Mary Boleyn
Mary Boleyn | |
---|---|
![]() 17th-century copy of a lost original portrait byRemigius van Leemput | |
Known for | Mistress ofHenry VIII |
Born | c. 1498 or 1499 probablyBlickling Hall,Norfolk |
Died | July 1543 (aged 44 or 45) Rochford Hall,Essex,England |
Buried | Unknown although assumed to be buried atHever Castle |
Noble family | Boleyn |
Spouse(s) | |
Issue | Catherine Carey, Lady Knollys Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon Edward Stafford (disputed) Anne Stafford (disputed) |
Father | Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire |
Mother | Elizabeth Howard |
Mary Boleyn,also known asLady Mary,[1](c. 1499[2]– July 1543) was the sister ofEnglish queen consortAnne Boleyn,whose family enjoyed considerable influence during the reign ofKing Henry VIII.
Mary was one of themistresses of Henry VIIIfor an unknown period. It has been rumoured that she bore two of the King's children, though Henry did not acknowledge either. Mary was also rumoured to have been a mistress of Henry VIII's rival, KingFrancis I of France,for some period between 1515 and 1519.[3]
Mary Boleyn was married twice: in 1520 toWilliam Carey,and again, secretly, in 1534, toWilliam Stafford,a soldier from a good family but with few prospects. This secret marriage to a man considered beneath her station angered King Henry VIII and her sister, Queen Anne, and resulted in Mary's banishment from the royal court. She died seven years later, having spent the remainder of her life in obscurity.
Early life
[edit]Mary was probably born atBlickling Hall,the family seat inNorfolk,and grew up atHever Castle,Kent.[4]She was the daughter of a wealthy diplomat andcourtier,Thomas Boleyn,later Earl of Wiltshire, by his marriage toElizabeth Howard,the eldest daughter ofThomas Howard,then Earl of Surrey and future 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and his first wifeElizabeth Tilney,therefore Mary was a niece of the future3rd Duke of Norfolk,and a first cousin of both thepoetand soldierHenry Howard, Earl of Surrey,and Henry VIII's future fifth wife,Catherine Howard,daughter ofLord Edmund Howard,Mary's uncle.
There is no evidence as to Mary's exact date of birth, but it occurred sometime between 1499 and 1508. Most historians suggest she was the eldest of the three surviving Boleyn children.[5]Evidence suggests that the Boleyn family treated Mary as the eldest child; in 1597, her grandsonLord Hunsdonclaimed theearldom of Ormondon the grounds that he was the Boleyns' legitimate heir. Many ancient peerages can descend through female heirs without an immediate male heir. If Anne had been the elder sister, the better claim to the title would have belonged to her daughter,Queen Elizabeth I.However, it appears that Queen Elizabeth offered Mary's son, Henry, the earldom as he was dying, although he declined it. If Mary had been the eldest Boleyn sister, Henry would have the better claim to the title, regardless of a new grant from the Queen.[6]There is more evidence to suggest that Mary was older than Anne. She was married first, on 4 February 1520;[7]an elder daughter traditionally married before a younger sister. Moreover, in 1532, when Anne was createdMarchioness of Pembroke,she was referred to as "one of the daughters of Thomas Boleyn". Were she the eldest, that status would probably have been mentioned. Most historians now accept Mary as the eldest child, placing her birth sometime in 1499.[2]
During her early years, it is most likely that Mary was educated alongside her brother George, and her sister Anne at Hever Castle. She was given the conventional education deemed essential for young ladies of her rank and status, which included the basic principles of arithmetic, grammar, history, reading, spelling and writing. In addition to her family genealogy, Mary learned the feminine accomplishments of dancing, embroidery, etiquette, household management, music, needlework, singing, and games such as cards and chess. She was also taught archery, falconry, riding, and hunting.[8]
Mary remained in England for most of her childhood until she was sent abroad in 1514 around the age of fifteen when her father secured her a place as maid-of-honour to the King's sister,Princess Mary,who was going toParisto marry KingLouis XII of France.
Royal affair in France
[edit]Mary was joined in Paris by her father Sir Thomas and her sister Anne, who had been studying in France for the previous year. During this time, Mary is supposed to have embarked on sexual affairs, including one withKing Francis Ihimself, Francis having succeeded Louis XII who had died shortly after his marriage to Princess Mary. Although most historians believe that the reports of her sexual affairs are exaggerated, Francis referred to her as "The English Mare", "my hackney",[9]and as "una grandissima ribalda, infame sopra tutte"(" a very greatwhore,the most infamous of all ").[10][11]
She returned to England in 1519, where she was appointed a maid-of-honour toCatherine of Aragon,the queen consort of Henry VIII.[12]Mary was reportedly considered to be a great beauty at both the French and English courts.
Royal mistress
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Mary_Boleyn_Carey_signature.jpg/220px-Mary_Boleyn_Carey_signature.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/William_Cary.jpg)
Soon after her return, Mary was married toWilliam Carey,a wealthy and influential courtier, on 4 February 1520; Henry VIII was a guest at the couple's wedding. At some point, Mary became Henry's mistress; the starting date and duration of the liaison are unknown.[13]
It was rumoured that the king fathered one or both of Mary's children.[14]Even if this was so, however, Henry did not acknowledge either of them as his children, although he had previously acknowledgedHenry FitzRoy,his son by another mistress,Elizabeth Blount.
Henry VIII's wife,Catherine of Aragon,had first been married to Henry's elder brotherArthurwhen he was a little over fifteen years old, but Arthur died just a few months later. Henry later used this to justify the annulment of his marriage to Catherine, arguing that her marriage to Arthur had created anaffinitybetween Henry and Catherine; as his brother's wife, under canon law, she became his sister. In 1527, during his initial attempts to obtain a papal annulment of his marriage to Catherine, Henry similarly requested a dispensation to marry Anne, the sister of his former mistress.[15]
Sister's rise to power
[edit]Anne returned to England in January 1522; she soon joined the royal court as one of Queen Catherine's maids-of-honour. Anne achieved considerable popularity at court, although the sisters moved in different circles and were not considered close.
Although Mary is said to have been more attractive than her sister, Anne seems more ambitious and intelligent. When the King took an interest in Anne, she refused to become his mistress.[16]By the middle of 1526, Henry was determined to marry her. This gave him further incentive to seek the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. When Mary's husband died during an outbreak ofsweating sickness,Henry granted Anne Boleyn the wardship of her nephew, Henry Carey. Mary's husband had left her with considerable debts, and Anne arranged for her nephew to be educated at a respectableCistercianmonastery. Anne also interceded to secure an annual pension of £100 for her widowed sister.[17]
Second marriage
[edit]In 1532, Mary was one of her companions when Anne accompanied Henry to the EnglishPale of Calaison his way to a state visit to France. Anne was crowned Queen on 1 June 1533, and on 7 September gave birth to Henry's daughterElizabeth,who later became Queen Elizabeth I. In 1534, Mary secretly married an Essex landowner's younger son:William Stafford (later Sir William Stafford).Since Stafford was a soldier, his prospects as a second son so slight, and his income so small, many believed that the union was a love match. When Mary became pregnant, the marriage was discovered. Queen Anne was furious, and the Boleyn family disowned Mary. The couple were banished from court.
Mary's financial circumstances became so desperate that she begged the king's chief adviserThomas Cromwellto speak to Henry and Anne. She admitted that she might have chosen "a greater man of birth" but never one that should have loved her so well, nor a more honest man. And she went on, "I had rather beg my bread with him than to be the greatest queen inChristendom.And I believe verily... he would not forsake me to be a king ". Henry, however, seems to have been indifferent to her plight. Mary asked Cromwell to speak to her father,her uncle,andher brother,but to no avail. Anne relented, sending Mary a magnificent golden cup and some money, but still refused to reinstate her position at court. This partial reconciliation was the closest the two sisters attained; it is not thought that they met after Mary's exile from the King's court.
Mary's life between 1534 and her sister's execution on 19 May 1536 is difficult to trace. There is no record of her visiting her parents and no evidence of any correspondence with, or visits to, her sister Anne or her brother George when they were imprisoned in theTower of London.
Mary died of unknown causes on 19[18]or 30 July 1543,[19]most likely atRochford Hall,Essex.[20][19]
Issue
[edit]Mary Boleyn was the mother of:
- Catherine Carey(1524 – 15 January 1569). Maid-of-honour to bothAnne of ClevesandCatherine Howard,she married aPuritan,SirFrancis Knollys,Knight of the Garter,by whom she had issue. She later became chieflady of the bedchamberto her cousin,Queen Elizabeth I.One of her daughters,Lettice Knollys,became the second wife ofRobert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester,the favourite of Elizabeth I.
- Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon(4 March 1526 – 23 July 1596). Queen Elizabeth I ennobled him shortly after her coronation and later made a Knight of the Garter. When he was dying, Elizabeth offered Henry the Boleyn family title ofEarl of Ormond,which he had long sought but, at that point, declined. He was married toAnne Morgan,by whom he had issue.
Mary's marriage to William Stafford (d. 5 May 1556) may have resulted in the birth of two further children:[21]
- Edward Stafford (1535–1545).
- Anne Stafford (b. 1536?), possibly named in honour of Mary's sister, QueenAnne Boleyn.
Depictions in fiction
[edit]Mary is featured in the following novels:
- Brief Gaudy Hour: A Novel of Anne BoleynbyMargaret Campbell Barnes(1949)
- Anne BoleynbyEvelyn Anthony(1957)
- The Concubine: A Novel Based Upon the Life of Anne BoleynbyNorah Lofts(1963)
- Anne, the Rose of HeverbyMaureen Peters(1969)
- Anne BoleynbyNorah Lofts(1979)
- Mistress Anne: The Exceptional Life of Anne BoleynbyCarolly Erickson(1984)
- The Lady in the TowerbyJean Plaidy(1986)
- I, Elizabeth: the Word of a QueenbyRosalind Miles(1994)
- The Secret Diary of Anne BoleynbyRobin Maxwell(1997)
- Dear Heart, How Like You This?byWendy J. Dunn(2002)
- Doomed Queen AnnebyCarolyn Meyer(2002)
- Wolf HallbyHilary Mantel(2009)
Mary has been the central character in three novels based on her life:
- Court Cadenza(later published under the titleThe Tudor Sisters) byAileen Armitage(Aileen Quigley) (1974)
- The Last BoleynbyKaren Harper(1983)
- The Other Boleyn GirlbyPhilippa Gregory(2001)
Philippa Gregory later nominated Mary as her heroine in an interview withBBC Historymagazine. Her novel spawned five others in the same series but drew criticism for its lack of historical accuracy.[9]For example, Gregory characterises Anne, not Mary, as the elder sister and does not mention Mary's relationships before her affair with Henry.[9][22]
Mary is a character in several films and television series:
- In the filmAnne of the Thousand Days(1969), she is played by Valerie Gearon.
- In the BBC television filmThe Other Boleyn Girl(2003), based on the novel of the same name by Philippa Gregory, she is played byNatascha McElhone.
- In the Showtime television seriesThe Tudors(2007–2010), she is played byPerdita Weeks.
- In the filmThe Other Boleyn Girl(2008), also based on Gregory's novel, she is played byScarlett Johansson.
- In the miniseriesWolf Hall(2015), the television adaptation based on Hilary Mantel's novel of the same name, Mary is portrayed byCharity Wakefield.
Non-fiction
[edit]Mary is also a subject in three non-fiction books:
- Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of KingsbyAlison Weir(2011)
- The Mistresses of Henry VIIIby Kelly Hart (2009)
- Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII's Mistressby Josephine Wilkinson (2010)[23]
Family tree
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"Katherine Knollys".Westminster Abbey – Founded 960.The Dean and Chapter of Westminster.Retrieved2 June2016.
Katherine Knollys' tombstone in Westminster Abbey reads thus: "This Lady Knollys and the Lord Hundesdon her brother were the childeren of William Caree Esquyer, and of the Lady Mary his wiffe one of the doughters and heires to Thomas Bulleyne Erle of Wylshier [Wiltshire] and Ormond. Which Lady Mary was sister to Anne Quene of England wiffe to Kinge Henry the Eyght father and mother to Elizabeth Quene of England".
- ^abAntonia Fraser,The Wives of Henry VIII(Alfred A. Knopf,New York, 1992), p. 119
- ^Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII, X, no.450.
- ^Letters of Matthew Parker, p.15.
- ^Ives,p. 17;Fraser,p. 119;Denny,p. 27. All three scholars argue that Mary was the eldest of the three Boleyn children.
- ^Hart, Kelly (1 June 2009).The Mistresses of Henry VIII(First ed.). The History Press.ISBN978-0-7524-4835-0.
- ^The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn: The Most Happy by Eric Ives
- ^Wilkinson, Josephine (2009)."The Early years, 1500–1514".Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII's Mistress.Amberley. p. 13.ISBN9781848680890.
- ^abcvon Tunzelmann, Alex (6 August 2008)."The Other Boleyn Girl: Hollyoaks in fancy dress".The Guardian.Retrieved31 May2013.
- ^Charles Carlton,Royal Mistresses(1990)
- ^Denny, p. 38
- ^Marie-Louise Bruce, p. 13
- ^Hart, Kelly (2009).The Mistresses of Henry VIII(1st ed.). The History Press. p. 55.ISBN978-0-7524-5852-6.
- ^Ives, Eric William (2004). "The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn", p. 369 (note 75). Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.
- ^Kelly, Henry Ansgar:The Matrimonial Trials of Henry VIIIpp42 ff
- ^Weir, p. 160
- ^Karen Lindsey,p. 73
- ^Weir, Alison(1 August 2011).Mary Boleyn: 'The Great and Infamous Whore'.Penguin Books.ISBN9781446484357.
- ^abHughes, Jonathan (23 September 2004)."Stafford [née Boleyn; other married name Carey], Mary (c. 1499–1543), royal mistress".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/70719.Retrieved2 July2024.
- ^Mackay, Lauren (12 October 2020)."Your guide to Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn".HistoryExtra.Retrieved2 July2024.
- ^Hart p. 118
- ^Gregory, Philippa, "The Other Boleyn Girl"
- ^Wilkinson, Josephine (2009).Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII's Favourite Mistress.Amberley.ISBN978-1-84868-089-0.
Further reading
[edit]- Adair, Anne. (2011).Mary Boleyn: Sister to Queen Anne Boleyn and Sister in Law to King Henry VIII.Webster's Digital Services.ISBN978-1-241-00378-4
- Bruce, Marie-Louise. (1972).Anne Boleyn
- Denny, Joanna. (2004).Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Queen.Da Capo Press.ISBN978-0-306-81540-9
- Fraser, Antonia.(1992).The Wives of Henry VIII.Vintage.ISBN978-0-14-013293-9
- Gregory, Philippa. (2003).The Other Boleyn Girl.Touchstone.ISBN0-7432-2744-1
- Harper, Karen. (2006).The Last Boleyn: A Novel.Three Rivers Press.ISBN978-0-307-23790-3
- Hart, Kelly. (2009).The Mistresses of Henry VIIIThe History Press.ISBN978-0-7524-5852-6
- Ives, Eric.(2004).The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn.Wiley-Blackwell.ISBN978-1-4051-3463-7
- Lindsey, Karen. (1995).Divorced Beheaded Survived: A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII.Da Capo Press.ISBN978-0-201-40823-2
- Lofts, Norah.(1979).Anne Boleyn.
- Weir, Alison. (2011).Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings.Ballantine Books.ISBN978-0-345-52133-0
- Weir, Alison.(1991).The Six Wives of Henry VIII.Grove Press.ISBN978-0-8021-3683-1
- Wilkinson, Josephine. (2010).Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII's Favorite Mistress.Amberley.ISBN978-1-84868-525-3
- Mary Boleyn
- 1490s births
- 1543 deaths
- Mistresses of Henry VIII
- Mistresses of Francis I of France
- People from Blickling
- People from Hever, Kent
- Howard family (English aristocracy)
- Boleyn family
- Daughters of British earls
- Ladies of the Privy Chamber
- 16th-century English nobility
- 16th-century English women
- Carey family
- Household of Catherine of Aragon
- Court of Francis I of France