A picture of James Butler
Anne had been recalled to England so that she could marry her Irish cousin, James Butler, a handsome and intelligent young man with red hair and blue eyes who was several years older than she was and a member of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey’s household at the English Court, in an attempt to settle a dispute over the estates and the title of the Earldom of Ormond. The seventh Earl of Ormond had died in 1515 leaving his daughters Anne St. Leger and Margaret Boleyn as his co-heiresses. Sir Piers Butler, the great-great grandson of the third Earl of Ormond, evidently contested the will and claimed the Earldom of Ormond for himself in Ireland. He was already in possession of Kilkenny Castle which was the ancestral seat of the earls. However Sir Thomas Boleyn, being the eldest son of Lady Margaret Boleyn, felt that the title of the Earldom of Ormond belonged to him and protested about it to his brother-in-law, Thomas Howard, the third Duke of Norfolk, who had spoken to King Henry VIII about the matter. King Henry VIII, fearful that the dispute could be the spark to ignite civil war in Ireland, sought to resolve the matter himself by arranging a marriage between Sir Piers Butler’s son James Butler and Sir Thomas Boleyn’s daughter Anne Boleyn. She would bring the Earldom of Ormond inheritance as her dowry into her marriage with James Butler and thus end the dispute between Sir Piers Butler and Sir Thomas Boleyn. This plan seemed agreeable to everyone involved except the couple themselves. The plan of the marriage of James Butler and Anne Boleyn ended in failure regardless of the fact that it was proposed on several occasions though the reason for why the marriage never took place is unknown. The several theories as to why their marriage never happened was perhaps because Cardinal Wolsey who was an enemy of the Boleyns even before his clash with Anne had been able to stop the marriage because to him it had seemed as advantageous to the family, Sir Thomas Boleyn coveted the title of the Earldom of Ormond for himself or he desired to make a grander marriage for his daughter Anne, or Anne had a strong resolve not to marry James Butler had won out against marriage to him since a life in dreary Ireland would have seemed to almost have been like a banishment to her compared to her life at the French Court. Whatever the reason for the marriage negotiations between James Butler and Anne Boleyn came to a complete end and James Butler would later end up married to Lady Joan Fitzgerald, the daughter and heiress of James Fitzgerald and Amy O’Brien.
Sir Thomas Boleyn had been able to secure positions
as ladies-in-waiting for both of his daughters Anne and Mary in the royal
service of red-haired and blue-eyed intelligent, charming, dignified, extremely
pious, firm, and good-natured Queen Katherine of Aragon at the English Court as
well Anne a place in the royal wardrobe. The ladies-in-waiting of Queen
Katherine of Aragon had been permitted to have certain allowances, but they
also had rules to follow as well. These privileges and the rules that the
ladies-in-waiting had in Queen Katherine of Aragon’s household which Anne had
become a part of must be described in great detail.
Queen Katherine of Aragon’s ladies-in-waiting had
ate their meals by dining at mess in those days like officers of the army as
they had been given ample supply of ale and wine for them to drink and
considerably served with all of the good food that the markets for them to eat
at their meals. Ladies-in-waiting had been permitted to have their own
attendants according to their rank. Anne could have brought perhaps a laundress
to be able to wash her clothes and mend them for her and a maidservant to help
her when it came to combing and doing her hair and dressing in her clothes for
court to the English Court with her. Clothes that Anne would have been expected
to include in her wardrobe were apparent undergarments such as brasseries for
her breasts, knickers (underwear), rolls of soft fabric for making sanitary
towels for her time of the month with, and shifts, bonnets made of linen
decorated with embroidery and lace on them, caps, court dresses made of very
expensive fabric, decorative belts or chains to carry bags, cups, decorative
pomanders (perfume containers which were handy in the mucky streets or
the public loos), rosaries, small books with decorative covers on them, tiny polished
metal mirrors, or watches hanging from them, English gable hoods, fabric stockings,
many different kinds of shoes for different occasions at the English Court,
nightgowns, and things for outdoors such as coats, gloves, hats, and riding
outfits. Dress codes at the English Court were strictly enforced. Anne might
have ended up having to share not only a chamber to sleep in, but also a bed
with other ladies-in-waiting. Her possessions including her gowns, her
headpieces, and her jewel casket would have had to have been kept in a locked
chest identified with Anne’s name on it as the English Court moved every few
weeks to another palace. She would have been permitted to have a spaniel and
the ladies-in-waiting who were the daughters of peers would probably have had
stabling for their carriages and their horses. Ladies-in-waiting had many duties from arranging
their mistress’s hair, bringing warm water to fill a tub with for their bathes,
carefully dressing their mistress in her clothes, dabbing cosmetics on their
mistress, end up fastening their mistress’s jewelry on their mistress, fetch
their mistress’s wine to drink and her meals to eat, get things that she needs,
go with her to functions, hold things for her, and send messages to people on
her behalf for her amongst other things. Anne would have to provide
conversation and music as required of her and take part in dancing and masques
besides her daily duties as one of Queen Katherine of Aragon’s
ladies-in-waiting.
Anne’s older sister Mary Boleyn had been recalled
back to England from France in late 1519 ostensibly because of her scandalous
behavior from her affairs with King Francis I and his courtiers at the French
Court. She had been married to Sir William Carey of Aldenham, a minor noble at
the English Court, at Greenwich in February 1520 with King Henry VIII himself
in attendance at their wedding. Mary came to be King Henry VIII’s mistress soon
after her marriage to Sir William Carey probably around sometime in 1521 though
the exact date that it began is unknown. Historians have disputed over the possibility
of King Henry VIIII fathered one or both of Mary Boleyn’s two children
Catherine Carey and Henry Carey that were both born during her marriage to Sir
William Carey. Henry VIII: The King and
His Court by Alison Weir ended up examining the paternity of Henry Carey
and Dr. G. W. Bernard (The King’s
Reformation) and Joanna Denny (Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England’s Tragic
Queen) argue that King Henry VIII was the father of both of Mary’s children.
However King Henry VIII did not acknowledge either one of Mary’s children to be
his own children as he had done with his illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy by his
former mistress Elizabeth Blount. The affair between King Henry VIII and Mary
Boleyn had lasted around five years with King Henry VIII’s involvement with
Mary might have ended prior to the birth of her second child Henry Carey in
March 1526.
Anne had watched the natural progression of her
sister Mary’s promising rise as King Henry VIII’s mistress and her sudden fall
from grace when her affair with the English King had ended. Instead of her
focusing on the positions and wealth her family had gained from Mary’s liaison
with King Henry VIII, Anne only saw the disastrous consequences that it had on
Mary’s already damaged reputation and how Mary’s lack of ambition and intellect
to use the situation to her favor while she had the chance to do so had
eventually led to her downfall. Anne learned from Mary’s follies on how not to
act for her to not make the same mistakes that her sister had.
Anne and Mary were complete opposites in nearly
every way. Mary had blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair white skin which made her
meet the typical 16th century standards of conventional beauty while
Anne had black hair, dark brown eyes, and ivory skin which made her be an
unconventional beauty due to her dark and exotic looks. Mary was considered to
be the most beautiful of the Boleyn sisters, but Anne was deemed to have
brilliance, charisma, and drive which were traits her sister did not have. Mary
was demure, easy-tempered, and obedient while Anne was lively, opinionated, and
passionate. Mary did fall in love easily and often and ended up always getting
hurt because of it, but she bounced back from it easily as well while Anne did
not love easily, but she loved most fiercely when she did love and when she got
hurt from love she did not bounce back from it.
Anne made her debut at the English Court at the Chateau Vert (Green Castle) pageant
being held in the honor of the Imperial ambassadors on March 4, 1522 at Cardinal Thomas
Wolsey’s palace York Place (which would later be re-christened Whitehall Palace
when King Henry VIII had finally reclaimed the property and gave it to Anne as
a gift). She had
been a part of an elaborate dance at which eight gentlemen (with King Henry
VIII among them) and eight ladies of the English Court played parts of the
prized and scorned virtues and boys from the Chapel Royal who played the parts
of the vices. The virtues had been Honor, Beauty, Kindness,
Perseverance, Constancy, Bounty, Pity, and Mercy while King Henry VIII was Ardent Desire. Anne was chosen to play the part of Perseverance in a bit of
historical foreshadowing with Princess Mary Tudor the Duchess of Suffolk as
Beauty, Jane Parker as Constancy, and Mary Boleyn as Kindness. The ladies ended
up having worn gowns of white satin embroidered with gold thread, gold Milan
bonnets decorated with jewels, and cauls. Anne got the chance to display her
rare form of beauty and her skills in acting and dancing to those who were
present at the pageant including King Henry VIII.
A picture of Anne Boleyn at the English Court
Anne quickly established herself as one of the most
accomplished and stylish women at the English Court with her brilliance, her
charm, and her drive and she has been referred to “a glass of fashion.” She
introduced new fashions to the English Court and soon many ladies in the court
followed her example. The American historian Retha M. Warnicke wrote that
“Anne’s charm arose primarily from the deep-seated confidence with which she
was able to handle herself in courtly surroundings. She was the prefect woman
courtier, for she had learned her lessons in France well: her carriage was
graceful and her French clothes were pleasing and stylish; she danced with
ease, had a pleasant singing voice, played the lute and several other musical
instruments well, and spoke French fluently. She is also reputed to have
written a masque and to have composed music. A remarkable, intelligent,
quick-witted, young noblewoman with a personal knowledge of many of the players
in European politics, she surely had a repertoire of anecdotes about the
Habsburg and Valois courts that first drew people into conversation with her
and then amused and entertained them. In short, her energy and vitality made
her the center of attention in any social gathering.” King Henry VIII’s
biographer J.J. Scarisbrick wrote to add that Anne “reveled in” the attention
she received from her admirers. Soon a number of young men were competing for
her.
Anne surrounded
herself with an inner circle of brilliant and cultured people who were deemed
to be deeply well-educated and extremely gifted in the arts like she was and
had a thirst for knowledge like she did. She would accept these people for who
they were, care about them, and develop deep friendships with them. The one
person who Anne was closest to in her inner circle of good friends that she
accepted for who he was, cared about, and deeply loved was her brother dark brown-haired and dark brown-eyed George
Boleyn, a handsome, intelligent, charming, and dashing young man, who was
extremely well-educated, fluent in French and some Greek, Italian, and Latin,
and a gifted musician and poet with the reputation of a womanizer and a
successful career of his own at the English Court. The siblings had much in common with each other
such as the arts, literature, the New Religion and New Learning (as George
smuggled heretical books into England illegally like their father did and translated
a number of pamphlets dealing with the Lutheran doctrine), and poetry and had a
deep emotional bond with one another. These were the type of people she loved
to surround herself with for she reveled in having deep intellectual
conversations with other intellectual people like herself with her making friends with Anne Gainsford, Bridget Harvey, Elizabeth Browne, Joan Champernowe, Margaret Lee, Mary Norris, Mary Wyatt, and Nan Saville.
A second picture of Anne at the English Court
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