Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire

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Thomas Boleyn (disputed image - may be his cousin James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond)
Born	c1477 Hever Castle
Died	12th March 1539 (aged 61–62)
Burial place	St. Peter's Church, Hever, Kent
Title	Earl of Wiltshire; Earl of Ormond; Viscount Rochford
Spouse	Lady Elizabeth Howard
Children	Mary Boleyn Anne Boleyn George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford
Parent(s)	Sir William Boleyn Lady Margaret Butler

Sir Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire (of the second creation), 1st Earl of Ormond (of the second creation), 1st Viscount Rochford, KG^[1] (c. 1477 – 12 March 1539) was an English diplomat and politician in the Tudor era, and the father of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England. As such, he was the maternal grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I. He was born at the family home, Hever Castle and buried at St. Peter's parish church in the village of Hever. His parents were Sir William Boleyn (1451 – 10 October 1505) and Lady Margaret Butler (1454–1539).

Family

Boleyn married Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. They had five known children, only three of whom survived childhood:

• Mary Boleyn (c.1499 – 19 July 1543); Lady Carey (1520–1528); Lady Mary Stafford (1534–1543)
• Anne Boleyn (c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536); later Queen Consort of England
• George Boleyn (c. 1504 – 17 May 1536); later Viscount Rochford by courtesy
• Thomas Boleyn (thought to have died young)
• Henry Boleyn (thought to have died young)

Career

Through the connections of his extended family, he became one of King Henry VIII's leading diplomats. Known appointments and missions included:

• 1511 and 1517: High Sheriff of Kent
• 1512: One of a party of three envoys to the Netherlands.
• 1518–1521 : ambassador to France, where he was involved in arrangements for the "Field of Cloth of Gold" meeting between Henry and the new French King Francis I in 1520.
• 1521 and 1523 : Envoy to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
• 1527: One of a large envoy to France
• 1529: Envoy to a meeting of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Pope Clement VII, to seek support for the divorce of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. This was followed by another envoy to France.

He garnered peerages by letting Henry dally with his elder daughter Mary, then marry his younger daughter, Anne. Boleyn's ambition was so considerable that unsubstantiated rumours had it that he even allowed his own wife to have an affair with the king, but those were created in order to stear the king away from marrying Anne, even suggesting that she was his own daughter. When a claim that he (King Henry) had had an affair with both Anne's sister and mother were brought forward, he replied flustered, "Never with the mother!"

Boleyn was invested as a Knight of the Garter (KG) in 1523^[2]. In 1525, Henry VIII became enamoured of Anne and began pursuing her. Coincidentally, her father was elevated to the peerage - Viscount Rochford - in the Peerage of England that same year. The title referred to his estate at Rochford in Essex. As Henry's infatuation intensified, so did her her father's titles. By 1528 he was created Earl of Ormond in the Peerage of Ireland based on his descent (in the maternal line) from the 7th Earl of Ormond, who had died in 1515. Henry arranged for the main claimant to the earldom (Piers Butler) to renounce all his claims to the titles. Coincidentally, Piers Butler was rewarded for his generosity by being created Earl of Ossory five days later. Boleyn was finally created Earl of Wiltshire in the Peerage of England on 8 December 1529. At the same time, his only surviving son, George, was ennobled as the 2nd Viscount Rochford. A little over 6 years later, George was executed for treason and consequently these titles became extinct. The use of the ( courtesy) Viscountcy title continued until the execution in 1542 of his son's widow, Jane, Viscountess Rochford, after she was implicated in the fall of Catherine Howard, the King's fifth wife).

Boleyn was appointed Lord Privy Seal in 1530. In 1532, his daughter Anne was granted a peerage, being created Marquess of Pembroke in her own right, before marrying Henry the following year and becoming queen consort. Boleyn acquiesced in her judicial execution and that of her brother Lord Rochford when Henry discarded her in favour of Jane Seymour. At this point Boleyn was replaced as Lord Privy Seal and left in disgrace until his death a few years later. He suffered a final indignity in being stripped of the earldoms of Ormond and Wiltshire in 1538 when they were awarded to their de facto possessor - Piers Butler.

In popular culture

Thomas Boleyn has been portrayed by Sir Michael Hordern in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), by Benjamin Whitrow in Henry VIII, and by Jack Shepherd and Mark Rylance in the 2003 and 2008 film versions of The Other Boleyn Girl, respectively. The 2007 Showtime series The Tudors has Nick Dunning in the role depicting him as ambitious, cunning and devious, constantly working to curry favour for his family against everyone else and always willing to "motivate" his daughter, Anne, lest Henry lose interest in her.

Styles and honours

• Mr Thomas Boleyn (1477–1523)
• Sir Thomas Boleyn KG (1523–1525)
• The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Rochford KG (1525–1527)
• The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Ormond KG (1527–1529)
• The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Wiltshire and of Ormond KG (1529–1539)

Note: on 22 February 1538, the earldom of Ormond was restored to Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond.

See also

• Palace of Beaulieu
• Ambassadors (from United Kingdom to France)

References

External links

• A pedigree of the Boleyn family