Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire
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Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire, née Lady Elizabeth Howard (c. 1480 - 1538) was one of the many daughters of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk by his first wife Elizabeth Tilney, daughter of Frederick Tilney and Elizabeth Cheney. She was also a direct descendant of the Edward I of England.
Marriage and children
Little is known of her but we can piece together a rough chronology of her life through the comments and mythologies of her contemporaries. .
Elizabeth was wed to Thomas Boleyn, an ambitious young courtier, about 1498. According to Thomas, Elizabeth was pregnant many times in the next few years but only five children are thought to have survived birth. It is known than only three of the Boleyn children survived to adulthood:
- Mary Boleyn (c. 1499 - July 19, 1543).
- Anne Boleyn (c. 1501 - May 19, 1536).
- George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford (c. 1503 - May 17, 1536).
- Thomas Boleyn - thought to have died young.
- Henry Boleyn - thought to have died young.
As lady in waiting for the royal court
Throughout this time, Elizabeth was lady-in-waiting at the royal court; firstly to Elizabeth of York and then to Catherine of Aragon. To judge from later gossip, Elizabeth Boleyn must have been a highly attractive woman. Rumours circulated that she was the mistress of young Henry VIII, but despite recent attempts by one or two historians to rehabilitate this myth, it was denied by Henry and never mentioned in the stream of dispensations he sought in order to make his union with Anne lawful. It is likely that this rumour began from a misunderstanding between Henry's more famous mistress Elizabeth Blount or from the growing unpopularity of the Boleyn family after 1527. However, both of her daughters (Mary and Anne) did become mistresses to the king.
Scandals involving both daughters
In 1519, Elizabeth's elder daughter, Mary, who was then living in the French royal court, was brought home in disgrace once her reputation was left in tatters due to a series of sexual escapades in France. French King Francis I often called Mary "my English mare", and later on in his life described her as "a great whore, the most infamous of all".
Although Mary had a reputation for being promiscuous, she would eventually be the only one out of the Boleyn household to have any kind of stable lifestyle. However, Elizabeth never really forgave Mary for this slur on the family's reputation, and in the words of historian M.L. Bruce both Thomas and Elizabeth "developed feelings of dislike" for their daughter. In later years, Mary's romantic involvements would only further strain this brittle relationship.
Anne, Elizabeth's other daughter, avoided taking sides in the argument but she "showed a protective attitude" toward her elder sister despite the family's criticisms. Mary became mistress to Henry VIII in 1519, and the affair would last until 1521. Afterward, Mary would drift away from the royal court, marrying a lesser noble, and for a time she would have some financial difficulties, being banished from the royal court by Anne, who was by then Queen. It was still left to Anne to lighten Mary's financial difficulties in 1528/1529, and she had to pressure the king and the rest of the Boleyns into helping the warm-hearted, but impulsive young woman who had become their 'black sheep'.
Despite this difference in stance on her sister's issue, Anne had a seemingly close relationship with her mother. Despite Anne receiving much notoriety throughout history, it ultimately seemed to have been Mary who was the less assertive and less troublesom, and it would be Mary who would ultimately avoid the later fatal scandal of two of her siblings, George and Anne.
It was around either 1523 or 1524 when Henry VIII became involved with and fell in love with Anne. His affair with Mary continued with only brief liaisons, and she had only held the official position of mistress for a little over a year. Elizabeth was Anne's protective chaperone during this time. She accompanied Anne to court whenever Anne was attempting to avoid a sexual phase to her relationship with the king, and it was Elizabeth who travelled with Anne to view York Place after the fall of the Boleyn family's great political opponent, Thomas Cardinal Wolsey.
Unfortunately, during this time, Anne became involved in political intrigues, and many events happened behind the scenes in the royal court that eventually resulted in the downfall of the Boleyn's in royal circles.
Elizabeth remained in her daughter's household throughout her time as Queen consort. Tradition has it that Anne's only daughter, Elizabeth I was named after her maternal grandmother. However, it is more likely that she was named after Henry's mother, Elizabeth of York, although we cannot rule out the possibility that she was named after both grandmothers.
Elizabeth Boleyn sided with the rest of the family when Mary was banished in 1535 for eloping with a commoner, which included Anne Boleyn completely turning her back on her sister, but this would turn out to be beneficial to Mary. Only a year later, Elizabeth watched as her youngest daughter Anne and her only living son, George, were both executed on charges of treason, adultery and incest, it having been indicated that George and Anne were sexually involved with one another. Some suggest they were victims of a cruel court plot, and the king's desire to marry the doe-eyed Jane Seymour. The facts are not completely clear. Anne did have other lovers, but as to whether her brother was one of them has never been proven. Upon her own execution in 1542, George Boleyn's widow Jane Boleyn, Viscountess Rochford stated that she had lied about Anne and George being involved with one another sexually. Either way, the trials were quick, as were the executions.
Following the annihilation of the family's ambitions, Elizabeth retired to the countryside. The fall of the Boleyns' has been likened to "a Greek tragedy", and yet there is something tragically pathetic and anticlimactic about Elizabeth Boleyn's quiet, uneventful death only two years after she had witnessed the cruel machinations of the Tudor court which had devoured two of her brilliant and glamorous younger children. Mary, however, would live out the remainder of her life in relative seclusion, and moderate comfort.
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