The Boleyns of Hever Castle by Ridgway Claire & Emmerson Owen

Author:Ridgway, Claire & Emmerson, Owen [Ridgway, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MadeGlobal Publishing
Published: 2021-08-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Boleyn Arms in Hever’s Great Hall.

The journey that Thomas and Elizabeth took from London, back to their castle of Hever during the last horrific days of Anne’s queenship, was most likely full of grief and fear. There was simply nothing that Thomas and Elizabeth could do to help their children. The law had condemned both siblings and, as their parents left London, they did so with the knowledge that their children would die. Returning to their little family manor would undoubtedly have been a painful affair. The memories of their vibrant children must have been bleeding from the walls of every chamber. Their downfall had happened so swiftly that it is possible that either or both parents were in a state of shock. Surviving today, but hidden from public view, are the original beams of the crown post roof that sat above the Boleyns’ solar at Hever, and it is easy to imagine Thomas gazing into those same wooden beams, bewildered, as the reality of what had happened came crashing home. George had been Thomas’s pride and his only surviving male heir, and Anne had been his joy and had brought greater wealth and power to the Boleyn family than Thomas could possibly have aspired to. Anne’s rise had been unthinkable and her end unspeakable. Thomas had estates to maintain and duties to attend to, but the grief of the loss of his children changed him.

For Thomas, Hever was a place to grieve with his wife, Elizabeth, and his mother, Lady Margaret Boleyn, who had been suffering from some kind of dementia since 1519 and had moved in with the family. In June 1536, Thomas was deprived of his office of Lord Privy Seal in favour of the man who had overseen the case against his children, Thomas Cromwell. 93 In July 1536, Thomas was at Hever when he received letters from Cromwell regarding his widowed daughter-in-law Jane’s financial situation. Thomas claimed that he was ill and explained that his income had been greatly reduced, but he agreed to increase Jane’s allowance and death benefit. 94 Cromwell continued to harass the grieving man over the next year regarding legal subsidies and rents.

Apart from a visit to court in July 1536, when he was present in the Star Chamber at Westminster for “an assay of silver”, Thomas chose to stay at Hever. 95 He may have been grieving and ill, but he needed to prove his family’s loyalty to the king in light of the events of spring 1536. In October 1536, he mobilised a force to support the king during the northern Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion, and in May 1537, he served on the commission that arraigned several of the northern rebels. Five months later, he attended the christening of the new prince, Edward, bearing “a taper of virgin wax… in a towel about his neck.” 96 This surely must have been a bittersweet event, for although he was celebrating the birth of a son borne by Anne’s replacement,

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