George Boleyn

[George Boleyn]

1500: George Boleyn was born at Blickling Hall, Norfolk, England

George Boleyn was the son of Sir Thomas Boleyn and Lady Elizabeth Howard. George was the maternal nephew of the Duke of Norfolk

His sisters were Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn

Anne and George Boleyn were always close but Mary was not as bright as her brother and sister and always an outsider

The family home was at Hever Castle in Kent

During the early years of George Boleyn was extremely well educated and was taught by a French governess and was tutored at home

As was the tradition in many noble Tudor families George Boleyn was sent to the court of Henry VIII as a page and then as he became older a squire - Duties of a Page and Squire

George Boleyn was first mentioned in court records when he played a part in the 1514-1515 Christmas
revels

George was assigned to the household of Cardinal Wolsey and held a post in the Privy Chamber.

George Boleyn was a popular member of the Tudor court

In 1525, George Boleyn married Jane Parker, daughter of Henry Parker, Lord Morley. It was an arranged marriage and a particularly unhappy one. Jane Parker had an unpleasant personality and was deeply jealous of the close relationship which George Boleyn shared with his sister Anne

His popularity at court gained him entrance to the inner circle of King Henry VIII. This was also aided by the fact that his sister Mary Boleyn had become the mistress of the King

In 1526 he became cupbearer to King Henry VIII but there was also another change in the fortunes of the Boleyn family. King Henry had tired of his sister Mary but his attention had turned to his favourite sister Anne Boleyn

As his sister Anne rose in favour with the King so did George. King Henry VIII was totally obsessed with Anne. And, unlike her sister Mary, Anne was shrewd and ambitious. She wanted favours granted to her and her family. And, at this time, what Anne Boleyn wanted the King gave to her

In 1528 George Boleyn was appointed as a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber

In October 1529 George Boleyn was knighted and the title of Earl of Rochford was conferred on George Boleyn. The only problem George Boleyn had was with his vindictive, spiteful and jealous wife, Jane Parker - now referred to as Jane Rochford

Jane Rochford was excluded from the witty and clever circle of the King, Anne and George Boleyn. Jane resented the close relationship between Anne and George Boleyn

In December 1529 George Boleyn followed in his father's footsteps and undertook an assignment as a diplomat in France

The fate of George Boleyn became entwined with his sister Anne. He supported Anne in her pursuit to become Queen of England

1532: Anne Boleyn became pregnant
1533 January 25th : King Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn
1533 September 7th: Queen Anne Boleyn gave birth to a baby girl who would become Elizabeth I
1534: King Henry VIII broke with the Catholic church in Rome and the Act of Supremacy was passed making King Henry VIII head of the Church of England. George Boleyn was instrumental in coercing the clergy to adhere to the Act - he was a great supporter of religious reform
1535: The marriage of Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII was failing. Anne miscarried. The King turned his attention to a lady-in-waiting called Jane Seymour. The fortunes of George Boleyn declined as his sister's position with the King deteriorated
Rumours about Anne circulated and men who were part of her faction disappeared one by one. Mark Smeaton, Sir Thomas Wyatt, Sir Francis Weston, William Brereton and Sir Henry Norris
1536 May 2nd: George Boleyn was one of the men questioned and arrested, accused of Incest and Treason
May 15th 1536 George Boleyn was tried for treason and incest in the Great Hall of the Tower of London with his sister Anne
His wife, Jane Rochford testified against him
His father, Thomas Boleyn the Earl of Wiltshire, was no help. He denounced the crimes of all the men accused and tried Mark Smeaton, Sir Francis Weston, William Brereton and Sir Henry Norris who were condemned to death. King Henry excused Thomas Boleyn from the task of condemning his own children, Queen Anne and George Boleyn
1536 May 17th 1536 George Boleyn was taken to be executed on Tower Hill
The last words of George Boleyn were: "Trust in God and not in the vanities of the world; for if I had so done I think I would not have found myself here before you condemned to die."

[George Boleyn]

GEORGE BOLEYN
Linguist, translator, poet, diplomat


EARLY LIFE

George and his sisters were probably born in Norfolk at his family's home of Blickling Hall.However, they spent most of their childhood at another of the family's homes, Hever Castle in Kent, which became their chief residence in 1505 when Thomas inherited the property from his father.


George was introduced to Henry VIII's court at the tender age of ten, when he attended the Christmas festivities of 1514–15
he became one of the King's pageboys shortly afterwards.
Since learning was highly praised at Court and essential for a career as a diplomat, George received an excellent education, speaking fluent French together with some Italian and Latin.

FIRST TIME IN FRANCE

George may have spent time in France as a child when his father was on embassy from January 1519
George attended the University of Oxford when he was not in attendance at Court

MARRIAGE
he married Jane Parker sometime during 1525. They were certainly married by January 1526. It had been thought that George Boleyn, dean of Lichfield, may have been their son
GEORGE gained a place on the Privy Council in 1529
HE WAS appointed Ambassador to France in October 1529
Whether or not the marriage of George and Jane was happy, George had a reputation as a womaniser.

DIPLOMAT
When George was not abroad he often escorted foreign diplomats and ambassadors into the King's presence. Chapuys in particular regularly refers in his dispatches to meeting "the ladies brother". In October 1529, immediately prior to George's first embassy abroad he was instructed to escort Chapuys on his first audience with the King. Chapuys refers to meeting "a civil gentleman named Bollen". Ironically Chapuys had liked George, before he became aware who he was.

RELIGIOUS
In addition to his diplomatic career George was an acknowledged court poet of considerable merit, and was also much admired as a talented linguist and translator. He was passionate about religious reform and translated from French into English two magnificent religious texts as presents for his sister Anne, which he dedicates "To the right honourable lady, the Lady Marchiness of Pembroke, her most loving and friendly brother sendeth greetings."

the translations codify the Lutheran doctrine which both Anne and George were so immersed in, and emphasise the joint commitment of both siblings to reform of the Church. When Anne was sent a religious pamphlet by Simon Fish, "A Supplication for the Beggars", it was George, according to Fish's wife, who encouraged Anne to show it to the King.
In matters of religion Anne and George Boleyn were very much a team. Though Anne had far greater influence due to the King's infatuation with her, her brother clearly identified both of them with the new religious ideas.

1528
In June 1528, George contracted the disease known as sweating sickness whilst with the King and Catherine of Aragon at Waltham Abbey. In a letter to Anne, who also contracted the disease while at Hever Castle, Henry told her of her brother's illness and recovery.

Later that year, George was appointed Esquire to the Body and Master of the King's Buckhounds in 1528.
Throughout the late 1520s grants continued to be bestowed upon him.
On 15 November 1528 he became keeper of the Palace of Beaulieu

1529
on 1 February 1529 was appointed chief steward of Beaulieu (later in October 1533 he would be granted a life interest in the Palace).
On 29 July 1529 he was appointed Governor of Bethlehem Hospital (Bedlam), which was a profitable sinecure.

George's diplomatic career took off in late 1529 when he was knighted and regained his former position as a member of the Privy chamber.
It was also in December 1529 that he was ennobled as George, Viscount Rochford, and undertook his first assignment as a diplomat to France as Ambassador

EMBASSIES IN FRANCE
Irrespective of his age, George quickly established a good relationship with the King of France and did well in his first embassy. George attended a total of six foreign embassies to France.
The first was between late October 1529 and late February 1530. George attended with John Stokesley, the Dean of the Chapel Royal.Their mission was to encourage the universities of France to support Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon. The universities' response was initially negative, but George encouraged King Francis to write a strong letter in favour of the divorce, which was later used to reverse the universities' decision.



The second was in March 1533 when he informed the King of France of his sister's marriage to the King of England. George was also instructed to encourage Francis into giving Henry more support, and following a lengthy debate George succeeded in obtaining a letter from Francis asking the Pope to concede to Henry's wishes.Not everyone was happy with George's success. The Bishop of Rome, who had found George's youth so amusing, described him as "the most unreasonable young man who ever crossed the sea". Yet despite the criticism Du Bellay grudgingly gave praise for the respect George Boleyn inspired at the meeting and the strength with which he argued the case.

George turned two French books into magnificent presentation manuscripts for his sister. The manuscripts were based on works by Jacques Lefevre d’Etaples entitled, ‘Les Epistres et Evangiles des cinquante et deux sepmaines de I’an’ (The Epistles and Gospels for the Fifty-two Weeks of the Year) and ‘Book of Ecclesiastes’.

George's third embassy was between May and August 1533 when he travelled to France with his Uncle the Duke of Norfolk to be present at a proposed meeting between the King of France and the Pope. It was during this mission that news reached them that the Pope had excommunicated Henry. It was George who returned to England to inform Henry of the Pope's actions.

His fourth embassy was in April 1534 when George was again appointed to encourage the French King to give more support to Henry's cause, to pass similar legislation against the Pope as had been passed in England, and to arrange a meeting between the two Kings and Anne.

In June 1534, George was appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle.From Thomas Cromwell's point of view, George's influence as Lord Warden was a thorn in his side.

In July 1534, George once again attended the French court, this time to rearrange the meeting that had been arranged between the kings due to Anne's pregnancy (she later miscarried). In George's instructions is a passage stating he is one who the King "specially loveth and trustith".


On 26 November 1534, George wrote to Cromwell expressing fury that Cromwell had undermined one of his orders made as Lord Warden.

In 1535 he was one of the special commissioners at the trial of Sir Thomas More and at the trial of three Carthusian Monks, all of whom, because of their religious convictions, had been unable to swear allegiance to the Acts of Succession and Supremacy which had been passed the previous year. George, his father, the King's illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy and all other courtiers of rank were present at the monks' brutal executions which took place on 4 May 1535

George's final embassy was in May 1535 when he and his uncle were appointed by the King to negotiate a marriage contract between the King of France's third son and the baby Princess Elizabeth, George's niece


GEORGE'S FAIL

On 23 April 1536 George was expected to be chosen to receive the Order of the Garter, but the honour went to a known opponent of the Boleyns.The following day Henry gave instructions to Cromwell to set up a special commission looking into various treasons.

1 may 1536 - Jousting - George, one of the principal jousters

Anne and George were arrested on 2 May 1536 the day after the May Day joust at which George was one of the principal jousters.

George stood trial a few hours after Anne on Monday 15 May.
As Anne had been found guilty before George had stood trial he too was pre-judged because he could hardly be acquitted when his sister had already been found guilty of incest. The order of the trials had been very cleverly arranged to ensure the difficult case against George could not realistically fail. Everyone who witnessed George's trial, including the Imperial Ambassador Eustace Chapuys, confirmed that he put up a magnificent defence and many thought he would be acquitted. Chapuys confirmed that those watching were betting 10 to 1 that he would be acquitted and the court chronicler Charles Wriothesley said that his evidence was a marvel to hear

beheaded on Tower Hill on the morning of 17 May 1536
He stoically accepted his sentence that he be hanged, drawn and quartered (the sentence was later commuted to beheading). He begged only that his debts be paid out of his confiscated assets so that no one would suffer from his death, and he continued to be distressed about his debts whilst awaiting death. In fact his distress was so acute that the Constable of the Tower, William Kingston wrote to Cromwell twice begging him to help ease George's conscience


beware, trust not in the vanity of the world or the flatterys of the court, or the favour and treacheries of fortune.
"Truly and diligently did I read the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but I turned not to profit that which I did read; the which had I done, of a surety I would not have fallen into such great errors"

George Boleyn died with dignity and courage, despite his distress stated on the scaffold when he said that the charges against him meant he was dying with more shame and dishonour than hath ever been heard of before.


‘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 bare for the Gospel and the truth in Christ’s words’

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. Wherefore, lest 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 I 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 our Lord 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’.