George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier & Diplomat

by Ridgway, Claire

  Viscount Rocheford

  ALAS! Quod the first, with a full hevy chere,

  And countenance sad, piteous, and lamentable,

  George Bulleyn I am, that now doth appere;

  Some tyme of Rocheford Viscount honorable,

  And now a vile wretch, most myserable,

  That ame constrayned with dole in my visage,

  Even to resemble a very deadly image.

  God gave me grace, dame Nature did hir part,

  Endewed me with gyfts of natural qualities:

  Dame Eloquence also taughte me the arte

  In meter and verse to make pleasant dities,

  And fortune preferred me to high dignyties

  In such abondance, that combred was my witt,

  To render God thanks that gave me eche whitt.

  It hath not been knowen nor seldome seen,

  That any of my yeres byfore this day

  Into the privy councell preferred hath been:

  My soverayn lord in his chamber did me assay,

  Or yeres thryes nine my life had past away;

  A rare thing suer seldom or never hard,

  So yong a man so highly to be preferrd.

  In this my welthe I had God clean forgot,

  And my sensuall apetyte I did always ensewe,

  Esteming in my self the thyng that I had not,

  Sufficient grace this chaunce for to eschewe,

  The contrary, I perceyve, causithe me now to rewe;

  My folly was such that vertue I set asyde,

  And forsoke God that should have been my gwyde.

  My lyfe not chaste, my lyvyng bestyall;

  I forced wydowes, maydens I did deflower.

  All was oon to me. I spared none at all,

  My appetite was all women to devoure,

  My study was both day and hower,

  My onleafull lechery how I might it fulfill,

  Sparyng no woman to have on hyr my wyll.

  Allthoughe I before hathe both seene and rede

  The word of God and scriptures of auctoritie,

  Yet could not I resist this onlefull deede,

  Nor dreade the domes of God in my prosperitie;

  Let myn estatte, therefore, a myrror to you be,

  And in your mynd my dolors comprehend

  For myne offences how God hath made me dissend.

  See how fortune can alter and change hir tyde,

  That to me but late could be so good and favorable,

  And at this present to frowne and set me thus aside,

  Which thoughte hyr whele to stand both firme and stable,

  Now have I found hyr very froward and mutable;

  Where she was frendly now she is at discord.

  As by experience of me Viscount Rocheford.

  For where God list to punysh man of right,

  By mortal sword, farewell all resistence;

  When grace faylyth, honor hath no force or myght,

  Of nobilitie also it defacyth the high preeminence,

  And changythe their power to feeble impotence;

  Then tornyth fortune hyr whele most spedely

  Example take of me for my lewde avoultrie.

  All noblemen, therefore, with stedfast hart entyer,

  Lyft up your corages, and think this is no fable;

  Thoughe ye sit high, conceive yt in your chere,

  That no worldly prynce in yerthe is perdurable;

  And since that ye be of nature reasonable,

  Remember in your welthe, as thing most necessary,

  That all standythe on fortune when she listeth to vary.

  Alas! To declare my life in every effect,

  Shame restraynyth me the playnes to confess,

  Least the abhomynation would all the world enfect:

  Yt is so vile, so detestable in words to expresse,

  For which by the lawe, condempned I am doughtlesse,

  And for my desert, justly juged to be deade;

  Behold here my body, but I have lost my hed.1

  Appendix C

  George Boleyn's Scaffold Speech

  George Boleyn's scaffold speech was the most famous of its day. Its contents became widespread throughout England and Europe, and it was renowned and admired for its eloquence and piety, and for the bravery of the condemned man who gave the speech immediately before his death. For that reason, it is only right that it is set out below in its entirety. One paragraph is in parentheses and this is because it is only reported by one source; it does not form part of any of the main sources. If this section did form part of the speech, then its exact position in the speech is unknown.

  I was born under the law, and I die under the law, for as much as it is the law which has condemned me. Masters all, I am come before you not to preach and make a sermon but to die. And I beseech you all , in his holy name, to pray unto God for me, for I have deserved to die if I had twenty (or a thousand) lives, yea even to die with more shame and dishonour than hath ever been heard of before. For I am a wretched sinner, who has grievously and often times offended; nay in truth, I know not of any more perverse sinner than I have been up till now. Nevertheless, I mean not openly now to relate what my many sins may have been, since it were no pleasure to you to hear them, nor yet for me to rehearse them, for God knoweth them all. Therefore masters all, I pray you take heed from me, and especially ye gentlemen of the court, the which I have been among you, take heed by me, and beware such a fall, and I pray to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, three persons in one God, that my death may be an example to you all, and beware, trust not in the vanity of the world, and especially in the flatterings of the court, and the favour and treacheries of Fortune, which only raises men aloft that with so much the greater force she may dash them again upon the ground. She in truth it is who is the cause that, as ye all witness, my miserable head is now to be severed from my neck; or rather, in greater truth, the fault is mine, and it is I who ought to be blamed for having adventured to lean on fortune, who hath proved herself fickle and false unto me, and who now makes me a sad example to you all and to the whole world. And do you all, Sirs, take notice, that in this my sorrowful condition, I pray for the mercy of God Almighty, and that I do moreover forgive all men, with all my heart and mind, even as truly as I hope that the Lord God will forgive me. And if I have offended any man that is not here present, either in thought, word or deed, and if ye hear of any such, I entreat you heartily on my behalf, pray that he may in his charity forgive me; for, having lived the life of a sinner, I would fain die a Christian man.

  Nor must I fail, while there is still time, to tell you who now hearken to me, that men do common and say that I have been a setter forth of the word of God. I was a great reader and a mighty debater of the Word of God, and one of those who most favoured the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

  [Truly so that the Word should be among the people of the realm I took upon myself great labour to urge the king to permit the printing of the Scriptures to go unimpeded among the commons of the realm in their own language. And truly to God I was one of those who did most to procure the matter to place the Word of God among the people because of the love and affection which I bear for the Gospel and the truth in Christ's words.]

  Wherefore, least the Word of God should be slandered on my account, I now tell you all Sirs, that if I had, in very deed, kept his holy Word, even as I read and reasoned about it with all the strength of my wit, certain am I that I should not be in the piteous condition wherein I now stand. Truly and diligently did I read the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but turned not to profit that which I did read; the which had I done, of a surety I had not fallen into such great errors. Wherefore I do beseech you all, for the love of God, that ye do at all seasons, hold by the truth, and speak it, and embrace it; for beyond all peradventure, better profiteth he who readeth not and yet doeth well, than he who readeth much and yet liveth in sin. God save the King.

  In the sixteenth century, it was not considered appropriate for a convicted
traitor to rail against injustice, or to proclaim their innocence on the scaffold. An honourable death was one where the accused accepted his death as deserved. Whatever other aspect there may have been to his character, George Boleyn seems always have at least tried to be honourable, and he certainly tried to die so. Yet despite the conventions of the day, which he always followed with committed zeal, and which partly guided his final words, the subtle nuance of the entire speech is that of innocence. The beginning of the speech confirms that he is dying only because the law has condemned him, not because he was guilty of the crimes alleged against him. He goes on to say that his death is actually due to the fact that he relied too heavily on fortune, the vanities of the world and flatteries of the court. In other words, he is dying because fortune was against him, not because he was guilty. Again, he could not have expressed his innocence any clearer.

  The fact that some felt that it was an admission of guilt merely confirms that George was far more intelligent than some of those who heard his speech, and his verbal gymnastics were above them, or perhaps it was merely that some of those listening simply heard what they wanted to hear.

  Appendix D

  The Execution Poetry of Sir Thomas Wyatt

  In Mourning Wise Since Daily I Increase

  Sir Thomas Wyatt the Elder wrote this poem to honour the five men who were executed for adultery with Anne Boleyn. It implies that Wyatt thought that these men were innocent.

  In Mourning wise since daily I increase,

  Thus should I cloak the cause of all my grief;

  So pensive mind with tongue to hold his peace'

  My reason sayeth there can be no relief:

  Wherefore give ear, I humbly you require,

  The affect to know that thus doth make me moan.

  The cause is great of all my doleful cheer

  For those that were, and now be dead and gone.

  What thought to death desert be now their call.

  As by their faults it doth appear right plain?

  Of force I must lament that such a fall should

  light on those so

  wealthily did reign,

  Though some perchance will say, of cruel heart,

  A traitor's death why should we thus bemoan?

  But I alas, set this offence apart,

  Must needs bewail the death of some be gone.

  As for them all I do not thus lament,

  But as of right my reason doth me bind;

  But as the most doth all their deaths repent,

  Even so do I by force of mourning mind.

  Some say, "Rochford, haddest thou been not so proud,

  For thy great wit each man would thee bemoan,

  Since as it is so, many cry aloud

  It is great loss that thou art dead and gone."

  Ah! Norris, Norris, my tears begin to run

  To think what hap did thee so lead or guide

  Whereby thou hast both thee and thine undone

  That is bewailed in court of every side;

  In place also where thou hast never been

  Both man and child doth piteously thee moan.

  They say, "Alas, thou art far overseen

  By thine offences to be thus dead and gone."

  Ah! Weston, Weston, that pleasant was and young,

  In active things who might with thee compare?

  All words accept that thou diddest speak with tongue,

  So well esteemed with each where thou diddest fare.

  And we that now in court doth lead our life

  Most part in mind doth thee lament and moan;

  But that thy faults we daily hear so rife,

  All we should weep that thou are dead and gone.

  Brereton farewell, as one that least I knew.

  Great was thy love with divers as I hear,

  But common voice doth not so sore thee rue

  As other twain that doth before appear;

  But yet no doubt but they friends thee lament

  And other hear their piteous cry and moan.

  So doth eah heart for thee likewise relent

  That thou givest cause thus to be dead and gone.

  Ah! Mark, what moan should I for thee make more,

  Since that thy death thou hast deserved best,

  Save only that mine eye is forced sore

  With piteous plaint to moan thee with the rest?

  A time thou haddest above thy poor degree,

  The fall whereof thy friends may well bemoan:

  A rotten twig upon so high a tree

  Hath slipped thy hold, and thou art dead and gone.

  And thus farewell each one in hearty wise!

  The axe is home, your heads be in the street;

  The trickling tears doth fall so from my eyes

  I scarce may write, my paper is so wet.

  But what can hope when death hath played his part,

  Though nature's course will thus lament and moan?

  Leave sobs therefore, and every Christian heart

  Pray for the souls of those be dead and gone.

  V. Innocentia Veritas Viat Fides Circumdederunt me inimici mei

  by Sir Thomas Wyatt, the Elder

  The final verse of this poem shows that Wyatt knew only too well that pleading innocence was no help at all when it came to justice in Henry VIII's court.

  Who list his wealth and ease retain,

  Himself let him unknown contain.

  Press not too fast in at that gate

  Where the return stands by disdain,

  For sure, circa Regna tonat*.

  The high mountains are blasted oft

  When the low valley is mild and soft.

  Fortune with Health stands at debate.

  The fall is grievous from aloft.

  And sure, circa Regna tonat.

  These bloody days have broken my heart.

  My lust, my youth did them depart,

  And blind desire of estate.

  Who hastes to climb seeks to revert.

  Of truth, circa Regna tonat.

  The bell tower showed me such sight

  That in my head sticks day and night.

  There did I learn out of a grate,

  For all favour, glory, or might,

  That yet circa Regna tonat.

  By proof, I say, there did I learn:

  Wit helpeth not defence too yerne,

  Of innocency to plead or prate.

  Bear low, therefore, give God the stern,

  For sure, circa Regna tonat.

  *circa regna tonat means "about the throne the thunder rolls".

  Appendix E

  The Clonony Boleyn Girls and George Boleyn, Dean of Lichfield

  At the 1868 annual general meeting of the Historical and Archaeological Society of Ireland in Kilkenny, a rubbing from the inscription on a tomb slab from Clonony Castle was examined. This slab was known locally as the monument of "Queen Elizabeth's cousins" and reads:

  HERE UNDER LEYS ELIZABETH AND MARY BULLYN DAUGHTERS OF THOMAS BULLYN SON OF GEORGE BULLYN THE SON OF GEORGE BULLYN VISCOUNT ROCHFORD SON OF SIR THOMAS BULLYN EARLE OF ORMONDE AND WILTSHIRE

  The slab was recorded as measuring 7 feet by 4 feet, and being 16 inches in thickness. It was stated that it had been removed from a nearby quarry to the castle in the first quarter of the nineteenth century.1 Reference was then given to an article in The Irish Penny Magazine (September 1833), which told the story of the discovery of the tomb slab.2 According to the magazine article, labourers busy gathering stone for building work near Clonony Castle, in 1803, found a cave about a hundred yards from the castle. In the cave in the limestone rock, "about twelve feet under the surface" and beneath a pile of stones, they found a "large limestone flag" and "a coffin cut in the rock", which contained the remains of two bodies.

  From the inscription on the limestone flag, these remains were identified as second cousins of Queen Elizabeth I, being great-granddaughters of George Boleyn, Lord Rochford. The writer of the maga
zine article went on to ponder how these Boleyn girls ended up "interred in this obscure corner of the King's county", wondering if their father was employed in Ireland during the troubles in Elizabeth I's reign or whether members of the Boleyn family fled from England to Ireland "to escape the fury of King Henry VIII" when Anne Boleyn and her brother fell in 1536.

  When the writer of the article shared the discovery of the tombstone with the Earl of Rosse, who was descended through his mother from Alice, daughter of Sir William Boleyn of Blickling, the Earl showed him portraits of two young women at Birr Castle. Nobody knew who they were, but the paintings were marked "Anno aetatis 18" and "Anno aetatis 19" and "Anno Dni 1567, meaning that the girls were in their 18th and 19th years when they were painted in 1567, and the Earl suggested that these were portraits of Elizabeth and Mary Boleyn. The portrait of the girl thought to be Mary pictured her with a marigold, for "Mary", stuck behind an ear while the other girl was pictured wearing a jewel in the form of an "E" for Elizabeth. Both the Earl and the writer of the article became convinced that these girls were the Boleyn girls of the tomb.

  Birthdates of 1548 and 1547, however, make no sense if these girls are meant to be granddaughters of George Boleyn. Lady Rosse, the present owner of Birr Castle, believes the girls depicted in the portrait to be Margaret and Elizabeth Clere, daughters of John Clere of Ormesby St Margaret, Norfolk, who was the son of Robert Clere and Alice Boleyn, Anne Boleyn's paternal aunt.3 The present Earl of Rosse descends from the Cleres through his great-great-great-great-grandmother, Mary Clere. When I researched the Cleres, I found that Margaret Clere married Walter Haddon (1514/1515-1571) and gave him four children. Haddon remarried in December 1567 so Margaret must have been dead by this time and it appears unlikely that she would have been 18 at her death in 1567, the year she was said to have been painted. However, there appears to be a Boleyn link as the paintings came into the Parsons family (the Earl of Rosse's family) at the same time as a head and shoulder portrait of Anne Boleyn.3

  Lady Rosse believes, and I agree with her, that the girls from the portraits are not the girls of the Clonony tomb. Both pairs of girls are linked to the Boleyns, with regards to the Clere family and the tombstone inscription, but they cannot be the same sisters.