The Boleyn family
Although Thomas Boleyn fell from favour after the fall and execution of his daughter, he was a survivor and did not give up. He was active in squashing the rebellion of the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 and he was present at Edward VI's christening in 1537. Eric Ives talks of how he buttered up Cromwell by lending him his chain and Garter badge at one point.1 By 1538, Thomas Boleyn was back properly at court and it was even rumoured that he would marry Margaret Douglas, Henry VIII's niece. However, he did not live long after Anne's fall, dying in March 1539, around a year after his wife. The fact that Henry VIII ordered masses to be said for Thomas's soul is clear evidence that Thomas was back in favour by then.
Elizabeth Boleyn died in April 1538 at Baynard's Castle and was laid to rest in the Howard Chapel of St Mary's Church, Lambeth. Elizabeth had been ill at the time of her daughter and son's arrests in 1536 so it may be that her death was due to that long-term illness.
Anne and George's sister Mary had married William Stafford in 1534 and had escaped the fate of her siblings by being away from court in 1536. Their Boleyn connections seem to have had no adverse effect on the Stafford couple, with William Stafford being chosen to receive Anne of Cleves in Calais in December 1539. The Staffords were in England from January 1540, when Stafford was listed as a Gentleman Pensioner and became an Esquire of the Body. Mary's daughter, Catherine Carey, was appointed as a maid-of-honour to the new queen Anne in April 1540, serving alongside her aunt, Jane Boleyn. In that same month she married Francis Knollys, a Gentleman Pensioner of the King's household. After the failure of the Cleves marriage both Catherine and Jane became ladies to the King's new wife, Catherine Howard. Catherine was able to avoid becoming embroiled in Catherine Howard's fall, but her stepfather was named as giving evidence regarding the Queen and her relationship with Francis Dereham.
Mary Boleyn died in July 1543 and it is not known where she was laid to rest. Stafford remarried in 1552, marrying a distant relation, Dorothy Stafford. The couple was forced into exile, along with Catherine and Francis and their family, when the Catholic Mary I came to the throne in 1553.
Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540)
On 2nd July 1536, Cromwell became Lord Privy Seal, after the resignation of Thomas Boleyn. On 8th July he became Baron Cromwell of Wimbledon. Cromwell's injunctions to the clergy caused unrest resulting in the Pilgrimage of Grace risings in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and other northern counties. However, these were quickly squashed by the King, and Cromwell continued his programme of evangelical reform.
In 1539, Cromwell negotiated the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves, sister of William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, in an attempt to form an alliance between England and Schmalkaldic League of Lutheran princes. Unfortunately, the King did not like Anne when he saw her and blamed Cromwell for forcing him to marry her in January 1540. The King's unhappiness and disillusion allowed Cromwell's opponents to rise up against him and push for his fall. They could never have moved against Cromwell when he stood high in royal favour, but he had failed the king and the king was not willing to protect him. At a council meeting on 10th June 1540, a group led by the Duke of Norfolk got Cromwell arrested and he was taken to the Tower of London. An Act of Attainder was used against him, meaning that he had no trial in which to defend himself. Nonetheless, he was kept alive until the Cleves marriage could be annulled on the grounds of non-consummation. He was executed on 28th July 1540 at the Tower of London and suffered an awful end with a botched execution. It is said that it took three blows to finish him.
Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk (c1484-1545)
Suffolk was prominent as the King's lieutenant in suppressing the rebels of the Pilgrimage of Grace in late 1536, and in 1537 he moved to Lincolnshire on the orders of the King. In December 1539, he led the party which met Anne of Cleves at Dover and was also involved in sorting out the annulment of the marriage in 1540. In the early 1540s, he was involved in Henry VIII's wars with Scotland and France, serving as the King's lieutenant in the North from 1543-1544 and then leading the siege of Boulogne in 1544. He died on 22nd August 1545 at Guildford. His cause of death is unknown. He was laid to rest in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 9th September 1545. Unfortunately, his sons, Henry and Charles, died of sweating sickness in July 1551.
Thomas Audley, Lord Chancellor (1487/8-1544)
On 29th November 1538, Thomas Audley was made Baron Audley of Walden and was elected as a Knight of the Garter in April 1540. The 1539 Parliament's Act of Precedence gave him "precedence over all but dukes of royal blood in parliament, privy council, and Star Chamber."2 He survived the fall of Thomas Cromwell and was the Privy Council's expert on treason. He was involved in negotiating the annulment of the Cleves marriage and, later, in interrogating Catherine Howard. He was also a commissioner at the trials of Culpeper and Dereham and was Lord High Steward at the trials of Henry Pole, Baron Montagu, and Henry Courtenay, marquess of Exeter, in 1538. In 1541 he performed the same role at the trial of Thomas Fiennes, ninth Baron Dacre. On 21st April 1544 he resigned the great seal due to illness and died on 30th April 1544 at his home in London.
Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset (1519-1536)
After the executions of Anne and George Boleyn et al, Richmond was appointed Chamberlain of Chester and North Wales, and Constable of Dover Castle. He was in attendance at the opening of Parliament in June 1536 but became ill in early July 1536. He died on 23rd July 1536 at St James's Palace, probably of a pulmonary infection. He was laid to rest at Thetford Priory but was then moved to St Michael's Church, Framlingham, after the Priory was dissolved.
Eustace Chapuys, Imperial Ambassador (c1491-1556)
Chapuys was responsible for the Lady Mary submitting to her father in 1536 after she was bullied by members of the King's council. In 1536/7, he supported Dom Luis in his bid to be a potential bridegroom for Mary, but the marriage never took place. Chapuys began to suffer with gout in 1539, but this did not stop him being involved in the negotiations which led to Henry VIII and Charles V declaring war on France in 1543. Chapuys accompanied the King's men to France.
Chapuys wanted to retire in 1544 but had to help his successor, Van der Delft, for some time. He was then sent to Bourbourg, near Gravelines, to negotiate until July 1545 when he was finally released from service. On his retirement, Chapuys lived in Louvain, where he founded a college, as well as a grammar school at Annecy. In 1555 he decided that his English pension should go towards setting up a scholarship for English students at Louvain. He died on 21st January 1556 and was laid to rest in the Chapel of Louvain College.3
Jane Seymour (c1508/09-1537)
In May of 1537, it was announced that Jane Seymour was pregnant. Henry VIII was ecstatic, ordering bonfires to be lit in celebration and showering his Queen with gifts and affection. It is said that Jane had a pregnancy craving for quail, so the King ordered the very best quail for her from Flanders and Calais. On 12th of October, after a long and difficult labour, Jane gave birth to Henry's longed-for son, a boy named Edward, at Hampton Court Palace. Within two days of her son's christening, on 15th, Jane became feverish and delirious. After her fever reached crisis point on 17th June, it looked like Jane would begin to recover. However, she started to go downhill again, passing in and out of consciousness. On 24th October 1537, Jane Seymour died. She was buried at Windsor Castle, in St George's Chapel.
The Lady Mary, formerly Princess Mary (1516-1558)
After submitting to her father, and accepting her illegitimacy in June 1536, Mary was rehabilitated back at court and stood as godmother at Edward's christening in October 1537. Mary was close to her father's sixth wife, Catherine Parr, even though their religious views were very different. During her brother Edward VI's reign, Mary opposed the new religious policies and continued to celebrate the mass. In 1550, she nearly fled England, but had a last minute change of heart.
In July 1553, Mary fought successfully for the Crown after Edward VI's named successor, Lady Jane
Grey, was proclaimed Queen. Edward died on 6th July 1553 and Mary was proclaimed Queen Mary I on 19th July. Her first parliament declared her parents' marriage as valid and Mary as legitimate, and Mary quickly set about restoring England's relationship with Rome. She was met with opposition in 1554 when she decided to marry Philip II of Spain and the resulting rebellion, Wyatt's Rebellion, resulted in the executions of Thomas Wyatt the Younger, Lady Jane Grey and Guildford Dudley, amongst others. Mary married Philip on 25th July 1554. Mary suffered two phantom pregnancies but died childless on 17th November 1558. She was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey. Mary is known for being the monarch who lost Calais and for her burning of Protestant martyrs, hence the nickname "Bloody Mary".
Princess Elizabeth (1533-1603)
The annulment of her parents' marriage and her mother's execution saw Elizabeth being demoted to Lady Elizabeth. Elizabeth went from pampered princess, the apple of her father's eye, to ignored bastard. Elizabeth was so forgotten that her governess, Lady Margaret Bryan, had to write a letter to Cromwell begging for him to intercede with the King as Elizabeth had outgrown all of her clothes and her household had no money to buy more. It was Catherine Parr who restored Elizabeth's relationship with her father; and before he died, he added both Mary and Elizabeth back into the line of succession. When Henry VIII died, Elizabeth lived with Catherine Parr and new husband, Thomas Seymour, but Seymour started acting inappropriately with Elizabeth, so she was sent away. Elizabeth lived happily through Edward VI's reign but had problems during Mary I's reign and was actually imprisoned in the Tower of London in March 1554 after Wyatt's Rebellion. She was released on 19th May 1554 but was placed under house arrest in Woodstock until October 1555, when she was allowed to return home to Hatfield.
Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth I on Mary I's death on 16th November 1558. She reigned until her death on 24th March 1603 and has gone down in history as The Virgin Queen and Gloriana.
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500-1558)
Charles V was involved in the Council of Trent, an ecumenical council which opened in 1545 and which began the Counter-Reformation. He worked hard to squash Lutheranism and outlawed the League of Schmalkaden. He suffered from epilepsy and gout. In later life, severe gout led to him having to be carried around in a sedan chair. He abdicated the majority of his titles to his son, Philip, in October 1555 and then retreated into seclusion in a monastery, surrounding himself with clocks. He died of malaria on 21st September 1558.
Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter (1498/9-1538) and Henry Pole, Baron Montagu (1492-1539)
On 4th November 1538, Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu, was arrested for treason. Arrested alongside him were his brother-in-law, Sir Edward Neville, and Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter. The latter's family (wife Gertrude Blount and son Edward Courtenay) were also arrested.
The three men were accused of conspiring against the King, of seeking to deprive the King of his title of supreme head of the church and of plotting with Cardinal Reginald Pole, the exiled brother of Montagu. Montagu's brother, Geoffrey Pole, had been imprisoned in the Tower of London at the end of August 1539 and had implicated Henry Pole during his interrogation on 26th October. Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury and mother of Reginald, Henry and Geoffrey, was interrogated on 12th November by William Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton, and Thomas Goodrich, Bishop of Ely.
Neville was beheaded on 9th December 1538 and Geoffrey Pole was pardoned on the 2nd January 1539, after having attempted suicide several times. Montagu and Exeter were beheaded on Tower Hill on 9th January 1539, and Margaret Pole was eventually executed on 27th May 1541. Exeter's wife was released in 1540 and his son in 1553.
Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Countess of Kildare (d.1548)
Elizabeth died on an unknown date in 1548. Her elder son, Gerald, who had been on the run after forming the Kildare rebellion, returned to England after Henry VIII's death and was restored to his lands.
John Skip (d.1552)
Skip did not suffer because of his association with Anne Boleyn. He was made Master of Gonville Hall and Archdeacon of Suffolk in 1536, rector of Newington in Surrey and Archdeacon in Dorset in 1538, and Bishop of Hereford in 1539. In 1549, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer identified Skip as not fully supporting the new prayer book.4
Sir Nicholas Carew (c.1496-1539)
Carew was chosen to be in charge of the font at Edward VI's baptism in October 1537 and his wife was one of the ladies at Jane Seymour's funeral in November 1537. He was a royal favourite until his arrest on 31st December 1538. He was implicated in the plot which resulted in the executions of Montagu and Exeter. Carew was tried on 14th February 1539 and executed on 8th March on Tower Hill.
Matthew Parker (1504-1575)
Like John Skip, Matthew Parker did not suffer as a result of Anne Boleyn's fall, and was rewarded with various benefices and ecclesiastical preferments during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI. In Mary I's reign, he suffered as a married clergyman and was deprived of his prebend of Ely and deanery of Lincoln. It appears that he sought refuge in Cambridge, where he concentrated on his theological writing. In 1559, during the reign of Elizabeth I, he was made Archbishop of Canterbury and was therefore involved in the synod called to work on Elizabeth's religious settlement. His time as archbishop is known for the vestiarian controversy.
He died on 17th May 1575 at Lambeth Palace. Parker is also known for his collection of more than 700 manuscripts which he bequeathed to Corpus Christi College. They are now housed in the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and in Cambridge University Library. The collection spans from the 6th century Gospels of St. Augustine to 16th century records relating to the English Reformation.5
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (1489-1556)
In the summer of 1536, Cranmer published his "Ten Articles". These defined the beliefs of the new Church of England, the Henrician Church which had been established after the break with Rome. This was followed by "The Bishop's Book". In 1541, Cranmer was chosen as the person to tell the King of Catherine Howard's colourful past, and was involved in interrogating her. In 1543, thanks to support from the King, Cranmer managed to survive a plot against him by clergymen. On 27th May 1544, his "Exhortation and Litany" was published.
Cranmer held the hand of the dying King on 28th January 1547, giving him reformed statement of faith instead of the last rites. He was one of the executors of Henry VIII's will and so was an important of the Lord Protector's administration. In 1549, the Act of Uniformity established "The Book of Common Prayer", which set out the new legal form of worship in England. Its being made compulsory in June 1549 led to the Prayer Book Rebellion. Cranmer was unaffected when Protector Somerset fell and was replaced by John Dudley. In 1552, the Act of Uniformity replaced the Book of Common Prayer with a more Protestant Book of Common Prayer.
On 8th August 1553 Cranmer performed the Protestant funeral rites when Edward VI was buried in the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey. While other reformed clergy fled the country now that the Catholic Mary I was in control, Cranmer chose to stay. Unfortunately, this led to him being imprisoned in the Tower of London and being found guilty of treason. Although he recanted four times, his execution was not cancelled. On the date of his execution he was given the opportunity to publicly recant at the University Church, Oxford. Instead of recanting, Cranmer opened with the expected prayer and exhortation to obey the King and Queen, and then renounced his recantations, saying that the hand he had used to sign them would be the hand that would be punished by the fire first. He was burned at the stake in Oxford on 21st March 1556.
Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder (1503-1542)
Wyatt escaped Anne Boleyn's fall and the King made him an ambassador to the court of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor. However, Wyatt got into trouble again in 1541 when he was charged with treason for making rude comments about the King and for dealing with Cardinal Pole. Wyatt was once again imprisoned in the Tower of London and this time he had no father to secure
his release because his father had died in November 1536. This time, it was Catherine Howard, Henry VIII's fifth wife, who secured his pardon and release, but Wyatt had to agree to return to his estranged wife. In 1542, Wyatt was back in favour and had been restored to his office of ambassador. However, his return to favour was shortlived because Wyatt was taken ill after receiving the emperor's envoy at Falmouth. Sir Thomas Wyatt died on 11th October 1542 at Clifton Maybank House, the home of his friend Sir John Horsey, in Sherborne Dorset. He was laid to rest at Sherborne Abbey. His plain tomb can be found in the Wykenham Chapel of the Abbey.
Sir Thomas Wyatt's son, Thomas Wyatt the Younger, was executed on 11th April 1554 after leading a rebellion, "Wyatt's Rebellion" or "Wyatt's Revolt", against Queen Mary I. Although he was tried and found guilty on 15th March, his execution was postponed in the hope that he would implicate Mary I's half-sister, Elizabeth, in the uprising. Wyatt went to his death protesting Elizabeth's innocence.
Sir Richard Page (d.1548)
Sir Richard Page was released from the Tower of London by 8th July 1536 and in the October was accompanying the King to Welbeck to deal with the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion. By November that year he had been appointed as Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex. In 1539, 1542 and 1544, he received various grants, showing that he was in the King's favour; by 1540 he was lieutenant of the gentlemen pensioners. When the King went to France in July 1544 and Catherine Parr acted as regent, Page was appointed chamberlain in charge of Prince Edward's household at Hampton Court Palace. Page died in London in 1548. He was related to Edward Seymour's wife, Anne Stanhope, by marriage as he had married her mother sometime before 1534.6
The Fall of Anne Boleyn: A Countdown Page 20