George Boleyn: Tudor Poet, Courtier & Diplomat Page 7

  George probably took a permanent position at court in around 1522 or 1523, at the age of about 18, around the same time as Anne's return (or shortly afterwards). There is no record of a precise date for the commencement of this position. The earliest extant record of George as an adult is in 1522. On 29 April, he and his father received a joint grant of various offices at Tonbridge, Brasted and Penshurst that had belonged to the executed Duke of Buckingham.3 This supports the earlier date of 1522 as the year George was permanently at court. There is no record of him attending the Château Vert pageant, but the only people specified were those who were actually starring in it. As George would only have been about 17 at the time, he would not have featured as one of the gallants who rescued the ladies. Instead, if he had been there, the precocious Boleyn boy would have had to sit on the sidelines and watch his sisters and future wife take starring roles.

  Shortly after Anne first attended court, she began a romance with Henry Percy, the son of the Earl of Northumberland and a member of Cardinal Wolsey's household. They fell in love and were apparently intending to marry when Wolsey and the King put a stop to their relationship. Cavendish claims that the King ordered Wolsey to stop the marriage because of his "secret affection" for Anne, but there is no other evidence that the King was attracted to Anne at this time. It is more likely that the intervention was down to marriage negotiations designed to marry Anne to James Butler and Percy to Mary Talbot. Anne and Percy were separated; Percy was quickly matched to Mary Talbot, while Anne appears to have been sent home, where she remained until the beginning of 1525. Little is recorded of the Boleyns during the mid 1520s, though, and it is impossible to be certain of their movements. If Anne was indeed banished while her brother and sister remained at court, one can only imagine her frustration at being trapped alone in the depths of the countryside. Rural Hever was a far cry from the pleasures of the French and English courts.

  By the middle of 1525, Anne shone as the most fashionable woman at court and acquired many admirers, including the poet Thomas Wyatt. It is clear from his poetry that he was in love with her, and there has been much speculation as to whether there was a sexual relationship between them. Thomas Wyatt's family were neighbours of the Boleyns in Kent, and Wyatt may well have known the Boleyn siblings since childhood. George was one or two years younger than Thomas and it is possible that they were playmates as children. As with George Boleyn, Thomas Wyatt was adept at the game of courtly love, and like George he had an arranged marriage at an early age. Many courtiers had mistresses at court and wives at home, seeing court life and home life as completely separate. This in itself would have caused difficulties for George Boleyn whose future wife was at court alongside him as lady-in-waiting to the Queen. Any dalliance by George would have immediately come to his wife's attention. Thomas Wyatt on the other hand, was separated from his wife, and he became an acknowledged courtly suitor of Anne Boleyn. From the contents of Wyatt's poetry, there can be little doubt that his love was unrequited. As Wyatt was married, the most Anne could have expected was to be his mistress, and it is clear from her subsequent response to the King's advances that this was something for which she would not have been prepared to settle.

  More importantly, it was at some point during 1525 or early 1526 that Anne Boleyn first caught the King's eye. The marriage negotiations with the Butlers had fizzled out, and by the spring of 1526 Henry was infatuated with Anne. By the autumn of the same year, he was bombarding her with love letters in an attempt to make her his mistress. Anne's refusal to be his "maîtresse-en-titre", or official mistress, changed history and the religious persuasions of a nation, as Henry set about annulling his marriage to Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne.

  Henry's decision was not based solely on his fascination with Anne Boleyn; it was also to do with his conscience. Henry appears to have stopped having sexual relations with Catherine in 1524, and in June 1525 his illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy was created Duke of Richmond and Somerset, at the age of 6. The boy was given precedence over every other noble at court, and there was speculation that the King would make him his legitimate heir. Henry was, therefore, probably considering divorce as early as June 1525, long before his relationship with Anne became serious. Catherine had been the wife of Henry's brother Arthur, Prince of Wales, who had died at the age of 15, and the Book of Leviticus states in chapter 20, "If a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing:; he has uncovered his brother's nakedness. They shall be childless". This worried Henry VIII and although the Book of Deuteronomy appears to go against that law, advising in chapter 20 that a man should marry his dead brother's widow ("When brothers live together, and one of them dies without children the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another: but his brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother"), Catholic canon law gave Leviticus precedence over Deuteronomy.4 A dispensation for the marriage of Henry and Catherine had been granted in 1503, but Henry felt that he had proof that his marriage was contrary to God's law: all his sons by Catherine had died. Catherine maintained to the end of her life that her marriage to Arthur was never consummated. Historians Patrick Williams and J.J. Scarisbrick point out that the dispensation was therefore defective, in that the lack of consummation already freed Henry and Catherine from the impediment of affinity (which only existed if Catherine had consummated her marriage to Arthur).5 6 Henry may well have missed a trick by not arguing that point in his quest for an annulment.

  In April 1527, after 18 years of marriage, Henry VIII began consulting advisers, and in May instructed his chancellor Thomas Wolsey to obtain an annulment. Thomas Wolsey was born in the early 1470s in Suffolk. He was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church as well as a statesman. He became Lord Chancellor in 1515 under Henry VIII, and was one of Henry's closest friends and confidantes. Wolsey loved wealth and power, and lived in splendour at his palace at Hampton Court. He survived the inconsistencies of Henry's policies and character by adapting his morality to meet the King's requirements. Though Wolsey was anti-war, in 1511 he supported the King's wish to invade France, and made persuasive speeches in favour of war. This pragmatism - or hypocrisy - won him much favour with Henry and greatly assisted his acceleration of power. Likewise, despite his loyalties to the papacy, Wolsey was first and foremost Henry's servant. He was bitterly opposed to the Boleyns and their Reformist associates, but his power relied solely on maintaining good relations with Henry, which meant doing everything in his power to make Anne Boleyn queen consort. When he failed to obtain an annulment for Henry, his influence waned. In 1526, however, Wolsey was Henry VIII's most trusted aide, and he ruled the Privy Chamber with a rod of iron. Although George Boleyn had been serving Henry VIII as a page for a number of years, he lost his position in January 1526 following Wolsey's Eltham Ordinances, so called because they had been devised at Eltham Palace. These were intended to reform the royal household, but Wolsey used the opportunity to gain full control of the Privy Chamber, and secured the expulsion of those he believed to be troublemakers - including, for a £20-a-year consideration, George Boleyn.7 The real reasons for the expulsion of George and his associates were their popularity and influence with the King. Many of those expelled also supported religious reform, and were hence perceived by Wolsey to be a threat to his position. Wolsey's view that it was necessary to remove George Boleyn, who would only have been about 21 at the time, demonstrates the influence that George was exerting, even at a very young age. The Eltham Ordinances provided for 6 gentlemen of the Privy Chamber where there had previously been 12, plus 2 gentlemen ushers, 4 grooms, 1 barber and 1 page. By reducing the number of men so dramatically, Wolsey was able to exert more authority and maintain more control over the Privy Chamber, at least for a while. However, he also acquired a number of enemies, who when they came back into positions of power would not forget his actions.

  In the early days of Henry's reign, his courtiers were all men of the old world, who had come down from his father's court – men such as Thomas Boley
n, William Compton and Charles Brandon, all of whom were in their late twenties or thirties at their King's accession at the age of 17. Despite the age gap, these men were not only Henry's sporting and drinking companions, but also the men to whom Henry looked for advice and guidance in the early days of his reign. But by the 1520s this landscape was changing, as new blood and new ideas came to the fore. The first of a new band of courtiers included men like Francis Bryan, Nicholas Carew and Henry Norris, who were of a similar age to the King. These names were later followed by Thomas Wyatt and George Boleyn, who were both considerably younger than their royal master, but who had great presence, intelligence and talent. They also had a youthful exuberance and passion for life. The King adored them for their ability to keep him entertained, and his royal favour gave them influence. This did not suit Wolsey, particularly as some of the new ideas espoused by a number of these precocious new favourites involved religious reform. George Boleyn made little attempt to hide his evangelical leanings, using his position and favouritism as armour against a possible charge of heresy.

  The original intention of the Eltham Ordinances, prior to Wolsey's abuse of it, had been a good one. The court was a huge undisciplined society, involving hundreds of people. These included courtiers and their own servants, below-stairs servants and hangers-on. Wherever the King was, a huge entourage of raucous, over-ambitious, backstabbing people would follow. Some routine and discipline was urgently needed. After the demise of Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell continued to try and introduce a modicum of order into the court. In addition to limiting the numbers in the Privy Chamber, rules were introduced that the King's councillors, the Lord Chamberlain, captain of the guard, master of the horse and six gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were only allowed to keep one page each. Other lower-ranked courtiers were not entitled to bring their servants to court on pain of risking a fine and possible expulsion. The proud young Boleyn must have been incredibly displeased at his loss of status.

  The world in which these courtiers lived was complex, and ultimately dominated by the King. The closer you were to the King, the closer you were to all power in the land. The court was a huge social structure with the King at the top, followed by his councillors, gentlemen of the Privy Chamber and so on, down to the lowest kitchen servant. Where you were in the structure dictated the privileges to which you were entitled, even how many horses you were allowed to keep at court and how many beds you were allowed. In the glamorous world of the court, there was a constant struggle for power and profit, and a constant jockeying for position. Those outside viewed those in favour with malice and jealousy. In an attempt to protect their positions, courtiers formed factions, through which they could attempt to collectively climb the slippery pole of success. It was not an environment for the faint-hearted or anyone lacking a ruthless streak. Alliances changed quickly and a friend could swiftly become a deadly enemy, as the Boleyn siblings later found to their cost. This was particularly the case when an issue of self-preservation was at stake. George Boleyn had been thrown into this maelstrom of vicious backstabbing and malice as a boy, and it says a lot about him that he was able not only to survive, but also to thrive in such an atmosphere.

  The royal household was divided into two. The household below stairs was concerned with mundane duties, such as food preparation, and was supervised by the Lord Steward. He would insist that members of the court ate at the prescribed times, and would allocate daily food and drink rations to each gentleman, lady and upper-class servant according to their rank. This was no mean feat considering the sheer number of people to feed, and vast amounts of food were consumed daily. Each of the king's gentlemen and the queen's ladies were entitled to room and dining facilities, all at the expense of the Crown. Foreign visitors would often comment on the prodigious amounts of food presented at Henry's court. George and his future wife, as courtiers to the king and queen, would both have been entitled to be housed and fed by the Crown at the Crown's expense.

  The household above stairs was supervised by the Lord Chamberlain and catered to the personal needs of the King. This was divided into the Privy Chamber, Outer Chamber and Great Hall. The Privy Chamber was the most influential of the three as it housed the king's private lodgings. In the Tudor court, the royal servants were chosen by the king from the men closest to him. The court itself was the seat of government in England, and a position in the Privy Chamber was to be in close proximity to the seat of all power in the country. At the age of 21, George Boleyn, as a member of the Privy Chamber, was in a privileged position, and his expulsion in January 1526 would have been a bitter blow.

  Irrespective of his temporary expulsion from the Privy Chamber, George remained in the King's intimate circle. Henry liked to be entertained, and those close to him had to be able to do so, irrespective of their connections. Be that as it may, the King's lust for Anne Boleyn did have the effect of advancing her entire family during the late 1520s and early 1530s. But to believe that it was merely his sister's influence that advanced George Boleyn to such great heights toward the end of 1529 and into the mid 1530s would be to do him a great disservice. He was particularly intelligent, and as we have seen, his "great wit" was later commented on by Thomas Wyatt in his poetry. Wit in the sixteenth century was a generic term meaning not only intelligence and quickness of thought, but also that he was amusing and good company.

  Many of those expelled from the Privy Chamber by Wolsey in 1526 eventually made their way back, largely with the patronage of Anne Boleyn, and by late 1528 the Privy Chamber had more or less reformed. To consolidate positions, various factions emerged. One revolved around Wolsey and his supporters, and one revolved around George Boleyn, which used its influence in support of Anne and religious reform. George became a leading member of this group through his own merits and his natural leadership, popular in his own right and also popular with the King himself. A third grouping supported Catherine and her daughter Mary, and was opposed to reform of the church. It was this latter faction that would later collude in the Boleyns' downfall.

  Despite George and his sister's own merits, the evangelical Boleyns and their supporters could only retain their hold provided Anne remained in the King's favour. For George, it was not just a matter of loyalty and a natural brotherly desire to ensure his sister's happiness; he also worked tirelessly towards the religious reforms about which he was so passionate. The best way of achieving his objectives was for Anne to become queen.

  8 - Marriage

  In 1524, George received the first grant made to him in his own right; the manor of Grimston in Norfolk.1 It is supposed that this was an early wedding present from the King to a young man who was rapidly coming into favour. George married Jane Parker sometime in late 1524 or early 1525. The Public Record Office contains a document in Wolsey's handwriting assigned to January 1526, when the Eltham Ordinances were implemented (although Wolsey was known to have been working on the Ordinances in autumn 1525). It is entitled "prouysyon for such as shuldbe dyscharged out of the kynges preue chambre" and includes the instruction "Young Boleyn to have £20 yearly above the eighty pounds he hath gotten to him and his wife to live thereupon; and to admit him to be one of the cupbearers when the King dines out".2 3 This appears to have been intended as compensation for the loss of his position in the King's Privy Chamber, although it is unlikely George would have seen it as sufficient compensation. On top of this annual salary of £100, he and Jane, as courtiers, were housed and fed at the King's expense.4

  Jane Parker was the daughter of Henry Parker, 10th Baron Morley, and Alice St John, both of whom were from old English families. Morley had been brought up in the household of Lady Margaret Beaufort, Henry VIII's grandmother, and he had acted as cupbearer at Henry VIII's coronation.5 Jane was born in Norfolk around 1504-5, making her more or less the same age as George. She was lady-in-waiting to the Queen and would become lady-in-waiting to her sister-in-law in due course. Although the marriage was an arranged one, it was a good social match for both parties, and more
particularly for their parents, merging two powerful and influential families.

  George was as ambitious as his father, and would have recognised the advantages of a good marriage, but he was no pawn. His strength of character is evident throughout his court career. He was about 20 when he was married, and he had known Jane for a number of years within the claustrophobic confines of the court. It is difficult to believe that a young man as dynamic as him would have allowed himself to be married off to a woman he did not like, or that his father would have obliged his much-loved son to do so. Contrary to popular opinion, a couple was only supposed to become betrothed, and then married, if they liked each other. This "like" was then supposed to turn into love as they got to know each other better. It is highly unlikely that the match would have been one of dislike or hatred, as is so often portrayed in the realms of fiction. Although both George and Jane had been brought up in a world in which duty came first, there is no reason to think that either of them was disappointed with the match. Jane was an attractive young woman from an influential family;6 George was a handsome, up-and-coming courtier who was popular with the King, and had ten years' experience in the cut-throat atmosphere of Henry's court. If he had had any serious objection to the marriage, there were other equally eligible young women to whom he could have been joined.

  The wedding itself is not documented, and therefore no specific date or place for the ceremony is known, but the King himself provided part of Jane's dowry.7 Set by Thomas Boleyn, that dowry amounted to 2000 marks (£1300), a substantial amount of money, which Jane's father was obviously unable to pay in full. The fact that the King made up the difference shows the extent of Boleyn favour at that time. A document of jointure was also drawn up, setting out exactly those things to which Jane should be entitled in the event that George should predecease her. The document itself is no longer in existence, but the act in which it was passed is still available, complete with the King's signature. Jane Boleyn's jointure ensured that in return for the dowry of 2000 marks, Thomas Boleyn guaranteed to convey to her the rents of certain manors, namely Aylesbury and Bierton in Buckinghamshire and others in Norfolk, or alternatively a specified yearly amount of 100 marks, for the rest of her life should George predecease her.8 The jointure was drawn up and signed on 4 October 1524, and Wolsey mentions George having a wife in a document he was working on in autumn 1525, so the marriage must have taken place in late 1524 or early 1525. Couples were not allowed to marry during Lent, Rogationtide and Trinity, or during Advent unless they had a special licence,9 and there is no record of a special licence being applied for. It seems probable, therefore, that George and Jane married before the onset of Advent in 1524, or before Lent commenced at the beginning of March 1525. Jane's family lived in Great Hallingbury, near Bishop's Stortford in Essex, so Great Hallingbury's Church of St Giles would have been the obvious choice of venue. The church is a beautiful building which dates back to the eleventh century and whose chancel arch is made of Roman brick.10