Find out more about the other members of the Boleyn family in the following articles:-
- Thomas Boleyn – Sir Thomas Boleyn, Father of Anne Boleyn
- George Boleyn – George Boleyn the Poet and George Boleyn, Religion and the Reformation
- Elizabeth Boleyn – Elizabeth Boleyn, mother of Anne Boleyn
- Mary Boleyn – sister of Anne Boleyn
2 thoughts on “The Boleyns”
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Ok, so I’ve been reading some older tudor books (both fiction and Non-fiction) And the presence of a second Lady Boleyn, wife to Sir Thomas Boleyn, keeps popping up. and that Elizabeth Howard died of Fever in 1512. I wanted to know where this rumor started, and what supposed evidence they had of it. Is there an article about it??
Thanks
-Meghan
Hi Meghan,
I think that this story originates from Agnes Strickland’s book on the queens in Victorian times. On page 8 of “The Life of Anne Boleyn”, Philip Sergeant writes of how Strickland misread a quote by Thoms the Antiquarian and this combined with an error in a date given in a memorial of the Howard family led to her believing that Elizabeth Boleyn had died in 1512 and that Thomas remarried. Elizabeth’s sister, Muriel, died in 1512 and we now know that Elizabeth died on 3rd April 1538 and was buried in the Howard Aisle of Lambeth Church. John Husee wrote to Lady Lisle on 9th April 1538, saying:-
“My lady Wiltshire was buried at Lamehithe on the 7th. My lord Comptroller was chief mourner of the men and lady Dawbny of the women. She was conveyed from a house beside Baynard’s Castle by barge to Lambeth with torches burning and four baneys (banners?) set out of all quarters of the barge, which was covered with black and a white cross. At her burial was the King of Heralds, a herald, and a pursuivant. The King lies now at the Master of the Horse’s and comes on Friday to Greenwich. Mrs. Whalley gapes for a piece of wine. London, 9 April.” LP xiii part 1, 717.