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2 | <!DOCTYPE Archive SYSTEM "http://greenstone.org/dtd/Archive/1.0/Archive.dtd">
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3 | <Archive>
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4 | <Section>
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5 | <Description>
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6 | <Metadata name="gsdlsourcefilename">import/englishhistory.net/tudor/citizens/boleyn.html</Metadata>
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10 | <Metadata name="Source">boleyn.html</Metadata>
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11 | <Metadata name="SourceFile">boleyn.html</Metadata>
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12 | <Metadata name="Language">en</Metadata>
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13 | <Metadata name="Encoding">windows_1252</Metadata>
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14 | <Metadata name="Title">Mary Boleyn: Biography, Portrait, Primary Sources</Metadata>
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15 | <Metadata name="FileFormat">HTML</Metadata>
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16 | <Metadata name="URL">http://englishhistory.net/tudor/citizens/boleyn.html</Metadata>
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20 | <Metadata name="lastmodifieddate">20130826</Metadata>
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26 | </Description>
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27 | <Content>
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28 |
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29 | <table border="0" cellpadding="3" width="100%" height="667">
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30 | <tbody>
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31 | <tr>
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32 | <td width="25%" height="29"><br>
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33 | </td>
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34 | <td valign="top" width="50%" height="29"> <br>
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35 | </td>
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36 | <td width="25%" height="29"><br>
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37 | </td>
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38 | </tr>
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39 | <tr>
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40 | <td width="25%" height="3"><br>
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41 | </td>
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42 | <td width="50%" height="3">
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43 | <p align="center"> <img border="0"
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44 | src="_httpdocimg_/maryboleyn.gif" alt="Mary Boleyn"
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45 | width="493" height="144">
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46 | </p>
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47 | </td>
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48 | <td width="25%" height="3"><br>
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49 | </td>
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50 | </tr>
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51 | <tr>
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52 | <td width="25%" height="610"><br>
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53 | </td>
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54 | <td valign="top" width="50%" height="610">
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55 | <p align="center"> <img border="3"
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56 | src="_httpdocimg_/maryboleynunknown.jpg"
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57 | width="359" height="480"
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58 | alt="portrait of Mary Boleyn by an unknown artist">
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59 | </p>
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60 |
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61 | <blockquote>
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62 | <p align="left"><br>
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63 | <font face="Arial" size="4">Mary Boleyn was the sister of
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64 | King Henry VIII's second wife, the infamous Anne Boleyn. But she was
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65 | also the king's mistress before her sister's ascendancy. She may also
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66 | have given birth to Henry's son.</font></p>
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67 |
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68 | <hr> </blockquote>
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69 |
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70 | <blockquote>
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71 | <p align="left"> </p>
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72 | </blockquote>
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73 | </td>
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74 | <td width="25%" height="610"><br>
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75 | </td>
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76 | </tr>
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77 |
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78 | </tbody>
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79 | </table>
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80 |
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81 | <blockquote>
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82 | <blockquote>
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83 | <p>Information about the life of Mary Boleyn is sketchy at best. Before
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84 | her sister's ascendancy, Mary was the most famous member of her family, a
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85 | dubious honor since it was based upon her adulterous affair with King Henry
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86 | VIII. There has been great debate over the exact year of her birth, with
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87 | many researchers unable to agree on which Boleyn sister was older. Some
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88 | speculate Anne was born in 1501 or 1502; others place it at 1507. The most
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89 | recent scholarship supports 1507 as the year of Anne's birth. Mary was
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90 | born a year later, in 1508. Their only surviving sibling was an older brother
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91 | George, born in 1503. </p>
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92 |
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93 | <p> Mary was born at Hever Castle, the family seat. She was named
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94 | after Princess Mary Tudor, the youngest child of Henry VII and Elizabeth
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95 | of York. Her family was loyal to the Tudor dynasty but had Yorkist connections.
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96 | Her mother was Elizabeth Howard, daughter of Thomas, earl of Surrey. His
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97 | father, the 1st duke of Norfolk, had died fighting for Richard III against
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98 | Henry VII. Mary's father, Thomas Boleyn, could trace his ancestry only to
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99 | the 13th century. His family was originally from Norfolk where they lived
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100 | as tenant farmers. In 1457, a Sir Geoffrey Boleyn was serving as Lord Mayor
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101 | of London. He wed Anne, heiress of Lord Hoo and Hastings, and - through
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102 | her - acquired Hever Castle in Kent and Blickling Hall in Norfolk. His
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103 | son became a knight under Richard III and a baron under Henry VII. He married
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104 | a great heiress as well; she was Margaret, daughter of Thomas Butler, 7th
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105 | earl of Ormond. He was incredibly wealthy and bequeathed Margaret 36
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106 | manors. Their eldest child was Thomas Boleyn, Mary's father. Thomas had
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107 | married Elizabeth Howard by 1501. Their three surviving children were born
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108 | within the next 10 years. </p>
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109 |
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110 | <p> In 1512, Thomas was one of three envoys assigned to the regent
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111 | of Netherlands court. His skill in speaking French and his family connections
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112 | secured the appointment. Once there, he was a great success with the regent,
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113 | Margaret, archduchess of Austria. He used this friendship to secure a prestigious
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114 | appointment for his eldest daughter, Anne; she was to reside with the regent's
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115 | wards, sharing their royal education. This is the primary evidence that
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116 | Anne was the elder sister. In such cases, the elder sister would receive
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117 | the opportunity first. </p>
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118 |
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119 | <p> However, Mary was married before Anne - an unusual occurrence
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120 | and one which led many to believe Mary was older. However, it is completely
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121 | plausible that Anne was not married first because she was still in Europe,
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122 | gaining a royal education and hoping to wed a foreign nobleman. Mary, on
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123 | the other hand, wed a man named William Carey, a gentleman of the royal privy
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124 | chamber on 4 February 1520. Though he was not a titled lord, his duties
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125 | meant he had intimate contact with the king on a daily basis. He would
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126 | be a valuable connection for the Boleyns. Henry used his attendants, with
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127 | whom he spent his leisure hours, to carry out government work. Carey was
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128 | 24 years old and Mary not quite twelve, young even for 16th century marriage.
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129 | The consummation of the marriage was probably delayed for a few years.
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130 | </p>
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131 |
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132 | <p> Mary's wedding was held a few weeks before her father returned
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133 | from a mission abroad. This indicates that Thomas Boleyn had planned the
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134 | marriage well in advance. The king gave the newlyweds a cash present - 6s.8d.;
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135 | this was undoubtedly welcome since William Carey was a younger son and lacked
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136 | money and lands. Henry's favor (and, more particularly, Mary's affair with
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137 | Henry) helped in this respect - before his death in 1528, William had received
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138 | two keeperships, a stewardship, an annuity, and manors in two counties.
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139 | As to William's ancestry, he could trace his descent from Edward III; his
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140 | mother was a cousin of Margaret Beaufort, Henry VII's mother. His aunt
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141 | Catherine Spencer was married to Henry, fifth earl of Northumberland.
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142 | </p>
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143 |
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144 | <p> As William's wife, Mary had lodgings at court, information about
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145 | royal policies, and the great opportunity to participate in all court events.
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146 | Their first child, Catherine, was born about 1524 when Mary was just sixteen.
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147 | Meanwhile, her family continued its ascendancy during these years. Personally,
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148 | she and her sister Anne were two of eight women who participated in a celebration
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149 | at York Place, Cardinal Wolsey's home. Anne played Perseverance and Mary
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150 | was Kindness; they were clothed in white satin with bejeweled headdresses.
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151 | This was in 1522; Mary was just fourteen. By the time she was seventeen,
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152 | Mary was a first-time mother and Henry VIII's mistress. There is much
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153 | circumstantial evidence to support this: </p>
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154 |
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155 | <blockquote>
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156 | <p>* in 1527, Henry was planning to marry Anne Boleyn. He sought and
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157 | received a papal dispensation to marry the sister of a woman with whom he
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158 | had engaged in illicit/unlawful intercourse. Anne had only one sister -
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159 | Mary. </p>
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160 |
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161 | <p>* Reginald Pole reported the following - in 1528, a member of Parliament
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162 | insulted the king's morals by accusing Henry of sleeping with Anne's mother
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163 | <i>and</i> sister. Undoubtedly flustered, the king replied: "Never with
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164 | her mother." </p>
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165 |
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166 | <p>* the affair was known of in diplomatic circles - in 1532, Francis
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167 | I of France met Mary face-to-face when she accompanied Henry and Anne to
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168 | Calais. He mentioned her infamous behavior with her sister's spouse <i>before</i>
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169 | the marriage to Anne.</p>
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170 | </blockquote>
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171 |
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172 | <p> The affair was brief, ending in mid-1525 (probably July.) On
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173 | 4 March 1526, Mary gave birth to a son, called Henry. He was widely assumed
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174 | to be the king's son. He physically resembled the king, a fact often remarked
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175 | upon. In 1535, for example, a man called 'young Master Carey' the king's
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176 | son. </p>
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177 |
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178 | <p> Perhaps more telling, Henry granted the Careys actual manors and
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179 | estates during the affair and immediately before the child's birth. Before,
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180 | the Careys had been granted rather minor offices. (You may recall that
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181 | Henry publicly acknowledged another illegitimate son, born in 1519. This
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182 | boy was called <a href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=0&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2ffitzroy.html">Henry
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183 | Fitzroy</a> - the surname traditionally given to royal bastards - and was
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184 | ennobled, given the title duke of Richmond. If Henry Carey was also his
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185 | son, why didn't Henry do the same for him? The answer lies in his determination
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186 | to divorce Katharine of Aragon and marry <a
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187 | href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=0&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fmonarchs%2fboleyn.html">Anne Boleyn</a>,
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188 | the child's aunt. It is likely that even Henry VIII would have been too
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189 | embarrassed to recognize his bastard son by his fiancee's younger sister.)
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190 | Henry Carey was eventually ennobled as Lord Hunsdon by Elizabeth I, the
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191 | queen who may have been his half-sister and was undoubtedly his cousin.
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192 | Though he served her ably, Elizabeth only offered Hunsdon a title upon
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193 | his deathbed. To this dubious honor, the old man aptly replied that if
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194 | the queen hadn't thought him worth it while he was in health, he would not
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195 | accept it while ill.</p>
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196 |
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197 | <p> Mary Boleyn was referenced in <a
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198 | href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=0&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2flovelett.html">Henry's love letters
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199 | to Anne</a> in 1528, the year her husband died. William had asked Mary to
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200 | seek her sister's influence with the king; his elder sister, Eleanor, wanted
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201 | the position of abbess at St Edith's Nunnery. The nuns wanted their prioress
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202 | elevated to the position instead. Anne asked the king to intervene. In
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203 | the end, Eleanor's dubious moral destroyed her chances. But the episode
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204 | demonstrates Anne's willingness to help Mary; also, Mary clearly expected
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205 | to benefit from her sister's closeness to the king. </p>
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206 |
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207 | <p> William Carey died on 23 June 1528 and Henry VIII promptly granted
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208 | Anne Boleyn the wardship of her nephew (and possibly his son), two-year-old
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209 | Henry Carey. In another letter to Anne, Henry remarked upon Mary's easy
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210 | virtue. He and Anne were concerned that, after William's death, Mary's behavior
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211 | would degenerate; in other words, she would be an embarrassment to the king
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212 | and his intended wife. </p>
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213 |
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214 | <p> In November 1530, Henry gave Anne 20 pds to redeem a jewel from
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215 | Mary; it was probably a gambling debt. Two years later, Mary was one of
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216 | thirty ladies who accompanied Henry and Anne on a visit to France (colorfully
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217 | known to history as 'The Field of the Cloth of Gold'.) They stayed in Calais
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218 | in late October, attending various events with Francis I; ostensibly, they
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219 | were celebrating a new peace agreement. But it was also a chance to present
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220 | Anne to a foreign king. When Henry wed Anne in 1533, Mary became a lady-in-waiting
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221 | to her sister. It was only in 1534 that she and Anne had a serious conflict.
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222 | </p>
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223 |
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224 | <p> In 1534, Mary secretly married William Stafford. He was the younger
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225 | son of Humphrey Stafford of Blatherwick in Northampton. This marriage was
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226 | a disaster for her, excepting her personal happiness. Mary undoubtedly loved
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227 | Stafford, a soldier she had met at Calais (he had been part of Henry VIII's
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228 | retinue.) But her relatives - all newly ennobled and very self-conscious
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229 | about their status - were outraged. He was a commoner, not fit for the queen's
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230 | sister. Accordingly, Mary and her new husband were banished from court.
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231 | (It is quite possible that her relatives planned to wed Mary to a nobleman,
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232 | further cementing their rise to prominence; instead, her marriage was a
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233 | step backwards socially.) In late 1534, while her father and brother received
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234 | numerous grants, titles, and other gifts, Mary was reduced to begging Thomas
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235 | Cromwell for assistance. Would he speak to Henry on her behalf? Mary hoped
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236 | Henry would persuade Anne to forgive her but her former lover was less than
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237 | helpful. So Mary asked Cromwell to speak to her father, her uncle, and
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238 | her brother. </p>
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239 |
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240 | <p> Meanwhile, her son was still living with his aunt, Queen Anne.
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241 | He was being tutored by the great French poet, Nicholas Bourbon, clearly
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242 | benefiting from the wardship. His mother's life between 1534 and her sister's
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243 | execution in 1536 is difficult to trace. She seems to have resided at Rochford
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244 | in Essex from the time of her disgrace to her death on 19 July 1543. When
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245 | her sister fell into disfavor and Henry sought a divorce, his earlier affair
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246 | with Mary was mentioned. Perhaps this would justify an annulment, even as
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247 | Katharine of Aragon's marriage to his brother had? But no one seriously
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248 | considered this (after all, there had been a papal dispensation) and it was
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249 | more expedient to press other charges. Mary did not visit her sister when
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250 | Anne was imprisoned in the Tower. Nor did she visit their brother George,
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251 | also condemned to death. There is no evidence that she wrote to them.
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252 | Like their uncle, the duke of Norfolk, she may have thought it wise to avoid
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253 | association with her disgraced relatives. </p>
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254 |
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255 | <p> Mary lived to see her children gain some royal favor. Her teenage
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256 | daughter Catherine (born 1524) was appointed a maid of honor to Anne of Cleves,
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257 | Henry VIII's fourth wife. Sometime in 1540, Catherine made a good match,
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258 | marrying Sir Francis Knollys, a popular member of Henry VIII's household.
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259 | Catherine also became one of her cousin Elizabeth Tudor's closest friends.
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260 | Her daughter, Lettice Knollys, would later marry Elizabeth's great love,
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261 | Robert Dudley; her son, the earl of Essex, would also be one of Elizabeth's
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262 | favorites (though eventually executed for treason.) Henry Carey, whose paternity
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263 | was the subject of such speculation, would be ennobled as Lord Hunsdon in
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264 | Elizabeth's reign. Elizabeth was kind to her Boleyn relatives, especially
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265 | Mary's children. Twenty-two years after Anne Boleyn's execution, a Boleyn
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266 | was sole ruler of England. It was a triumph few could have predicted.</p>
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267 |
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268 | <p> </p>
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269 |
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270 | <hr width="100%">
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271 | <p> <font size="2">Some other stuff about Mary Boleyn that I've found:
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272 | </font> </p>
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273 |
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274 | <p><font size="2">* Mary was considered more conventionally beautiful
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275 | than Anne but lacked her sister's style and wit. <br>
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276 | * As a child, Mary was taught French by Mademoiselle Semmonet; she also
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277 | studied music (practicing on the lute, harp, viol, and virginals.) <br>
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278 | * Mary also spent time in Archduchess Margaret's service; she was removed
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279 | in 1518/19 by her father and placed in Katharine of Aragon's service.
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280 | <br>
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281 | * Anne and George Boleyn were very close and reportedly had little use
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282 | for their sister, Mary. (This was reported by several foreign ambassadors.)
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283 | </font> </p>
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284 |
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285 | <p><font size="2">Note: I have read that Mary Boleyn accompanied Princess
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286 | Mary Tudor to France, as a lady-in-waiting. However, the trip occurred in
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287 | 1515; Mary would have been just 7 years old - so the assertion seems unlikely.
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288 | </font> </p>
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289 |
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290 | <p><font size="2">So the following questions remain: <br>
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291 | * did she accompany Mary to France? <br>
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292 | * did she use her influence with Mary Tudor to get Anne a position
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293 | as lady-in-waiting to Katharine of Aragon (thus allowing Henry VIII and
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294 | Anne to meet?) This has been mentioned in several books but, as I stated,
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295 | it would mean Mary was a lady-in-waiting at the age of seven. </font> </p>
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296 |
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297 | <p><font size="-1">I have used the spelling 'Boleyn' instead of 'Bullen'
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298 | for one simple reason - it is how the family chose to spell it when they
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299 | first rose to prominence. Certainly they thought 'Boleyn' was more elegant
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300 | - I'll stay mum on that issue, but since most history texts also use 'Boleyn',
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301 | it remains less confusing than switching between two surnames.</font></p>
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302 |
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303 | <p align="center"><b> <font face="Times New Roman"> <a
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304 | href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=0&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fmonarchs%2fboleyn.html">Visit the
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305 | Anne Boleyn website</a>.</font></b></p>
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306 |
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307 | <center>
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308 | <p><font size="-1"><a
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309 | href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=0&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fcitizens.html">to Tudor Citizens</a></font><br>
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310 | <font size="-1"><a href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=0&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor.html">to Tudor
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311 | England<br>
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312 | </a></font></p>
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313 |
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314 | <p><font size="-1"><a href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=0&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor.html"><br>
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315 | </a></font></p>
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316 | </center>
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317 | </blockquote>
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318 | </blockquote>
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319 | <br>
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320 | <script type="text/javascript"><!--
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321 | google_ad_client = "pub-0070851788245906";
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329 | src="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=0&amp;href=http:%2f%2fpagead2.googlesyndication.com%2fpagead%2fshow%5fads.js">
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334 | </Section>
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335 | </Archive>
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