The Anne Boleyn Collection II: Anne Boleyn & the Boleyn Family (2 page)

In "The Battle Abbey Roll",
¹²
the Duchess of Cleveland describes how the lineage of the Counts of Bolougne (Eustace I, II and III) continued in England after the Norman invasion. She explains that Pharamus de Boulogne "held lands in England of the Honour of Boulogne, which then consisted of 112 knight's fees" and that "in the Liber Niger we find Herebert de Buliun holding half a knight's fee of Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk; and William de Bolein holding one fee in York and one in Lincoln". The Duchess goes on to say that the name Boleyn, with its various spellings, came from 'de Boulogne' and that the authors of the
Recherches sur le Domesday
concluded that this English branch of the Counts of Bolougne "may possibly have been an illegitimate one."
¹³
I looked up this information in the
Recherches sur le Domesday
and it said that a daughter of the last descendant of Ernulf d'Ardes (or Ardres) married an illegitimate son of the Counts of Boulogne and that the resulting family in England took the name of "Bouloigne", or, "by corruption, 'de Bouleyn'."
¹⁴

The Norman People and their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States of America
,
¹⁵
under "Boleyn – Queen Anna Boleyn", records how Anne was "lineally descended from John de Boleyne of Sall, living 1283, whose father Simon purchased lands in Norfolk by fine 1252" and also records that "In 1165 Herebert de Buliun held half a knight's fee from Roger Bigod, E. of Norfolk (Lib. Niger). At the same time William de Bolein held 1 fee in York and 1 in Lincoln; which shows that there were then two branches of the family in England. Accordingly, in the preceding generation, Eustace and Simon de Bologne, brothers of Pharamus de B., are mentioned in a charter of the latter (Mon. Ang. i. 583)." It goes on to say that the Counts of Boulogne were "descended from Angilbert, a Frank noble, who m. Bertha, dau. of the Emperor Charlemagne, and before 790 was created Duke of the maritime territory afterwards styled Ponthieu" and that Eustace I of Boulogne was the ancestor of the Boleyn family.

There are many efforts in online ancestry groups and websites to establish the connection between the Boleyns of Salle and the Counts of Bolougne. The general consensus is that Pharamus de Bolougne was the father of William de Bolein/Boleyne, who, in turn, was the father of the Simon de Boleyne who held lands in Norfolk ca.1253. His son, John de Boleyne of Salle, is mentioned in 1283.

The Research of Reverend Canon Parsons

In 1935, the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society's journal published an article entitled "Some Notes on the Boleyn Family," written by the Rev. Canon W. L. E. Parsons, Rector of Salle.
¹⁶
Parsons used a variety of primary sources to try and establish the roots of the Boleyn family, including contemporary wills and the Court Rolls of the manors of Salle and Stinton.

1. Figure 2
   - Boleyn Family Tree, Parsons
   

The earliest evidence he could find for Boleyns having lived in the Salle area was regarding John Boleyn and William Boleyn in the 13th century. In the Register of Walsingham Abbey, a "John Boleyn" was mentioned in 1283. There is also a record of the Prior of Walsingham suing William Boleyn of Thurning, who was Prior's Bailiff in Salle, for an account. In this record, John Boleyn was acting as a surety.

The next Boleyn that Parsons could find was Nicolas Boleyn of Salle, who was accused of theft in either 1318 or 1338. A Court of Rolls entry mentions him in 1333: "Nicolas Boleyn for damage done to pastures and trees of the Lord: he is ordered to repair the bank between the Lord and Nicolas." Another John Boleyn then comes up in the records, firstly in 1333 and then regularly after the Black Death, which he fortunately survived. The mentions include John paying "the Lord" fines and rent, serving on the jury of a coroner's inquest in 1363 and being fined for trespass in 1369. It appears that he died sometime shortly after 1369 and that his lands were passed to a "Thomas Bulleyn of Salle", who is thought to be his son. Thomas is mentioned at various time in the records. Examples include Thomas and his wife, Agnes, appearing on a list of indulgences granted by Pope Boniface IX, and the following record in the Court of Rolls in 1399: "Thomas gave to Geoffrey his son one messuage in Salle without leave." It is believed that he died in or around 1411.

Then, we have the first Geoffrey Boleyn of Salle, son of Thomas. His first mention after 1399 is in 1408, with regard to timber for the building of the church at Salle. It appears that he had some involvement in the building of the church and we know that his father left money for the glazing of a south aisle window. Geoffrey frequently crops up in the records; there are mentions of his landholdings, of him trespassing, of fines paid and of the selling of barley and oat straw for thatching. According to the Survey of Stinton Manor 1430-40, Geoffrey held twenty-three parcels of land, but it appears that he was a tenant farmer, rather than the lord of the manor. He died in 1440 and was laid to rest in Salle Church. His brass has the inscription "Here lie Geoffrey Boleyn, who died 25th March, 1440, and Alice his wife and their children: on whose souls may God have mercy. Amen." His children included Cecily, who was buried at Blickling; Geoffrey, Lord Mayor of London, and Thomas, a priest and Master of Gonville Hall, Cambridge, from 1454-72. Thomas also served the King, by attending the Council of Basle. Interestingly, Parsons found a piece of evidence from the 1463 de Banco Rolls which linked Thomas the priest with Nicolas Boleyn and established the family tree:

"Thomas Boleyn, clerk, seeks against William Doreward and others, the Manor of Calthorpe, called Hookhall, as his right and inheritance in which William, etc. have no entry, except after the disseisin which Bartholomew Calthorpe, Kt., made to Nicolas Boleyn, kinsman of the said Thomas, who is his heir. Thomas says that Nicolas was seized of the Manor as of fee and right in the reign of Edward III. And took the explees, and from the same Nicolas descended the right to Thomas as son and heir, and from Thomas to Geoffrey as son and heir, and from Geoffrey to this Thomas, who now seeks as son and heir."

This piece of evidence shows that this line of the Boleyns was descended from Nicholas Boleyn, not from the John Boleyn who also appears in the records in the 1330s, and that they weren't just holders of land under the Lord but they owned the manor of Calthorpe "as of fee and right". The manor of Calthorpe later belonged to William Boleyn (d.1505) so it appears that the Boleyns did have rights to it.

The next Boleyn is the man who is credited as bringing the family to prominence: Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, a successful merchant and Lord Mayor of London. Geoffrey was favoured by Sir John Fastolf and travelled with him to London. There, he became a wealthy merchant and important subject of King Henry VI. He married into the nobility, by taking as his second wife Anne, daughter of Lord Hoo and Hastings (his first wife was called Dionise). He served as Sheriff of London and also of Middlesex; and he bought Blickling manor from Fastolf, although it took him a while to pay for it because he also lent the King £1246 to pay for the expedition to France. He became Lord Mayor in 1457, died in 1463, and was buried in the Chapel of St. John in the Church of St. Laurence, Jewry, London. Unfortunately, the church was destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire. His children included Alice, who married Sir John Fortescue; Isabel, who married William Cheyney; Anne, who married Sir Henry Heydon of Baconsthorpe; Thomas, who died in 1471; and William, who married Margaret Butler, daughter of the Earl of Ormond. William was made a Knight of the Bath during Richard III's coronation celebrations and served as Sheriff of Norfolk from 1500 to 1501. He died in 1505 and was buried in Norwich Cathedral.

According to Parsons, William and Margaret Boleyn had a large family:

• • Anne, who died in 1479, shortly before her fourth birthday.
  
• • Anthony, who died in 1493.
  
• • Thomas (born ca. 1477), who married Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the Earl of Surrey.
  
• • William, who became a priest.
  
• • James, who married Elizabeth Wood.
  
• • Edward, who married Anne Tempest.
  
• • Alice, who married Robert Clere.
  
• • Margaret, who married Sir John Sackville.
  
• • Anne, who married Sir John Shelton.
  

Blomefield
¹⁷
adds a "John," who died in 1484, and a "Jane," who married Sir Phillip Calthorp of Norwich.

On his father's death, Thomas Boleyn inherited the manors of Blickling, Calthorpe, Wikmere, Mekylberton, Fylby, West Lexham, Possewick and Stiffkey as well, of course, as Hever Castle. Thomas Boleyn was the father of Anne Boleyn, so we finally arrive at Anne in the family tree.

Parsons concluded that the Boleyns, like the famous Pastons, were "of somewhat humble origin" and that it was the second Geoffrey, a "Dick Whittington", who had "established the position of the family financially by successful trade, and socially by marriage with the nobility." This view is disputed by others, though. Sylvanus Urban wrote:

"The family of Boleyn was of Norman extraction. They were possessed of manors and lands at Salle and the adjacent villages in the 12th century. Among the Blickling evidences there is a deed, 1280, with the Boleyn seal attached, retaining enough to show that they bore then the same arms as were afterwards used by this family.

I presume that this will settle the question as to the 'gentility' of the Boleyns."
¹⁸

In "
Annals & Antiquities of the Counties & County Families of Wales"
, Thomas Nicholas, in writing of the lineage of Williams of Abercamlais, records:

"Among the companion knights of Bernard [Norman knight Bernard de Neuf Marché] was one who had probably come from the neighbourhood of Boulogne, for he went by the name de Boulogne, or Bullen, but it is uncertain whether his Christian name was Richard or Thomas. Opinion seems to be in favour of the latter.

"Sir Thomas de Boulogne, or Bullen (from one branch of whose descendants Anne Boleyn, mother of Queen Elizabeth, derived), was rewarded for his services with a lordship in Talgarth."
¹⁹

Furthermore, Frederick Lewis Weis et al.
²⁰
believe that Anne's name "came into England much later with merchants from the Boullonnais."

Ralph Boleyn

Some genealogists add a "Ralph Boleyn" to the Boleyn family tree. Sylwia Thrupp writes "The records of the skinners' company fraternity of Corpus Christi show the entrance of a Raulyn (Ralph) Boleyn in 1402 and of a Bennid de Boleyn, Lombard, in 1436".
²¹
It is hard to see how he fits in to Anne's family tree, though, so perhaps he was from one of the other branches.

A Provisional Boleyn Family Tree

Figure 3
shows a provisional family tree based on the sources already mentioned, but simplified so that it shows the direct line from Anne Boleyn back to the Counts of Boulogne. There is no way, however, that we can prove that this tree is wholly accurate since concrete evidence is lacking.

1. Figure 3
   - Provisional Family Tree
   

Boleyn – The Name

It has been claimed, on various occasions, that Anne Boleyn 'frenchified' her name by changing it from 'Bullen' to 'Boleyn', making it less common - "Anne Boleyn" versus "Nan Bullen". This is a myth, however. In his research of records going back to the 13th century, Rev. Canon Parsons found it "spelt variously – Boleyn, Buleyn, Bolen, Bulleyne, Boleyne, Bolleyne, Boyleyn, Bowleyne, Bulloigne, and the modern form Bullen" and concluded that "Boleyn was the most common of the mediaeval forms." It is also spelled various ways in documents from Henry VIII's reign, in reference to Thomas Boleyn and Anne Boleyn. We also know that the city of Boulogne in France was written as "Boleyn" in the Chronicles of Calais, suggesting that the family name may well have had its origins there. There does not seem to be any record of any variations of the name before the Norman conquest.