Among the Wolves of Court

Gentle visitor pause awhile, where you stand death cut away the light of many days. Here jeweled names were broken from the vivid thread of life, may they rest in peace while we walk the generations of their strife and courage under these restless skies.

– Brian Catling, Tower of London Memorial to those executed

It is generally assumed that Thomas either spent the rest of his days a broken man in exile, or that he carried on despite the execution of his children, as evidenced by his communications with Cromwell, and reactions at court to his death in 1539. He undoubtedly was broken by the deaths of his children, but as a peer of the realm, a respected noble in his county of Kent, and Knight of the Garter he could not allow personal matters to interfere with his duties at court for long, nor could he dare display any grievance or disaffection towards his monarch.

Yet there is considerable evidence that Thomas did not have an easy or particularly cordial relationship with others involved in the downfall of children. We hear nothing of the Boleyns throughout May and June of 1536, most likely because they were in mourning at Hever. He quietly resigned his position of Lord Privy Seal, which was soon bestowed upon Cromwell. On 2 July, Thomas received two letters at Hever, one from the King, and one from Cromwell, each requesting an augmentation of the allowance for Jane, George's widow. Thomas' written response to Cromwell, with whom he had not been in communication with since the death of his children, made it clear that he did ‘thys alonly for the Kyngs plesur … I thank yow for your goodnes to me when I am far off, and cannot always be present to answer for myself’.¹

His letter was business-like, to the point, and could even be interpreted as terse.² Thomas agreed to allocate Jane the sizable annual pension of £100, precisely what Thomas had given his daughter Mary.³ Jane would also have to rely on her own father, who, having sat on the jury for the trial of her husband, must have felt somewhat obliged.

The pace of religious change in the early years of the Reformation was too fast for many in various regions across the country as not everyone was ready to embrace the break with the Roman Catholic Church. Civic unrest was growing into civic insurrection. The autumn of 1536 brought violent religious riots against the King's dissolution of the monasteries, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. Thomas' many years as Commissioner of the Peace made him the ideal individual to muster troops in Kent, and Cromwell quickly wrote to the Earl. But Thomas was furious that he received the notice over a week after Cromwell had written it, leaving him only a few days to gather 300 men and march to Northampton. Had Cromwell allowed the letter to be delayed? We have no way of knowing, but Thomas wrote to Cromwell: ‘It is very hard for me to be there by that day, as the letter was so long in coming to me, as Cromwell's clerk, Jeffrey, the bearer, can show. Has come here today and appointed the said number or very near to be with him here tomorrow night or Sowlmas day in the morning. As it is rumoured that the rebels have fled or yielded, asks for further orders.’⁴

The fact that Thomas managed to attain the men and march to London in two days is impressive, and suggests he was highly respected in his county. There is no further correspondence, so it appears that Thomas must have returned home.

In May of 1537, Thomas served on a special commission of 17 peers to arraign the northern rebels of the Pilgirmage of Grace. Meeting on 15 May, they charged 11 people including Lords Hussey and Darcy, Sir Francis Bigod and Robert Aske, historically considered the ring leader of the rebellions.⁵ Thomas then sat on the court of the Lord High Steward that found the rebel peers guilty. It was the first case Thomas had been a part of since the dreaded Oyer and Terminer a year before. Hostility between Thomas and his brother-in-law, the Duke of Norfolk, who presided over the trials of the Boleyn children, had overtaken a relatively productive working relationship. In July that year, Norfolk wrote to Cromwell, complaining that Thomas' minstrel had sung derogatory songs about the Duke. Several people had heard the ballad, and the sensitive Duke accused Thomas of having approved of it:

As to the song of my lord of Wiltshire's minstrel, begs Cromwell to write to him in a letter apart that such and such men heard him say that he had sung it before the Duke, and that the Duke was privy thereto. Will then, after convicting him by his own confession, as he has already denied it, order him so that he shall be afraid hereafter to sing songs of any gentlemen without their knowledge, and if his master heard the same and did not advertise me thereof, as he did not, Judas non dormit, though I have not deserved it to him, as ye know.⁶

That Norfolk chose to make the matter public, rather than deal with Thomas himself, is evidence of a breach in their relationship, and we never learn if the matter was resolved. Cromwell hounded Thomas when he could, and was particularly harsh on him when it came to payment of legal subsidies and rents, insisting that all of Thomas' payments be paid strictly on time. Although other nobles, including Norfolk, were also in arrears, they were never pressured for payment.⁷ In September of 1537 Thomas wrote to Cromwell regarding his stewardship of St Albans. Thomas had relinquished the wealth of the stewardship to Thomas Audley, Keeper of the Privy Seal, but it was still in his name. Cromwell had questioned this situation, and Audley's response was that he:

Was much troubled by Cromwell's late letters, that it was reported to the King he had attempted to take the stewardship of St. Albans. Reminds Cromwell he spoke about it to him before he did anything, showing that the earl of Wiltshire had offered him his patent, and Cromwell encouraged him to believe the King would be content. Obtained the patent from the earl under the convent seal: the fee is 20l. If he may not take a free gift from his friend, he is worse than a friar Observant.⁸

There is a hint of sarcasm in Thomas' response to Cromwell which suggests he did not voluntarily give up the Stewardship, and was less than impressed that Cromwell was choosing to take an interest now:

Has received today a letter from him touching the stewardship of St. Alban's. Last term delivered his patent of the office and released his right in it to the Lord Chancellor. If it had been in his hands, trusts Cromwell would rather have helped him to have kept it for his weal, than helped him from it to his loss.⁹

The relationship between Cromwell and Thomas remained tense, yet has been misinterpreted as evidence that Thomas, in Ives' words: ‘Set himself with enthusiasm once more to climb up the greasy pole … he buttered up and co-operated with ministers, even lending Cromwell his chain and best garter badge.’¹⁰ Cromwell was admitted to the prestigious order on 5 August 1537 and, as a member – Thomas should have been present, but he was conspicuously absent.¹¹ This may well explain Cromwell's personal letter to Thomas, prior to the installation set for 26 August. Thomas did not, as Ives wrote, happily offer his Garter collar to Cromwell to win favour. We do not have Cromwell's letter, but Thomas' response is quite clear: ‘According to your letter I send you my collar with my best George [the Garter's symbol] and request that it may be delivered when done with to Mr. Thornham, my chaplain, at Darby Place.’¹² It seems that Thomas did not voluntarily give his collar to Cromwell, and he would not leave Hever to witness Cromwell wearing what was once his.

One final duty of note was Thomas' required attendance at the christening of Prince Edward, the son of Henry and his third queen, Jane Seymour, on 15 October. Thomas had been present at the christenings of all of Henry's legitimate children, but it was cruel of Henry to demand him to participate in the baptism of Jane's son.¹³ He was given the role of bearing a taper of virgin wax in a towel hung around his neck; what he felt, and what those around him felt about him being there, is not known.¹⁴

On 1 November, in another twist of fate, Thomas was present for the funeral of Jane Seymour, who died just 12 days after giving birth, and Thomas was tasked with assisting about Jane's corpse, which lay in state.¹⁵ It seems likely that he felt little at her death.

Thomas then returned to Hever, but in January of 1538, the Boleyns were back at court, and John Hussey, a servant of Lord Lisle's, reported that Thomas was ‘Again now in the court and very well entertained.’¹⁶ It is unclear in what manner Thomas was ‘entertained,’ or perhaps Hussey was merely noting that the Boleyns were not in disgrace or ignored at court. None of Thomas' roles following the deaths of his children are indicative of being back in favour. Especially considering his rival, Piers Butler, received the Earldom of Ormond on 22 January. But Thomas no longer seemed to feel so strongly about the title-he had no son to bequeath it to. He remained as he had always been, a servant of the Crown.

Just two months later, on 7 April, Elizabeth Boleyn died in a house near Baynard's Castle in London. We have no record of Thomas' reaction, but can assume it was one of grief. Within a few days of her death, her body was taken by barge to Lambeth, accompanied by her brother, Lord Edmund Howard, and half-sister, Lady Daubney, as chief mourners.¹⁷ Elizabeth was not buried at Hever, but at Lambeth, which was close to her brother's London residence.

This has always been seen as a sign that the Boleyn marriage was strained, further evidence that the events of 1536 had caused a rift between the couple, but Lambeth was commonly used as a burial place for members of the Howard family who died in the capital. Choosing Lambeth might simply demonstrate Elizabeth's pride in her lineage and may be the reason she did not select Hever as her burial place, where her husband later chose to be buried.

Within months of his wife's death, a frankly ridiculous rumour spread round the court that Thomas planned to marry, of all women, the King's niece: ‘I heard say that my lord of Wolshyre [Boleyn] will marry lady Margaret Dowglas.’¹⁸ It is highly unlikely that Henry would consent to such a match. There is no further evidence to suggest Thomas was interested in remarrying; instead, it appears that he had returned to his intellectual pursuits, aided by his godson, Thomas Tebald.¹⁹ Tebald wrote to his godfather, keeping him up to date with the latest scholarly publications and ideas. It must have been one of the few comforts Thomas now had, who could no longer converse on such subjects with his brilliant children. It was kind of Tebald to be so concerned for his godfather in what would be the last few months of his life.

On 13 March 1539, Cromwell, now Lord Privy Seal and the most powerful man bar the King, received a note. It was short and to the point, in the hand of Thomas' steward, Robert Cranewell: ‘My good lord and master is dead. He departed this transitory world I trust to the everlasting Lorde, for he made the end of a good Christian man, ever remembering the goodness of Christ.’²⁰ Thomas was about 62. To have been closely involved with Henry VIII and yet lived so long was testament to his survival skills; many who had lived so near the sun had been fatally burnt. So many others had fallen by the wayside of Henry's whims.

Henry's response appears to be a testament to the enormous respect he held for his former father-in-law. Henry spent £16 (over £5,000 in today's currency) on ‘Certain orasions, suffrages, and masses to be said for the soul's health of the Erle of Wiltshire, late deceased’.²¹ Parliament then collected an order for £200 (almost £60,000 in today's currency) for more masses for Boleyn's soul.²²

Following his death, his devoted friend, Cranmer, along with other trusted servants, hastened to Hever, and showed their respect for Thomas by carefully going through his property and personal belongings to remove anything he might have wished be kept private. It was timed well, for within two weeks Cromwell sent Sir Thomas Willoughby to assist with disposing of all his goods. He was not allowed to move Thomas' mother, for Thomas stipulated that she was to remain at Hever, and he left a generous sum for her upkeep.²³ With no heir, Thomas' properties reverted to the Crown, including his earldoms. Prior to his death, it seemed that Thomas had begun to reconcile with his only living daughter, Mary. Within weeks, Thomas' daughter Mary Stafford and her husband, who had petitioned Cromwell years earlier, received much of Boleyn's property portfolio, including Hever and Rochford Hall. The indenture between the King and Mary and William has remained hidden in an archive over the years, but the eight pages, written in Henry's hand, suggests that Thomas negotiated with Cromwell and the King before his death and left his brother James and his lawyer to ensure it was carried out – whatever their issues had been, Boleyn had shown signs of softening towards his only remaining child. He would not have wanted her to go through the rest of her life destitute. But the indenture written by Henry is far harsher than Thomas had intended, Henry included a number of penalty clauses and steep fines if any property was undervalued. The King seemed less than pleased with the deal. Mary would live only a few years beyond her parents, and it seemed that Thomas' siblings would outlive everyone – they continued their careers, but none of them had ever displayed the wherewithal to excel at court, and their lives ended as quietly as they began. The Boleyn name was not spoken at court any longer, as Henry helped himself to one wife and then another. The rest of Henry’s story is well known.

The Boleyn story traced its way from the late Middle Ages to the early modern period, animated by events in individual lives with consequences that went far beyond the people involved: they shaped and were in turn shaped by the backdrop of the times in which they lived. Epochal changes in this period – of which the Boleyns were a part – included the advancement of those recognised as ‘new men’, from humble origins on the land and small business, to positions of power, influence and wealth centred on the English court. They valued education and culture, acquiring the skills to become professional administrators of government and to participate in the affairs of state under the first Tudors. Henry VII and Henry VIII would reward these men with promotion, titles and land to become the new Tudor aristocracy, whilst remaining distinct in many ways from the older aristocracy; at the same time they introduced an influential strand into the English social fabric.²⁴ Thomas' career in Wolsey's stable of ambassadors was impressive, rising to become one of his most skilled and respected diplomats. He was viewed as a loyal and trusted servant of Cardinal Wolsey for many years, and it is important that this ‘lost thread’ of a relationship between the two is restored. Despite how the story ended, the evidence is overwhelming that Thomas cared for his children, did all he could to nurture their educations, and was fiercely proud of their meteoric rise at court.

Both George and Thomas served Henry VIII well, possessing attributes that the King required, and were well rewarded with promotions and titles for themselves and their family, ambitions of any courtier. While it would be unreasonable to argue that Anne had nothing to do with the royal preferences bestowed on her father and brother, the political culture of the day was extremely personal, so that Boleyn's familial connection with Anne of course brought favour, but this was not unusual or morally suspect as much as reflecting the importance of blood ties among the many elements that connected individuals at court, and influenced their fortunes. They have been judged throughout the centuries, not because they attained such heights as father and brother of the Queen, or even that they fell from them, but that they set out to secure them in the first place.

Against all the odds, and she did indeed have the odds stacked against her, Anne's daughter outlived the heir and the spare, Edward, Jane Seymour's son, and Mary, Katherine of Aragon's daughter. Elizabeth was crowned exactly 20 years after the death of her grandfather, Thomas, and her coronation mirrored that of her mother in 1533.

In 1578 Queen Elizabeth visited Norwich as part of her East Anglia Progress. She stayed in Norwich for five days, and the feasts that she held, in the cloisters of Norwich Cathedral, almost bankrupted the town. She had never spoken of her mother, or her Boleyn lineage, and she was always sensitive to attacks on her pedigree, and thus identified closely with her Tudor lineage.

And yet, she had never come to the part of England from where her mother's family hailed. She probably did not visit Blickling, where her mother, uncle and aunt, and her grandfather, were born, or the church where her ancestors lay. But she did visit the Cathedral of Norwich, for the upkeep of which the Boleyns had donated considerable funds decades before. It must have shimmered with Boleyn ghosts. The Queen explored the cathedral, as she was escorted through the various archways and knaves. Her jewel-encrusted heavy dress may have brushed the tombs of her great-grandfather, William Boleyn, or his mother, Alice, who lay next to each other under the cold stone floor. She made no remark, nor gave any indication that she knew whose tombs she crossed. But, as she prepared to hear Mass, she quietly insisted that her throne be placed on the north side of the high altar, in front of the reliquary arch. When she sat down, she sat facing the Boleyn chapel. Above, the square arches showed panels with shields of arms, all of which were the Boleyn bull heads and the Ormond crest, supposedly a memorial of Sir William Boleyn. She sat facing her family crest, and that of her ancestors. What she must have felt, gazing up at the proud bull heads, the azure and gold shields, was the weight of generations of Boleyns, who had endured triumph, sacrifice and loss but none of whom could have ever imagined that a Boleyn would one day hold the sceptre and wear the crown of England.