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

by Ridgway, Claire

  The

  Anne Boleyn

  Collection II

  The Anne Boleyn Collection II

  Copyright © 2013

  MadeGlobal Publishing

  KINDLE VERSION

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.

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  Dedication

  In memory of Eric Ives (1931-2012) whose passion for Anne Boleyn was contagious.

  To Tim, Christian, Verity and Joel,Always and forever.Xxxx

  "If any person will meddle with my cause, I require them to judge the best."

  Queen Anne Boleyn, 19th May 1536

  Acknowledgements

  This book is the result of over four years of research and hard work, but it would never have been published had I not received the ongoing support and encouragement of the following people:

  Tim Ridgway – My husband, my publisher and the techie guy who keeps The Anne Boleyn Files website online.

  Clare Cherry – A fellow history researcher who has become a valued friend.

  Leanda de Lisle – A wonderful historian who inspires me and encourages me.

  Dawn Hatswell – An Anne Boleyn Files visitor who has become a true friend.

  Roland Hui – For the use of his beautiful miniature of Anne Boleyn for the front cover of this book.

  The online Tudor community – The historians, bloggers, Facebook pages and Anne Boleyn Files visitors who debate with me, encourage me, give me feedback and who prove that I'm not alone in my Tudor fascination.

  Sarah Franklyn – The editor who catches all the typos and who turns my sentences round so that they actually make sense.

  Thanks also to Teri Fitzgerald, Olivia Peyton and Gareth Russell.

  Figure 1 - Anne Boleyn Engraving

  Contents

  1. The Origins of the Boleyn Family

  2. Anne Boleyn's Birth Date

  3. Anne Boleyn's Royal Blood

  4. Anne Boleyn, the Court of Margaret of Austria and the French Court

  5. Did Anne Boleyn actually go to Mechelen and France?

  6. Anne Boleyn and James Butler

  7. Anne Boleyn's Love life

  8. Anne Boleyn, Nanny McPhee and Nicholas Sander

  9. 29 May 1533 – Anne Boleyn's Coronation River Pageant

  10. 30 May 1533 – The Knights of the Bath

  11. 31st May 1533 – Anne Boleyn's Coronation Procession

  12. 1st June 1533 – Anne Boleyn's Coronation

  13. Anne the Mother

  14. Pregnancies and Miscarriages 1533-1536

  15. Anne Boleyn and the Charge of Witchcraft

  16. Anne Boleyn, Mary Boleyn and Little Henry Carey

  17. Anne Boleyn and Charity

  18. Anne Boleyn and the Tower of London

  19. Thomas and Elizabeth Boleyn, Parents of Anne Boleyn

  20. George Boleyn, Lord Rochford – Fiction versus Evidence

  21. Jane Boleyn (née Parker) – History's Scapegoat

  22. Mary Boleyn – One Big Boleyn Myth

  23. The Boleyns and Religion

  Further Reading

  Illustrations

  Bibliography

  Introduction

  My journey into the world of the Boleyns began in January 2009 when I started researching the life of Anne Boleyn. I decided to blog about my research, never dreaming that anyone would read my ramblings, but by summer 2009 I had built up a regular following. I took the step to give up my freelance-writing business and, instead, work full-time on my history research and writing; I've never regretted it. I spend my days, and most weekends, surrounded by books and documents, but history is my passion and I feel blessed to be able to dedicate myself to its study.

  I published my first book, The Anne Boleyn Collection, in February 2012 and was thrilled with the response. It was an unusual book in that it was a collection of articles, rather than a normal history book, and it was also written in a chatty style. I wasn't sure how it would be received, but emails and reviews that said that reading my book was like having a coffee with me and chatting about history proved that readers 'got' what I was trying to do. My aims have always been to get to the truth (or as near to it as possible), to debunk the myths and 'accepted truths' by using primary sources, to challenge perceptions based on fiction, and to share my findings in an understandable way. Much of what I find is open to interpretation and up for debate, but that is what is exciting about history; it's not dead, it's living and breathing. I learn so much by sharing my research and my opinions, and then entering into a debate with visitors to The Anne Boleyn Files. There's nothing better than bouncing ideas off each other.

  The Anne Boleyn Collection II is a second volume of articles, but this time they're not just off the website, many of them are previously unpublished pieces based on talks I've done and research I've carried out on Anne Boleyn and the Boleyn family. I've included full references and a bibliography so that you can check the sources for yourself and come to your own conclusion. I am always happy to discuss my research, so please feel free to contact me at claire@theanneboleynfiles.com, or to comment at www.theanneboleynfiles.com or on The Anne Boleyn Files Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/theanneboleynfiles.

  1. The Origins of the Boleyn Family

  Genealogists, historians and researchers have been discussing Anne Boleyn's roots for centuries and today there still does not seem to be a complete agreement over the origins of the Boleyn family. I am no genealogy expert, but I've been researching the Boleyns full time since early 2009. This chapter is a presentation of my findings and a discussion of the various theories.

  A Fabricated Family Tree?

  In his 19th century biography of Anne Boleyn, Paul Friedmann accused Anne Boleyn of fabricating her family tree in December 1530:

  "Anne became daily more overbearing. The latest Anne's exploit in her honour had been the fabrication of the wonderful pedigree, in which good Sir William Bullen the mercer was represented as the descendant of a Norman knight. Though these pretensions were laughed at, and though Anne's aunt the duchess freely told her what they were worth, she was nowise abashed."1

  This accusation was based on a letter written by Eustace Chapuys, the imperial ambassador, in which he reported the Duchess of Norfolk scoffing at Anne Boleyn's family tree.2 However, no details of this family tree were given, and Chapuys is the only source for this claim. We also know that Elizabeth Howard, Duchess of Norfolk, was no friend of Anne's at this time so she may well have made fun of anything that her niece did. There were plenty of reasons for the Duchess to dislike Anne and her rise at court:

  • Anne's relationship with Elizabeth (Bess) Holland, the Duke of Norfolk's mistress. When Anne became Marquis of Pembroke in 1532, two years later, Bess was appointed as one of her ladies.

  • The Duchess was "hypersensitive about her status"3,4 and Eric Ives writes of how she had previously "clashed with Queen Katherine by claiming she took precedence over the duke's step-mother, the dowager duchess" and yet "now her niece went ahead of both of them!"5 The Duchess was the eldest daughter of the late Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, a man who'd been the premier peer in England.

  • An
ne Boleyn and the Duchess had clashed over the marriage of the Duchess's daughter, Mary Howard. The King and Anne felt that Mary should marry Henry Fitzroy, Henry VIII's illegitimate son,6 but the Duchess disagreed. An argument between Anne and her aunt nearly led to the Duchess being banished from court.

  • The Duchess supported Catherine of Aragon and even sent Catherine a secret message hidden in an orange.7

  It is little wonder that "by Christmas 1530 the duchess's Stafford blood could not resist some acid comments on the upstart Boleyns."8

  But perhaps we should take Chapuys' words with a healthy pinch of salt. Chapuys saw Anne as the King's "concubine" and did not like her; his loyalty lay with Catherine of Aragon. Also, in his report, Chapuys says "Lon ma dict que la duchesse…", i.e. "Someone told me that the duchess…", so this was second hand information.

  The French Connection

  We don't know exactly what was on the family tree mentioned by Chapuys, nor who was responsible for it, but many believe that the Boleyns did in fact originate in France. Joanna Denny wrote of the Boleyns as "an upwardly mobile family originating from the English-held territories in France",9 noting that "Baldwin de Bolon came from Boulogne, which in the Chronicles of Calais is spelt 'Boleyn'." In the 17th century, Julien Brodeau wrote:

  "Si l'on remonte plus haut, on trouuera que la famille des Boulens vient de France, & est bien plus ancienne. L'ay un tiltre du Samedi apres la S. Martin 1344, de Baudonin de Biaunoir, Sire d'Avesnes proebe de Peronne, qui nomme entre ses hommes de fief Vautier de Boulen."10

  Here, Brodeau is saying that the Boleyns were an ancient family from France and that there was a Walter de Boulen who held land in Peronne, in the Picardie region of northern France, in 1344. He went on to say that the family were linked, by marriage, to the family of "Moulin, Seigneurs de Fontenay en Brie". Hence the links with Brie, or Briis-sous-Forges, where a tower called the Tour d'Anne Boleyn still stands today.

  Friedmann, however, was sceptical of the Boleyns' links to France, calling the idea "fantastic" and writing that "all that is really known of Anne's origin is that her great-grandfather, Geoffrey Boleyn, was a wealthy London merchant. He was elected alderman, and in due time arrived at knighthood and the dignity of Lord Mayor." But in my reading and research on the Boleyns, I have found that most historians and genealogists do believe that the Boleyns had their origins in France, with some believing that they were descended from the Norman Counts of Boulogne and others believing that they came over later as merchants.

  The Counts of Bolougne

  Those who believe that the Boleyns descended from the Counts of Boulogne say that the Counts came over in the 11th century with the Norman invasion and settled in Martock, Somerset, and parts of Surrey.11 It is alleged that Simon de Boleyne (or de Boulogne) then moved to Norfolk: records show that he held lands in the Salle area in the mid 13th century. Salle is, of course, just a few miles from Blickling, where it is thought that Anne Boleyn was born. Furthermore, St Peter and St Paul Church, in Salle, is the resting place of Geoffrey Boleyn (d.1440) and his wife, Alice, Anne's great-great grandparents.

  In "The Battle Abbey Roll",12 the Duchess of Cleveland describes how the lineage of the Counts of Bolougne (Eustace I, II and III) continued in England after the Norman invasion. She explains that Pharamus de Boulogne "held lands in England of the Honour of Boulogne, which then consisted of 112 knight's fees" and that "in the Liber Niger we find Herebert de Buliun holding half a knight's fee of Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk; and William de Bolein holding one fee in York and one in Lincoln". The Duchess goes on to say that the name Boleyn, with its various spellings, came from 'de Boulogne' and that the authors of the Recherches sur le Domesday concluded that this English branch of the Counts of Bolougne "may possibly have been an illegitimate one."13 I looked up this information in the Recherches sur le Domesday and it said that a daughter of the last descendant of Ernulf d'Ardes (or Ardres) married an illegitimate son of the Counts of Boulogne and that the resulting family in England took the name of "Bouloigne", or, "by corruption, 'de Bouleyn'."14

  The Norman People and their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States of America,15 under "Boleyn – Queen Anna Boleyn", records how Anne was "lineally descended from John de Boleyne of Sall, living 1283, whose father Simon purchased lands in Norfolk by fine 1252" and also records that "In 1165 Herebert de Buliun held half a knight's fee from Roger Bigod, E. of Norfolk (Lib. Niger). At the same time William de Bolein held 1 fee in York and 1 in Lincoln; which shows that there were then two branches of the family in England. Accordingly, in the preceding generation, Eustace and Simon de Bologne, brothers of Pharamus de B., are mentioned in a charter of the latter (Mon. Ang. i. 583)." It goes on to say that the Counts of Boulogne were "descended from Angilbert, a Frank noble, who m. Bertha, dau. of the Emperor Charlemagne, and before 790 was created Duke of the maritime territory afterwards styled Ponthieu" and that Eustace I of Boulogne was the ancestor of the Boleyn family.

  There are many efforts in online ancestry groups and websites to establish the connection between the Boleyns of Salle and the Counts of Bolougne. The general consensus is that Pharamus de Bolougne was the father of William de Bolein/Boleyne, who, in turn, was the father of the Simon de Boleyne who held lands in Norfolk ca.1253. His son, John de Boleyne of Salle, is mentioned in 1283.

  The Research of Reverend Canon Parsons

  In 1935, the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society's journal published an article entitled "Some Notes on the Boleyn Family," written by the Rev. Canon W. L. E. Parsons, Rector of Salle.16 Parsons used a variety of primary sources to try and establish the roots of the Boleyn family, including contemporary wills and the Court Rolls of the manors of Salle and Stinton.

  Figure 2 - Boleyn Family Tree, Parsons

  The earliest evidence he could find for Boleyns having lived in the Salle area was regarding John Boleyn and William Boleyn in the 13th century. In the Register of Walsingham Abbey, a "John Boleyn" was mentioned in 1283. There is also a record of the Prior of Walsingham suing William Boleyn of Thurning, who was Prior's Bailiff in Salle, for an account. In this record, John Boleyn was acting as a surety.

  The next Boleyn that Parsons could find was Nicolas Boleyn of Salle, who was accused of theft in either 1318 or 1338. A Court of Rolls entry mentions him in 1333: "Nicolas Boleyn for damage done to pastures and trees of the Lord: he is ordered to repair the bank between the Lord and Nicolas." Another John Boleyn then comes up in the records, firstly in 1333 and then regularly after the Black Death, which he fortunately survived. The mentions include John paying "the Lord" fines and rent, serving on the jury of a coroner's inquest in 1363 and being fined for trespass in 1369. It appears that he died sometime shortly after 1369 and that his lands were passed to a "Thomas Bulleyn of Salle", who is thought to be his son. Thomas is mentioned at various time in the records. Examples include Thomas and his wife, Agnes, appearing on a list of indulgences granted by Pope Boniface IX, and the following record in the Court of Rolls in 1399: "Thomas gave to Geoffrey his son one messuage in Salle without leave." It is believed that he died in or around 1411.

  Then, we have the first Geoffrey Boleyn of Salle, son of Thomas. His first mention after 1399 is in 1408, with regard to timber for the building of the church at Salle. It appears that he had some involvement in the building of the church and we know that his father left money for the glazing of a south aisle window. Geoffrey frequently crops up in the records; there are mentions of his landholdings, of him trespassing, of fines paid and of the selling of barley and oat straw for thatching. According to the Survey of Stinton Manor 1430-40, Geoffrey held twenty-three parcels of land, but it appears that he was a tenant farmer, rather than the lord of the manor. He died in 1440 and was laid to rest in Salle Church. His brass has the inscription "Here lie Geoffrey Boleyn, who died 25th March, 1440, and Alice his wife and their children: on whose souls may God have mercy. Amen." His children included Cecily, who was buried at Blickling;
Geoffrey, Lord Mayor of London, and Thomas, a priest and Master of Gonville Hall, Cambridge, from 1454-72. Thomas also served the King, by attending the Council of Basle. Interestingly, Parsons found a piece of evidence from the 1463 de Banco Rolls which linked Thomas the priest with Nicolas Boleyn and established the family tree:

  "Thomas Boleyn, clerk, seeks against William Doreward and others, the Manor of Calthorpe, called Hookhall, as his right and inheritance in which William, etc. have no entry, except after the disseisin which Bartholomew Calthorpe, Kt., made to Nicolas Boleyn, kinsman of the said Thomas, who is his heir. Thomas says that Nicolas was seized of the Manor as of fee and right in the reign of Edward III. And took the explees, and from the same Nicolas descended the right to Thomas as son and heir, and from Thomas to Geoffrey as son and heir, and from Geoffrey to this Thomas, who now seeks as son and heir."

  This piece of evidence shows that this line of the Boleyns was descended from Nicholas Boleyn, not from the John Boleyn who also appears in the records in the 1330s, and that they weren't just holders of land under the Lord but they owned the manor of Calthorpe "as of fee and right". The manor of Calthorpe later belonged to William Boleyn (d.1505) so it appears that the Boleyns did have rights to it.

  The next Boleyn is the man who is credited as bringing the family to prominence: Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, a successful merchant and Lord Mayor of London. Geoffrey was favoured by Sir John Fastolf and travelled with him to London. There, he became a wealthy merchant and important subject of King Henry VI. He married into the nobility, by taking as his second wife Anne, daughter of Lord Hoo and Hastings (his first wife was called Dionise). He served as Sheriff of London and also of Middlesex; and he bought Blickling manor from Fastolf, although it took him a while to pay for it because he also lent the King £1246 to pay for the expedition to France. He became Lord Mayor in 1457, died in 1463, and was buried in the Chapel of St. John in the Church of St. Laurence, Jewry, London. Unfortunately, the church was destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire. His children included Alice, who married Sir John Fortescue; Isabel, who married William Cheyney; Anne, who married Sir Henry Heydon of Baconsthorpe; Thomas, who died in 1471; and William, who married Margaret Butler, daughter of the Earl of Ormond. William was made a Knight of the Bath during Richard III's coronation celebrations and served as Sheriff of Norfolk from 1500 to 1501. He died in 1505 and was buried in Norwich Cathedral.