The Boleyn Women: The Tudor Femmes Fatales Who Changed English History (11 page)

Elizabeth Wood Boleyn’s brother, Roger, went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1518, where he died. There was some contention over the inheritance of his estates, with it being agreed on 14 September 1519 that his stepfather, Sir Henry Fermoys, would receive the family lands, in return for a payment of £35 to each of his three surviving stepdaughters. This was a substantial sum but it would not have increased Elizabeth’s status as the wife of a younger brother living at Blickling only with the permission of the head of her husband’s family. She was certainly no great heiress. Elizabeth Wood Boleyn may well be the Lady Boleyn present at court in the 1530s, but the relatively low status of her husband and the fact that she had not yet attained her own inheritance makes it highly unlikely that she was the Lady Boleyn who stood in for the queen as godmother at the christening of Henry VIII’s niece, Frances Brandon, in July 1517.
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For similar reasons, she is also unlikely to be one of the ladies listed in a record of daily liveries in the king’s household compiled in October 1519, which recorded that a ‘Lady Bullayn’ was entitled to a breakfast at court, while a ‘Lady Bolayn’ was a member of the queen’s chamber.
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This record may refer to the same lady or, equally, it may refer to the two sisters-in-law, Elizabeth Howard Boleyn and Anne Tempest Boleyn.

Anne Tempest was some years younger than her sisters-in-law and was the wife of Thomas Boleyn’s youngest brother, Sir Edward Boleyn. The Tempest family were an old one, tracing their descent to at least Sir Richard Tempest, who was Lord of Bracewell and Waddington in Yorkshire in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries.
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This Sir Richard’s wife, Margaret, had the unfortunate distinction of being abducted by the Scots from Roxburgh Castle in 1385 while her husband was warden there. The couple were survived by a son, Sir Piers, who fought at Agincourt with Henry V and whose son, Sir John, assisted Henry VI during his time as a fugitive in the north of England in the 1460s following his deposition from the throne. Sir John Tempest’s fifth son married as her second husband Catherine, daughter of Leo, Lord Welles, who became one of her father’s heiresses following the death of her half-brother John, Viscount Welles, during the reign of Henry VII.
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John Welles was wealthy with strong royal connections as the maternal half-brother of Lady Margaret Beaufort, the king’s mother. In addition to this, he had been permitted to marry Cecily of York, daughter of Edward IV, although the couple had no surviving children. Robert Tempest’s fortunate marriage to Catherine Welles provided him with lands far in advance of what a fifth son could usually expect and he died relatively wealthy in 1509. The couple’s eldest son, Sir John, died in the same year, having married Joan Roos on 15 April 1501.
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John Tempest’s marriage produced two daughters: Margaret, who was aged four in 1509, and Anne, who was aged seven at the time of an inquisition post mortem
held for her father on 4 February 1513, and later went on to marry Sir Edward Boleyn.
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The youth of the two girls is further attested by the fact that Anne’s wardship was granted in June 1510 to William Tyler and confirmed on 31 July 1517.
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Margaret’s was granted in July 1517 to Sir William Compton and Sir John Sharpe. Both girls were minors in July 1517 and unmarried; it appears that Margaret died unmarried, presumably not long after the grant of her wardship. The date of Anne’s marriage is not recorded although it is highly unlikely to have taken place before she was at least twelve, a birthday that would have occurred at some point between 5 February 1517 and 3 February 1518. As set out above, it was also not before 31 July 1517, meaning that she was not the Lady Boleyn who attended the christening of Frances Brandon. The earliest reference to Anne as Sir Edward Boleyn’s wife is her presence at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in the summer of 1520. On 19 November 1520 she and her husband were granted livery of her lands, demonstrating that she had finally come into her inheritance.
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Given that she was still aged well below the usual age of inheritance of twenty-one, it would seem likely that this concession was made in the light of her recent marriage.

Twelve was also recognised as the earliest date at which a girl could take up an appointment in the queen’s household. While Anne had royal connections thanks to her association with the Welles family, she was hardly a great heiress and it may have taken her longer to establish herself at court, with appointments with the queen highly sought after – certainly, the better-connected Lady Lisle, who was the wife of an illegitimate son of Edward IV, later struggled to obtain a post for her daughter with Queen Jane Seymour.
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She cannot therefore be the Lady Boleyn recorded at court any earlier than 1517 and the lady in question should be identified with Elizabeth Howard Boleyn, particularly as Margaret Butler Boleyn, the only other potential candidate, made it clear in her letter to her son, Thomas Boleyn, which was written in 1515, that she came up to London only very rarely and only when necessity required it.

From 1525 Elizabeth Howard Boleyn would have been referred to as Lady Rochford, and later Lady Wiltshire. Between at least 1520, when Anne Tempest was referred to as the wife of Sir Edward Boleyn in attendance on the queen at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and 1525, there is some confusion between her and her sister-in-law. However any reference earlier than at least 1517 must be Elizabeth Howard. Since Anne Tempest is known to have been married by 1520, it is clear that she did indeed marry young, something that would have been expected of an heiress. Sir Edward Boleyn was almost certainly helped in his pursuit of the heiress by the Welles connection, with the elder sister of Anne’s paternal grandmother, Eleanor Welles, being the stepmother of Sir Edward’s own grandmother, Anne Hoo Boleyn.
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The Hoo and Boleyn families had remained closely connected and this relationship may well have secured the match for Sir Edward. Sir Edward Boleyn and Anne Tempest Boleyn had four daughters: Mary, Elizabeth, Ursula and Amy, all of whom survived to adulthood.
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These daughters were born early in the marriage, suggesting that Anne Tempest Boleyn spent much of her time in that period occupied in childbearing rather than attending the queen on a regular basis, unlike Elizabeth Howard Boleyn, who had, by then, long since completed her family.

Elizabeth Howard Boleyn attended the Coronation of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon in 1509 as a member of the new queen’s retinue, a post for which she received material for a new gown from the royal stores.
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In the same royal document, which detailed arrangements for the Coronation, Elizabeth was listed among the baronesses in the queen’s chamber, along with her sister Muriel, a household which was headed by Elizabeth’s grandfather-in-law, Queen Catherine’s chamberlain, the Earl of Ormond. While it is possible that temporary appointments were made to the queen’s household for the Coronation, it is unlikely and Elizabeth can therefore be considered to have received a court appointment with the queen soon after the royal marriage, a date that is far too early for either Elizabeth Wood Boleyn or Anne Tempest Boleyn to have been alternative candidates. It has also long been considered by historians that Elizabeth Howard Boleyn had a post in the queen’s household from early in the reign, with considerable reason.
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A ‘Lady Bulleyn’ received a New Year’s gift from the king in 1513, receiving a cup with a gilt cover weighing 16½ ounces.
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The recipient of this gift again cannot have been either of Elizabeth’s sisters-in-law, as set out above. The only other candidate, Margaret Butler Boleyn, is rather implausible given that, at that stage, she was merely the elderly daughter of the Earl of Ormond and the widow of a knight living away from court: certainly, her sister, Anne St Leger, was not similarly honoured. While a New Year’s gift does not necessarily mean that the recipient held a court position, it is strongly suggestive of the fact that they were at least often at court and in the king’s remembrance, especially where the recipient was not of particularly high status (with Elizabeth only the daughter of an earl and the wife of a knight). Also, Lady Boleyn’s gift was one of the heaviest presents given to non-royal ladies, a mark of considerable esteem, with it being only smaller than those received by Lady Hastings (a sister of the Duke of Buckingham and former mistress of the king’s), the elder Lady Guildford, Lady Lucy and Lady Mountjoy. Lady Guildford held a position with the king’s sister, Mary Tudor, as her governess, while Lady Mountjoy was the wife of an important officer in the queen’s household and one of the attendants whom she had brought with her from Spain. The fact that Elizabeth received a gift among this company either demonstrates considerable court presence or a position in the queen’s household.

Although Elizabeth’s court duties and those of her husband would have taken her regularly to court, some evidence of her social circle when she was at home survives. She spent time with her husband’s niece, Anne Shelton, who was the daughter of her sister-in-law, Anne Boleyn Shelton.
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Anne Shelton was friendly with Anne Lestrange, who lived in Hunstanton. In 1519 Lady Lestrange’s accounts show that Anne Shelton stayed with her for seven days, with additional visits being made in 1526, following her marriage.
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Interestingly, Elizabeth visited Lady Lestrange with her niece in 1526, something that suggests that she was also friendly with her hostess. The association with Anne Shelton shows that Elizabeth took steps to befriend her husband’s family. The fact that Anne had by then married Elizabeth’s nephew, Sir Edmund Knyvet, who was the son of her sister Muriel, strongly suggests that she, as the couple’s common aunt, played a role in arranging the match, something which again suggests a friendship with both parties. Knyvet attended the visit with his wife and aunt.
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It was certainly not unnatural for Elizabeth to socialise with the Lestranges or her Shelton kin when she was resident at Blickling. All three lived within 40 miles of each other.
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She was well entertained at her visit, with the Lestrange household accounts recording that seven rabbits were taken out of store for the company to eat.

Elizabeth benefited from the increasing prominence of her own family during the years of her marriage. During Henry VII’s reign Elizabeth’s father continued to prosper, something which increased her own status as his eldest daughter. In 1501 Henry, who had become convinced of the elder Howard’s loyalty, appointed him as High Treasurer of England.
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The family were finally restored to their full social position in 1513 following Elizabeth’s father’s great victory over the Scots at Flodden Field when Surrey led an English army against the Scots while Henry VIII was absent in France. The victory was both brutal and complete, with James IV of Scotland and much of his nobility killed, something which persuaded Henry VIII to finally restore his loyal general to the dukedom of Norfolk in February 1514, with his son, Elizabeth’s eldest brother, promoted to the earldom of Surrey. The grateful king also granted the new duke twenty-six manors, vastly increasing his wealth, as well as allowing him to add part of the royal arms of Scotland to his heraldic shield as a reminder of his victory.
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The acquisition of the duchy of Norfolk by her father served to increase Elizabeth’s prestige substantially. When Elizabeth was chosen to attend the queen at the meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I of France at Calais in 1520, which is known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold, she was listed among the baronesses due to her status as a duke’s daughter, something which entitled her to take two female servants, three male servants and six horses to the meeting.
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Her sister-in-law, Anne Tempest Boleyn, was merely listed among the knights’ wives, something which allowed her only one female servant, two male servants and four horses. Elizabeth’s own daughter, Mary Boleyn, was only allowed to take one woman, two male servants and three horses, with the status gap between Elizabeth and other female members of the Boleyn family obvious at the meeting. Elizabeth’s father did not die until 1524 when he was nearly eighty years old.

For much of her marriage, Elizabeth had access to the court. It appears that she did not necessarily have an entirely spotless reputation. In 1533 a Mistress Amadas, whose own name had earlier been linked with the king, declared scandalously that ‘my lady Anne [Boleyn] should be burned, for she is a harlot; that Master Norris was bawd between the king and her; that the king kept both the mother and daughter, and that my lord of Wiltshire [Thomas Boleyn] was bawd both to his wife and his two daughters’.
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Elizabeth Amadas had a family connection to another of the king’s former mistresses, Bessie Blount, through the marriage of Bessie’s sister, Isabel, to William Reed of Oatlands, a goldsmith like Amadas’s husband and the nephew and heir of her father’s prominent friend and her brother’s godfather, Sir Bartholomew Reed.
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She may therefore have had a political point to her claims: there was a party in England at the time who hoped that the king would marry Bessie and legitimise their son, rather than taking Anne Boleyn as his bride.
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Her claims should be treated with caution, perhaps as an outburst due to her disappointment in the king’s marriage.

Mistress Amadas was not the only individual to scandalously repeat this rumour during Elizabeth’s own lifetime, with Henry VIII’s opponent, Friar Peto, also making a similar claim in 1532. Other early evidence of this is included in a letter written by Sir George Throckmorton in the late 1530s when he recounted a meeting with Henry VIII during the parliament of 1529 when he had been in opposition to the government. According to Throckmorton’s later recollection, during this interview he attempted to dissuade the king from marrying Anne Boleyn by pointing out that ‘it is thought you have meddled both with the mother and sister’.
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Henry VIII, apparently caught off guard, immediately responded, ‘Never with the mother,’ and it was left to his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, to quickly add, untruthfully, that the king had never meddled with the sister either.