Mary Boleyn enjoyed a royal fling with Henry VIII before her younger sister Anne moved into the limelight. Alison Plowden reveals the little-known story of a fascinating figure.
Family background
The rise of the family of Mary Boleyn, and of her sister Anne, future wife of Henry VIII, followed a classic pattern. The family came originally from Sall in Norfolk, and early in the l5th century Geoffrey Boleyn, younger son of a tenant farmer, had come up to London to seek his fortune. He was admitted to the freedom of the city in the art of mercer, married an aristocratic wife and rose to become Lord Mayor. Before his death in 1463 he had acquired Blickling Hall in Norfolk from Sir John Fastolf, and the manor and castle of Hever from the Cobhams of Kent.
Hever Castle, childhood home of Mary and Anne Boleyn
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Geoffrey's son, William, had no need to concern himself with trade. He was created a Knight of the Bath by Richard III and married into the noble Anglo-Irish family of Butler, his wife being the daughter and co-heiress of the Seventh Earl of Ormonde. The Boleyns were now well on their way up the social ladder and William's second son, Thomas, came to court to make his way in the royal service, one of the new men for the new Tudor dynasty. He, too, made a useful marriage - to Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the second Duke of Norfolk - a marriage that brought him three surviving children, George, Mary and Anne.
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Published: 2003-03-27
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