When studying the English court over any period of time, certain family names become familiar and are inevitably repeated. Prominent families rise and fall throughout the ages; the Percy Family from the North of England have been at court since that of William the Conqueror and have held the Earldom of Northumberland longer than any other family in England. The Dukes of Norfolk began as the de Mowbrays before the family name became extinct and the Dukedom was created again in 1483 for John Howard. His Howard descendants still hold the title to this day. The Beaufort family dominated English politics for the fourteenth century but suffered so heavily in the Wars of the Roses that their name died out. They were distantly survived by the Seymour family who rose to prominence in the 16th century and also maintain their titles in the modern day.
Names like Neville, Beauchamp, and Beaufort might reappear throughout history with various degrees of importance while names like Carew, Brandon, or Bryan might only shine for a generation or two. The name Boleyn, however, appears for just a few years during the reign of Henry VIII. The family experienced a singularly meteoric rise and an equally spectacular fall confined to a period of about two decades. Nonetheless, Boleyn is one of the most famous names in English history, despite their short lived success. Of course, the reason for their brief fame is tied in with Anne Boleyn’s relationship with Henry VIII and her brief tenure as Queen of England. But that doesn’t explain the full extent of their position. After all, Henry didn’t pick Anne out of a cornfield or barn. Commoner she might have been but peasant she was not. The Boleyns were already rising rapidly when the King’s eye fell on one of their daughters.
The Boleyn Origins
The earliest reference to the Boleyns is Ralph Boleyn (1310-1364) of Salle, Norfolk. Given the family’s position through the Middle Ages, we can assume that he acquired, if not inherited, some farmland. This passed through his descendents to Geoffrey Boleyn (1406-1463). By now the Boleyns would be considered among the provincial gentry.
They owned and farmed land but weren’t anything so common as to be farmers themselves. We can also see a streak of ambition in the Boleyn men; the women they married were, for the most part, daughters in families of slightly higher social status. This would hardly leapfrog the Boleyns out of the gentry and into the nobility, but it certainly allowed them to consolidate and build on their existing station.
By the mid 1400s, the Boleyns finally broke into the lowest ranks of nobility through the efforts of Geoffrey Boleyn (1406-1463). Geoffrey sought his fortunes in London where he was initially apprenticed as a hatter but later became a general merchant. He took an interest in London politics, serving variously as Sheriff, Member of Parliament, and Lord Mayor. In keeping with his family’s ambitious marriages, he married a daughter and heiress of Thomas Hoo, Baron Hoo and Hastings. Hoo was a former soldier who had served various nobles abroad, eventually becoming ennobled for his service. Hoo never had male issue so his titles were lost upon his death but his daughters were set to inherit his estate between them.
In 1452, Geoffrey purchased Blickling Hall and later, in 1462, he acquired land in Hever which he would begin transforming into Hever Castle. He wouldn’t live to see the fruition of his ambition but when he died the following year, he would have been in no doubt that he had successfully elevated and set them up to rise even further.
The Rise of the Boleyns
Geoffrey Boleyn and Anne Hoo had five children; two of them sons. His eldest son died within ten years of his father, probably in his early twenties. As such, the increasing Boleyn estate passed to the second son; William Boleyn (1451-1505). William continued the expansion of Hever Castle as well as the Boleyn fortune. Keeping in tradition, he sought an heiress to marry and found Lady Margaret Butler, one of three daughters to the Earl of Ormond. They would go on to have eleven children; their eldest son being Thomas Boleyn who is about to become hugely significant to our tale.
Like his father, William Boleyn was a respected London mercer and, building on his father’s legacy, he began his life as fringe courtier. He was created a Knight of the Bath at Richard III’s coronation in 1483. The following month, he was deputised by the Lord High Admiral for life. This appointment was confirmed by Henry VII so clearly William Boleyn weathered the transition between monarchs. It probably didn’t hurt that the Earl of Ormond was a close friend of the new king.
Upon the death of his mother, William Boleyn inherited a number of estates from his Hoo grandfather. With his increasing fortunes, it’s no surprise to find Thomas Boleyn at the court of Henry VII. Naturally, he began to establish himself as a man of rising influence and it was here, around 1498/1500 that he married. His bride was Elizabeth Howard, lady in waiting to the Queen of England and daughter of the Duke of Norfolk.
Unlike the other women who married into the Boleyn family, Elizabeth was not an heiress. In fact, she was one of seventeen children which was apparently enough for her parents to need to reuse names as she was one of two daughters named Elizabeth. But while she might not bring a great inheritance with her, she was the daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, the premier Duke in the kingdom and that connection was worth more than land or estates. Especially given how Thomas was doing well enough in that regard already. The connection to the most noble family in the kingdom was replete with opportunity and Thomas Boleyn availed himself of all of them.
It helped that he, like his predecessors, was eminently competent. Under Henry VIII, he proved himself to be an excellent diplomat. When his father died in 1505, he inherited Hever which became the Boleyn seat in Kent with Blickling their secondary home. By now, Thomas and Elizabeth had started a family, and Thomas used his connections to secure courtly positions for his daughters. In the modern day, Thomas Boleyn is seen as a grasping courtier willing to sacrifice his children on the altar of his own ambition. But at the time, his actions didn’t particularly stand out.
The Catastrophic Fall
Ironically, left to his own devices, Thomas Boleyn would likely have continued to improve the family’s station. If his son, George, had inherited the Boleyn’s unique mix of competency and ambition then the family would have been a dominant and key faction at court in the years to come.
As it happened, Thomas would be elevated in leaps and bounds once the king determined to marry his daughter, Anne. It would be unfair to attribute every one of Thomas’ promotions to the king’s infatuation with Anne but we can’t ignore that it certainly helped. His elevation to the peerage in 1525 as Viscount Rochford would largely have been due to Thomas’ own meritous career. The subsequent leap to Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond within a few years probably had more to do with making Anne a suitable consort, as demonstrated by his loss of the Ormond title after her execution.
Anne Boleyn was the focus of the king’s attention from 1525 before he was finally able to marry her in 1533. She was queen for just three years during which time her family and relations enjoyed success they would not have thought possible just a few years earlier. Of course, this meant that when Henry decided to charge Anne with adultery, incest, and treason, the same family and relations who had enjoyed the most prominent positions at court now found themselves on the other end of the king’s ire.
Anne and her brother, George, along with her alleged lovers were imprisoned in the Tower of London. They quickly found themselves devoid of family support and within days of their arrests, Anne’s household was broken up while George’s titles and monopolies were bestowed elsewhere. Thomas Boleyn and his brother-in-law, the Duke of Norfolk were required to sit in judgement at their trials. Both returned a guilty verdict, though it’s likely both had no choice. The Duke of Norfolk doubled down against his niece, calling her the ‘Great Whore’ while Thomas Boleyn pronounced his verdict and retreated to Hever so he did not see his children go to the executioner’s block.
Thomas Boleyn retained some of his earlier favour. He was stripped of his title of Lord Privy Seal and it was decided his chief rival for the title for the Earldom of Ormond would be granted the title. His wife died within two years of their children and Thomas Boleyn followed within the year, so it’s clear the loss of their children affected them deeply.
The Survival of the Non-Boleyns
Within a few years of Anne Boleyn’s execution, the Boleyn name had all but disappeared from court. The family’s dynastic ambitions which had been fulfilled generation after generation would end with Thomas Boleyn. His only son had been executed which meant that everything Thomas had inherited and accumulated largely died with him.
It would seem that the Boleyn ambition was limited to the direct line as Thomas’ Boleyn brothers didn’t make much impact at court. Anne’s Uncle, James Boleyn, had held an administrative position in her household, but obviously that was lost when the household was dissolved. He doesn’t seem to have acquired any meaningful employment after this. He and his other brothers seem to have remained on the fringes of politics. Their sisters, for the most part, married well but any children they had bore their husbands names.
Likewise, Thomas Boleyn’s daughter, Mary, survived the downfall of her family and though her children and descendents would be prominent at the courts of successive monarchs, they did not carry the Boleyn name with them. Mary had already been estranged from her family since 1534 when she married a man far below her without her family’s knowledge or permission. Upon her father’s death, she returned to one of her family’s manor at Rochford, while the other Boleyn assets were sold off or taken by the crown. Her children and descendents would remain prominent in the court of her niece, Elizabeth I, and those that followed well into the next century.
The Boleyn family practically vanished over night. Elizabeth I showed great affection to her Boleyn cousins but never made mention of her own mother. That said, one of her favourite pieces of jewellry was a ring which contained double portraits of mother and daughter, undeniably demonstrating that Anne Boleyn was still close to her heart.
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