaiting her death, her husband, King Henry VIII, was heard to comment that he thought that "upwards of 100 gentlemen have had criminal connexion with her",1 i.e. that Anne had slept with over one hundred men. I believe that we can put this comment down to bluster, to Henry defending his actions and the treatment of Anne. Even Chapuys was sceptical, commenting that "You never saw a prince or husband show or wear his horns more patiently and lightly than this one does. I leave you to guess the cause of it."2 Obviously Henry was not showing any signs of distress at his wife making a mockery of their marriage, not like he did when he broke down in tears in front of his privy council over Catherine Howard's alleged betrayal. However, even if we put Henry's words down to bluster, Anne Boleyn has been called many names, in the sixteenth century and today, which relate to her sexuality and her love life:

  • The scandal of Christendom

  • Goggle-eyed whore

  • The concubine

  • The putain (whore)

  • Harlot

  • The English Mare

  • The Royal Mule

  These are names used by her enemies, men such as Nicholas Sander, who also wrote of her having an extra finger, a wen and a projecting tooth; and of course by Eustace Chapuys, who just couldn't bring himself to call the woman he viewed as a usurper by her actual name. These men had an agenda, a need to discredit Anne. In addition, Sander may well have been confusing Anne and her sister, Mary, who Francis I allegedly nicknamed his "English Mare". But had Anne done anything to earn herself these nicknames? Had she, as one book's blurb claims, before she met Henry VIII, "wandered down love's winding path....[and] learned its twists and turns during her youth spent at the courts of the Low Countries and France"?3 Let's examine the love life of this fascinating Queen...

  Sinning with the Family Chaplain and Butler?

  According to the afore mentioned Nicholas Sander, Anne was actually banished to France by her father at the age of fifteen because she had "sinned first with her father's butler, and then with his chaplain".4 I think we can take this claim with a very hefty pinch of salt. We know that Anne was sent to Margaret of Austria's court at the age of twelve to finish her education and then, a year later, to France to serve Mary Tudor, Queen of France. She was already in France at the age of fifteen and Sander is the only one to make this claim.

  Corrupted by the French Court

  Alison Weir questions Anne Boleyn's virtue in her recent biography of Mary Boleyn, writing that she had "risked becoming the subject of scandal at the French court".5 Weir uses two pieces of evidence to back this up:

  1. Francis I, King of France, confiding in Rodolfo Pio, Bishop of Faenza: "Francis also spoke three days ago of the new queen of England, how little virtuously she has always lived and now lives, and how she and her brother and adherents suspect the duke of Norfolk of wishing to make his son King, and marry him to the King's legitimate daughter, though they are near relations."6

  2. Eustace Chapuys, imperial ambassador, reporting that Henry VIII had confided in him that Anne had been "corrupted" during her time in France.

  What Chapuys actually reported was that after Anne's fall Henry did not want to marry Madeleine of Valois, Francis I's daughter, because "he had had too much experience of French bringing up and manners".7 Not quite the same as saying that Anne Boleyn had been corrupted.

  There is no evidence to back up Francis I's claim that Anne had lived "little virtuously" and we don't even know that Francis really said it. Surely someone would have warned Henry VIII. before their marriage, if Anne Boleyn had been corrupted in France; scandal would certainly have been attached to her name. Chapuys, one of Anne's main enemies, does not repeat any gossip about her time in France or her alleged sexual experience. Since Anne served the virtuous Queen Claude in France, I suspect that Anne kept her virtue. Anne would have known that her future marriage prospects rested on her keeping her virginity and her reputation.

  First Love – Henry Percy

  Anne Boleyn returned to England in late 1521 after being recalled to marry James Butler, one of her Irish relations, and to serve Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife. According to Cardinal Wolsey's gentleman-usher, George Cavendish, it was in 1523, while Anne was serving Catherine, that she met Henry Percy. Percy was the son and heir of the Earl of Northumberland and a member of Wolsey's household. Anne and Percy fell in love and were apparently intending to marry when Wolsey and the King put a stop to their relationship.

  Cavendish claims that the King ordered Wolsey to stop the marriage because of his "secret affection"8 for Anne, but there is no other evidence that the King was attracted to Anne at this time. It is thought that Henry was involved with her sister, Mary, in 1523, and that the marriage was more likely to have been stopped due to Wolsey's plans for Anne to marry Butler. Anne and Percy were separated and Percy was quickly married off to Mary Talbot. It was not a happy marriage.

  Thomas Wyatt - The Lover Confesseth Him in Love

  In Hilary Mantel's recent novel, Bring Up the Bodies, Henry VIII suspects his wife of having had a sexual relationship with Thomas Wyatt the Elder, poet and courtier, but is there any truth to this claim?

  Figure 10 - Vintage engraving of Sir Thomas Wyatt

  Thomas Wyatt grew up at Allington Castle, around twenty miles fro
m Hever Castle, the Boleyn family home, and he and Anne were a similar age. However, Anne was abroad for her teenage years so they probably did not meet until Anne began serving Catherine of Aragon in the 1520s. Wyatt was a married man, albeit unhappily married. His love for Anne is recorded by his grandson, George Wyatt, in his memoir of Anne Boleyn, The Life of Queen Anne Boleigne.9 George records that when Wyatt first saw Anne at court, he was "surprised by the sight thereof." He also records a story about Wyatt and King Henry VIII arguing over Anne. In this story, Wyatt manages to snatch a jewel from Anne and keeps it as a trophy. Later, when he is playing playing bowls with the King and arguing over a shot, the King points to the wood, showing a finger on which is he is wearing Anne's ring, and declares "Wyatt, I tell thee it is mine". Wyatt, seeing the ring, replies "If it may like your majesty to give me leave to measure it, I hope it will be mine", and then takes Anne's jewel, which was hanging around his neck, and begins to measure the cast with its ribbon. An angry Henry VIII stomped off in search of Anne for an explanation.

  Of course, we don't know the truth of this story, but it could well have been handed down the family. However, it does not mean that Anne and Wyatt necessarily had a relationship. Wyatt's poem, Whoso List to Hunt tells of a man hunting a hind, with little chance of success, and then being forced to withdraw from the hunt because of another hunter. Wyatt may have been referring to his unrequited love for Anne and his forced withdrawal of his suit because of Henry VIII's interest in her: