Thomas
Boleyn was born in Norfolk in 1477. He worked as a diplomat for Henry
VII and Henry
VIII.
His eldest daughter, Mary Boleyn, became Henry's VIII's mistress and
he was rewarded with the title of Viscount Rochford in 1525. His other
daughter Anne
Boleyn also
became involved with the king and in 1529 received the titles of Earl
of Wiltshire and the Earl of Ormond.
In January 1533 Henry
VIII discovered that Anne Boleyn was
pregnant. As it was important that the child should not be classed
as illegitimate, arrangements were made for Henry and Anne to get
married. King Charles V of Spain threatened to invade England if the
marriage took place, but Henry ignored his threats and the
marriage went ahead.
It was very important to
Henry that his wife should give birth to a male child. Without a son
to take over from him when he died, Henry feared that the Tudor family
would lose control of England. Catherine of
Aragon had given birth to six children but five died within a
few weeks of being born. Only one child, Mary,
survived into adulthood.
Henry hoped that Anne would
provide him with a son. He was therefore disappointed when,
in September 1533, Anne gave birth to a daughter called Elizabeth.
While Henry was furious about having another daughter, the supporters
of Catherine were delighted and claimed that it proved God was punishing
Henry for his illegal marriage to Anne.
In March 1534 the Pope
eventually made his decision. He announced that Henry's marriage to
Anne Boleyn was invalid.
Henry reacted by declaring that the Pope no longer had authority in
England. In November 1534, Parliament passed an act that stated that
Henry VIII was now the Head of the Church of England.
In January 1536, Anne had
a son but unfortunately he was born dead. What is more, the baby was
badly deformed. This was a serious matter because in Tudor times Christians
believed that a deformed child was God's way of punishing parents
for committing serious sins. Henry feared that people might think
that the Pope was right when he claimed that God was angry because
Henry had divorced Catherine of Aragon
and married Anne Boleyn.
Henry's solution to this
problem was to claim that he was not the father of this deformed child.
Soon afterwards,
five men, including Anne's brother, were accused of committing adultery
with the queen. Catherine of Aragon and
the five men were found guilty and executed.
Boleyn's political career
now came to an end. However, he was able to retain his titles, wealth
and property as Anne had praised Henry VIII
before being executed. Thomas
Boleyn died in 1539.
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
