Social:Boleyn family

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Boleyn
Noble house
Arms of the Boleyn family of London.png
The arms of the Boleyn family, showing three bull's heads on a white field
CountryKingdom of England
Place of originNorfolk
Founded1283 (1283)
FounderJohn Boleyn
Final headThomas Boleyn
Titles
  • Marchioness of Pembroke
  • Earl of Wiltshire
  • Earl of Ormond
  • Viscount Rochford
Dissolution1539 (1539)

The Boleyn family was a prominent English family in the gentry and aristocracy. They reached the peak of their influence during the Tudor period, when Anne Boleyn became the second wife and queen consort of Henry VIII, their daughter being the future Elizabeth I.

Notable members

Members of the family include:

  • Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, a mercer and Lord Mayor of London, father of William
  • Thomas Boleyn, brother of Geoffrey, a priest and Master of Gonville Hall, Cambridge
  • Sir William Boleyn, a mercer and father of Anne, Thomas and James
  • Lady Margaret Boleyn, née Butler, wife of William, mother of Anne, Thomas and James
  • Anne Shelton, née Boleyn, sister of Thomas and James, mother of Margaret (Madge) Shelton, a mistress of Henry VIII
  • Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire and 1st Earl of Ormond, father of Mary, Anne and George, courtier and diplomat
  • Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire, née Howard, wife of Thomas and a lady-in-waiting, mother of Mary, Anne and George
  • Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne, a mistress of Henry VIII
  • George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, brother of Anne, courtier and diplomat
  • Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII
  • Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford, née Parker, wife of George and a lady-in-waiting
  • Sir James Boleyn, brother of Anne and Thomas, courtier and chancellor of the household of his niece, Anne
  • Lady Elizabeth Boleyn, née Wood, wife of James and a lady-in-waiting
  • George Boleyn, dean of Lichfield, probably a distant cousin but allegedly the son of George and Jane

They are direct descendants in an almost entirely male line of the Emperor Charlemagne.

Further reading

  • Julia Fox, Jane Boleyn: The Infamous Lady Rochford
  • Eric Ives, The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn
  • Elizabeth Norton, The Boleyn Women

Family Tree